Hi Reader, Travelers come to us this time of year dreaming of wine country. They're picturing golden afternoons in the vineyard, walking rows heavy with fruit, and sipping a glass of something local. Most choose fall based on two assumptions... that fall is grape harvest, and harvest is magic. Unfortunately, this isn't quite true anymore. Harvest Is Earlier Now Harvest keeps creeping earlier, and in most Northern Hemisphere regions it now lands in late summer. The weeks from harvest into fall...
18 days ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, I don't know about you, but I treat September as a second new year. The minute the kids go back to school, you can feel everyone resetting. Summer's over, and we all slide back into real life. I pull up my annual goals, see what's drifted, and right the ship before the last stretch of the year. When I lived in Europe, I loved that everyone there makes the shift out loud. There are actual names for it. The French call it la rentrée; the Italians, il rientro. It translates to "the...
22 days ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, My 2026 has been packed with family events. As in, my sibling turns 40 this year. My mom turns 80 (don’t tell her I told you). My in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, my second cousin got married, and my niece graduated high school. Five milestones, one calendar year, and every single one involves some sort of travel. As you can tell, I come from an enormous family, and we gather often. So, 2026 has turned into an accidental audit of how to handle family travel. We’ve...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, I caught myself running through a French conversation out loud while on a walk yesterday, and I'm pretty sure I came across like some caffeinated flashcard robot to anyone who saw me. Language apps are open on my phone after a few months of neglect, and I'm having full-blown conversations with AI like we're besties. That combination only means one thing, a trip is near! This fall, I'll be in France and Italy for partner meetings, and rather than show up rusty, I'm getting my skills...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, I’m writing this to you horizontally, tissues within reach, on what my body has decided is a soup-and-loungewear kind of day. I just got back from a cruise, and I did the exact thing everyone swears happens on a cruise: I came home sick. We still can’t tell if it’s a bad cold or COVID, but I’ve been in and out of bed since the gangway. Here’s the part that’s almost funny. I have a whole system for not getting sick when I travel, and (almost) all of the time it works. This was not...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, Let's get the math out of the way: my first trip to Alaska was thirty years ago. Which means I am now officially old enough to have "last time I was here" stories, and to tell them unprompted. Here's the part I didn't expect, though. Coming back to a place after that long isn't really about what's changed there. It's about seeing what your memory kept, and what it quietly deleted without asking. I remembered the scale of it, the light that barely dims in summer, that specific...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, By July, something shifts here in California. Winter in the Sierra has us braising and roasting because it’s dark by five and there’s snow to the windowsills. Then summer starts, the weekly market sets up in town, and we leave the hearty dishes behind. It’s more assembly than cooking...slice a tomato, salt it, tear some basil, and that’s dinner. That kind of eating only works when an ingredient is ripe enough to be the star of the show. That window lasts about six weeks a year, and...
2 months ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, Did I ever tell you I live just 45 minutes southeast of Yosemite? Tbh, it was a bit of a lucky accident. I moved to Mammoth Lakes for the skiing and to be near family, and a national park in the backyard was the bonus. When the park opens from the east each summer, I make it my mission to get there often. I went last Sunday for a full day of hiking and came home with wrecked legs, which translates to a good day in outdoor speak. The Challenge That's Worth The Effort While winter in...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, I just got back from a family trip to New York, ten of us in all, to celebrate the Fourth. Somewhere between booking show tickets and mapping subway routes, I remembered that when travel planning is your actual job, you never really clock out. I don't mind it. I went to school upstate and spent years in the city, so I have opinions, and a group trip is basically an invitation to use all of them. Doing The Classics, First-Timer Style It was my nephews' first time, so we clocked some...
3 months ago • 3 min read