La Samanna - St. Martin - March 2009

What could be better than a chance to practice French, get a tan and enjoy wonderful Caribbean hospitality?

After her first real winter in Connecticut, Madison requested sunshine and a chance to try out her newly acquired French. With our best friends Syd and Chloe, we headed to La Samanna in St. Martin for a week of just that.

La Samanna is set on a beautiful stretch of white sand beach and perfectly blue Caribbean waters. We were lucky enough to try out their brand new villas, set on the cliff overlooking the property. With four bedrooms, a grand living room, dining room, kitchen and swimming pool, it was the perfect place for a house party. We spent our days enjoying the beach and the water (including a snorkel trip) and our evenings exploring the lively island.

The warmth of the people and the sun were just the perfect way to start spring.

Paris & Provence – without the crowds

What better way to celebrate the holidays with family than a few days in Paris and a villa rental in Provence?

We rented a lovely apartment in the Marais and spent a few days in the city of lights visiting museums, skating at the Hotel de la Ville, and taking tours with our good friend and favorite guide – Antoinette.

On Christmas Eve we took the TGV to Avignon and drove to our home for the next week – a beautiful five-bedroom villa in the village of beaumes-de-Venise.

We spent our days exploring Provence – colorful and festive and free of any tourists. We toured the Luberon, Les Beaux, Vaisonla Romain, Avignon and St.Remy. We shopped local markets and cooked in the beautifully well-equipped kitchen, replete with La Cornue stove. We explored Christmas markets and local churches displaying their nativity scenes. We skated on outdoor rinks and sampled lots of hot chocolate.

Our favorite outing was to the truffle market in Templiers where we saw truffles being purchase by locals and restauranteurs, and indulged in all things made with

truffles. We were even invited to a school gym for a fund-raising truffle breakfast!

Our home came with a lovely host that served as our concierge, tour guide and connection to the local festivities.

If you’re looking for a charming escape from holiday madness and would like to experience Provence as an insider, I highly recommend Christmas in Provence!

Greek Odyssey - August 2008

Our Greek Odyssey started with a week on the Peloponnese Peninsula where we explored Delphi, Olympia, Mycenae, Nafplion and Athens with our wonderful guide Antony.

He brought the Greek Mythology and ancient history alive for us through his stories and tours and we thoroughly enjoyed the living history lesson.

Next we set sail for the Aegean aboard the three-masted sailboat Panorama. She holds 40-45
passengers and this trip, arranget along well. For a week we sailed the Greek Isles, stopping at Sifnos, Santorini, Kos, Patmos, Naxos, Syros. The Aegean is in control and several days we were blown off course and ended up at different islands than anticipated. Flexibility is key when sailing these isles, and having a small boat makes that easy because you can dock or anchor anywhere.

Mornings were generally spent exploring the islands and sampling local fare, and afternoons spent enjoying the wine dark Aegean – swimming, Kayaking or a crowd favorite, diving off the boat.

The kids dressed as Greek Gods and served us dinner, performed a Greek Tragedy, painted pottery and learned some folk dances. They embraced the culture and made enduring friendships.

As we sailed back into Pireus our well-travelled teens declared this to be the perfect combination of History, Culture, Sun and Fun!

Small Yacht Cruising in Alaska - July 2008

I experienced a wonderful adventure with American Safari Cruises, on board the 12 passenger Safari Escape. We traveled Alaska's inside passage from Prince Rupert to Juneau over 9 days. It's a little more challenging to get to/from than the usual Vancouver or Seattle jumping off points, but it means getting to the good stuff sooner and only sailing during the day.

The Escape is a small ship with one "master cabin," one "junior suite" and four very cozy but comfortable cabins (two doubles, two twins). It's close quarters, but very comfortable. Perfect for a family to charter.

We had an outstanding crew of six (yes, for 12 passengers) that work very hard and are very knowledgeable about the region. Our captain and first mate spent many years with Lindblad, and our trip leader was a wealth of knowledge.

The small ship allows for a lot of flexibility in the schedule, taking time to stop when you find wildlife, getting into the zodiac and kayaks on a moments notice, and deciding to spend the night in an interesting cove. We spent a lot of time kayaking, hiking and exploring by zodiac. The ship always anchors at night, and they are very accommodating of guests interests and requests.


Shore excursions were basically tours with interesting locals. For the most part, we avoided the big ships and their destinations, instead focusing on wildlife and small villages.

The food on board was incredible. Always a meat, fish and vegetarian option, three meals a day cooked to order. Freshly baked muffins every morning that you could small all over the boat, and cookies in the afternoon that they would deliver to you while kayaking!

The beauty of seeing Alaska on the Safari Escape is that we could explore places on a whim and stay longer if we were enthralled with a place. One evening we were kayaking in a cove and found a pod of whales had joined us. We over-nighted there, throwing out a crab pot, and enjoyed the cove the next day as well (while feasting on fresh crab) and did not have to hurry on to our next destination.