Category: Special Interest Trips
Best Time To Go To New Zealand
The best time to go to New Zealand depends on what you want to do and how fussy you are about the weather. Having said that, there’s really no bad time to visit this beautiful country. Because New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are opposite of those in North America, Asia, and […]
Local Photographer’s Santa Barbara Food Tour
This Santa Barbara food tour trip report is brought to you by Jessica Roy who – as you’ll read below – had a great time sampling local culinary specialties as a guest of Eat This, Shoot That! Her guide and ETST owner Tara Jones is an expert foodie and a crash hot photographer. Tara attended Brooks Institute of Photography in […]
Santa Fe Opera – Musical New Mexico
Santa Fe Opera had been on my bucket list for years, and I finally got there last July. I’m happy to report that it was everything I’d hoped for and more. BTW, what I’d hoped for included an authentic travel experience (as well as world-class opera). As I’ve mentioned here before, two of my favorite ways […]
Authentic Barcelona Hotel and Opera Tour
This trip report was contributed by my friend Mary Anne Curray. She and husband Joe are avid travelers. Mary Anne previously wrote about their 14-day Rovos Rail Journey in southern Africa. We stayed at an authentic Barcelona hotel when we were in Spain in March – Hotel 1898, on Las Ramblas. Loved it. Great location. Good […]
Romantic Turtle Island Fiji
Turtle Island is not just the most romantic resort in Fiji, it’s one of the dreamiest places in the world. I’ve written about Turtle Island before, but my husband and I recently visited again, and I can’t resist telling you about the improvements. But first – some Turtle Island things that didn’t change The scenery […]
Florence Cooking Lessons and a Recipe
Florence Cooking Lessons was contributed by reader Art Moldavia from San Diego. If Florence is on your bucket list, you’ll also want to read his earlier trip report: “Authentic Florence – Places to Eat.” In 1979, Sharon Oddson and her artist husband, Giuliano “Il Garga” Gargani, opened the fine Italian restaurant Trattoria Garga on Via […]
New York Botanical Garden
The New York Botanical Garden wasn’t on my must-see list the first time I visited New York City. Nope. Instead, I chose to wait in line interminably to take the elevator to the top of the Empire State Building, and I rushed back and forth across Manhattan from one mega-museum to another. I don’t regret […]
Giverny – Monet’s Garden Travel Tips
Giverny – I’d dreamed about seeing this garden for at least a decade. Actually, maybe longer. I think I was still in high school when I wrote a term paper on the French Impressionist artist Claude Monet. In the process, I fell in love with his garden at Giverny, France. And now I was in […]
Tuscany Cooking School Trip Report
Remember the Tuscany cooking school contest? Last year Authentic Luxury Travel offered subscribers a chance to win a week at Il Campo Cucina, a unique cooking school in tiny Radicondoli. Andrea Cafarelle was the lucky winner. Did she have a good time at the Tuscany cooking school? Read her trip report: In June last year, […]
Best Things to Do in Warsaw, Poland
Lists of top things to do in Warsaw, Poland usually include museums and historic sights, but if you want to “live like a local” in this Eastern Europe capital you might want to consider a summer music concert. By the way, I’m not a big fan of this “live like a local” expression. Taken literally, it […]
Walking Vikos Gorge, Greece
“Walking Vikos Gorge” was contributed by Helena Dell’Orletta from Barrie, Ontario, Canada. She and Dino Dell’Orletta traveled in Greece during June 2014. Day 1 + 2: Corfu We have traveled to Europe many times, but Greece always seemed to elude us. When our favorite tour company, On Foot Holidays, added Walking Vikos Gorge in Greece, we didn’t hesitate. […]
Bainbridge Island WA – Best Things to Do
Bainbridge Island , a 35-minute ferry ride across Puget Sound from Seattle, is not on the “to do” list of most visitors to the Northwest. But maybe it should be on yours. The rustic/chic community is home to affluent commuters and retirees, not unlike Del Mar, just north of San Diego, and Carmel-by-the-Sea in Northern […]
Celebrate National Holidays in Latvia
National holidays in Latvia take place throughout the year, but the best are summer events. In Riga, as in other Baltic Sea cities, there is no better experience than to join locals in enjoying their summers. Locals worship their summer with warm winds and short nights when the sun barely sets. Sun-starved residents of Baltic Sea cities – including […]
Garden Tours – Meet Locals in San Diego, Seattle++
Garden tours are a great way to get to know a destination. That thought occurred to me yesterday during my “shift” as a Plant Information Volunteer at the Secret Garden Tour of La Jolla. As I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before on this blog, La Jolla is the part of San Diego, California, where I […]
