Welcome aboard Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas!  The Grandeur primarily sails out of Baltimore and was quite convenient for our two-year-old daughter Moorea’s first cruise.  The Grandeur has a crew of 760 and can host as many as 2400 passengers.  It launched back in 1996 and is registered in the Bahamas.  We opted for a spacious midship balcony on the 7th deck.  The view was terrific and was nice to be able to step out and feel the weather each morning.  A Starbucks coffee shop and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream parlor were a convenient two-minute walk from our cabin.  The ship’s Windjammer buffet is available for all three meals on the Lido deck.  Finer a la carte options are available at the Great Gatsby restaurant on the 4th deck.  They also offer room service and four specialty restaurants (we quite enjoyed Sushi at Izumi!).     The ship offers daily music and entertainment in the lounges.  Evenings feature dance and comedy shows in the palladium theatre. Adventure Ocean and t... » Click here for the full story.

    Bonjour and welcome to Montreal!  Montreal is located in the Quebec province of eastern Canada.  It is a French speaking island of more than 4 million people, second only to Paris as the largest French speaking city in the world.  We had heard that the city was full of parks and a wonderful destination for small children.  A ninety-minute flight from Philadelphia brought us to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport.  If that name sounds familiar, it’s because that’s the father of current Prime Minister (and Montreal native) Justin Trudeau.  We chose to stay in the Plateau district, about a half hour from the airport and 10 minutes north of the downtown waterfront.  Nash from Mimo Limousine provided excellent service.     We chose an award-winning three-star boutique hotel called the Auberge La Fontaine.  The hotel was situated directly across from the street from La Fontaine Park.  We chose their ex... » Click here for the full story.

   Welcome to Northern Ireland!  This year  Cassandra and I visited the stunning Antrim Coast of  Northern Ireland.  During our research we discovered that Ireland and Northern Ireland are two completely different countries – and they haven’t been on the friendliest of terms the past few decades.  Northern Ireland is part of the UK, is mainly Protestant and is loyal to England. The Republic of Ireland is Catholic and rejected England’s influence and sovereignty.  The Easter Rebellion of 1916 was the beginning of a long struggle for independence from England.  In 1948 an Irish Republic was formed in the south.  Northern Ireland remained under British control.  1968 marked the beginning of “the Troubles” – a religious conflict that claimed nearly 4,000 lives.  A peace wall was built to divide the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods.  Tourism opportunities finally brought stability. The ... » Click here for the full story.

     Slainte!  Welcome to Dublin, Ireland.  Cassandra and I took a mid November trip to Ireland’s capitol city.  Upon our arrival, we checked into the Westbury Hotel overlooking Grafton St.  Dublin’s premier shopping area, Grafton St. was bustling with a mix of early Christmas shoppers, street performers, pub enthusiasts and wide-eyed tourists taking in the sights.   Our room looked right across this car-free promenade and directly at the ornate façade of St. Ann’s Church.  After check-in, our first stop was the infamous Temple Bar pub district along the River Liffey.  The River Liffey flows through the heart of Dublin and exits into the Irish Sea. We took a few pictures of the famous Ha’penny bridge that spans the banks of the river before following the music to the pubs. Temple Bar is the liveliest neighborhood in all of Ireland.  The most famous pub in Temple Bar is aptly named “The T... » Click here for the full story.

     Welcome to Washington DC!  This year Cassandra and I spent some time during the Holidays in the festive metropolis of our nation’s capitol.  It would take weeks to see everything this dynamic city has to offer.  We covered as much ground as possible during our two night stay.  We wanted to make sure we had a great location so we could walk to many of the main attractions.  We decided on the W  Hotel on 15th St.   Known as the  Washington Hotel since 1918, this iconic building was bought by  Starwood Resorts in 2008.   The closest hotel to the White House, the Starwood is home to the iconic rooftop POV bar that offers amazing panoramic views of the U.S. Treasury, White House and Executive Building.  We were overjoyed with our 9th floor suite that looked out over the National Mall and the Washington Monument.     Our first stop was to get some lunch at Old Ebbit Grill.  Es... » Click here for the full story.

  Welcome to Kansas City!  This year’s annual father/son road trip was a visit to Kaufmann stadium to see how the Nationals stacked up against the 2015 World Series champs.  After a three-hour flight from Philly, we arrived in KC.  Kansas City straddles the states of Kansas & Missouri.  The city center, airport, major attractions and stadiums are all on the Missouri side.  We booked a suite at the Intercontinental hotel overlooking the Country Club Plaza.  The Plaza is a trendy  shopping & restaurant  district that is decorated by beautiful fountain-lined piazzas.  Kansas City has more than 200 public fountains which is second only to Rome.  Picturesque Brush Creek winds around the Plaza and is passable by a series of pedestrian bridges.   Upon arrival we made our way to the stadium for the Nats Monday night match-up with the Royals.  We sprung for tickets behind home plate that included access to the Crow... » Click here for the full story.

        Welcome to Disney World! Located in Orlando Florida, Disney World is known   as the “Happiest place on Earth”.  For Cassandra’s 40th birthday I knew I had to come up with something huge.  Since she was a little girl in England she’s always wanted to meet Mickey Mouse. Cassandra took me to an amusement park in Australia on my 30th b-day so I could feel like a kid again and I wanted to return the favor. This March her dreams came true with a surprise trip to the Magic Kingdom!     We stayed at Disney’s Contemporary Hotel and enjoyed a room with a balcony overlooking the Magic Kingdom.  The contemporary is one of three Disney resorts with access to the monorail.  The monorail is the quickest and most convenient way to travel between the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, the Contemporary, the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian Village resort.  It literally stops inside the 4th floor of the Contempor... » Click here for the full story.

    Welcome to Victoria Falls!  Known as Mosi – oa – Tunya (The Smoke that Thunders)  to the locals,  Vic Falls forms the natural border between Zambia & Zimbabwe.  It is the largest waterfall in the world based on its impressive width of 1708 metres and height of 108 metres.  While neither the tallest (Venezuela’s Angel Falls) or widest (Iguassu), it is the most voluminous and is twice the height and width of Niagara’s horseshoe falls.       Scottish explorer David Livingstone was the first European to see the falls and live to tell about it. He made his discovery  from an island in the Zambezi (later named Livingstone Island) in 1855 and named it after his queen.  The mighty Zambezi River feeds the falls which cascades into a series of gorges that provide the most intense white water rafting experience on the planet (the most intense rapids I’ve ever experienced - we had to get ou... » Click here for the full story.

      Dumela (Hello in Botswana), welcome aboard the Zambezi Queen! The Zambezi Queen is a luxury safari cruise boat that sails on the Chobe River between Botswana & Namibia.  The Chobe is a tributary of the mighty Zambezi. The ZQ  sails out of Kasane, Botswana. The vessel slowly glides through the Chobe National Park and passengers enjoy amazing unobstructed views of the world’s largest concentration of Elephants.     There are ten cabins and four master suites onboard the vessel. Dining and cocktails are all inclusive and it’s easy to quickly make friends during your stay.  I was the only American aboard the 2016 New Year’s Eve sailing.  We enjoyed meeting guests from South Africa, Australia, Norway, Japan and France, including three couples on their Honeymoon.  Once aboard we instantly fell in love with the panoramic views from our master suite.  From our front deck we could see Elephants bathin... » Click here for the full story.

    Mwapona (Tongan greeting), welcome to Tongabezi, Zambia!  Tongabezi is a magical resort located on the Zambian side of the Zambezi River, upstream from Victoria Falls.  About eight years ago we found the Tongabezi website while doing a Google search for African tree house hotels.  It took a while for Cassandra and I to finally make the journey, but it was everything we imagined and more!  Getting there entailed a 17-hour non-stop flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa, followed by a 2-hour flight to Kasane, Botswana.  After a 4-night Chobe River Cruise on the Zambezi Queen, we ferried around the Zimbabwe border and crossed into Zambia.  An hour drive finally brought us to our destination.     The resort is hidden from view, down a dirt road about 2 KM off the highway.  There’s no parking lot – just a clearing where the jungle opens up and a flight of stairs descends through the greenery and dow... » Click here for the full story.