I love wandering the streets of a city, never any specific direction in mind, just wandering up and down the streets, popping into any little shop or gallery that may catch my eye, stopping for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine when I get a little tired.
Wandering is a great way to get to know a city, not so much for a tourist point of view, but getting to know it as a resident.  Besides that, you get to discover some great little places.
A few months back, I was in the Upper Noe area and came across …read more

I think that Bugsy Siegel had the right concept about Las Vegas ““ it’s all about image ““ whether that image is about being a high roller, living the high life (even if for only a day), or the opportunity to be bigger than life. 
Image seems to be what the commercials are selling as well, when they tout, “what happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas.”  Really ““ do that many people who visit Las Vegas have clandestine stories that need to be hidden away and never talked about?  Probably not.  It’s all about image.
Vegas has tried to make …read more

The bane of every traveler’s life is dryness.  Dry air, dry eyes, dry nasal passages, dry hair, dry everything!  Well — some of those just aren’t problems that can be solved with an item that is gift appropriate.
But, here’s a great gift idea to help combat the dry skin that is the result of too much time spent on an airplane or in a hotel room:  the 60-Second Fix Kit for Hands from Crabtree & Evelyn.  A co-worker turned me on to this product, and if it works for me, it will work for anyone.
The wonders of this product have …read more

It seems that new services, products and websites are cropping up as fast as travel security directives are changing.  I guess that proves, once again, that necessity is the mother of invention.
I’ve made it a practice to write about, recommend or showcase only those goods, services, products, and destinations, that I have personally checked out, or that come highly recommended by an inner cadre of trusted traveler friends.  But with things changing as fast as they have been lately, I don’t want to miss telling everyone about what’s NEW in travel.
So, I’m going to pass along information about these new businesses.  …read more

Some things just go together:  soup & sandwiches, love & marriage, macaroni & cheese, horse & carriage, and a martini & a manicure.
Okay, so I thought those last items were only on my togetherness list, until I went to the Beauty Bar, on Manhattan’s lower east side.
It’s a bar.  It’s a beauty parlor.  Wait, it’s a bar in a former beauty parlor.  And it hasn’t lost any of its retro glamour chic.  The owner refers to it as a beauty saloon.
The concept has expanded, and now Beauty Bar is located in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Austin, and Las Vegas.
Each …read more