On our second night in Croatia, we decided to go out as a group for dinner. All 24 of us! We walked to a pizza restaurant, but several of us grew impatient as we waited and waited for service. So we left, in search of something else to eat. Rose (my San Diego buddy), Ty (one of the Wisconsinites), and I headed back along the beach the way we’d come. A smiling woman greeted us outside of an open-air restaurant. “I’ve saved the best table just for you!” she grinned and gestured to a table in the sand, just feet…

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wine country in Mexico

I have to say: I’m a bit ashamed. I call myself a travel writer, and yet, I live 20 minutes from an international border that I rarely cross. Last winter, I visited wine country in Mexico and realized the error of my ways. On a trip with my local Travel Massive group (which consists of travel bloggers and travel professionals), I sampled some impressive wines in Valle de Guadalupe. An hour away from home. Isn’t it beautiful? This post is to inspire me and remind me that I need to plan another trip to wine country in Mexico. Wanna go…

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monastiraki

With only 24 hours in Athens, I had to be selective with where I spent my time. I looked up interesting neighborhoods in the Greek capital and landed on the Monastiraki neighborhood (as well as Plaka), which was a short walk from my hotel. I knew I’d arrived when I found myself on a narrow street flanked by store after store, selling everything from evil eye charms to cell phone chargers.  I wandered through the labyrinth, then found myself on a shorter street selling antiques. Stacks of china, religious icons, and silver wobbled precariously while shop owners gossiped over cigarettes.…

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Hundertwasser House

Barcelona has Gaudí. Vienna has Friedensreich Hundertwasser. I didn’t go looking for the Hundertwasser House in Vienna. It found me as I was wandering through the Austrian streets. This apartment building, built between 1983 and 1985, looks like a child crafted it from Play-Doh and then stuck plants in it. But it works. It is now one of Vienna’s most popular tourist destinations. So much so, the architect designed Hundertwasser Village, next door, to capitalize on the tourism trade. The apartment building has more than 200 trees and shrubs on the balconies and roof terraces, making the Hundertwasser House a…

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