I’m sitting on my suitcase in the hotel lobby in Berlin, hoping the latest addition of a hardback coffee table book will fit in with my life of 10 days. The bellhop stares at me and says, “Can I help you?” I guess I might look crazy to the naked eye but in reality I’m doing what I love to do, packing. Designer Diane Von Furstenberg says of packing, “When you figure out your suitcase, you figure out your life.” Most bemoan the packing process. It is one we try to make easier, quicker and lighter. However I have to agree with Diane. When you can figure out just what items are so important to Continue Reading
Suzy Stumbles Over Travel: Week of July 2, 2012
From another hot Monday in Denver, I bring you this week’s Suzy Stumbles Over Travel. In case you are new to this site, each week I ask bloggers/writers and readers to submit their favorite travel posts of the week. This can be from your own site or another writer’s piece. I read each submission, comment, tweet the article on Twitter, stumble the piece using Stumbleupon and post a link to the article on my Facebook page. The following week I select my five favorites to be featured here and the stumbling begins again into the next week. Just a few things to keep in mind, please only submit one Continue Reading
Alcúdia, Mallorca Wishes You Were Here
Early in the morning, I board the bus in Palma half asleep and wake at the Port d’Alcúdia. It feels as though a great deal of time has passed judging from the window-face I now adorn, but I’m just 54 kilometers from Palma. I have crossed the island to another world that knows no time. Alcúdia sits in northeastern Mallorca. While the historic center is the main attraction, I begin by exploring its waters at the port. The area affords over 30 kilometers of coastline, littered in sun-seekers, sands and holiday homes. It is possible to cruise the Badia d’Alcúdia, but not entirely Continue Reading
Berlin Through The Camera’s Cool Eyes
I arrived to Berlin on two hours of sleep in 48 hours, clearly at my best. Perhaps due to my lack of sleep, I saw Berlin in a two-day daze. From appreciating the breeze while biking through Tiergarten to feasting on Vietnamese food as my first meal with Anjelica Huston lookalikes at neighboring tables, I came home and wondered what was real and what was a figment of my jetlagged, zombie-like imagination. Throughout my time in the city, the words “trendy”, “dynamic” and “hip” could be heard through every nonexistent sleep cycle. Berlin did seem too cool for me, the sort of place where you Continue Reading
Suzy Stumbles Over Travel: Week of June 25, 2012
From 100°F heat in Denver, I bring you this week’s Suzy Stumbles Over Travel. In case you are new to this site, each week I ask bloggers/writers and readers to submit their favorite travel posts of the week. This can be from your own site or another writer’s piece. I read each submission, comment, tweet the article on Twitter, stumble the piece using Stumbleupon and post a link to the article on my Facebook page. The following week I select my five favorites to be featured here and the stumbling begins again into the next week. Just a few things to keep in mind, please only submit one post Continue Reading
Drottningholm Palace in Sweden Wishes You Were Here
Arriving to a palace after a bumpy bus ride seems fitting. You arrive as nothing and leave thinking yourself to be a little bit more royal, perhaps even above a bus seat. Like a dish of rich, creamy royal butter, Drottningholm Slott appears before me, set up on Drottningholm, literally Queen’s Island, just outside of Stockholm. Luckily its composition is nothing like butter for the Swedish sun has decided to shine. It would be a shame to see such a grand palace melt into nothing. The palace I admire today was built in 1662. However, the first royal residence to stand on these grounds did Continue Reading
Cheating Death on Stockholm’s Rooftops
“Don’t worry, we haven’t lost anybody yet,” my guide assures me. It’s the “yet” part that scares me. Would they really tell someone with a heart leaping out of her chest like a cartoon character if they lost someone or not? I put my faith in two Swedes that I won’t fall to my end as I observe others tiptoeing across the rooftop of Stockholm’s old Parliament building. Stockholm oozes sophistication, from its outward appearance of sparkling streets and grand buildings to inside its trendy bars where you get those looks that seem to say, “Are you lost?” Then again, Sweden’s capital has a Continue Reading