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Musings and Misc

Top Ten Gifts for the Travelers in your Life

Here are my top ten gifts for travelers this holiday season. This list is for men and women who are both leisure travelers and business travelers. These are products and services that I personally enjoy as a frequent traveler or that I really want myself! You won’t find any globe lamps or necklaces shaped like the continents. These ideas are specifically to address real needs and wants of travelers.   1. Stylish compression legwear I know, it’s not the sexiest part about travel but it’s a real consideration. Since my early twenties, I have had a problem with swelling in my legs when I fly on long-haul flights. This is common for many people of all ages on flights as…

St. Jude and my grandfather’s dream told by my aunt Marlo Thomas

Whenever I hear the story of how Danny Thomas created St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital I get the chills. His story pulls at my heart stings because I know how hard he worked. I know how many dedicated people rallied with him to make the dream come true. I know what an outstanding impact St. Jude is making in the world – saving children’s lives. I know because Danny Thomas was my grandfather. Throughout Thanksgiving week, my aunt, Marlo Thomas will be appearing on the Today Show talking about the hospital, introducing us to patients and helping us learn more about our groundbreaking research. Here are the appearances. I’m especially touched by the first one, telling the story of how…

Travel without a smart phone #ConvoStarter

Recently, I was having a juicy conversation with a friend about the use of smart phones while traveling. We agreed. They certainly make life easier. But they also take a lot of flavor out of travel, too. I asked him to write about his thoughts on the topic for this month’s installment of my Conversation Starter series. This is what Kyle had to say. “I don’t use my smart phone very often while traveling and here’s why. First off, I grew up camping with my family, and that’s like belonging to a traveling circus. Canvas tents and gear spilling out of every compartment in our car as we make home in another new park or forest. Then it was running…

Livret de famille

What is a Livret de Famille?

This blue velvet, gold-embossed gem is a Livret de Famille or family booklet. And if you are getting married in France, you’ll get one too. The Livret de Famille holds your new family’s official records of births and marriage information. And for the rest of one’s marriage, one must record all big family events in their book: the birth of children, adoption, any deaths in the immediate family, divorce, or separation. All families in France must hold onto their family booklet as it is required for official matters. For example, if you enroll your children in school, if you apply for some visas or citizenship, or if you buy property you’ll be asked to produce it. I’ll tell you one thing. I…

City Gender Paris

If your city had a gender, what would it be?

I must be in a weird mood. But walking around London today I couldn’t help but muse about how interesting this city is with it’s mix of bustling city life, historic and modern architecture, fashionable denizens, and animated foodie scenes. And all that contrasts the tranquil parks and calming canals. I sighed to myself, “London, I do love her.” But then I wondered, “wait, how did I come to the conclusion that London was a female?” Then that got me thinking, do cities have genders? I know…. Weird question. Certain cities have distinct genders to me. New York is undoubtedly male. Somehow it seems to have a permanent five-o’clock shadow. The subways and streets are dirty. Living there is no…

Ways of making local friends #ConvoStarter

Welcome to our second post of conversation starters! I say “our” because we are really doing this together, you and me, and other travelers or dormant travelers who join our conversation. In the first “Conversation Starter” post, we talked about whether or not making friends while traveling can transform and enhance the way we experience a destination. Many of the commenters raved about the enriching nature of these connections and even shared a few of their own travel stories. But one of the commenters, Ben, raised an issue that I often hear and wanted to highlight. He wrote: “OK, unlike the rest of the bunch, I actually do think it’s quite difficult to meet people in foreign countries in a…