Dream Las Mareas, located in Guanacaste, Costa Rica was my first experience staying in a luxury chain brand resort. I have previously stayed in several all-inclusive resorts located throughout the Caribbean; St. Lucia, Jamaica, Punta Cana, and Riviera Maya. While my husband and I prefer to vacation at tropical all-inclusive resorts, we tend to shy […]
Category: Travel Diaries
Exploring The Macabre And Fascinating Polar Museum In Tromsø, Norway
During our trip to Tromsø, in early September 2018, one of the places I was keen to visit was the Polar Museum in Tromsø, Norway. Fresh from having binge-watched the Netflix series, The Terror, a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition to the Arctic in 1845–1848, and my interest in Polar exploration whetted, […]
Why I Chose To Visit Tromsø For My Northern Lights Bucket List Tour
In the novel, The Drifters, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author James A. Michener, the second chapter is about the flaxen-haired Britta Bjørndahl, an 18-year-old girl from Tromsø, Norway. After finishing school, she finds a job in an office at the docks, but eventually becomes curious about the world beyond Tromsø, and goes to vacation in Torremolinos, […]
Chasing the Northern Lights From Tromsø With GuideGunnar
“How do you sleep during the Midnight Sun?” I asked GuideGunnar. “I close my eyes,” he said, tongue-in-cheek, eliciting a laugh from us as we waited for the Northern Lights to appear at Rekvikeidet, a chilly, open plateau near Tromvik. Arun and I shivered in the icy winds, looking to the heavens for a glimpse […]
Lyngen North: Northern Lights, Fjords and Fogbows
The Northern lights danced above our heads, cascading across the clear autumn sky in an explosion of green and purple. As they raced in an arc across the heavens, the lights waxed and waned, and I gave up trying to use a tripod in my effort to catch something of them before they completely vanished. […]
Park Hyatt Goa Resort And Spa Review: Pousadas, Ponds, and Portuguese Influences
Some of the images and information in this review were provided on request by the Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa. A light rain was falling as I alighted at the lobby of the Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa in Cansaulim, a 5-star luxury hotel in South Goa. I stepped out of the car […]
A Weekend At Baga Beach, Goa: Misty Mornings And Mambo Nights
The weekend trip I took to Goa in February 2005 was very different from any other trips I had taken. First, because I went with three other people I had only met once! And second, because we stayed in North Goa. I usually prefer the South because the beaches are much more beautiful and secluded […]
A Trip To Ladakh: Leh – Nubra Valley – Pangong Tso
Whenever I saw images of Ladakh, they conjured up for me a land of stark mountain ranges, serene high-altitude lakes, and blue skies contrasting with cold desert landscapes. When I finally did my bucket list trip in May 2016, I found my imagination was not far from the truth. I had no desire to land […]
A Weekend At Treasure Island Resort, Lonavala
The mist rolled down over the hills, green and wet with the rain. Little waterfalls burst forth from the verdant foliage as we drove past on the expressway from Pune to Lonavala. Treasure Island Resort, Lonavala, is just on the outskirts of Lonavala town. You have to pass another toll naka (post) and a few […]