Hometown: Washington, DCOccupation: Journalist/Political AnalystFavorite destinations: Beirut, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Barcelona. Dying to visit: Buenos Aires.Bizarre travel rituals: I am so used to traveling alone, it is bizarre, though recently lovely, to travel with another. In-flight relaxation regime: None really, though I watch more Kate Hudson movies in the air than I would otherwise. Always in carry-o

On his first trip to Istanbul, Los Angeles creative director Saam Gabbay is overwhelmed by the vigor, chaos, and intensity of the East-meets-West town.ISTANBUL – Ive fallen I love. Let me describe her:Shes older than I am.
 She smokes like a fiend.
 She stinks, especially in the summer. 
Eats meat.
 Her arteries are clogged.
 And shes split right down the middle.Her name is Istanbul.I was into my third week of a nine-week trip through

Hometown: Placerville, California (birthplace); SoHo, New York (adopted neighborhood).Occupation: Fashion entrepreneur, lifestyle junkie.Favorite destinations: Paris, New York, beaches Ive yet to visit.Dying to visit: Thailand, India, Africa, Russia.Bizarre travel rituals: I have a whole kit of carry-on stuff that probably leaves my neighbors wondering if Im Monks weird sister.In-flight relaxation regime: Put airline pillow in cashmere blan

Welcome to the Expat Chronicles, which looks at what happens when the foreign destination becomes the new home. Our debut installment comes from Lou Cuthbertson, who last year decamped from London to Switzerland with her Irish husband and toddler son and infant daughter.A year ago this week, we moved to Zurich. In that time, we have made a few inane observations, including:- It is easy, and embarrassing, to mix up huhn wasser (chicken&

This is the next installment of the Swiss Family Cuthbertson, our new Expat Chronicles series. Supermarket shopping is never fun, even at the best of times. But I look back in near-fondness to the days of Sainsburys on the Cromwell Road in London when faced with the weekly shop here in Zurich. (Ah, the glamour of my life). The shops here are overrun by women carrying delicate little wicker baskets that fit a bunch of asparagus (in seas

Hometown: Manhattan.Occupation: Literary publicist, Kimberly Burns PR.Favorite destinations: Paris, Rhône-Alpes, Gulf of Morbihan, Berlin, Los Angeles (all of it), Southern Maine, Michigans Upper Peninsula.Dying to visit: The Jura and the Vosges for the skiing, the water, the air, the Alps, the forests, the châteaux, the food, the cheese, the wine, and the people. Bizarre travel rituals: Double vodka tonic at airport b

Hometown: Waterbury, CTOccupation: Chef/Owner of Scarpetta & D.O.C.G. RestaurantsFavorite destinations: Difficult to answer…I tend to travel depending on my mood. In autumn and spring, my favorite destinations are the mountains of Austria, Bavaria, and Südtirol of Italy. In the summer, I love the beaches of St. Barths and visiting my wife’s family in Bodrum, Turkey.Dying to visit: Southeast Asia — Singapore, Thai

 On a recent three-day trip to Doha, Qatar, Becca Bergman found it an odd place with not a ton to see. With one striking exception.Dear Museum of Islamic Art,I havent felt this way about a building in a long time. From the moment I walked through your doors, I was filled with a giddy, nervous excitement. I know, youre a building. And yet. Your soaring, central atrium, with light spilling from a central oculus, is captivating.

When I travel, I agonize about what to pack. Despite a decade of professional airport hopping (first as a tour guide and now as a travel writer), I still havent perfected the carefree, carry-on-only style of jetsetting. That problem was solved for me when I spent five weeks in Europe this spring filming a new TV show, Local Currency. I had one outfit per city, repeated for each of the five days we shot. That meant five identical shirts, plu

Hometown: Depends on the project.Occupation: Filmmaker, Environmentalist, Founder-Executive Director of CauseCentric Productions (non-profit)Favorite destinations: The Amazon, France, under water, on top of a mountainDying to visit: Indonesia, Mongolia, Amazon (again)Bizarre travel rituals: None too bizarre.In-flight relaxation regime: Watching one movie after another when I can choose them.Always in carry-on: Computer, camera and lenses, v

Hometown: LondonOccupation: Head of PR/Marketing and PT, Lomax Bespoke Fitness, Nutrition and Wellbeing.Favorite destinations: Sardinia, The Luberon, Amagansett.Dying to visit: Peru, Tanzania, Argentina, Vienna.Bizarre travel rituals: I have three pieces of jewelry that I must put on in a very specific order. A necklace my Nana gave to me before she died, the bracelet I was given when my son was born, a necklace with my childrens names engr

I first heard about the Wallace Collection, an intimate museum in the former home of Sir Richard Wallace, located in a quiet square just behind Selfridges, from a friend. I actually found by chance months later when taking a lunchtime short cut to get to the nearby communications agency where I was working. It was an assignment that I was not enjoying, full of office politics and reorg tension. My salvation, the thing that kept me goin

Even in this progressive, bohemian city of Berlin, reminders of war are everywhere. Awkwardly shaped parks reveal watch towers from the Wall era. An ornate cathedral discloses gaping holes in its knave — now a courtyard garden. Indestructible air raid shelters, showing distress from bullets and bombs, gets adapted into theater space. The extent of the damage (physically, psychologically) is impossible to

Hometown: MiamiOccupation: Writer/creative writing professorFavorite destinations: Anywhere in Spain; I lived in Seville for a year and used to lead these language learning trips for Putney Student Travel from Llanes down to Cadiz. I was just talking with a friend about how much we miss tinto de verano, which is red wine mixed with Fanta limon that everybody drinks en masse in an intergenerational party in the plazas of Seville in summertim

The moral of the story: When someone invites you to visit their Alpine castle, you accept. Especially when that someone is a charming hostess and daughter of a famous modernist poet, and that castle doubles as a living agricultural museum and center for literature. SOUTH TYROL, Italy – One spring, I traveled to the Italian Alps to visit Mary de Rachewilz, Ezra Pounds daughter. She lives in a spectacular castle she refurbished at

Hometown: New York CityOccupation: WriterFavorite destinations: Pukapuka in the Cook Islands, Venice, the weird Mongolian-like steppes of Wyoming.Dying to visit: MadagascarBizarre travel rituals: Lots of pens. I put my hand in my purse and it comes out as blue as a Bedouins third wifes but without the nice henna design.In-flight relaxation regime: What? Relax? I have hours to myself relatively distraction-free. A whole novel could unfold be

They couldnt understand the words, but they totally understood the meaning. Discovering the mysteries of fado in Lisbon. A reader story.LISBON, Portugal – We had spoken to Ricardo, the concierge at our hotel, Dom Pedro Palace, about the fado music he played, and he wrote down the name of the restaurant where he had a gig on Thursday, our last night in Lisbon. He played there every week, but he warned us that there was a chance h

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan – Ive been spending time in Kyrgyzstan this last year, building a collaboration with master artisans around a shyrdak (felt rug) collection for my company, laviva home.In Kyrgyzstan, the awe-inspiring mountains and landscapes (towering mountains, forest-lined lakes, red-rock formations like those in the US Southwest) contrast sharply with the eerily post-Soviet cities and villages. A former Soviet-republic, Kyrgyzstan has had a

In late July 2012, an estimated 48 people were killed in Khorog as a result of clashes between Tajik rebels and the government, as reported by UPI. As a consequence, the U.S. Department of State has issued a travel warning for visitors in the area. But when Wall Street Journal editor Dennis Berman and his wife visited the former Soviet republic, theirs was an altogether different experience of waterfalls, sand dunes, villages, cherries, and

My grandfather showed me how to play Harry Belafonte on his Electrohome record player at age three (it was a suped-up console and it was beautiful); my brother tricked me into listening to Dolly Parton (all ten albums he owned at the time) with him at age ten; and Ive been crafting mix CDs for boyfriends and precious friends since I was a teen.Im also into rituals. My friend Steph and I make an annual trip (a friendship honeymoon of sorts)