Point, Shoot, Picture

I splurged and bought a new camera today. Bill at Bromfield Camera in Boston talked me through my decision and I walked out with a Nikon Coolpix S600. It's Nikon's new digital compact camera and so far, I'm completely confused as to how it works. But, I charged the battery and inserted the memory card correctly so I'm 2 for 2.

I might have to break down and read the directions, but what I do know is that with a 10-megapixel, 4x-optical zoom and 3200 ISO features it's going to take some amazing landscape pictures in Tuscany.

Best Breakfast in Boston: Toro

Run, do not walk, to Toro Restaurant in Boston's South End. This funky little place serves a bull of a breakfast.

I met a girlfriend at 11 a.m. and it's a good thing we were both there on time. The place filled up within 15 minutes and for good reason. The brunch menu is beyond words. Choose from french toast, various egg dishes, empanadas and an exotic array of side dishes. I fell in love with my scrambled eggs, asparagus and avocado plate. But the way to my heart is through plantains, and Toro had them... baked, not fried, and perfectly arranged on a pretty white plate.

It's truly the little things in life that make a difference. After licking my plate clean we kept the indulgence going by treating ourselves to a pedicure. It's the perfect way to spend a Sunday.

Nantucket Reserved!

My flight is reserved (courtesy of Cape Air), my hotel is booked and my rental car will be waiting for me when I arrive in Nantucket next Friday evening. My Dad asked who I was taking with me and I told him I was going alone. He seemed to think that was odd; I think it's therapeutic.

I've scoped out some must-do's such as the lighthouse tours and a wine tasting at the local vineyard. Also on the list:

• Find the best ice cream cone
• Take in a Nantucket sunset
• Trek the perfect hiking trail
• Grab a burger and a beer in an off-the-beaten path place
• Hunt for the must-have Nantucket trinket of the season

My only concern: it's supposed to rain next Friday. I'm not sure how I feel about flying in an 8-seater during a rain storm. But my friends have assured me it's going to be fine. Ironically, none of them have ever flown to Nantucket in an 8-seater Cessna during a rain storm.

Spell-check on the Road

This is what I call "activism travel" - two guys hop in their Nissan and hit the road in an effort to fix highway grammar. You know the misspellings I'm talking about...

Found: One Large Python

Story: A woman recently moved into her new apartment and is enjoy her peaceful surroundings while watching TV when a python slithers out from behind the entertainment center.

Definition of a python: Pythons are large and muscular, and kill their prey by squeezing, or constricting, until it suffocates. Although most feed on small mammals, some large species can kill and swallow small pigs and goats.

Oh hell no. Pack up, move out, end of story. I can squash a bug. Cockroaches are ugly creatures, but they aren't going to eat me alive. Mice will dine on your open bag of pasta, but they will not slither into bed with you.

If anything is going to slither into bed with me, it's sure as hell not going to be someones missing pet python.

Cheap Finds Travel: Nantucket

Some people have spouses and children; I have travel. Traveling to new places is what keeps me going. I love the people, the atmosphere, the adventure. So when a particular airline asked to fly me to Nantucket for a weekend, put me up in a hotel, give me a rental car and set me free on the island to research the best "finds" for an inexpensive Nantucket getaway, who am I to say no? I'm on my way next weekend...

ゲーム過剰 (Game Over)

I'm a big fan of learning new languages. It can only help you when you're traveling, and it certainly helps the career track when you're fluent in a few dialects. But unless you're absolutely sure what you're saying, be careful about what you put in print.

It's baseball season and in Boston, Red Sox fever is hot. But the Sox are in Japan playing their season openers and we're stuck rooting for them on the other side of the world (and getting up at 3 a.m. to watch the games). Boston.com posted a new logo alongside Japanese text which we're told means "Go Red Sox," but how can you be so sure?

I have a friend, who has a friend, who went to China on vacation. During his trip he went to a tattoo parlor and asked to have "Spirit of the Dragon" inscribed permanently in Chinese on his body. The poor lad didn't know Chinese. The real translation of his tattoo means "Egg Roll $1"

Moral of the story: As my good friend Jane points out, "If you are an English-speaking person, your cultural heritage provides many attractive symbols and phrases that you can read. Use them."

Fueling the Friendly Skies

In an effort to chuck her socialite want-for-nothing image, Paris Hilton has pledged to donate her time and money to charity events around the world. The plans for her first party in Johannesburg, South Africa, were no doubt underway when she boarded a jet plane alongside new boyfriend Benji Madden on Tuesday. But Little Miss Paris has enraged some local environmentalists. Seems the global heiress has logged more than 20,000 air miles in 12 days.

Talk about leaving your footprint in the friendly skies!

For those of you green-conscience travelers, Climate Care is a great site for determining the amount of carbon emissions during travel.

Golden Coronas in the South Pacific

Two of my girlfriends departed at 7 a.m. for a 10-day vacation in the South Pacific. The trip leaves Boston and lands in Los Angeles where the girls have a few hours layover before making their connecting flight to Tahiti. They'll spend a night in Tahiti before grabbing their diving gear, underwater cameras and yes, Coronas, and sailing out to sea. Suz and Sandy are no strangers traveling in style so it was no surprise when they made sure their 40-foot chartered boat was stocked with Corona.

I received a text message letting me know they arrived in Los Angeles and were enjoying a Corona at the airport. Apparently the U.S. dollar is good for something right now -- beer. The two cases of Corona they purchased for the yacht cost $160. I'd be looking for gold in the bottom of that beer bottle!

Savory Sticks

Part of conforming to other cultures means trying new things, even if those new things are in your backyard. There's nothing wrong with a little eccentricity at home! So when you choose a restaurant location for a Saturday night out with your friends, make a point to try something new. Example: a dinner on sticks!

STIX is a new restaurant in Boston's Back Bay that serves its meals on (you guessed it) sticks. But it's more than a shish-kabob; it's foie gras on sticks, curried shrimp on sticks, duck a'Lorange on sticks, and sashimi tuna on sticks. Start with the plentiful cheese plate and a bottle of wine from the very reasonably-priced wine list. Each "stix" plate comes with three sticks -- a perfect amount of food for one person -- so get a few stix that everyone can share and enjoy. It's a great twist on the "family style" concept.

Pre-dinner p.s. Go early and have a drink at the bar. The Grey Goose Sparkling Pear cocktail is a nice start to a funky night.

Only in America, March 2008

Only in America can you pick up a prescription and a Lean Cuisine meal in one location.

Only in America would you pay a valet $10 to park your car in the open spot two steps from the front door of the restaurant.

Only in America would two women engrossed in conversation ignore you if trip and fall while walking in front of them, and not stop to make sure that person was OK. (Admittedly, I had a couple cocktails, but I blame the loose brick on the sidewalk for my slip). By the way ladies, I'm fine.

Only in America would U.S. State Department employees search the passport files of hopeful presidential candidates.

Table for One, Please

There's been a lot of discussion lately about the over-30 single women who are drying up and will die alone and childless (and grandchildless). I've tried to dismiss the articles (which I will link to in this post even though I don't believe they deserve the page views) but the most recent study has prompted me to post and discuss. It claimed women who are in healthy marriages have healthier hearts than single women. Let's take a step back and really look at this.

The first of the recent "save your ovaries" articles was published in The Boston Globe's BostonWorks section on March 2. Penelope Trunk's Climb column declared that those women who were raised by Baby Boomers (today's over 30 crowd) and were passionately told to follow their dreams and focus on themselves, will inevitably wind up childless because they took the advice of their parents. She writes:

"No generation of women has had more trouble with fertility than this generation, who received the terrible baby boomer advice, 'Wait. You have time. Focus on your career first.'"

Terrible baby boomer advice? I'd like to take a moment and thank my Mom and Dad - the "Baby Boomers" - who told me to focus on my career. Thanks to their terrible advice, I am living quite an enjoyable life. I've got money in the bank, a respectable career and a soft spot for a good, dry martini. Sure, they secretly wish grandchildren would arrive, but they also appreciate that I'm happy. This is a good time to point out that I'm not opposed to meeting a nice guy with good values who might want to settle down someday, but that day is not right now. Does that make me a washed-up hag, Penelope? Think again.

When I woke up Thursday morning to Diane Sawyer on Good Morning, America, I anticipated a typical Thursday. Get my coffee, stroll into work, research some articles and schedule some interviews. Meet friends for dinner. Until Diane asked aloud on national television, "Do married women have healthier hearts than single women?" Oh, Diane!

In a recent study conducted by Brigham Young University, doctors determined that a good marriage equals good blood pressure and a bad marriage is "worse than being single." Let's say that again... "worse than being single." As if being single is the very last thing in the world you would ever want to be?!

One of my married co-workers had this to say: "Studies have shown red wine helps promote a healthy heart. Being single means you don't have to share the bottle of red wine."

Amen, sister! If being single means my heart is open to explore the endless possibilities that life brings my way, sign me up. That seems like a pretty healthy way of living.

Thoughts?

Au revoir, Air France! Save Alitalia!

There are few airlines I will refuse to fly. In fact, if the price is right, I'll sit with the chickens in cargo as long as I get to where I need to be safely. But there is one airline that grates my nerves thanks to their basic lack of customer service: Air France. You can image my annoyance today when Alitalia (the airline with whom we purchased our Tuscany flights) announced they've accepted a takeover bid from Air France.
I took a deep breath, prayed this wouldn't effect anything before June, and had flashbacks of the unfortunate Air France travel to Portugal last fall...

We were scheduled to leave on a Friday evening flight from Boston to Paris. Since I had recently quit my job and was enjoying a life of leisure, I was at home on the day of our departure getting some last-minute freelance articles complete before I had to pack. I wasn't meeting my girlfriends until 7pm, so I had plenty of time...or so I thought.

Thanks to the efficient travel reps at Expedia.com, I received an email informing me that my Air France flight had been changed. Important note: My friends who purchased the same flights through Air France did not receive any email or phone call alerting them to their changed flight. But I digress... Changed flight times are not usually a problem - happens all the time, actually, when airlines experience delays. So I called Expedia and was informed that my flight had been delayed ... until Sunday. Oh hell no.

After a frantic phone call to friend Sarah, who was organizing the Portugal trip, we arranged for Air France to fly us from Boston to New York, New York to Paris, Paris to Portugal, but we had to leave in three hours. THREE HOURS! The psycho packing that followed really deserves an honorable mention. Not only did I remember all my clothes, shoes and toiletries - I got it all in a carry-on bag. (Get real, people. If you think I was going to check my bags through three cities you're insane. I don't have that much faith.)

I rush to the airport and wait for my friends in the bar. We board the plane, get to NY on time and head to our connecting flight to Paris. On the way we meet Anthony, the one and only consumer-friendly person at Air France. Anthony gets all four of us seats together and secures us an early boarding pass to get comfy on the plane. Unfortunately for me, I was stuck in the middle. Fortunately, I was seated in between my girlfriends so extending across the two for a quickie nap wasn't an awkward thought, as it would have been if I were seated between strangers.

Finally, our seats. We can relax. Breathe. Take in a movie. Or not...
As if the day hadn't been frustrating enough, I was now on a packed flight to France in the middle seat with a busted TV. No movies. No games. No entertainment. 8 hours. God help me.

Alas, we landed in Paris with 45 minutes to get our connecting flight to Portugal. Let me say that again... 45 minutes to get our connecting flight. If you've ever been to the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport you know how very impossible this connection is, but there are four women on a mission: GET TO PORTUGAL. So we grabbed our bags and hauled ass across the airport.

Tip#1: Always wear running shoes when you travel. Your two-inch sandals that look great with your new vacation outfit will not hold up when you're hauling ass across airports.

We made it to the gate - with 15 minutes to spare!! And as the Air France air attendant closed the door in our face and said, "No more passengers," four overly-tired women had visions of homicide variations dancing through their heads.

The plane is right there!! It doesn't leave for 15 minutes!! But apparently, Air France can change the rules at any minute and thus, we were stuck in the airport for four hours until the next flight to Lisbon was scheduled to depart...not on time...apparently, delays are common with Air France.

Tip #2: Always start your conversation/complaint to Air France representatives with "Bonjour." If you don't, it's likely you'll get the available seat next to the lavatory on your next Air France flight. Just ask our friend Jenn.

We finally arrived in Selema, Portugal, 36-hours later. Lo and behold, those who checked bags had to wait up to three days for them to arrive. But there was wine, so we were happy.

Please airline Gods - Save Alitalia!! And please, if I may, would you keep our already booked flights the same because we just hired a car to whisk us through Rome during the five-hour layover before we head to Tuscany...

Lala Lamb

Boston's Restaurant Week is one of the best weeks of the year. Hundreds of restaurants around town come up with new creations for a three-course meal that costs a mere $33.09. (Small caveat: This amount does not include alcohol, which can quickly turn your $33.09 meal into $103.09)

My goal is to try two new restaurants during Restaurant Week (which, incidentally, is a two-week period). The first was Lala Rokh, a Persian restaurant in Beacon Hill. I love the spices and smells of Middle Eastern food so I was looking forward to this meal. I met my friend, Public Relations Guru Tara, at 7:30 and we were promptly seated at our table. First up: the wine menu. We choose a nice Pinot Noir and eagerly awaited the cork being pulled out of that gorgeous black glass bottle. Following our first sip, we ordered our meal.

• Eggplant appetizer salad with chickpeas, mild goat cheese and a sauce so good you would lick it off the floor


• Tara's dinner: beef saute with spiced rice and couscous


• My dinner: Lamb shank.

Quick point: I don't eat lamb. But I wanted to try something new and I was feeling brave, so I ordered the lamb. I did not know the "lamb shank" was the muscle, thus creating a work-for-your-meal episode when attempting to get the mean from the bone into my mouth. I'll admit, I gave up. The Lala Lamb, in theory, was a bold choice. But I turned in the lamb leg for a nice piece of salmon. Sometimes, it's just best to stick with what you know.

Entertaining is Exhausting

Something happens when you turn 30. Your body does an analysis of the past decade and decides how much it's willing to let you slide this decade. If you played your 20s hard, your body might force a little nesting. If you had your nose in the books for most of the past decade, your body might to decide to kick-it into high gear and push the limits a little. For me, I overextended my welcome during my 20s. Once I hit 30, my body said, "Hell no." And years later, my body still doesn't want to cooperate.

Now that I'm done with the books, have my degrees and enjoying a successful career, I figure I'm afforded a little down time. Hell no. When you're the only one who lives in the city (single) and isn't obligated to be home to tuck the kids you don't have in bed, you are by default the "entertainer." And while entertaining is fun, it's also exhausting. This entertaining is with people who actually have a hand in your career. So after a long day at the office, now you have to be "on." I have to actually be polite and pleasant after work-hours!! Thank god for red wine.

Airfare Rule #1: Buy Your Ticket, and Never Look Back

Yesterday, I found a fare from Boston to Pisa (one stop, exit row seating, if you remember) at a not-so-great-bargain. We purchased the tickets -- it was time -- we were ready -- the trip has already cost us a blooming fortune. This morning, as if the Expedia Gods were punishing me for buying through Cheaptickets, there was a message in my inbox:

"Fares to Pisa have dropped!" Eagerly, I click the "book now" button just to see if they really have dropped. They did. They dropped $296!

$296 = $194 Euros
$296 = Round-trip airfare to Las Vegas where I could conceivably win enough money to pay for the trip to Tuscany
$296 = Enough money to pay my accountant for doing my taxes

But I will not look back. Tickets are purchased on Delta, seats are occupied. Delta had better bring me roses and call me Queen when I board the plane.

84 Days Until Tuscany

Co-worker Heather and I are traveling to Tuscany this June for a writer's conference/personal exploration. This trip is what one would consider not using the dollar to its advantage. There is nothing remotely inexpensive about a trip to Tuscany, but I'm going anyway. And truth be told, it's incredibly tempting to think about making this a one-way trip...

Trip Details:

8 days in Lucca, Tuscany, on an ancient estate

1/2 days spent writing and crafting creative works with authors/publishers

other 1/2 days spent making cheese (side note: we'll be waking at 4am to travel to the shepherdess to watch begin the pecorino and ricotta cheese-making), touring vineyards and -- dig this -- making limoncello.

Shout out to the conference organizer who put "lollying by the pool" into the schedule. God bless the organizer who can actually work pool time into a schedule.

And today, the last piece of the puzzle, we purchased our plane tickets. They were not cheap, but at least we're flying Delta (an international well-known airline) and the Delta Gods were smiling upon us ... seats 21F and 21G EXIT ROWS!

Frogger Travel Tip: If you book airline tickets through a one-off ticketing agency (cheaptickets.com, orbitz.com, travelocity.com, expedia.com) you may not be able to immediately choose your seat assignments. Book your travel and wait for your confirmation, then go to the airline's Web site and choose your seats from their site.

Keep Your Mood Stabilizers Out of My Toilet

Listen, if you need antibiotics, antidepressants, anti-any-drug-you-need-to-make-it-all-better, I have no problem with that. But, when it ends up flushing through your system via the toilet and into my drinking water, I have to take a stand. That's simply disgusting, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is to blame.

A new report out from the AP find pharmaceuticals in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans. The study is quite long but it's worth a read.

Living in a Pasteurized World

I had dinner last night with a co-worker at a new organic raw food restaurant in Boston. The idea of a raw food diet is appealing, especially when you're trying to lose weight and "get healthy" but cheese made out of almonds is a bit peculiar. I digress...

As we were talking about her upcoming travels to Paris and Spain, we reminisced about our favorite restaurants in Europe. There is simply nothing like dining on a baguette and a cheese in Paris or a whole salted sea bass in Marbella. There's nothing fake about the food. It doesn't need to be organic or raw - it's healthy for being unpasteurized. We sipped some more of our macrobiotic wine and nursed our organic buzz a little longer before asking for the check.

Total amount for raw food made into molds and masquerading as real food: $200.00
Total amount for simply pure and un-hormonized food: priceless.

Moral of the story: Yes, the dollar sucks and it's expensive to travel overseas, but at least you know when you're there the food is fresh and cheese is made from milk (goat, cow or sheep is country depending).

We left the overly-expensive new restaurant and went up the street for a martini, and an appetizer.