It wasn’t long into our relationship when my then-boyfriend, now husband, asked me if I would ever consider living in his native England. While trying to play down my initial “holy crap, this might just be serious” reaction, I immediately answered with a solid yes. Fast forward a few years and a couple of kids later and you couldn’t drag my card-carrying, U.S. citizen husband off American soil. The great weather and excellent job opportunities of the Bay Area had sucked him in for good. … //READ MORE

Every season has its hue. Summer comes in shades of blue, from those periwinkle vacation skies to the deepest turquoise waters. Autumn’s treasure is its gold, red and orange harvest. And those “hazy shades of winter” range from cobalt gray to snow white. But what about spring? Yes, grass green and yellow sunshine and purple tulips come to mind. But in blessed places around the world, this season also brings an abundance of pink—in the stunning form of the cherry blossom.

These pale-pink beauties are part of the Prunas tree family, particularly Prunus serrulata, the Japanese Cherry tree, or sakura. In Japan, cherry blossoms symbolize clouds, probably because they tend to bloom en masse, and are also used as a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life. Every year as spring approaches, the Japanese Meteorological Agency tracks the sakura zensen (cherry blossom front) as it moves northward up the archipelago. Since Japan’s fiscal and school year both begin in April, the first day … //READ MORE

If someone had asked my 28-year-old self if I’d ever take a cruise, I would have laughed and told them no way, that cruising is merely for the elderly and the unfit. Fast-forward a few years—OK, maybe 13—and I’m now a cruising fool!

My husband and I decided to embark on our first family cruise four years ago, when our children were 3-and-a-half and 2. The kids had already accompanied us on many airplane rides and road trips. They were familiar with airports, shuttle buses and rental cars. They were basically pros at the whole travel thing. Then friends and neighbors started talking about how family-friendly cruises were, and we became curious.

We started researching. We began with Disney Cruises because, well, Disney is the most magical place on earth, right? And I had to admit, the promotions made the ship look pretty damn majestic: Mickey, Minnie, Donald and all those gorgeous princesses would set sail with us. We’d have nonstop access to Disney shows, character-themed restaurants, and food shaped like the Little Mermaid. My kids would freakin’ love this trip! … //READ MORE

You know the feeling. You open a travel magazine and there’s that photo: white sand beach, peacock-blue water, clear sky and coconut trees swaying (so you imagine) in the background. You close your eyes and envision stepping right into that warm blue water, as shoals of fish begin to gather around and nibble at your feet. As you wade deeper in, a large sea turtle swims past. You wonder if places like this really do exist, and then you read that this is some island off some remote country where only jetsetters ever go, and you are certainly unlikely to find your way there.

Until one day, you do! The island was Gili Trawangan, a tiny coral island barely an hour’s journey from Jakarta, Indonesia, where I once worked. When I realized that I was only an inexpensive boat ride away from my fantasy location, I jumped at the chance. When my feet finally touched the island, it felt like I had stepped into the pages of that very holiday magazine I had so often sighed over. As I waded out into the sea, I noticed … //READ MORE

My 8-year-old was the first to voice his exhaustion. “Mommy, just how many Buddhas do we have to see in Thailand?” Granted, it was a sweltering 98 degrees in Bangkok and we were probably on our ninth temple of the day. Before that, we’d chased Buddhas throughout the southern part of the country, where it was equally hot and humid. And prior to arriving in Bangkok, we’d traveled around Japan catching even more glimpses of the Enlightened One. The Great Buddha in Kamakura, Japan, which towers over sightseers, was probably my children’s favorite. And, in their view, a great place to end the Buddha tour.

But no chance of that, kids, now that we were in Thailand for five days and the Buddhas here were as plentiful as the Pad Thai. Not to mention the fact that Mommy, a self-declared Buddhist-in-training, was armed with a map and a determination to see just how powerful this figure reigns in Thai culture. … //READ MORE