For people like me, who’re a little shy, solo travel can be unnerving. I’ve been traveling for nearly all my life but hadn’t, until about two years ago, traveled on my own. I was on a three-week mercy mission in London and decided, at the last minute, to treat myself to a short vacation in Paris before I flew home. Thinking about it now, I must have been out of...

Thanks to Michaela at Awe Inclusive for including me in Budget Travel Adventure’s Best of Travel 2011 and giving me an opportunity to look back on the best of my 2011 travel adventures. Last year was another fabulous travel year for me. I visited London for the third time and Paris for the first time, though it was my second trip to France. So here’s my Best of Travel 2011 roundup —...

  This is my submission to this week’s Budget Travelers Sandbox Travel Photo Thursday series. Be sure to check out other photo and story entries on their website!

I have so many photos of entrances, especially those to churches, I had a hard time deciding which ones to include. Entrances can be opulent, functional or rudimentary. Either way, it’s one detail that tells us a great deal. See what you think.   Entrance, Chatelet Metro, Paris   Enjoy!  

I just realized it’s July 14th! Happy Bastille Day!

Since the release of the new Woodie Allen movie, Midnight in Paris, I’ve been thinking of the movies I’ve seen that were set there. Here’s my list: The Day of the Jackal (Edward Fox) 1973 A View to a Kill (Roger Moore, Christopher Walken) 1985 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Michael Caine, Steve Martin) 1988 Frantic (Harrison Ford) 1988 Dangerous Liaisons (Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, John Malcovich) 1988 Valmont (Colin Firth, Annette...

Okay, so eating a croissant wasn’t really on my list of things to do in Paris. But I had envisioned a much different trip than the one I actually had. In the trip I imagined, I’d spend a week in Paris, visit a few friends and all the must-see spots, the Champs-Élysées, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, etc., then make my way to Bordeaux, the wine region, and Saint-Émilion in...

  I could write about Paris everyday and not run out of things to say.  But I woke up this morning thinking about my blog buddy, Heather Munro, whose posts on Paris really got me stoked. Heather’s photographs capture the romance and the beauty of Paris like no other blogger I had seen in a while. So I went looking for what other bloggers are saying about Paris. Hope you...

After walking around Paris for most of the day taking in one must-see attraction after another, I was excited to see the Eiffel Tower straight ahead, looking as if it had sprouted from the ground. The images I had in my head from movies and television and photographs dwarfed in comparison to the real thing. It was impressive! Up close, the Eiffel Tower, with its intricate lattice work, is a...

As I walked around Paris, the Eiffel Tower beckoned me like a lighthouse. I set out to find her just by looking out for her as her top rose above trees and buildings. I didn’t need a map. I just kept cutting across streets that would bring me closer. After a while, I realized I’d cover more territory by bus than on foot. I’d get closer, much closer.