I used to live around the Washington, DC area in my college days and I’d been to the Smithsonian Museum and the different monuments. But it never occurred to me that this is the town where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. So to my delight and surprise I found out, through a museum information booth, that the original Ford Theater where he was shot and the house where he died had been preserved all these years and it was just a few blocks away.

I always loathed him. I had a lady pal whose good friend was the widow of a Chilean minister under Allende. The former minister, a foe of Pinochet and an opponent of foreign investment in Chile, was blown up while driving along Washington’s Embassy Row. My friend despises all things Kissinger, who helped usher in Pinochet’s dictatorship.

The sound of the tracks was calming as my railway car glided effortlessly through Northern England's breathtaking countryside. Watching the miles pass from a train window allows a perspective that is not offered by plane travel. And now, heading to Carlisle in Cumbria, nothing else seemed to matter besides the little farms and villages and sweeping green fields in England's north. Our life-long London friend, Trish, sat beside us, occasionally offering a soft-spoken narrative of its history, a history where the green fields were once soaked in the color of red from the Celts, the Romans, the Vikings, the Angles and Saxons, the Normans, the Jacobites and the Border Reivers

I’ve spent much of my life first 17 years of life dreaming about the boulevards of Provence and street cafes of Paris. I ended up instead as an exchange student in industrial town in the coal and steel region of in Lorraine, France. But that didn’t daunt my love of travel.

The Grande Colonial Hotel in La Jolla has it all: history, charm and an incredible waterfront location. Add to this a walkable town with tasty restaurants, and beaches with seal lions and leopard sharks, and you know why the hotel is one of my favorites in the San Diego area.

It all began in 1978 when John Colclough, an avid reader with a quick wit who is blessed with a rare photographic memory and enough intelligence to share with an army, began exploring the history, culture, and traditions of Ireland. Following his heart and with a profound affection for the island, Colclough explored the untrammeled backroads lined with ancient hand-designed stone fences that appear as if they were created by a master artist and designed for horse-drawn carriages. He negotiates postal lanes that carve their way past rolling grass fields with the most brilliant green on the planet, dotted with elm and lime trees, and glorious castles that appear like an astonishing vision in a landscape bordered by blankets of green and stands of leafy trees.

Is there anyone who doesn't know you don't put Baby in a corner? Or who doesn't automatically hum along to "The Time of my Life"? Imagine revisiting "Dirty Dancing" at its original locale - and visiting the site where Baby and Johnny practiced "the lift" - possibly the most famous dance routine ending ever? Welcome to Mountain Lake Lodge in Pembroke, Virginia channeling the Catskills hotel -- AKA the Kellerman's Resort.

Johnny 'V' was just thirteen when he got his union card to play music professionally. Thirteen! There seemed to be little doubt on his direction in life. His father and uncle both played music and the Vernazza's were living in the Bay Area…it was the early 1960s. Johnny would begin his journey by playing every teen center and Moose Lodge that would have him. By the late 60s he would be on stage at some of the most legendary venues of that era; Winterland, Golden Gate Park, the Carousel, the Fillmore and Wumper's Old Man. His musical runnin' buddies included some the best that ever were; names like Elvin Bishop, Toy Caldwell, Jerry Garcia, Norton Buffalo and Janis Joplin.

Located beneath the Treasury building in the Whitehall area of Westminster is the Churchill War Rooms. Previously called the Cabinet War Rooms, this where leading government ministers, military strategists, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a dedicated staff of 500 people conducted war operations during WW II.From this network of underground rooms, you’ll see how they lived, where they strategized and survived unimaginable attacks by Hitler’s Nazi Germany. When World War II ended, the staff simply walked away leaving everything just as it had been, which included maps, phone banks, typewriters, signs that said ‘No whistling inside,’ and sun lamps for staffers who never saw daylight for months.

After my arrival at London's Heathrow Airport, I was whisked away in one the city's famous Black Cabs. I was relaxed and feeling carefree, well aware that a London Cabbie knew every part of the city like the back of their hand. Unlike U.S. taxi or Uber drivers where the gig is often a part time one, its purpose to stretch out incomes like a waiter or parking valet while waiting for that big break. But in London to be a Black Cab driver is nothing less than a proud full time endeavor. Three and a half to four years of training requires the driver to be one, which includes person-to-person non online tests. By simply naming an address, establishment or even a landmark you will be transported to your place of interest without any form of hesitation. The drivers can be chatty, too; interested in who you are and where you're from, and most importantly serving as an ambassador of London.

So there I was in my white lab coat examining the 40 different vials and trying to determine which combinations to mix to get the best outcome. Admittedly, I wasn’t enacting some important scientific discovery or creating a medical breakthrough but it felt almost that significant. What if I screwed up, made ridiculous choices as to the most effective ingredients and came away with an awful smelling product. Yup, I was making perfume at the Tijon Parfumerie & Boutique on the French side (obviously!) of the Caribbean island of St. Martin.

When you grow up in a family where your father is known as Lil’ Howlin’ Wolf, the chances are pretty good that you may end up as a bluesman. If you come of age on Chicago's Southside and your band is forced to practice in the basement laundry room of the projects, you may end up as a bluesman. But when childhood memories include your dad taking you by the hand into some of the Windy City's most legendary bars and you witness B.B. King live for the first time at the Burning Spear on State Street, damn you have to be a bluesman!

After 45 minutes on the water, we wanted to explore beneath the waves. So when the boat docked, we walked a couple hundred yards to the world-famous Aquarium of the Pacific for another ocean adventure. It was a memorable and educational day in Long Beach, California. 

Desert Hot Springs has long been a destination for rest and rejuvenation. Situated 20 minutes from Palm Springs’ expansive golf courses, artistic rows of palm trees and desert estates, rustic Desert Hot Springs feels a world away. It is one of the few places on the globe with naturally occurring hot and cold mineral springs. The Mission Creek Branch of the San Andreas Fault bisects the wellness getaway where one side is a cold-water aquifer while the other a hot-water aquifer, naturally heated to temperatures as high as 180 degrees by geothermal forces thousands of feet below the earth’s surface.

Ask anyone what they think of when they think of Scotland and you’ll probably hear bagpipes, kilts, tartans – maybe Scottish Brogue and haggis (but more on that later). If the year were 1746, you would have heard the same thing. But it was in that year, after the Battle of Culloden when the British decimated the Scots, that the British set about to systematically rid the country and its people of their identity and traditions. It didn’t work, which makes it all the more remarkable that everything that defines the Scottish people today is the same as it was centuries ago – and it was my mission to explore them all: kilts, bagpipes, whisky. Even the Gaelic language.

I enjoyed just observing the California beach goers. You know the song --- “I wish they all could be California girls” --- oh behave! They came in all shapes and sizes --- chiseled vs. cellulite. From skins that were smooth and youthful to overcooked and leathery --- the vegans mixed with the fast food junkies. It's interesting how most sun bathers started out very demure --- unpeeling each layer of clothing but, as the day progressed, all inhibitions were thrown by the wayside. You know the old saying --- "When in Rome ..."

Hidden in the heart of West Los Angeles is a mini-Disneyland known as the Riot Games campus. No, you can't buy tickets to get in. No, you can't sign up to enter. The only way to enter is to know somebody who works for the company and who will sponsor you and act as your tour guide (there are some top secret, restricted areas you know). For a company that is Chinese owned (Tencent, the economic giant) this secretive imposition should not be surprising.

RJ Mischo has been dropping blues records and discs since the 90s and his latest is out right now. The new release was captured ‘live’ in Studio late, last year at Suprovox Analog Recording in Karkkila, Finland. That certainly comes as no surprise when you consider RJ’s popularity and fan base in Scandinavia and throughout Europe is just as wide-ranging as it is across the U.S.

Are you planning a week-long road trip or need a temporary ride while your car is in the shop? Renting a car for a week can be expensive, but fear not! With some savvy hunting and a few tricks, you can snag an amazing weekly car rental deal that won't break the bank. In this article, we'll share some relatable tips and advice on how to score the budget car rental in Denver, so you can hit the road without emptying your wallet.

One reason I joined the National Press Club in 1995 was that on various occasions before Hong Kong’s handover I’d darkened the door of the FCC. I hoped that the NPC’s substantial oblong bar might be cousin to the FCC’s main bar with diverse central casting characters including criminal barristers of the Rumpole flavour, cargo shippers, pilots, politicians and others seeking what was in the wind as journalists’ tongues loosened, and vice versa.

The only thing better than a great hotel room, is a great hotel room on the beach. And this is why Zachari Dunes on Mandalay Beach is one of my new favorite Southern California destinations. Located steps from the beautiful sand and ocean in Oxnard, California, the resort has everything one could want for a waterfront vacation.