London, Paris, Berlin and Udine. Yes, Udine. And let’s not forget about Grado, Salice and Trieste, most definitely Trieste. This is Friuli Venezia Gulia region of Italy, spread across the far northeastern corner of the nation. I first read about this stunning region of diverse landscapes, languages and cultures over 15 years ago and swore that someday I would see it for myself. This June I finally did.

Traveling with kids can keep a Mom super busy and the right travel bag can make your life substantially easier. The more organized you are the better. But, everyone has different needs, so I tried out all these bags and found them to be excellent choices for a variety of reasons. Many address different needs from helping you be organized, fashionable, carry food, swimsuits and more.

The distinguished city of Bordeaux in southwest France with its astounding urban historical center noted as a World Heritage Site boasts a glorious buffet of sidewalk cafes and restaurants with legendary cuisine honoring French culture and their indisputably sophisticated approach to gastronomy. Dining here offers a lifetime of pleasure for the Bordealais as well as an enduring love affair with some of the world’s finest wines produced by hundreds of nearby wine chateaus.

Note: If you have not read Hairy Legs you may want to do that first.  This story is the second part of that trip. If I asked you what was the most memorable trip or the most difficult journey you have taken, what would you say?  Maybe you had a lengthy delay, canceled flights or some other challenging issue.  Sometimes …

It’s a question that’s been pondered and researched for a long time – indeed, back to 565 AD. It’s the Loch Ness Monster, and arguably the most famous photo ever taken, was the shot on April 19th, 1934 by London gynecologist, Robert Kenneth Wilson. It became famous as it purported to show some sort of creature in the middle of the Loch.

Few words inspire adventure and travel like Jeep. From its inception in the early 1940s, this first-of-its-kind off-road vehicle took soldiers to battle and civilians to thrilling, hard-to-reach destinations. In the process it became a legend.

Traveling is fabulous, but it can be a tiring experience with young kids. I've set foot on 6 continents and been to nearly 50 countries so I know everything you pack needs to be practical, multi-purpose and as lightweight as possible, especially when traveling with a little one. Here are some amazing travel items for you to check out.

Ah, the lure of exotic locations. We all have that curiosity, don’t we? Over 20 years ago I took a trip to one of those faraway places. But this trip turned out very differently from anything I could have imagined.

I feel like I made it home… but in a strange way. The welcome at the airport lobby, the nauseating drive through the hills, the exhaustion of climbing up only two flights of stairs to my new living area (I like to blame it on the 10,000 ft. elevation), walking up to the roof and seeing patches of clear stars between clouds, waking up to the constant sound of dogs barking and car horns honking through the window...

You know it’s going to be a good day when your mailman delivers a big fat CD right to your front door. And it’s extra special when it comes from the reigning Queen of Boogie, Sue Palmer. Sue has put together a collection of 20 songs that she says are “particular favorites” from an immense archive that dates back almost 40 years.

My friend and I really love hot food. It was 1987 and we were on assignment in Southern India with a group called The Bible League. We had visited remote villages in the interior and had returned to Andhra Pradesh and needed a rest. This particular region of India has the reputation of having the spiciest and most deadly cuisine on the continent.

Whether it is by trains, planes or automobiles, traveling with young kids always requires extra effort for smooth sailing. However, the more you prepare, the easier everything is when en route. Finding the best Travel Toys is the way to go, they need to be great while traveling and while at the destination too.

It was such a serendipitous meeting. While strolling the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's most sacred Buddhist shrine, we stopped to talk to a monk. A very chatty fellow of 51, and a monk for over 25 years, he was very eager to show us the photos from his recent trip to Japan – yup, on his Smartphone. When he actually invited us to lunch at his monastery two days hence, things got even more interesting.

Anyone who’s had the pleasure of knowing Tom Dunkel knows he’s an adept and fair observer of unique Americana who readily turns phrases that do his subjects justice. His book "Color Blind: The Forgotten Team that Broke Baseball’s Color Line," about a Depression-era integrated semi-pro baseball team out of North Dakota, is regarded as a top-tier sports book deftly matching cultural insight with entertainment.

OK, you saw it on TV, and you saw Prince Harry and Meghan - sorry, now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex" - and their wedding as only the Brits can do it. But think about this for a minute, can you imagine what it will be like for Meghan to now be able to actually go into and be inside Buckingham Palace - not as a tourist, but a "Royal?"

Ten of us sat around a kitchen table in a tidy home in eastern Croatia. Over cake and coffee, our hostess answered questions about life in villages still reeling from the effects of a war that ended on paper more than two decades ago.

And then the rains came down, blessing this magical and sacred city of 21,321,000 million inhabitants and giving them a gentle reprieve from their bustling and productive lives. It has been said that Mexico City has a perfect annual spring temperature, making it an abundant produce belt for Mexico and the rest of the world.

There is very little that can entice me to get up at 4 a.m. but how often do you get a chance to bathe a Buddha? And not just any Buddha but one that the actual real Buddha is said to have embraced himself. The statue at Maha Muni Pagoda in Mandalay, Myanmar is believed to be one of only five likenesses of Buddha created during his lifetime. And the daily cleansing ritual for the hundreds of pilgrims who attend is both literal and spiritual.