The first thing you notice is the fragrance; where the intoxicating scent of the tiare flower announces to your senses that you are in a magical place, overflowing with tropical vegetation and soothing trade winds. It is the same perfume that the English seamen on the HMS Bounty first encountered; but they came not for flowers, but for breadfruit, intended as a new food staple for their African slaves in the West Indies. But that was another time and another emotional place. Today, Papeete, located on Tahiti Nui ('Big.), is Tahiti's vibrant capital city and gateway to her islands. Roughly one-half of all of the Tahitian islands' population live in this city.

Magellan's story is one instance where the old adage "the victor gets to write history" rings true. The PBS History website and Spanish movies like "1898: Our Last Men in the Philippines" depict the Filipinos as uncivilized thankless primitives. From Western perspectives, the Spaniards were the cultured benefactors who came to save the Filipinos from their ignorance. From the Filipino's viewpoint, the Spaniards were the oppressors. The Spanish monks sworn to celibacy were notorious to have families on the side.

Large resort hotels. 3-4 cruise ships a day. Beach bars galore. Extensive nightlife. Chain restaurants. High end jewelry and clothing stores. Casino Gambling. Those are just a few of the things you WON'T find on the Caribbean island of Nevis. And all the more reason to go there. And now you can again.

The island of Rügen, Germany's largest, just off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic, was an occasional summer retreat for, among the many, a troika of Teutonic heavy-weights — Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, and Otto von Bismarck. So, I figured it was good enough for me to take a three-day respite there, after an activity-filled few days in hectic and exciting Berlin.

Soothing trade winds caress the landscape. Palm trees sway in the breeze. Gentle waves blanket the golden sand. Please forgive this stilted attempt to be descriptive – but I’m feeling a bit of the pre-holiday stress, and I thought it was fitting to emotionally escape to some of my favorite island destination. Come to think of it, they’re not all …