Are you mourning this year’s lack of Carnival’s spiritual cleanse, its satirical sorting of society’s woes to give us perspective? I am. And so I retreat now to past frolics. It’s hard to overstate how rotten the past year has been, in so many ways, or the dim prospects it left us, as we await whatever next escapes Pandora’s Box.

Here's some trivia for the month: the Latin Quarters in Paris, the world’s first floating space hotel launching in 2021, a whiskey lover's dream gift, a bridge linking Ireland and Scotland, cruise ships, dynamic ticket pricing, Anthony Bourdain, adventure personality, the Travel Guys.

My wife has these days when she wants us to "talk about things." We were discussing aspects of our future so when it was my turn I asked her, "What will you do if I die before you?"