Blog

View out of an airplane window - sunrise at LAX with the flight tower and a half dozen planes on the tarmac

Travel Planning

✈ Planning a trip soon? I personally believe that food is a universal language and it’s a large part of any trip planning that I do. If you need some help with adding some spice to your next trip, there are lots of ways that we can work together. (Plus many free resources, if you…

Five plates of a variety of meze and kebaps from Ciya Sofrasi in Kadikoy, on the Asian side of Istanbul.
· · · · ·

My favorite restaurant in Istanbul: Ciya Sofrasi

Because I had a bit of a reputation as a foodie back home in Hawaii and now having spent more than nine years exploring the various regional dishes in Turkey, I’m often asked for my favorite restaurant in Istanbul. The question makes me nostalgic! I can remember the exact moment I fell in love with…

Hanging out with five of the Caryatids before visiting five of them in the Acropolis Museum later. Let's hope the sixth will be returned from the British Museum someday to join her sisters!
· · · ·

Avoid the crowds at the Acropolis: Pristine Parthenon Tour in Athens

My first visit to Athens was in 2008 on our way to a cruise of the Greek islands – which also included my first ever stop in Turkey. That trip, we visited the Acropolis ruins in the middle of a sweltering summer day and I was too hot and weary of the crowds to truly…