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Hospitality Heart of Sonoma Wine Country

The Design Tourist travels to Healdsburg California, the Hospitality Heart of Sonoma County Wine Country. We’ll tour several Sonoma County vineyards as we sip and savor this epicurean Eden with its earth-friendly ethos and learn about the county’s efforts to have all its vineyards certified sustainable in just a few years.

A half a kilometer off the west coast of O'ahu, Matthew Solomona is in the midst of an esoteric explanation of why the water is so blue. It has something to do with the Pacific Ocean being a prism that captures and concentrates the wavelengths of all the azure in the visible light spectrum. It's very informative. But really, all we want to do is submerge ourselves in this aquarmarine stuff. So, my wife and I and our 15-year-old daughter grab the snorkel gear provided on the Hawaii Nautical catamaran tour and take the plunge.

Enchanting Stay at La Casa Grande de Zujaira

Under the gaze of the Alhambra Palace, and on soil trodden by poet Federico Garcia Lorca,  the two hundred year old La Casa Grande de Zujaira sits proudly. I stand looking through the original metal gates at part of the ‘big house.’ Now split in two, the imposing white house, with its clock built by Gustav Eiffel’s apprentices, rests majestically with its terraced garden sprawling at its feet.

Fall in Love with Cape Town

There’s nowhere quite like Cape Town, the jewel of South Africa. This fascinating city is a meld of cultures, history and landscape, crowned by the magnificent Table Mountain. Often regarded as synonymous with the “Mother City,” (Cape Town’s affectionate moniker), this landmark is the single most welcoming icon to its people, as well as to travelers from around the globe. Named a New Seven Wonders of Nature, the mountain is one of the oldest on earth, six times older than the Himalayas and five times older than the Rockies. It forms part of the Table Mountain National Park, which extends all the way to the Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern extremity of Africa.

The Endlessly Exotic Seychelles

Ancient tortoises, deserted beaches and travelling by catamaran are the highlights of this island-hopping holiday in the Indian ocean. Tyson stretches his wrinkly, 120-year-old neck as an invitation to stroke it. It feels much like it looks: dry and leathery, yet utterly wonderful. T

This Love Is A Shore Thing

Just like many days and nights before, the aroma of Conch Butter Sauce, Souse and Potato Salad, and many, many, other traditional Caribbean dishes wafts through the air. Like magic, the aroma beckons you, leading you to the heart of Estate Princesse, right off Northside Road to the Cast Iron Pot in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. And the man behind the magic, no other, then award-winning, Chef Burton Peterson. Peterson who once worked in the famed Waldorf Astoria in New York, is no stranger to creating eventful and intricate dishes for U.S. Presidents, celebrities, royalty, and brides. This is probably why the Cast Iron Pot possesses an air of seclusion that makes you feel like royalty from the moment you enter the main dining area. You know you have officially arrived to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, when you’ve had a meal or two, at the Cast Iron Pot.

Custom Cruises

With cruise season here, many folks who love that mode of travel will be taking to the season mega-ships that resemble floating ‘round-the-clock buffets and offer shore excursions too brief to provide a real sense of the destination. Others will opt for vessels and itineraries which provide very different experiences. They include Civil War buffs Tom and Elaine Preston, who take to shore to wander through reconstructed forts and trenches where one of the most important battles of that conflict was fought. Betsy and Andy Cross follow a machete-wielding guide as he clears a path through a dense rainforest that covers an area the size of India. Fun, rather than tropical foliage, attracts Lauren Davis and Jim Goodman to a Go-Kart race track, a ropes course and an exhilarating water slide.