When my wife Cheri and I first began to travel, we went warm: Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Southern United States. We wanted sun and blue water, laid back attitudes, and rum drinks. We were on the Margarita Road. Later, as we grew older, we heard the call of other great cities and places, but we never tired of packing the swimsuits and following the jet stream to hotter climates.

In the garden of the little hotel we used to own in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, we built a Read more

From Conrad’s Lord Jim to Stevenson’s Treasure Island, there has long been a great tradition in literature about taking off to travel the world–usually to someplace hot and tropical. Whether it is about expatriates, travelers, or people just on the run, stories of finding happiness on a deserted beach have long fascinated me.

The books listed here are some of my personal favorites. They encouraged my own travels and Read more

There are places that are as much anchors of our life as any person or event. Their mythology becomes ours…Their history is our history.