I stumbled onto Capri, Italy in the 90s in a serendipitous moment during my low budget, university graduation backpacking trip. Those days on the island were an unexpected bolt of lightning, its profound beauty, striking fast and deep. Meanwhile, I blinked, and it was 25 years later. The day Pablo and I set out for Capri I felt nervous at breakfast. Had it really been as beautiful as I remembered, or was it all a figment of my imagination that grew with the decades? We fidge

It's been an atrocious spring for weather - wet and cold. The sun hasn't peered out in ages and it rains constantly. We are waterlogged and grey. People are afraid to leave their nursery plants outside as the temperatures are still in the single digits, at night, and sometimes even in the day. It is miserable. Yesterday in a dry moment we went out for a long walk around town before the sun set. As we walked across the swing bridge toward the town dock, I saw my town town

On our recent trip to Rhodes, we took several days trips in addition to exploring the Old Town. One of those day trips was to a neighbouring island, Symi. With a reputation as being one of the prettiest islands in Greece, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to Island hop for the day. Symi reached the height of its prosperity in the mid-nineteenth century, under Ottoman rule, mostly for its prevalence, of all things, sea sponge diving. During its hay day, beautiful brightly

I recently visited Costa Rica for the first time. I've always heard how much people love Costa Rica, while quickly citing the catch phrase 'pura vida'. And whenever I look up best places to travel or retire, Costa Rica is often highlighted on the short list. With that said, I have to admit that when I have researched taking a holiday in Costa Rica over the years, it wasn't obvious what the nitty gritty of that holiday would look like. Normally, one of my superpowers is t

As a life long lover of coffee (even though I have recently given up caffeine) I was always intrigued to see how coffee is produced. On my recent trip to Costa Rica we had the opportunity to visit Hacienda Doka, a small production fair trade, coffee farm. Costa Rica produces 100% robusta coffee, a premium type of coffee, as differentiated to arabica coffee which is larger, and grows more quickly. They guided us through the process from seed to cup. The baby plants are kept