Thanks to a last-minute opportunity with HomeExchange⁠, we departed bustling London for a much-needed dose of the English countryside in the Cotswolds, which I had visited only once before and then for just a weekend. Often referred to as the Hamptons of London because of its concentration of wealthy and celebrity part-time residents, the Cotswolds somehow manages to live up to the thousands of travel books, magazine articles and blogs written about it. Honey-colored stone vi

Helsinki is an architecture addict’s dream. Layer upon layer of architectural styles have been packed into a remarkably compact and largely walkable city. Even more impressive is how well Helsinki has protected and restored its past while salting in striking new designs that somehow manage to feel sympathetic to what came before them. The result is that almost every block is eye catching. You may find, as we did, that it is hard to make much progress because you are continuou

One of the great joys of London is discovering how quickly you can leave the tourist trail without actually going very far. Most visitors know the bustling stretch of Piccadilly running from the Green Park tube station, past the famous Ritz Hotel, toward Piccadilly Circus and, beyond it, the theaters of Leicester Square and the West End. But turn off Piccadilly and walk just one block south and you enter another world. This is St James’s, a neighborhood of quiet squares, gent

Having many times taken visitors into the Luberon to enjoy its charming hilltop villages, we decided it was time to explore another corner of Provence: the country north of Avignon, in the southern Côtes du Rhône. We had read about a lovely 35-mile or so loop connecting ancient villages, vineyards and wineries tucked around the Dentelles de Montmirail. On a normal day, it would have been an easy and delightful outing. This, however, was not a normal day. It was during the see

We flew to Helsinki in search of something a bit different after spending the previous month in London, and because the beginning of September conveniently marks the start of lower off-season airfares and hotel prices. We got lucky. Mostly clear skies, sunshine and light-sweater days, which are by no means guaranteed in a country where winter has a habit of arriving early and staying late. Helsinki itself is delightful: compact, handsome and wonderfully easy to navigate on fo

I think we all have places in the world, if we are lucky enough to discover them, where our hearts sing and our souls somehow expand. For me, one of those places is Point Reyes, an hour and a world away from San Francisco. I first chanced upon Point Reyes shortly after moving to San Francisco in 1988. I remember cresting the road into the postage stamp of a town, with that first wide vista of Tomales Bay opening up in the distance. It was love at first sight. Nearly four deca

Our Helsinki tour guide joked that when you search for tours of Helsinki, one of the first things that pops up is a tour of Tallinn, the capital of nearby Estonia. So, naturally, off we adventured. Tourists go to Tallinn for its remarkably preserved medieval Old Town. The Finns, apparently, have another motivation: they go for the booze. Alcohol is considerably cheaper in Estonia than in Finland, and according to our guide, some Finns arrive at Tallinn’s port and immediately

There are two places in this world—at least so far—that touch my soul in a way few others ever have: Point Reyes, in West Marin, California, and Provincetown, Massachusetts. They could hardly be farther apart geographically, yet they share something difficult to define. They are places I find myself returning to again and again because of their remarkable sense of place, their manageable size, their quirky histories, and the colorful characters who give them life. They are co

One of the images most people associate with Provence is endless fields of brilliant purple lavender stretching toward the horizon beneath impossibly blue skies. Those photographs are beautiful, but they also create the impression that you simply drive into Provence and lavender magically appears around every bend. The reality is a little more complicated—and, in many ways, much more rewarding. As I have written in several of my other travel blogs, one of my favorite ways to

In an earlier blog, I wrote at length about my favorite things to see and do in Avignon, one of my favorite cities in France. On a recent return visit, however, I happened to arrive during the famous Festival d’Avignon and discovered an entirely different side of the city, along with several wonderful places I had somehow missed before. While I had certainly heard of the Festival d’Avignon, nothing prepared me for the sheer scale of it. Every July, this already beautiful medi

One of the greatest pleasures of travel, at least for me, is making connections. Not simply between places, but between people, ideas, and moments in history that at first seem entirely unrelated. A small museum visited one year suddenly explains a painting encountered in another city. A forgotten collector helps me understand an artist I have admired for decades. A chance exhibition ties everything together. Avignon has become one of those places for me. Most visitors come f

As a history buff, and both an Anglophile and a Francophile, World War II has always held a particular fascination for me. At the center of that history—and arguably the turning point of the entire war—stands D-Day. So when a friend asked me where they should spend five days in France, I suggested Normandy without hesitation. Little did I know I would be arriving during one of France’s major heat waves. Fortunately, while Paris and much of southern France were approaching 100

Like most first-time visitors to Normandy, we arrived with D-Day very much on our minds. We spent one full day exploring the beaches, museums, and cemeteries that tell the story of June 6, 1944. We devoted another day to the magical town of Bayeux, which deserves a visit all its own and which I’ve written about in a separate blog. But on our third day, we decided to explore a very different Normandy. Leaving Bayeux behind, we pointed the car toward the countryside of the Pays

I visit Honolulu a couple of times a year, usually for a week or so at a time. The reason is not tourism but friendship. One of my closest friends is 98 years old. Although he grew up in San Francisco, his family roots run deep in Hawaii, and he has lived here since shortly after World War II. Because of him, I experience Honolulu less as a tourist destination and more as a quasi-local visitor. Through his stories, I can almost see Waikiki as it was when there were only two h

One of the many remarkable things about Provence—the magical, sun-drenched corner of southern France—is its markets. While many places have farmers markets, Provence has something closer to a way of life. Nearly every town has its own market day, often following traditions that stretch back hundreds of years. The result is that, if you are so inclined, you can visit a different market every day of the week. That is exactly what we have done during our extended stays just outs

One of the great joys of spending extended time in Provence is discovering places that somehow exceed all expectations. For us, Uzès has been exactly that sort of discovery. A friend recommended it to us and, while it appears in every guidebook to southern France, we were wildly surprised by just how lovely it is. Charming, manageable in size, easy to navigate, and full of character, it feels like the sort of place that deserves far more attention than it receives. Then again

One of the joys of slow travel is the freedom to take a last-minute detour. During our two-week stay in Heidelberg, we decided almost on a whim to spend a day in Baden-Baden. Thank goodness we did, because it turned out to be one of the highlights of our time in Germany. Our only regret? Not staying longer. At a minimum, we should have spent a night. In hindsight, Baden-Baden is the sort of place that deserves a week—a place to settle into rather than simply visit. For us, Ba

Somewhere in the fog of memory lies the story of how we first discovered HomeExchange. I cannot recall whether it was a recommendation from a friend, an article we stumbled across, or simply one of those internet rabbit holes that occasionally leads to something wonderful. What I do know is that for the past three years it has become the cornerstone of our retirement travels around the world. One of the great gifts of retirement is flexibility. We have the freedom to stay pla

I love lap swimming and so the challenge in our many travels throughout Europe is navigating finding and using lap pools. But the reward, beyond working off all the calories from the bakeries we find irresistible, is to enter into an entirely local activity where each country, and sometimes each city, has its own customs and rules. Some general observations and corresponding tips after swimming laps in various towns in the UK, France, Greece and Germany: Expect to be flexibl

One of the questions we are most frequently asked, given how much time we spend in London, is where we like to eat. Narrowing the list down is no easy feat in a city with literally tens of thousands of restaurants representing nearly every cuisine on earth. Before even getting to proper restaurants, however, I should note the two places we consistently recommend for quick breakfasts, takeaway lunches, or an easy bite between museums and theater performances: Pret A Manger and