Laurie McAndish King

North Africa on Le Levant

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Our trip aboard Le Levant was a triple delight: The yacht accommodates only 90 guests in 45 elegant outside staterooms, our North Africa tour included stops in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, and we were privilege to travel in the company of a paleoanthropologist and an Egyptologist whose on-board lectures were insightful and fascinating.

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The Dalmatian Coast aboard Le Diamant

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Le Diamant, accommodating up to 189 passengers, felt intimate with comfortable cabins and a luxurious lounge. Ports of call on our Dalmatian Coast voyage included Trogir, Split, Hvar, Dubrovnik, and Kotor, with side trips to Zagreb in Croatia and Sarajevo and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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The Western Mediterranean aboard Sea Cloud

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She’s an elegant 360-foot, four-masted barque, with a snow-white hull, endless mahogany brightwork, and polished bronze fittings. To sail aboard Sea Cloud is not only to occupy a museum-quality heirloom, but to relive the splendor and gracious lifestyle of cruising in the grand tradition.

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Travel Tip: Best way to fold shirts for traveling

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Packing for your trip doesn’t need to take a long time. Here’s a quick travel tip, a spectacularly speedy shirt-folding video, handily illustrated with fold lines and sequencing letters, that shows you how to fold a shirt in less than two seconds.

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Travel Tip: Best packing method for organized travelers

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Here’s another great travel tip — a video demonstrating the clever one-outfit, one-roll travel packing technique, which is brilliant for anyone organized enough to know ahead of time what components they’re going to wear together. It also has a lively soundtrack.

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San Jose’s SOFA Murals

murlas in San Jose California

[nggallery id=40] Surprise — San Jose, California has blossomed into an art-lover’s paradise! Public art enlivens every street in the city’s vibrant SOFA (South of First Area) district. On a recent visit we enjoyed sculpture-lined streets and these lively murals. By the way, San Jose used to be called “Valley of the Heart’s Delight,” which […]

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Aer Lingus News Changes my Travel Plans

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  Dave Cooney and Helen Maguire chat with me about about Aer Lingus’ new daily nonstop service from San Francisco to Dublin, Ireland. We also chat about comfy lie-flat seats in business class, vacation packages, and—news to me—an expedited reentry arrangement with U.S. Customs. That means on my way home I can clear U.S. Customs in […]

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Mendocino County: Days of Wine and Rhodies, part 1

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If the recession has you planning a “staycation” this year, Mendocino County may be just the ticket. Best known for its rugged coastline, award-winning wineries, and native rhododendron groves, Mendocino offers active fun like kayaking, horseback riding, golf, hiking, and biking. You can also enjoy a wide variety of rejuvenating activities such as theater, music […]

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Mendocino County: Days of Wine and Rhodies, part 2

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“This plant is having sex 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 3 or 4 months; it’s very strenuous!” Jim Celeri is showing me a gorgeous rhododendron that is in full bloom, and explaining the plant’s need for water. While I’d prefer a less thirsty specimen for my garden, I have fallen in […]

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Clips & Pics from Bay Area Travel Writers

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Clips & Pics is now available from Bay Area Travel Writers! The 98-page full color magazine-style publication features articles and photos by the organization’s members, who are professional travel writers and photographers. There’s a great mix: surf and mountains, gourmet golf and polka-dot bikinis, big-city touring and small-town fun, ghosts and graffiti, Beaujolais and burros, silence […]

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