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The Savoy Resort & Spa had a large relaxing pool.

After 18 months of being cooped up due to the Covid pandemic, my friend Elyse Meltzer and I were ready for a stress-free tropical getaway. It seemed like the perfect post-trip extension to a Uganda safari we had booked for July 2021.

Furthermore, our research indicated that Seychelles was the first country globally to have vaccinated 75% of their population. After closing the country to foreign visitors, the government announced plans to reopen their borders effective March 2021 and...

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A panoramic view of Guanajuato.

Earlier last summer, my husband, Emmett, and I took a quick trip to the central highlands of Mexico, about a 4- to 5-hour drive north of Mexico City, visiting Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende.

We love the process of travel planning almost as much as traveling itself, and we knew little about this area, so we began by researching what there was to see and do there and where we should stay. We decided on just eight nights for this first trip, but I’m sure we will return for a...

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View of the twin Green and Blue lakes, the Lagoa Sete Cidades, on the island of São Miguel.

International travel has been a significant feature of our professional lives since the first year of our marriage, over 40 years ago. As a humanities professor (Elizabeth) whose focus is the cultural expressions of diverse peoples and a travel photographer (Phil), we have been fortunate to enjoy experiences abroad at least once a year, sometimes more, seeking destinations around the globe that would offer primary material for our work. Studying, learning and documenting propelled us to the...

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Birsay Bay, Orkney Islands.

As they have for nearly everyone, the last 18 or so months have had an unpredictable impact on me.

At first, the pandemic seemed to force a much-needed slowing down of the hectic “work, eat, sleep, repeat” pace of life. It allowed time to take a deep breath (albeit, while quarantined, alone in my house), with time to reflect, before I embarked on a few enthusiastic DIY projects. (It can’t really be THAT hard to refloor my entire living space on my own, can it?)

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Houseboats on Dal Lake.

Some opportunities present themselves once in a lifetime. When the invitation arrived for me to visit my dear friend Hilal, whom I met years ago in Delhi, and his family in Srinagar, India, in November 2019, without blinking an eye, I jumped at the opportunity. 

Often referred to as “paradise on Earth,” Srinagar is the largest city of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, nestled below the snowcapped Himalayas in northwest India. A main attraction there is the...

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An idyllic, peaceful scene — palm-tree shade, white sand and the turquoise ocean.

Our granddaughter and her family serve as missionaries in Ethiopia, a very long way away. Their internet is unreliable and communication is spotty. Letters and packages mailed to them take weeks, months or never reach them at all. So we came up with a plan for the whole family to spend two weeks together.

The Beach House (Casurina Rd., Mayunga; email the owner, Rory Keegan, at rory_keegan@yahoo.com or visit www.airbnb.com/rooms/14374825), located near the little village of Malindi on...

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View of the Grand Harbour of Valletta, Malta, as seen from the battlement.

My husband, Phil, and I are proud 30-plus-year ITN subscribers and ITN Quarto Mondo award recipients, having now been to well over one quarter of the world’s nations. While traveling, our primary interests are ancient cultures, architecture, art and religions, and we used to plan all our own trips, including arranging our own transportation.

Due to our advancing age, however, we’ve become fans of cruising as a means of accessing destinations of special interest to us. We...

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Whooper swans in Lake Kussharo.

Winter is the best time to see some of Japan’s iconic wildlife, including red-crowned cranes, Blakiston’s fish owls and sea eagles in the northernmost island of Hokkaido, and snow monkeys, south of Tokyo, on the island of Honshu. In March 2019, an opportunity to see this wildlife for ourselves came when my wife, Norma, and I signed up for a 7-day tour, “Winter Birding and Bird Photography in Japan,” with Gunnar Engblom, guide and owner of Kolibri Expeditions (Lima,...

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