Food & Wine

Everyone has their own travel preferences. I travel alone and prefer to mingle with the locals, not setting myself apart. I don’t want to stay in a 5-star hotel and be treated like royalty. I’d rather have people think I work in a hotel than that I’m a guest.

Going to an all-inclusive resort is not my thing because it’s too tiring to resist the temptations of all the “free” food (though, since I actually did pay for the food, it’s not exactly “free”), resulting in gaining a few pounds.

My first World Expo exposure was Expo 67 in Montreal, Québec, but I became an inveterate fan after attending HemisFair ’68 in San Antonio, Texas, and Expo ’70 in Osaka, Japan.

Held every two to three years, world’s fairs started in London with the 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, followed by the 1855 Exposition Universelle in Paris.

I have attended World Expos in five countries, from Italy to Japan, and am always excited to find each holding a unique perspective, though all feature the current technological developments and future concepts.

12 days, 11 nights in southern MEXICO. Highlights: In Mexico City, chocolate tasting at MUCHO Mundo Chocolate museum, Frida Kahlo’s Blue House/in Puebla, handmade candy at La Gran Fama dulcería, cooking class for mole poblano/in Oaxaca, tour featuring tlayudas (grilled tortillas with toppings), guacamole cooking class/Mitla archaeological site/mezcal distilleries. $4,832-$9,680 ppdo (based on group size). Single supp., $2,167.

7-day, 6-night culinary tour in British Columbia, CANADA, Sept. 19-25, 2021. Group limit, 12. Highlights: In Victoria, tastings for craft beer, macarons, pierogis, chocolate, plus Fan Tan Alley (Chinatown), Bastion Square/kayaking in Sooke Basin, home to seals, otters, eagles/in Duncan, Westholme Tea Company, Averill Creek Vineyard Estate wine tasting/Chemainus wall murals/Morningstar Farm robotic milker demo, cheese tasting/goats grazing on roof at Old Country Market in Coombs. $2,160 ppdo. Single supp., $610.

As we’ve had to postpone our travels because of the pandemic, I believe a weekly dose of travel dreaming can be good medicine. Here’s one of my favorite European memories from Germany — a reminder of the fun that awaits us at the other end of this crisis.