Welcome to the Instinct by KITI where we move the world though first-hand, new generation travel and lifestyle storytelling.
All in Travel
Channeling our inner George and Amal Clooney, my wife and I glide over Venice's lagoon in a sleek private water taxi. As we pass the mouth of the Grand Canal, the domes of the resplendent Basilica in the pigeon-filled, cafe-lined San Marco Piazza come into view. The crowd is thick mid-morning on the Riva Degli Schiavoni, the floating city's main waterfront promenade. However, we avoid the throng by slipping into the Rio del Vin and under the stone Ponte del Vin with its ornate balustrade.
"Isci, isci," ring out the shouts in the hills above Koper, Slovenia. Translated the command is, "search, search." The verbal encouragement comes from Sara Kocjancic and is directed at two-year-old yellow Labrador retriever Liza, a truffle-hunting dog extraordinaire. Following instructions, Liza, tail up and snout down, zigzags through the forest in a quest for truffles.
So I heard that you could spend from dawn to dusk on the Malecon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and never get bored and I thought, “Okay, I’m up for that challenge.” Well, maybe not the dawn part -- I’m not a morning person – so I had no problem leaving those early hours to the joggers and those seeking an early start to catch their red snapper for dinner.
Tucked away on deck seven is the most fabulously well-located infinity pool. The clear pool water, delightfully and deceitfully, melds seamlessly with the azure of the Mediterranean Sea and the blue of the sky on the horizon. As such, it immediately and naturally becomes my wife and I's favourite hangout on the new Viking Sky cruise ship. It's the ideal place for a morning dip, the perfect precarious perch for sail aways and a refreshing respite on hot afternoons.
The island is only about the size of Washington, DC and from the air it resembles a somewhat chubby baseball bat. It shares a common history and government with its even smaller sister island located a scant two miles away, as a federation within the British Commonwealth.
Like tiny Nevis, St. Kitts offers the attractions that lure people to the Caribbean seeking sun, sand and relaxation. Unlike its more laid-back neighbor, St. Christopher as it’s formally named offers a wider choice of opportunities for sightseeing, an inviting variety of active pursuits and its own distinct personality.
Some Japanese historians trace ryokans back to Buddhist free rest houses that proliferated during the Nara era about 1,300 years ago. Others link them to roadside inns that were rest stops for merchants and growers traveling to central markets in major cities. During the Edo era (1603–1868), ryokans were a lodging of choice for samurai, government officials, royalty and upper class travelers.
The éclair is the most popular patisserie treat in France because it’s easy to eat, easy to bake, and most importantly— comfort food. The éclair originated in France in the early 1800s, first made by Marie-Antoine Carême, a pastry chef for French royalty. With their growing popularity around the world, éclairs are more than a flaky fad; they are having a renaissance.
Now that you've done the National Gallery of Tokyo, toured the Imperial Palace grounds, braved daytime crowds in Asakusa and strolled the Ginza, you're ready to dig in deeper. But where do you go, and how do you get there? How do you know what places are the places you need to see now? Hint: it's not the cosplay scene in Harajuku, which has faded in the years since Gwen Stefani devised a fashion line inspired by it.
Having recently received a misguided shout-out from the president during Black History Month – Frederick Douglass has done an amazing job… – it seems a good time to revisit the cultural icon’s legitimate place in history. And a visit to his home in Washington, DC – surely a place the current president might want to consider visiting himself – would be a good place to start.
Love to celebrate Cinco de Mayo but can’t afford to go to Mexico? Take a trip to the largest Fiesta in the United States-- Fiesta Old Town, San Diego!
From May 5-7, the historic Old Town will transform itself into a bustling community complete with traditional style paintings, live music, and of course, delicious treats-- all in support of the Historic Old Town Community Foundation.
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia. It's known as the City of Churches. It also has the notoriety of being the acid vat murder capital of Australia - due to the grizzly crime depicted in the movie, Snowtown. Basically, there is something for everyone in Adelaide. Known as The Festival State - South Australia goes crazy with such events as the Adelaide Fringe Festival, WOMAD, and the Clipsal 500; all packed into the month of March. And then - the city of Adelaide basically shuts down for the other 11 months of the year.
The story of people who 4,000 years ago lived in a wilderness area of rolling hills and placid waterways in present-day Nova Scotia, Canada is told in drumming demonstrations, birch bark canoe building and other activities from the past.
The scene is very different in a nearby village. Some of its French-speaking residents are descendants of the man who founded the community in 1653, and in a number of ways the setting would be at home in Paris.
Mention Puerto Rico and many people think of sun, sand and sipping rum drinks. But as anyone familiar with the destination knows, there’s more – a lot more – to the tiny island.
A virtual continent worth of diversity is shoe-horned Into an area smaller than Connecticut. Even those whose goal is nothing more than a sandy beach on which to soak up the sun find a virtual A-to-Z list of activities and attractions.
In the clearest of Bahamian waters, my son slows the boat and trims up the motor. The bow meets the white sand with the slightest resistance and we come to a gentle stop. Our eyes scan the perfect crescent of beach, the adjacent glistening sandbar and we congratulate ourselves on navigating our way to paradise. We've triumphantly arrived at Sampson Cay in the Exuma chain of islands in the middle of the Bahamas.
A few years ago, the fact that an island was the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton would have elicited very little excitement. But now since the advent of the hit Broadway musical "Hamiliton," Nevis is all of a sudden a must-see destination. The very first line of the musical leads you here: “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean… “ That spot would be Nevis. But more on that later.
"Stop!" my wife and I shout in unison.
We've been on the lookout for a deserted beach on which to romp and there it appears, fronted by turquoise Caribbean waters, topped with glistening white sand. This scene unfolds as we glide into Francis Bay on St. John, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, on a 48-foot-long catamaran called Smooth Operator captained by Dunbar St. Cyr. St. Cyr obliges. The sails come down and the catamaran comes to a halt. My wife and I grab the standup paddle boards and cover the 50 metres to shore in no time. This unnamed beach is our own private crescent of bliss for the next hour.
A great thing about living in New York City, and owning a camera, is the capacity for a visual tapestry for street photography. The reason NYC is featured in so many movies is - the city can hardly take a bad photograph. So let's grab a slice of pizza (the corner slice if it's a square pizza) - and lets hit the street of New York (roughly around the Village and LES), and let's get into the groove of some NYC street photography.
In 1996, a best-selling book titled Under the Tuscan Sun, which recounted how the author restored an abandoned villa in Tuscany, established that area of Italy as a popular vacation destination for Americans. Umbria, Tuscany’s next door neighbor, hasn’t been so glorified. Yet that often-overlooked region encompasses scenic, artistic and other treasures that reward those who seek them out. For starters, Umbria – pronounced Oom-bria by those who live there -- boasts a setting of magnificent landscapes. The jagged Apennine Mountains lead to rolling hillsides that flatten into lush valleys blanketed by wild flowers.
