Archives for category: Travel Tips

Travel Toolkit: Skincare for Long-Haul Flights

November 18, 2025 //

Update: November 2025

Since I published this post, I can report that I am still using La Roche-Posay’s Toleriane Double Repair line day (with UV) and night, though the cost is now $25 per product. I’ve long since returned from that trip to Japan I mentioned, and published a story for Adventure.com about traditional kominka homes throughout the country’s rural parts, and whether a growing movement to reinvent these abandoned, deteriorating homes into cafes and boutique accommodations will breathe new life into its economy.

In recent years, I have also expanded my skincare arsenal with a couple of products that travel well in any occasion, not just long-haul flights.

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Tags Skincare, Travel Toolkit

Categories Travel Tips, Wellness

Deep Dive: 2020, A Decade of Travel

December 28, 2019 //

If a decade of travel has taught me anything, it’s that change is the only guarantee we can really count on. Destinations evolve, technology advances, motivations to move or root down rise and settle like the tide. And after ten years, the evolution of how and why I travel has also shifted (to note: I’ve loosened my grip—a lot—on trying to control everything), and I imagine it will continue to do so in the future. As someone who has had enough means and opportunity to traverse the globe for both work and play, below are ten lessons I’ve learned from a decade in travel, with a heavy dollop of nostalgia, ahead of 2020:

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Tags Hawaii, Overtourism, Portugal, San Diego, Wellness travel

Categories Best of, Reading List, Travel Tips

Anatomy of An Emerging Travel Destination

July 13, 2019 //

Ligaya Malones floating in pool at The Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs, California — Staycation vibes in Palm Springs, California (photo: Alina Mendoza)

When it comes to vacation planning, there is nothing like the attractive power of a best places to visit list. You know the ones: lists like New York Times’ annual 52 Places to Go, Travel+Leisure’s 50 Best Places to Travel, Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel List and the like. For readers, these lists offers a curated snapshot into the trendiest destinations and a learning opportunity to discover the towns, cities and countries worth traveling for. They can be valuable travel planning tools, even for a travel writer like me, who finds herself in a new destination every month (see: Nashville in January, the Central Coast in April, North Carolina in May.) I enjoy skimming through best-of travel lists; I’ve always discovered several new-to-me destinations every year one of these lists publishes. I’ve also been curious about the process of putting together one of these lists, and more broadly, how does a lesser-known destination jump from obscurity to destination darling? Let’s take a look.