When I first embarked on this road trip, I had all these fantasies of getting some great fashion shots with nature as my backdrop. And then as reality set in and I found myself living in t-shirts and jeans that could be easily rolled up in my tiny suitcase (not …

Have you ever found yourself halfway across the Golden Gate Bridge and wondered how it got there? I had the exact same question in my head this morning as we drove through yet another mountain range. What did it take to get these roads planned and then …

The hardest part about today’s post was selecting the photos you see here, out of the hundreds I took just on this one day we spent at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.

Yesterday we ran into a couple of Belgian tourists who told us that they’d encountered a lot …

Near the quadripoint–where the borders of 4 states (Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah) meet–called The Four Corners, there is a slice of heaven cutting through the Navajo Nation Reservatio aptly named Monument Valley.

It is a cluster of stratified buttes …

So after we left Hoover Dam and crossed to the Arizona side, our road trip began to feel like the real deal. I became more comfortable driving the rental mini-SUV,  and the freeway felt like a long lost friend. Soon it was time to stop for lunch, and one of my …

I have friends who religiously make annual pilgrimages to Vegas. Out of their own volition! I’ve been there maybe seven or eight times in my whole life and that’s about five or six times too many. I don’t drink (much), gamble (at all), or enjoy buffets (unless …

Growing up in the car culture that is Texas, I am no stranger to road trips. Some of my favorite childhood memories involve road trips to the beach with my parents and sisters. As an adult, I have had my fair share of roaming by car, but nothing for more than a …

The famous Versailles architect Jules Mansart built Le Grand Trianon in the late 1860s as an escape of sorts from the formality of the grand palace. French pink marble, sweet gardens, and geometric courtyards blend in wonderful, cozy proportions against the …

So where were we before that fashion interruption? I believe we were just about to enter the Queen’s Grand Apartment, which was once occupied by three queens: Marie-Therese, Marie Leszczyńska, and Marie-Antoinette. A few dauphines also made this place their …

The last time I visited Versailles was at least a good decade and a half ago, in the dead of winter, and I swore I would find a nicer day to return for a better look once my toes and fingers thawed out. So seven weeks ago I picked a Sunday and hoped that the …

Belgium has been my home away from home for so many years that sometimes I take Brussels for granted when in fact it provides wonderful photographic opportunities. Besides being a shopping hub for me, it is also a big city full of quaint squares and charming …

In observance of Veterans Day this year I’m taking you to the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in Saint-Avold, France. Spread out over 113 acres, it is the largest American military cemetery in Europe and the final resting place for 10,489 war dead from …

In old Persian pairi daiza means closed garden, an early reference to the idea of paradise. In today’s entry I’m taking you on a photographic escape into Pairi Daiza, a private 140-acre zoo/botanical garden in the Hainaut province of Belgium. This place was once …

I’m not much of an outdoors person, and I would fare much better in a concrete jungle than the one filled with foliage and bugs. And yet, the most rewarding trips to me are usually nature related. Maybe just the sense of surviving a whole day without checking my …

The expression take a hike takes on a new meaning when I’m in this part of the world. Instead of being shooed out of some place where I’m unwanted, when I get asked to take a hike in the Hautes Fagnes region of eastern Belgium, I am truly being given a gift of …

One of the more fun ways to immerse myself in French is to watch movies in the original language but with French subtitles. The volume is on low so that my eyes pick up on new vocabulary more than relying on the ears for keeping up with the story line. At some …

Today marks my third week in Europe and a couple of weeks of hiatus from blogging since NYC. So far working from the road has been hectic, to say the least, so when I finally catch a break to join a day trip to the northern tip of France, I say oui to Sedan, …

By far NYC has to be one of the best walking cities in the world, especially for photographers. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or an amateur like me, every block is its own postcard in the making. Just point and shoot and the picture tells its own story.

From …

Almost exactly one week before September 11, 2001, I walked across the grounds of the World Trade Twin Towers after visiting an art gallery. On that fateful Tuesday morning, back in LA, as reality set in after fielding a few calls from my East Coast clients in …

It should be no surprise to you that I am back on the road. The last photo of the suitcases in my last entry should have been a dead giveaway. What I failed to mention, though, was that I actually ended up with three pairs of striped sneakers: two from the …

One of my favorite man-built places in the world is the colonial-style Raffles Hotel in Singapore. If I could model my dream house after anything it would be this place, with the long wrap-around porch and romantic courtyard. What a backdrop this place is for any …

Of all the mosques that I encountered on my trips through Morocco, not once did I get an opportunity to enter one for one reason or another. But here on this trip to Malaysia, where Islam is the official and largest religion, I hope to finally be allowed entry.

So…

I love the smell of coffee but have never really been a coffee drinker. Tea is more my speed, and there has definitely been no shortage of wonderful (iced) tea choices here in Kuala Lumpur. Each day I get to enjoy a new flavor such as this passionfruit tea with …

Don’t let the title of today’s entry and the opening photo trouble you. I’m still not a carnivore; have not fallen off the wagon after 25 years. No, the waft of a freshly grilled steak does not weaken my constitution, nor does a sizzling fajita tantalize me. …

One day I’m munching on red velvet cupcakes at Chanel and the next I’m channeling Jane Goodall while chasing after macaques at Batu Caves. The unpredictability of the road is by far the best part of travel. For every mind-numbing hour of trudging from one airport …

I took Spanish during my second year at college, and my professor was a charming Southern gentleman who would reference a French equivalent to me to explain a certain verb conjugation in Spanish. Little did he know that that would only add to my confusion, now in …

In today’s second part of my visit to Amsterdam we’ll tour the city as I saw it through the course of one day, from early morning to evening. Let’s start with a hop on the tram for a scenic ride to the city center. I recommend using the central station as a …

By the time you sit down to read this entry, I will be running around somewhere in Southeast Asia. I’d meant to share these photos from my somewhat recent trip to Amsterdam (over the last holiday season) before I left on my trip, but it’s been such a hectic …

One of the luxuries of travel is time. Time to go back to some place you couldn’t get enough of the day before or to snap that one photo of something that had caught your eye but got away. As I noted in the last entry, I had a bit of a rush getting to the …

One of my favorite things to do in visiting any place is to find some sweet spot for a bird’s eye view of the city below. Here in Florence, that magical place is the Piazzale Michelangelo, a square high on top of the left bank of the Arno River. The piazza is …

Don’t let the title of today’s post and the picture above fool you. I’ve not succumbed to eating meat again after some 20+ years because of Florence. That’s the bronze Il Porcellino (the piglet), a fountain at the Piazza del Mercato Nuovo. Tourists come by to rub …

limited time in Florence and had to pick which churches or museums to visit besides the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo), I would vote for the two churches I’m sharing with you today. Up first is the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella, which stands …

It’s no surprise that any trip through Florence will eventually lead you to the famed Ponte Vecchio (old bridge).

This bridge was first mentioned during Roman times and spans the Arno river at its narrowest point. It has survived a few floods and story has it …

When I walk through Florence it is easy to imagine how life must have once flourished here back during the Renaissance. So much richness in all facets, from arts to literature to trades to politics to banking; you name it, they killed it. Traces of cultural …

I’m one of those annoying people who want to ring on every doorbell just to see what’s behind that door. This is particularly true when you travel with me through a city like Florence. I want to explore every nook and cranny, climb every decrepit stairwell no …

This year’s Christmas post is from Florence, Italy, one of my favorite places in the world. The first time I came through here, I was blown away to finally see everything I had studied for four years in college about Italian art history. Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, …

I get a lot of mail from readers about the hotels I visit on my travel. I can’t say I have any real hard rule to follow, especially if the destination is in the middle of nowhere, with the exception of “no B&Bs”…until I stumbled into the charming Berghotel …

Today’s post for Trier, Part Two, is really a tribute to this photogenic city.

Walking around its cobble-stoned streets I have the impression of entering the pages of Grimms’ Fairy Tales, but without the violence or gruesomeness…

Trierer Dom is the oldest …

Trier is one of the oldest cities in Germany, possibly founded before 16 BC. It is a lovely town in the Rhineland-Palatinate and Mosel wine region, population of around 100,000. One of its most celebrated landmarks is the UNESCO World Heritage Site Porta Nigra …

It's hard to mention Düsseldorf without conjuring the image of my first photo. The widely photographed Königsallee (or simply Kö) is a shopping boulevard some 1km long, bordered by a canal.

On one side there are the imposing bank and office buildings, and the …

Düsseldorf, Part Two is all about the gorgeous modern architecture that peppers the city’s skyline. And if you are a fan of American architect Frank O. Gehry, you would have a field day here like I did.

The Neuer Zollhof is a complex, at Düsseldorf-Hafen (Media …

If Düsseldo looks cold in these photos, it’s because it was. But even on a dreary day the city is magnetic.

This diverse city along the Rhine River is an international business/financial center with beautiful modern architecture, but its Altstad (Old Town) is a …

I’ve been to Germany a few times and have always loved the fact that even if I fell from a plane with no clue of where I am exactly, I can always tell I am in Germany just by looking at the distinctive architecture. I also love that the German people are …

One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting in a sunny classroom with one ear on the teacher and another on the chirping of things going on outside the window. For the most part I was a good student but it was always really, really tough for me to …

Given how unpredictable life on the road can get–from Mother Nature’s temper tantrums to human errors to technical glitches–my first rule of travel is “every cloud has a silver lining.” Take for example my trip to Hilo to visit the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park …

Each year the Smithsonian magazine treats the public to a wonderful day (called Museum Day Live!) of free museum admission around the country. Of course if you’re in the DC area, you have this gift every day from all of the Smithsonian museums. I wish all museums …

Seattle really knows how to do tourism right. Streets are clean, downtown is safe, and public transportation is foolproof. From the airport you can hop on the light rail for $2.75, and in about 35 minutes, at the Westlake terminus, you are downtown. There’s …

Just north of the Snohomish River near the town of Marysville, Washington, is the 22,000-acre Tulalip Indian Reservation. The Tulalip (pronounced as too-LAY-lip ) tribe’s predecessors and allied tribes signed the Treaty of Point Elliot with the US government in …

So what does one do with 72 hours in the great Northwest? In my case, I slip on some walking shoes that have already been broken in and put all the hats my little sister has knitted for me to good use while enjoying the lushness that is Seattle, Washington.

Fashio…

There are three presidential libraries in the great state of Texas. Luckily I’ve been a few times to the grand LBJ library in Austin, and on this last trip to Dallas I got to visit the recently opened George W. Bush Presidential Center near my old alma mater SMU. …

As much as I can love a city, sometimes I just have to get out of Dodge while the getting is hot. So while today’s post refers to Barcelona Day 4, I’m actually putting you on a train and we’re climbing the heights to Montserrat (which means serrated mountain).

The…

The last time I was in Barcelona there was scaffolding everywhere inside as well as outside the Sagrada Família, which is par for the course since the construction of this church gives new meaning to the phrase work in progress.

The basilica broke ground in 1882, …

Did you bring your favorite bocadillo to meet me at Park Güell in Barcelona, on day 2 of our trip?

No worries, I’ve brought enough sandwiches and vino to feed a village. When in Spain, I tend to fill up on these bocadillos within the first 48 hours and then I …

We’re not in LA anymore!

Or are we? With McDo and Starbucks everywhere I look, it’s sometimes hard to leave the US too far behind while on the road. But as I mentioned in the last entry, today I’m taking you with me to Barcelona, one of my favorite places in the …

Waking up in Budapest on day 3, I realize that the whole city is on flood watch. There are sandbags everywhere near the Danube, and the police is out in force, blocking tourists from venturing to Margaret Island, where I was hoping to get in an early morning …

That’s a statue of Nagy Imre, the controversial Prime Minister who led the nation during the tumultuous Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He was arrested then executed during the Soviet invasion. It’s a wonderful depiction of introspection, solitude, and even …

The downside of being a nomad is that you’re always saying goodbye to someone, some place, or some opportunity in the place in your rear-view mirror. The upside of answering the call of wanderlust is saying hello to the unknown. The unknown, unvisited, …

On this very sunny weekend I went to Dunkerque, France with my host family for an annual boating event. The record breaking crowd had the same idea to soak up the sun, indulge in local food, and enjoy the various expos and events spread throughout the city center.

So while sorting through those thousands of photos I mentioned in the last entry, I realized that I have yet to post about one of the coolest places you could visit in North America, especially if you have school-age kids. It’s one of the rarer floating memorials …

If you’ve ever set foot inside the lobby of the Bellagio hotel in Vegas and looked up at the ceiling, you’ve seen his work. I’ve been a huge fan of this blown glass master for a very, very long time and try to catch as many of his outdoors and indoors exhibits as …

In Australia I passed up on emu and ostrich, in South Africa I said no thanks to kudu, and more recently in Morocco I could not be talked into breaking my 22+ year streak of not eating meat for a camel burger. But sometimes, when the road takes me to signs like …

So I reference the Purse Forum a lot at my blog because it’s been a great research and social tool for me in all things accessories. One of the unexpected benefits to membership there has been finding friends from all walks of life, with all sorts of experiences. …

Since its inception in the 1500s, every seven years the devoted folks around the Belgian city of Fosses-la-Ville would come together for the grand procession of Saint Feuillen. The march commemorates and re-enacts the townspeople’s procession in the year 656 to …

If I had a few weeks to explore Scandinavia, I’d like nothing better than to island hop my way from Denmark to Finland. But since I only have a few days here, I figure the next best thing is to dip my toe into the Baltic Sea by way of a cruise along the Stockholm …

I never did read the cult classic Girl With Dragon Tattoo nor have ever wandered too far north of the Baltic Sea for that matter, but on a recent Sunday I found myself among very tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed strangers walking down the medieval streets of …

Eat, walk, photograph, drink, repeat. Though not necessarily in that order. But that’s basically my routine in Rome. The question, though, is where to eat. There are so many wonderful choices in Rome that sometimes I wish I had an extra stomach to accompany my …

Where else besides Las Vegas can you find gladiators dressed in full gear in the middle of a crowded center? Well, it would be the Piazza della Rotonda, a square in front of the Pantheon.

And like Vegas, most of Rome is a tourist trap, but it wouldn’t be right to …

Truly a walled city state within the medieval walls of Rome, Vatican City is the world’s smallest independent state by size (110 acres) and density (population: 800). All around its gates, you can see the greater arms of Rome embracing it,shielding it…

But as …

A few entries ago I wrote about leaving the H boutique empty-handed, disheartened. When retail therapy doesn’t work, I de-stress with food therapy. Besides, it’d be a sin to blog about Rome without any mention of its culinary excellence. What is it that people …

New York has the Statue of Liberty; Paris, the Eiffel Tower; and Rome…il Colosseo. The Colosseum is a massive amphitheater that could seat up to 75,000 people. On the sunny day that I visited it, it felt like there were 74,999 other people with me.

Rome was …

What’s green, has a hand size of about 5 meters across, and stands tirelessly on a pedestal? I guess the title of today’s entry already gave away the answer, eh? It’s been about 15 years since I last visited the Lady on Liberty Island, so on a recent very clear …

Of all the times I’ve been to NY I’ve never strayed across the bridge to visit Brooklyn…till this trip. And as it turned out, it was there that I found my favorite pizza joint and bakery. Who knew I would love Brooklyn Heights (from where you could get a great …

Sometimes Karl Lagerfeld shows up in mysterious places! I was following the crowd to a certain Super Bowl parade downtown as confetti and streamers fell from skyscrapers like snow.

I was shocked to find that some pieces of papers that were thrown from buildings …

I've only been to one other golf tournament in my life, and that was a bunch of years ago when the huge crowd and I followed someone named Tiger Woods from hole to hole. This weekend we had freebie tickets to the Humana Challenge in La Quinta, California, and I …

I’ve taken you here before, to Luxembourg, the tiny capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, but this time I am on a mission to best my own record of visiting museums in one day, and this place is the place to do just that. Along the historic city center, there …

Just outside of The Hague is a small town in the Netherlands called Wassenaar. Getting there I’m transported into a very lush, very scenic area full of green fields, forests and magnificent homes. Once in the tiny city center, though, it’s a ghost town since it’s …

M. C. Escher was not a rap star but rather a Dutch graphical artist who worked in mezzotints, woodcuts, and lithographs. He was known as a “natural mathematician” because of his impossibly creative works that redefined a viewer’s perception of infinity and …

 post I showed you interior photos of the Binnenhof. Here is how the parliament’s complex looks when you round the corner to get the water shots.
I love how you can see the skyscrapers and scaffoldings in the background as a new skyline hovers over The Hague’s …

It was a dark and stormy night…so the expression goes, but that was my first thought upon pulling up past this sign in pitch dark, with the wind howling outside the car.

Monster, eh? Seemed fitting enough (and yes, I took that photo the next day when the storm …

Have I just about disappeared on you in the last week? Yes, but I promise by this weekend my reveal will be worth the wait for those of you who have been on the bag hunt with me on this trip. Yes, Paris has been productive. But no, it’s not what we thought…more …

What have I learned so far here, two weeks in, on this trip?

1. There actually are four seasons outside of Los Angeles. No matter what the Angelenos tell you, you can’t really melt under rain. And chilly weather is the best climate for Chanel RTW. I may have to …

So I’ve made it to the other side, not too much for the worse, except that my sleeping pattern is all messed up. Wide awake until around 5am local time. Even if I pop some sleeping pills and turn in by 11pm, I’m wide awake by 5am. I know I have to rewire myself …

Some of you are probably winding down your extended Labor Day weekend by the time I post this entry–and I really meant to publish this last Saturday morning–but as it turns out I’ve been laboring in L.A. the whole time, tidying up some contracts before my …

One of the more interesting museums I visited this past month was the open-air Musée De La Vie Rurale En Wallonie. It is a remarkable compound in Saint-Hubert, on a nature reserve, consisting of original and reproduced structures representing provincial, rural …

A little something-something is arriving this Thursday, according to the UPS online tracking, so there’ll be a fashion post on Friday if UPS is accurate. In the interim, I thought I’d take you back to Paris today to a tourist attraction, the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

I’ve probably seen more of the country of Belgium than many Belgians, and it’s starting to become a challenge to find new surprises there. But on this particular trip I stumbled across Japan in Belgium at Hasselt’s Japanese Garden, designed and constructed with …

Just next to the Southwark Cathedral and south of London Bridge is the present-day Borough Market, whose first location supposedly existed since Roman times. Today it is one of London’s largest food markets with wholesale and retail hours.

It took me a couple of …

So I woke up early this morning to a news broadcast about Osama Bin Laden and the ensuing mob celebrations that took place in DC and NYC. My first thought, of course, was has it really been a decade since the 9/11 attack? My immediate second thought was whether …

Though my last blog entry left you in Paris, I’ve since moved on to London in the last few days. Royal wedding fever is everywhere in the city (and all the round the world I suppose)…

but I’m battling an even more royal case of hay fever (the daily walks through …

Paris in the Spring brings lots of warm weather. Paris during Easter season also brings pilgrims from around the world to visit its iconic churches, the Sacré Cœur and Notre Dame.

And then there’s another kind of pilgrimage that’s taken by many fashionistas, …

I’ve been to Paris enough times to not feel/get lost anymore, but no trip is the same until I’ve visited the 324-meters tall iron giraffe, the Eiffel Tower. 

Wonderful things play out here. I’ve seen guys get down on one knee under the tower’s immense umbrage to …

It’s tax day in the US today and while some of you are running around trying to beat the deadline, I’m also running around like a glutton for punishment. Because yes, to get to visit another castle–this time it’s a “working” castle, Château de Franc-Waret in …

Note: in lieu of continuing with my visit in France yesterday, I am moving on to my destination today and will talk about La Coupole at another time.

Today marks the lunar new year of the ox and out of habit I celebrate by taking some time off to do at least one …

The day gets greyer and greyer as we leave Bac Ha Market. I still have to journey another couple of hours to reach my destination, a reportedly upscale eco paradise/lodge (operated by a Danish hotelier keen on preservation projects around the globe) that relies …

Let’s take a break from Europe and gab about textiles today. Late last year I was in Asia for a few weeks. One of the highlights of this trip was trekking through North Vietnam. In this mountainous area near the Chinese border, there are numerous ethnic minority …