I was here once, on a day trip via a ferry from Seattle, back when I was probably 8 or 9. I went to Butchart Gardens, and if I did anything else, I don’t remember. Of course, that was back when a drivers license got you into Canada, and such a day trip was much…
A dumpling place on the corner. A bakery a few doors down. A Jamaican take-out restaurant across the street, flanked by a taco hut and a gourmet cheese shop. Down the street, Chilean empanadas, Portuguese cuisine, a cannabis store, a burger place, and at least two hipster coffee shops. If ever a neighborhood could represent…
In 1860, Edward, Prince of Wales (who would become King Edward VII), opened a large park in the center of Toronto. Named in honor of his mother, Queen Victoria, Queen’s Park would become the heart of the city’s cultural, educational, and governmental functions, an intersection that it still occupies today. The entirety of Queen’s Park…
Sitting on a long bench on the shore of Lake Ontario, I stare out at Centre Island just off the shore. The sun is shining, but my sunglasses keep the sparkle of the water out of my eyes as I watch sailboats ply the blue, and the occasional tourist boat tour navigate between them. I…
It was bound to happen eventually. I love Canada, and have been to our neighbor to the north dozens of times, but I have never been to Toronto. I may have driven through on a Niagara Falls trip as a kid, but I certainly didn’t spend any time in the city. But I’ve always wanted…
Editor’s note: Mexico City was my first solo international destination. I stayed for a week, and like Sam, didn’t think I had enough time even then to do it justice. I’m excited to go back in 2025. You can read my guide to the city here, or click here to read more of San Spector’s…
Editor’s note: I love Central America and have visited five of its seven nations. El Salvador is one of the two I have not yet seen, mainly due to its reputation as being unsafe. (Honduras is the other.) I am glad to read through Sam Spector’s experiences that this is changing, and the time may…
When most travelers visit the Dominican Republic, they choose beaches and resorts in a place like Punta Cana or Puerto Plata. If they come to the capital of Santo Domingo, it is for a day, or even less, on one side or the other. Well, I am not most travelers. The last thing I want…
It’s been a week (as of writing this) since I got back from Santo Domingo, after an amazing two and a half weeks in what can only be thought of as chaos in paradise. I’m sitting at a local coffee shop in Los Angeles, reflecting on the trip, on what I saw, what I experienced,…
Life here in Santo Domingo is good. No, it is great. A and I begin our day with coffee, a blend from here on the island. Every afternoon, we have rum o’clock as we watch the sun set. And while we choose not to partake, evenings often include the smell of high quality cigars floating…