Botswana, Villas in Europe, and Family Trips to New York in October ActiveTravels Newsletter
There was a moment on our second day of safari in Botswana where our guide, Kebby, spotted a leopard. We drove up to a leafless tree where this exquisite animal was perched on a branch, looking intently at the impalas nibbling on grass in the distance. We all grabbed our cameras and binoculars to take in the spectacular sight. After 15 minutes, I was ready to move on, but our guide stayed put. Giraffes passed by, an elephant came close to the land cruiser, startled to find us there, and the leopard moved to another branch. At last, the leopard jumped off the tree and sauntered away in the tall grass.
We must have looked at him for at least an hour, a ridiculous amount of time for some one as impatient as me, always thinking of my next activity, deadline, or goal to achieve. But to truly be in the present, clearing your mind of all extraneous thought and worries and simply stare at a leopard, that is really a moment to savor. In fact, it’s the essence of authentic travel. A chance to share a precious moment with loved ones far away from the seemingly endless responsibilities of modern-day lives. Afterwards, I thanked Kebby for staying with the leopard. He noted that it’s often the time he’ll see a kill, when he stays with one predator like a leopard or lion for a long period of time.
Take time to pause in your travels this upcoming year, whether it’s over a glass of wine at a vineyard, at the beach with a good thick book, in front of a wonderful work of art, or staring at a leopard in the bush. Be sure to build downtime into your itinerary and not just check off sight after sight. Travel is not a contest but necessary time to nurture an often weary body and soul. The vast wilderness of Botswana’s Okavango Delta, our main feature in this month’s ActiveTravels newsletter, is the perfect place to replenish the well. We also discuss some alternatives to hotels in US and European cities as well as the Caribbean; an outfitter who specializes in grandparent’s trips to New York; a Quick Escape to the home of Halloween, Salem; and a reminder to always check in before your next flight.
Enjoy reading and, as always, happy travels!
Sunday was already a celebratory day for my family as we gathered in New York for our niece, Sarah Schechter’s first art opening. The exhibition is on view at the Greenpoint Reformed Church in Brooklyn, 136 Milton Street, through December. So if you’re in New York, please have a look at these skillfully rendered, vibrant and often whimsical sketches and paintings from her life. Adding to the excitement on Sunday was a 
Those of you who have followed my travel writing career know that I return to Maine’s North Woods as often as possible. All it takes is a 4-hour drive from Boston and I’m lost in a land of seemingly endless forest filled with mile-high mountains, immense lakes and too many ponds to count. The large swath of wilderness feels like a chunk of Alaska remarkably placed in our congested Northeast. I have paddled down the Allagash River, my tent almost trampled by moose in heat; white water rafted down the Class V rapid known as Cribworks on the Penboscot River; watched as a bear swam across remote Chesuncook Lake; relaxed under a waterfall on that signature canyon hike along the 100-Mile Wilderness Trail, Gulf Hagas; and mountain biked with Lisa last summer to all four newly built huts on the spectacular Maine Huts & Trails circuit. It has led to some of my favorite articles like this one for 
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In 1990, I left my job as an insurance broker in Manhattan, booked an open-ended ticket to the South Pacific, New Zealand, and Australia, and wrote my first travel story, “Dining with the Descendants of Cannibals on a Fijian Island” for the Miami Herald. It would prove to be start of a career where I would write more than 1500 stories (over 300 articles for the Boston Globe alone) and visit over 90 countries. Then the recession hit. I lost more than half my editors in 2008-2009 as magazines folded and newspapers either eliminated or greatly reduced their travel sections. Wanting to utilize my travel expertise, I convinced Lisa to join me in a business venture and become an accredited travel agent. 
In 1891, Boston landscape architect Charles Eliot received the go-ahead from the Legislature to establish The Trustees of Reservations “for the purposes of acquiring, holding, maintaining and opening to the public . . . beautiful and historic places . . . within the Commonwealth.” Today, the 
We have a 
Not widely reported was a vote brought to the senate floor this past Thursday by New York Senator Chuck Schumer. The amendment would have blocked airlines from further reducing the “size, width, padding, and pitch” of seats, passengers’ legroom, and the width of aisles. If you’re feeling more and more cramped on airlines, realize that it’s not from all the food you devoured on vacation. Economy-class airline seats have shrunk these past several years on average from a width of 18 inches down to 16.5 inches. Also the pitch, the space between your seat and the one in front of you, has gone from 35 inches to around 31 inches. This is the thanks we get after airlines recorded a record-breaking year in 2015 thanks to the dramatic drop in fuel prices, an item I discussed in 
Called the world’s largest jazz festival by the Guinness Book of World Records, the 37th annual 
JetBlue’s version of Business Class,