Wayne Curtis is best known as author of “And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails” (Crown, 2006) and as cocktail columnist for Atlantic Monthly. But my friendship with Wayne goes back at least a decade prior when we were both moaning about the egregious book contracts Frommer’s publisher forced upon us. Thankfully, the travel guidebook days are far behind us. I caught up with Wayne in 2008, when he had just moved to New Orleans. He brought my brother Jim and me to his favorite bars and bartenders and it resulted in this story for The Boston Globe. But I know that Wayne has a passion beyond cocktails, including architecture, urban renewal, jazz, and biking. All figured prominently in a 5-hour tour he designed for my family on our trip to Nola earlier this month.
We rented bikes at
Michael’s on Frenchman Street and off we went to our first stop,
Crescent Park, a brand new green space that hugs the Mississippi River for over a mile. Then we biked the streets of Bywater, one of the hottest neighborhoods in the city especially for young hipsters, where Wayne pointed out a massive church that will soon open as a hotel. We pedaled through Louis Armstrong Park in the Tremé neighborhood and soon we were on the latest bike trail in town, the 2.6-mile
Lafitte Greenway. We stopped at
Parkway for the requisite roast beef and shrimp poor boys before biking through the Tulane campus, glorious Audubon Park and its exquisite moss-covered Spainish oak trees, and past the homes of Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, and Archie Manning in the Garden District. A quick ride through the crowds in the French Quarter and we arrived back at our bike rental store 15 miles later. A perfect ride, especially since we ended with a set of live music and a beer across the street at
The Spotted Cat.
The ride was such a worthy introduction to Nola that I persuaded Wayne to offer the exact loop to clients of
ActiveTravels. If you’re feeling a little less ambitious, he will also do the same nightly bar round-up as described in the Boston Globe piece and include his favorite jazz joints. Don’t miss out on seeing the authentic New Orleans on these jaunts with Wayne.
Yesterday, I discussed Montage Palmetto Bluff, the upscale resort brand’s only East Coast property. A mere 45-minute drive north of the Montage on Route 170 is another gem of the South Carolina Lowcountry, the charming town of Beaufort. The state’s second oldest city, founded in 1711, is best known for its well-preserved antebellum architecture. Grab a room at the Anchorage 1770 and then wander upstairs to the rooftop, cocktail in hand, to take in the views of boats passing on the Beaufort River and the many oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. For dinner, visit The Ribaut Social Club, once the playground for Admiral Lester Beardslee’s gentlemen’s social club in the 1800s and, a century later, the spot where novelist Pat Conroy would sip his libations. In the daytime, take a walk on The Spanish Moss Trail or at Hunting Island Beach. Or take a horse and carriage ride through the historic district and marvel at the homes on The Point, a hub of Southern antebellum architecture. You’ll be happy you didn’t overlook Beaufort on your next trip to the Charleston/Savannah region. 
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 
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing the work of travel writer Reid Bramblett since we were both contributing editors at Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine some 15 years ago. He’s the foremost expert on Italy, where he spent his adolescence and then proceeded to pen ten guidebooks (including Frommer’s and DK titles) and far too many articles to count. He has since launched 
Want the perfect New Year’s resolution? Design a travel portfolio with your travel consultant comparable to the long-term financial plan you have with a financial advisor. This idea comes from my friend Susan Farewell, owner of 
Enter Toronto’s 
For the first time in its 106-year history,