Elim Chan I have been a classical music fan for over a quarter of a century, since first watching "Horowitz in Moscow" on VHS. This passion follows shortly after romance, travel and food, in terms of life's enjoyment. I have played and read about countless composers, and enjoyed many great performances thoughout my life. But relatively recently, my wife and I have found ourselves in the concert hall with Shostakovich, on a recurring and unexpected basis. Whenever travelling t

One of our favorite restaurant experiences is what I call the Personal Buffet. It is the kind of magic where the table is filled with many dishes to try, family style, but it is just for our little family of two. Load it up! Rijsttafel Sampurna Literally 'rice table' this was our first meal in Amsterdam, and we still talk about it to this day. This is the perfect blend of Indonesian and Dutch cuisine. Many, many, many little dishes are brought to the table, so you are surroun

At port in Skagway. We are not "cruise people." The only ones we had been interested in are those European river cruises they always advertise on PBS. However, when a local casino notified us of a "buy one - get one" promotion, we decided to give this a chance. We ended up booking the NCL Encore 7-day Alaska Round-Trip Seattle: Glacier Bay, Skagway & Juneau (spoiler alert: there's always a promotion and the casino's offer did not make much of a difference in pricing). We had

Bread basket at Oqre The best bread ever is in Peru. What a discovery! Until our recent trip, I had always assumed French baguettes and Italian focacias were the best. However, we were happily surprised and our taste buds were delighted to learn the truth. Table bread at La Vista From our very first dinner in Lima at La Vista ( JW Marriott ), we noticed unique flavors and textures. Here there was yellow potato bread, dark blue corn and olive bread, and savory, golden cheese

Lake Titicaca

What could be more romantic than seeing one of the Seven Wonders of the World together!

One of our favorite things to do when at home and when traveling is to eat. To say that we are foodies is an understatement. Even when we...

I have read way, way too many romance novels. I have seen an inordinate amount of rom coms. Sex and the City is my favorite show. The books and shows, they kept me company through the decades on my lonely island. My heart has always been romantic. To say I am a late bloomer in the love department is quite the understatement. When my sweetheart did finally show up, he made all of those painful years worth the wait. Suddenly, all of those little odd quirks and personality trai

The Sea Containers Hotel is on the River Thames in the South Bank of London On vacation, we primarily try to select hotels in a good...

Luxembourg always sounded magical. Paris, London, Amsterdam came first, as they generally do. But after finally making it to the Grand...

Nothing says romance like a dinner cruise on the Seine River. We have talked about doing this for years; we were enthralled with the opening ceremonies from the 2024 Olympics, and that pushed this experience to the top of the list. The only glitch here was that we originally booked a Maxim's experience due to the advertised ambience (big Belle Epoque fans over here) and we were bumped from that boat (via email) a few days before embarkation. They company offered alternate dat

Perfume making in Paris

When we got married in 2012, we had a tremendous amount of faith. We knew we were in love from about the 6-week mark of our relationship....

I absolutely love the appeal of all-inclusive resorts. Sometimes we take trips that are filled with activities; other times it is good to...

This trip was meaningful on myriad levels. We originally booked Sandals Royal Plantation in the Fall of 2019. It was meant to be...

The world's best husband and I love many different kinds of trips. One of our favorite getaways is the all-inclusive resort. When we...

If you know me or Spencer, you know that we bask in the glory of finding each other in this big world every single day. I always say that...

We love going to the movies, it is one of our favorite low-key date nights. Sometimes, a movie or a show will dip into our real lives....

Romance We love visiting all-inclusive resorts.I absolutely love the appeal. Sometimes we take trips that are filled with activities; other times it is good to just pull into one location and set up shop for a week. Villa Premiere is geared towards couples and romance. There are plenty of tables for two, we had a couples' pedicure, and on our very first night at dinner there was a classical guitar player playing 'our' wedding song right when we sat down. It's kind of an obs