Travel

Hot, Hip and Oh-So-Vibrant Vieques

Close to San Juan, but far and away, it has a style all its own

By:

Sharon McDonnell

I'm in Vieques, Puerto Rico, in the lobby of the new W Retreat & Spa -- where Alain Ducasse, the three-Michelin-star French chef, opened his first restaurant in the Caribbean. I'm talking to Patricia Urquiola, the Spanish lead designer behind the blend of the whimsical and recycled at the resort. But only for a minute; the designer of everything from...

Travel

Land Sailing Finds a Beachhead in Bonaire

By:

Sharon McDonnell

I've sailed the British Virgin Islands. I've sailed off the coast of Tangiers. I've sailed off Martha's Vineyard. So what the heck am I doing sailing on dry land? In a contraption that looks like a go-kart but attached to a sail -- a silly grin pasted on my face -- I'm whipping around a track really, really fast on...

Travel

Saints and the Temple

By:

Susan Perloff

Sonia and Joseph Weissman wake early on Wednesday to attend 8 a.m. minyan at the Flamingo Beach Resort, in Simpson Bay, St. Maarten. The Weissmans, of the Hillcrest section of Queens, are not the only vacationers among the 20 Jews in attendance. In this half-Dutch (St. Maarten), half-French (St. Martin) Caribbean island, daily minyan began at the beginning of January...

Travel

Noble Stockholm

Home of the Nobel Prizes -- and Raoul Wallenberg -- cuts a grand global profile

By:

Sharon McDonnell, Jewish Exponent Feature

Sweden's stylish capital of steeples and spires, gracefully spanning 14 different islands, is finally having its close-up, thanks to the year's sensational best-sellers, the sizzling Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series, and the three movies based upon them. Travelers can visit real-life locations in the books about investigative journalist Mikael Blomqvist and the brilliant tattooed hacker Lisbeth Salander, by the...

Travel

Hand Over the Keys

Florida's famous islands unlock a sense of adventure

By:

Sharon McDonnell, Jewish Exponent Feature

One of the best ways to commune with nature in the necklace of 800 or so islands called the Florida Keys is by plying its waterways. That's why I was kayaking the Key West back country in the still waters of Cow Key Channel with a guide, whose Australian shepherd, Tucker, lay in the front of the boat, only his...