E.J.

Okay, so I have a new sister-in-law in Seatle and she says Victoria Island is the place to go. My daughter and I made a pact after last summer’s trip to Ireland that we would go somewhere together every year. Our day to fly comes around and the poor thing is too sick to go, so we postpone. Then we unexpectedly buy a house so I am in the middle of moving and we cancel the trip again. Now we are trying to go for Christmas. Will it be too cold for couple of Native Bay Area California girls?

I took my little sister, (15) I was 21, to Baja with my future husband and his friend Steve. We drove down the coast and the boys were so scared we were going to be kidnapped or ripped off. We dumped the boys and found the most rockin rooftop bar. The sun was setting over the ocean while we drank our pitcher of Margaritas as music played. The guys meanwhile ran through the town like chickens without heads.

My daughter and I back-packed around Ireland for 5 weeks. Craik!

As a child, I lived in Madrid for a year. It took me years of hearing Mexican Spanish in California to lose my “theta”.

My boyfriend and I had been fighting with each other across Europe. We came down through Yugoslavia on a train to Athens. A boat took us to Crete in the late summer. We found a white washed room in a little in on the beach. Everyday we ate french bread and chocolate, drank red wine and swam in the sea. When my body emerged from the sea, the sun would dry me so quickly that sand crystals were left shimmering on my body like diamonds. I spent glorious mornings alone, running along the shore in the rising sun. Evenings were romantic. Our life was simple. I left him there. I flew home to the USA via Turkey,and he found his way to Israel and Egypt. We later met in Egypt but that’s a whole different story.