Having spent the last 6 years of my life on the road, I’ve seen a lot of interesting and unique places. I’ve been to all 50 states and 4 Canadian Provinces. I’ve been to the UK, Paris, Switzerland, Germany, Thailand, and Singapore and this month I’m headed to Australia and Fiji.

Ironically, I’m writing this post from my home base, Charleston, South Carolina. This is the longest time in 6 years that I have been at home and on November 15th I start year 7 of travel. In 2012, I’ll focus solely on international travel and expect to add a lot of amazing destinations to this list.

I just got Oprah’s O Magazine December 2011 issue filled with her favorite things. The magazine inspired me to think back about my travels and my favorite things. So here they are:

FOOD:
NYC – Morimoto – The Carmel Apple Tourban -a free-form apple souffle sitting on apple confit topped with a housemade cotton candy, accompanied by vanilla bean ice cream and carmel glaze. Morimoto is one of my favorite restaurants, but this dessert is one of my all-time favorites….#2 behind the Pot de chocolate et Crème at Church and State in LA.

LA – Church & State – the Pot de chocolate et Crème – a chocolate coffee custard w/crème. The Pot de chocolate et Crème is to die for. It’s my #1 favorite of all time. I could order it for my appetizer, for my main course and for dessert and be totally happy!

Philadelphia – Abners – The best Philly Cheesesteak I’ve ever had. On the University of Pennsylvania campus in University City, this is a place you must visit.

Sylvia ,NC – Lulu’s on Main – they make their own salad dressings that are to die for. I went twice in the same week – that’s how good it was (it had nothing to do w/the fact that there’s not much else in town!).

Bar Harbor Maine – Guinness and Porcelli’s – a fabulous Italian restaurant in a very small town. We ate here at least once a week over year-long project in Bar Harbor. The Sausage and Fennel Cream Pasta was my favorite. If it’s still on the menu, I highly recommend it. They also have fabulous Crème Brule. Guinness and Porcelli’s is definitely worth a visit. Granted, eating here with one of my best friends in the world, Casey, made it all the better!

Anacortes, WA – Adrift – a very cool place. The food is all locally grown and the restaurant features local art and sustainable wood floors and furniture.

San Francisco, CA – First Crush Restaurant and Wine Bar- has the best desserts in San Fran in my opinion and great dessert wines! The
valhrona triple chocolate mousse was amazing.

Beverly Hill, CA – Bouchon Beverly Hills – my all time favorite restaurant. I love Chef Thomas Keller’s Beverly Hills restaurant. You can’t go wrong with anything you order.

HOTELS:
The JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa, Thailand – the hotel was amazing and the food was exceptional. One of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

The Le Méridien Khao Lak Beach & Spa Resort , Thailand – a little slice of heaven. The Le Meridien offered one of the best meals in Thailand in their Italian Restaurant – the smoked salmon Bruschetta has become a staple at all of my parties (the head chef was kind enough to provide me the recipe.)

The Stanford Court Renaissance, in San Francisco CA – the hotel is a fabulous boutique hotel with exceptional service. Located on Nob Hill, the Stanford Court has a perfect location (on two trolley lines) and amazing views of the city.

I’ll keep adding to the list of my favorite things so keep checking back.

I published this post about a year ago on a private blog of mine. I thought it would be a great addition to Very Good Points. Last summer I took my first cruise. I went on the Celebrity Millennium to Alaska. This wasn’t my first trip to Alaska, but it was my first cruise there. I am a huge fan of Alaska and its wildlife.

ROOM: I found the rooms on the Celebrity Millennium to be old and in need of renovation. We upgraded to “Concierge Class” and the room was a bit smaller than expected, the decor was outdated and tacky and the balcony had an obstructed view – which we weren’t warned about in advance. The concierge service was great though. They were attentive and provided everything we needed. Room service was no additional fee for the concierge class. But we never used it because there were so many other things to do and see. There were two twin beds in the room that could be pushed together to form a double bed and a sofa bed. With the sofa bed open, getting to the balcony was a challenge. The bathroom is small, as expected, but the shower was even smaller than we expected.

FOOD: The main dining room offered an early and a late seating. The food was pretty good and there was a good variety on the menu. The meal was three courses and alcohol and soft drinks were additional. We were very pleased to learn that they matched us up at our table with people our age (this was great because the average age was about 60+). Lunches were not so good. There were two choices. The main buffet got boring very quickly. The grill was okay, but you can’t eat burgers and hotdogs every day! Breakfast was the best meal of the day in my opinion. They had a ton of choices and even though it was “buffet”, it never got boring. The best meal we had was in the specialty dining room, The Olympic. It was fabulous! I would eat there again! Drinks were very, very expensive. Drink packages are worth it if you drink a lot, otherwise, just pay for one or two and don’t look at the prices. The service in the specialty dining rooms was exceptional. Definitely worth the experience.

SPA: hotel spas are usually very expensive and so I expected a cruise ship spa to be expensive, however, this was way more than I anticipated. The quality of the spa services was average. I had a manicure and pedicure. The pedicure was nice and the technician did a good job. My manicure however, was not as good. I had a massage however, I was in a spa treatment room next to the gym, and had no peace or quite at all because I could hear all the music, machines and spin class going on. The technician felt awful, but couldn’t do anything. During land excursion days, the spa offered discounted services. That’s the way to go if you really want to experience the spa.

ENTERTAINMENT: I didn’t go to any of the “shows” they all sounded a bit cheesy to me. And the people who we at with at dinner did go confirmed my suspicion. They didn’t go back. The other onboard entertainers were okay, some were much better than others. There was a guitar player, who was good, but we went back a few times and he played the exact same songs, in the same order, with the same jokes both nights. Overall, entertainment was average. There was daily trivial pursuit, and it wasn’t well attended. There was a wine and food tasting one day that we attended. It was very good, and the sushi they served was excellent. However, it was an extremely popular event and very crowded. There were kitchen tours that were interesting and provided a very different view of the ship. There were other on-board activities, but the best option in my opinion was sitting on the deck watching for whales. There was a closing night dance party that started way too late for me to check out.

EXCURSIONS: EXPENSIVE! Since you can book these online in advance of the cruise, at least I knew how much they were going to cost. Cruising defiantly isn’t a cheap vacation. I learned a trick from the more experienced cruisers on board…book on your own excursions…don’t book through the cruise line. I opted for 3 whale watching cruise excursions that ranged from $250 – 350 dollars each. The whale watching was great. However, in almost every port, there were tour vendors set up offering the same tours at lower prices. I was incredibly lucky, I saw humpback whales and orca whales. It was an amazing treat. The port cities were mainly tourist traps, but since I’d been to several of them before, I knew some hidden gems that locals had told me about. I suggest doing some research and finding the off-the-beaten path restaurants and shops to make your experience more unique.

OVERALL: I definitely will cruise again. I wouldn’t choose the Millennium ship, but I would consider Celebrity again because the service was good. I love Alaska, and a cruise is a great way to see it. But I don’t think I’d do a second cruise to Alaska. I would prefer another land tour. If you cruise to Alaska, make sure you take some time to see Anchorage as well – it’s not typically part of the cruise itineraries, but you likely will fly out of there. It’s a great city (I’ve spent almost 3 weeks there on business) and worth a few extra days. The food is amazing and unique, the scenery is incredible and the museums offer amazing history and art experiences.