2011 highlights: Israel, Rome, and Wall Street Journal and Fox News articles about home

Traveling with daddy on his work trips, like to Montana's Ranch at Rock Creek, can be rough on a girl.

And I’m spent.

2011 work highlights included having a full-page spread in The Wall Street Journal, trips to Israel and Rome, and Louisville.com becoming the city’s most-read independent website and winning a couple of big honors in the process.

Luckily my wife and daughter were able to join me on many of my trips. The latter turns two next week and already has visited 18 states and Washington, DC. We got her a passport this year, but it might be a few months at least before she’s able to get her first stamp—her little sister is slated to arrive in February.

Here are some of my writing and travel highlights for 2011:

• In January, Air Canada’s enRoute published my article about taking a poker lesson from two-time World Series of Poker winner Mark Seif and then hitting the tables solo in Las Vegas.
• Later that month I went to Israel, visiting Tel Aviv, Galilee, and Jerusalem. Turns out Jerusalem has some fun drinking venues.
• In February, enRoute published my article about photographing flowing lava with Photo Safari Hawaii on the Big Island.
• BlackBook added Louisville to its City Guide mobile app and website in March, publishing 100 reviews of bars, restaurants, and hotels that I wrote as the Louisville City Editor.
• Also in March, I spoke with Louisville’s Society of Professional Journalists about being a travel writer.
• Later that month, I visited the Rome Cavalieri, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts; my article on a gladiator fighting lesson I took ran as an enRoute web exclusive and in Air Canada’s onAir frequent flyer newsletter in June.
• The attention the Kentucky Derby brings to Louisville has been great for my career: in May, The Wall Street Journal devoted the entire back page of its Derby-day edition to an article I wrote and interviews I conducted on city hotspots. And Fox News published my piece on five horse racing-related activities travelers to Louisville can enjoy on non-Derby weekend visit.
• In July, I visited Montana with my wife and daughter, the highlight of which was glamorous camping at The Ranch at Rock Creek
• Louisville.com won the 2011 Louisville Magazine‘s readers’ choice award for best local website in July
• I trekked around in 107-degree heat in Dallas for enRoute, scoping out the city’s art scene for a yet-to-be-published article on buying art.
• Indianapolis really impressed me—seriously!—when I took the trip 2.5-hours north in August. Super Bowl fans will find plenty more to do than just watch the game this February.
• Nantucket did likewise when I returned to where my family vacationed a couple of times when I was a kid. Don’t plan on reading anything about this trip: it was a family trip and I didn’t take a single note.
• In October, Louisville.com writers and readers stuffed the ballot box enough to earn second place for best local website in LEO Weekly’s, the city’s alt weekly, Readers’ Choice awards.
• Louisville.com was again an official media partner of the Breeders’ Cup, horse racing’s world championships, this November. In addition, BlackBook dispatched me to cover the Jocktails party, part of the run-up to Breeders’ Cup, and preview Downs After Dark, the sole night race of Churchill Downs’ 2011 fall meet.
• Also in November, Louisville Magazine published an account of my bravest assignment yet—eating at the Paula Deen Buffet in Southern Indiana’s Horseshoe Casino
• Louisville Magazine made a bold move when it let me write about why Kentucky isn’t that great a state for basketball (as well as break down the differences between Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals fans) in its December issue. Expect letters to the editor.
• An eight-point 170-pound buck died because I shot him through both lungs. My hunt was televised on KET’s Kentucky Afield this December. Louisville Magazine will publish an account of my hunt in early 2012.

Putting on my poker face for Air Canada’s enRoute

In the January issue of Air Canada’s enRoute I shared some pointers from a poker lesson I took in Las Vegas with two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Mark Seif.

• Download a .pdf of the article here.
• Read the article on enRoute’s website here.

Mark was a fantastic teacher during our session at Caesars Palace last August, so much so that I left the poker room up $55 when I played on my own the next day (your results may vary). Winning money at poker was a new experience for me, I enjoyed it greatly, and I hope to do it again.

It’s mentioned in the itinerary section on the last page, but it merits repeating: if you’re looking for a dining splurge in Vegas, eat at Bradley Ogden in Caesars. It’s joined the pantheon of meals that I stay up late at night thinking about.

The piece ran in enRoute‘s Higher Learning section, which focuses on “an international crash course in anything from cheese making to scuba diving to ranching, told from a personal perspective but in such a way that it teaches the reader about both the activity and the place it’s taught. It’s a two-page section, 450-words (in English and in French) and includes a sidebar with suggestions for where to stay and eat.” If you have suggestions for similar experiences, please let me know.

In addition to Mark, much thanks to Naomi Strasser and Sherri-Lyn Brown at Aerial Communications Group and Brandy Bell at Harrah’s Entertainment for coordinating my visit. (And thanks to my daughter for crawling for the first time two hours before  I left for Vegas. If it’d been two hours afterward, I probably would’ve quit travel writing and just entered Bloomingdale’s executive training program.)

2010 travel highlights: Beijing, the Big Island of Hawaii, and a new travel buddy

A trip to San Diego in June marked my daughter's first dip in the Pacific Ocean.

Just over a week into 2010, I became a dad. During the year I realized though that any concerns I had about parenthood—and my new editor-in-chief gig at Louisville.com, which I also started in January—impacting my travel were unfounded.

Here are my travel highlights for 2010 (and while my daughter didn’t go on all of these trips with me, she did make it to 14 states and Washington, DC in her first year):

• In February I visited the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach and wrote about its teen club for Air Canada’s in-flight magazine, enRoute, and one of my rare visits to a spa for UpTake.
• A road trip to Milwaukee and Chicago in March marked my daughter’s first trip out of Kentucky; I talked about the experience on a podcast for UpTake and mentioned our Chicago hotel room’s wonderful view in enRoute.
• As much as I enjoy traveling, it’s nice when a big event comes to me. In May it was the Kentucky Derby, which I wrote about for BlackBook and oversaw Louisville.com’s best week of traffic ever (November’s Breeders’ Cup did well too).
• While family was the focus of my June visits to San Diego (brother’s wedding) and Kamiah, ID (to see my grandmother), I wrote about San Diego restaurant Jsix’s chef’s kitchen experience for BlackBook.
• In June I made it back to New York City for TBEX, a travel bloggers conference, and finally got to meet in person a lot of folks I’d only known on the tubes. They were terribly disappointing exceeded high expectations.
• Coming from a small family (no aunts or uncles), my wife’s family’s annual reunion just outside of Morgantown, WV is a can’t miss—I’m serious.
• In Columbus, Ohio for my brother-in-law’s wedding, I stayed in a hotel where James Thurber use to live.
• In August I flew to the The Big Island of Hawaii on assignment for enRoute to take a fine art photography class with Photo Safari Hawaii.
• Later that month Las Vegas was the destination for another enRoute assignment, this time to take a poker lesson from two-time World Series of Poker champ Mark Seif.
• I wrote about looking out over Gerald Ford’s grave site from my hotel room in Grand Rapids, Mich. for UpTake and visiting the art fair with the world’s largest prize (if not the best art) for Gridskipper.
• On Columbus Day weekend we trekked to Watoga State Park in West Virginia for another of my wife’s family reunions (it’s a big clan).
• At Thanksgiving I returned to my hometown of Reading, Mass. for the first time in 17 months, the longest I’d ever gone without a visit; I reviewed the accommodations at my parents’ house for UpTake (executive summary: meh).
• For the second year in a row, I visited China with the Ritz-Carlton (this time it was Beijing); I won’t complain if trips to China with that hotelier become an annual tradition. Culinary highlights already have been posted on Gridskipper.
• It was fantastic to get back to Washington, DC and see our friends. I wrote our stay at the Ritz-Carlton, Washington DC about for UpTake.
• For the third time in four years, both my wife’s family and mine gathered in the neutral playing location of Deep Creek Lake Maryland for Christmas.

From Idaho to China, 2009 was a fun year for traveling and writing

How can a year in which you got an action figure of yourself be anything but great?

Recently the Internet has featured an abundance of laments about the disappointment that was 2009. I disagree; 2009, you were a good one.

From Kamiah, Idaho (population 1,160) to Guangzhou, China (population 10,045,800), I experienced and wrote about some amazing places this year–and had a blast doing it.

Some highlights:

• In January I drove from my new home in Louisville to Las Vegas with my brother and then flew to Washington, DC for Barack Obama’s inauguration.
• For Valentine’s Day, I reviewed 10 engaging spots to pop the question for Budget Travel.
• Traveling to celebrate my grandmother’s 90th birthday with her, I drove through Idaho, one of the most beautiful areas in the United States.
• I discovered one of my new favorite American cities–Nashville, which I visited twice.
• I covered the running–and parties–of Kentucky Derby 135 (and got this hilarious voice message from a Paris Hilton flack in the process).
• I experienced my first music festival–Bonnaroo.
• Trips to Boston; Morgantown, WV; Charlotte, NC; and Washington, DC allowed me to spend time with family and friends, as well as do some exploring.
• My more than 100 articles for Louisville.com provided me with ample opportunities to investigate my new hometown.
• While in New York to officiate a friend’s wedding (yes, you read that right), I finally met in person many travel writers and editors whom I’d known only virtually before.
• I consumed delicious tacos, lattes, and cocktails in Austin, TX.
• I reviewed concerts by two of my favorite performers–Bruce Springsteen and Roger Daltrey.
• After a fantastic trip to Guangzhou and Shenzhen, China, sponsored by the Ritz-Carlton, Cathay Pacific and Dragon Air, I wrote about the ethics of press trips for BlackBook.
• And I began contributing to Air Canada’s in-flight magazine, enRoute, and blogging about lodging for UpTake.

On a personal note, I’ll be closing out 2009 or beginning 2010 with a new daughter–my wife and I are expecting our first child any day now. Look for articles in early 2010 about traveling with an infant: we’ve already made plans to bring her to Milwaukee, Chicago, and San Diego.

Best wishes for a great 2010!