Cupid’s arrow still hasn’t found me. (I think he needs to invest in GPS.) But, it’s managed to find Lisa Tabb. She’s been married 10 times.

Co-Authors of Beyond Vegas: 25 Exotic Wedding and Elopement Destinations Around the World, Lisa and her husband, Sam Silverstein, eloped in 10 of the world’s dreamiest destinations.

“We chose places that embodied romance,” Lisa said. “But also [places] where people could duplicate our experience and had short residency requirements.”

Lisa and Sam wanted each of their weddings to be special – and official – so they obtained marriage licenses and scheduled officiants each time, “repeating our vows again and again and again,” she said.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, I pried into Lisa’s love life to find out about their most memorable experience and if there are future plans for more wedding bells.

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Posted in Guides & Planning, International Travel, Offbeat, Q & A
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Rick Steves, an avid traveler and author of European guidebooks, recently spoke about the value of travel in today’s world at a Bay Area event, a talk that was filled with thoughtful political insights and personal anecdotes. With a presidential election on the horizon and politics on the brain, one story he told struck me as especially relevant to the political climate of today.

During a trip to Afghanistan, a man approached Rick while he was sitting in a cafeteria in Kabul, a moment he recalls as his most memorable cultural experience. The local man said, “You’re an American, aren’t you? Well, I’m a professor here in Afghanistan. I want you to know that a third of the people on this planet eat with spoons and forks like you do. A third of the people eat with chopsticks. And a third of the people eat with their fingers like I do. And we’re all just as civilized.”

Although Rick admits his wife needed to do some “retraining” upon his return home, he ate with his fingers for the remainder of that trip, an experience he described as “a joy…very natural.”

I was able to catch up with Rick to get more of his thoughts on why he thinks traveling abroad is essential. He graciously responded to all my questions, as I asked him about everything from who will get his vote in the 2008 election to what travel follies he hopes his mom never finds out about.

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Posted in Guides & Planning, International Travel, Q & A
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Editor’s Note: It’s “holiday week” on The Window Seat, and our editors get into the spirit of the season with a series of articles exploring the many facets of this busy travel period.

Alright, let's get down to business: you're traveling over the holidays. You're stressing a little about it. You have a ton of questions. Honey, join the club.

(And then after you've joined the club, take a seat right over here and we'll talk it over. Ready? Ready!)

Q. Do I need to show up at the airport earlier than usual?

A. In a word, yes. I would, anyway. You've got to remember that the world and his mother (and his mother's best friend and her cousin Sally) will be traveling over the holidays and if you want to get into the math of this sort of thing, the equation looks a little something like this: larger number of people + same amount of space = longer lines. You're also going to be finding people who perhaps aren't used to traveling, and who therefore aren't down with the whole take-your-shoes-off-remove-your-laptop thing at the security checkpoint. Bottom line: give yourself an extra hour, just to be safe. (And also? Don't be the person who doesn't know to take off his shoes.)

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Posted in Air Travel, Guides & Planning, Q & A
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As more and more destinations around the world emerge as gay-friendly, one thing is clear: the gay community is not only one of the most avid groups of travelers, but they’re also among the savviest and most adventurous. Community Marketing’s 11th Annual LGBT Travel Survey revealed that 71 percent of gay U.S. citizens hold a valid passport compared to only 24 to 30 percent of all adult U.S. citizens, and almost half of those surveyed used their passport to travel last year.

I was able to catch up with Tom Nibbio with the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association to get his thoughts on what’s hot in gay travel.

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Posted in Gay & Lesbian Travel, Q & A
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You can set the clock back sooner but you can't fool me – I still feel that hum-drum feeling that I get every winter (albeit I usually get this in February) and thus I find myself desperate for a beach fix. So while I started looking for places to go I noticed something was up. The prices were down, surprisingly, to all kinds of beach destinations. I thought I should share my findings. Because really, what's better than a trip to the beach than a trip to the beach that's on sale?!

This March and April I'm seeing unanticipated deals to the Caribbean: as much as 25-50% off and great value deals like stay for 7 nights but pay for 5. Let me remind you that this is a year where you'll be hard pressed to find a hotel that's selling for less than it did last year. All around the globe hotel rates are higher than last year. With the exception perhaps in the Caribbean this spring. Now doesn't grabbing a bargain make you want to pack up and dip your toe in the turquoise blue waters?

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Posted in Beaches, Budget Travel, Caribbean, Q & A
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Heidi Ewing has produced and directed documentaries for The Discovery Channel, Britain's Channel 4, the BBC, A&E Network and Arte. Previously, Heidi produced and co-directed a one-hour film for the Discovery Channel on the ancient origins of tribal and religious body modification, a documentary shot on location in Sri Lanka and Ethiopia.

More recently, Heidi and her Loki Films partner Rachel Grady were aboard an early morning United flight from NYC to Santa Barbara when the captain announced that their documentary film Jesus Camp was nominated for this year's Academy Awards. The entire plane went crazy with applause. I caught up with Heidi in between Oscar-nominee lunches and meetings to glean her perspective on seeing the world through the eyes of a filmmaker.

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Posted in Celebrities, Q & A
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