As someone who travels for a living, I have favorite destinations on every continent. But if you asked me which place out of all that I have seen is at the top of my list, I would have to say Hong Kong.

It’s been 23 years since I’ve visited Hong Kong … an eternity! But it stands out in my memory as an incredible place that opened my eyes to how wonderfully food can be prepared, presented and, most of all, enjoyed. Hong Kong — Chinese but with a blend of British influence, that thrilling mix of East and West – offers the full spectrum of experiences. It encompasses the highest levels of luxury and the simplest basics of life, all in a small space about the size of Rhode Island in the U.S.

I first traveled to Hong Kong in 1988 on the original Sea Princess, one of my favorite ships. At the time, I was 29, the youngest head waiter on board. I already had worked in the sophisticated restaurants of London and been with Princess for six years.

I thought I was a seasoned traveler, but the approach to Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor was so breathtaking, so stunning and unique, I immediately realized that the world still had surprises in store for me. The view of towering skyscrapers above and simple houseboats below, the high and the low, had my head nodding up and down, just trying to take it all in.

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It’s rare that a business trip leads to magical travel memories.  Usually you could be anywhere, tucked away in meeting rooms.  But Prague was the exception for me, and remains a special discovery to this day.

I was just appointed National Accounts Manager and was traveling to Budapest and Prague, two jewels of Eastern Europe, for an industry conference.  My days in Budapest flew by in hotel conference rooms, just as you’d expect.  But then we traveled to Prague, and it turned out to be a place that would envelop me in history, and its gracious, old-world charm and urban beauty would inspire and surprise me.

I was not prepared to step back in time but that is what it felt like entering the Old Town section of Prague, where my hotel, a converted convent, was located. The cobblestone streets, the beautiful Old Town Square ringed with majestic buildings and then the bridge–the Charles Bridge–that would become the center point of Prague for me and the catalyst for a cascade of emotions I did not expect to experience on a business trip. Read More

If I ever left my heart in a city, it would have to be Vancouver. Like my wife, Dawn, Vancouver for me was love at first sight. This beautiful Canadian city has been the backdrop for some of my most cherished life moments and I anticipate many visits and meaningful experiences there in the future.

On our vacation this year, my family sailed from Whittier to Vancouver aboard Diamond Princess. It was somewhat sentimental for me as it took me back to when I first joined Princess Cruises as a seafarer, when I signed up for an Alaska season to work aboard the original Royal Princess for what I thought would be a brief six-month escape from my life in the UK. It’s now 24 years later (to the month) and I’m still happily working for Princess.

This recent voyage not only took me back to my first week at sea, but also reminded me of when I first fell in love with Vancouver. Standing on the top deck sailing under the Lionsgate Bridge past Stanley Park, I harkened back to a somewhat fresh but clear Saturday morning on August 8, 1987 when I first sailed into Vancouver on Royal Princess. Read More

I always knew that my husband, an automobile mechanic, would be eager to visit the Panama Canal, a masterpiece of engineering and one of the so-called Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Before we had our three sons, Steven and I were in the habit of taking holiday-season cruises together, so when the opportunity arose to book a cruise to Panama, with stops in Colombia, Costa Rica and parts of the Caribbean, we took it. The year was 1997.

In a way, I thought of it as my gift to him, but it turned out to be one of the travel experiences I remember most. I did not expect to be so fascinated by the intricate series of locks and gates that make up the Panama Canal and equally as touched by some children I met on one of the San Blas islands there. Truly, Panama was a revelation to me.

I had read in school about the long and arduous history of man’s quest to join the Pacific and Atlantic via the narrow, 40-mile-wide Isthmus of Panama. I must have imagined that the Panama Canal would be a trench-like passageway, a muddy river of sorts, connecting the two oceans. Read More