More Unforgettable Travel Moments: Mexico, New York, Caribbean

More Memorable Scenes from a 25-Year-Old Traveling Marriage

In a recent article, I wrote about five memorable moments from my many years of travel with my husband. We remember all our travels fondly, but some moments in time stand out more than most. Here are five more of them.

Living the Literary Life at the Algonquin Hotel, New York City: We took the train to New York City from Route 128 in Massachusetts, through John Cheever and Richard Yates country in Connecticut. We were escorted to our thankfully-not-too-renovated hotel room by a bellman who had worked at the hotel for 40 years. We had drinks at the Blue Bar, attended by world’s oldest barman – still impeccably uniformed and at the top of his game. We sat in the Oak Room and imagined Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and their colleagues holding court at the Round Table. We saw three plays in three days – including a terrific revival of “Damn Yankees” (from front-row seats). We braved the SRO bar crowd at fern-bar Langan’s, to discover a terrific European-quality restaurant in the back, complete with white-aproned waiters.

The Pool, Villa Montana, Morelia, Michoacán state, Mexico: I loved swimming in the pool (see photo above) at this transported-from–the-Mediterranean estate (owned by a French count), which overlooks the majestic but untrod city of Morelia. (See my full review here.)

Dressing for Dinner, Cambridge Beaches Hotel, Somerset, Bermuda: At the time, guests dressed for dinner every other night, at this gracious, faded-glory cottage colony – the oldest on the island. We felt as if we were stepping back into a more civilized time, before dinner was an event for squeezing-in between cellphone calls. At the time, the resort only accepted cash – which weeded out the riff-raff. Beautiful cottage accommodations, wonderful service, lovely campus and great house, and of course, several great beaches.

Cocktails in the Great Room, Friends Lake Inn, Chestertown, New York: We splurged on the best room in the house in an inn devoted to wine in an untrampled area of the Adirondacks. What could be better? We took advantage of the comfortable couch and wet bar in the room to try various wines before dinner every night. We squeezed in a picnic hike (with wine, of course) on the cross-country ski trails behind the inn, and sat on the small private dock by the lake. Laid-back perfection. (See my full review here.)

Gazing Up at the Mountain from the Pool, Montpelier Plantation Inn, Nevis, British West Indies: Nevis is a tiny island reached either by ferry or by the world’s shortest scheduled commercial airline flight (5 minutes, flying several feet over the ocean). It is a very special place with its majestic mountain in the center, inns converted from coffee plantations scattered on the slopes, and non-fussy but proper British attitude. The inn has breezy, simple-but-elegant cottages, a breathtaking white-sand private beach a few miles away, and a simple but industrious vibe not replicated anywhere else in the British West Indies. Cocktails were served in the reception room in the stone Great House every evening, and dinner on the porch shortly after the cocktail hour. An outpost of civilization – like living in the film “Gosford Park” without the tuxedoes, glut of servants, and patriarch’s murder.

Fussy Diner Rating: Dos Tenedores Arriba (Two Forks Up)

* Some of the establishments mentioned may have changed since our visits, so please investigate carefully before you go