Thanksgiving Abroad!

For the past decade or so, I've celebrated Thanksgiving somewhere else in the world on more than a few occasions - Paris, London and Sydney.  Thankfully, there are large American populations in all these cities so it's not difficult to find a traditional meal and some camaraderie.

Although I'm home in Chicago this Thanksgiving, celebrating the holiday elsewhere has always lead me to beautiful spaces and places.  In 2010, my friend and colleague Rachel Piercey and I celebrated in Paris.  It was the coldest winter on record in Paris for more than 80 years and so being inside this day was especially important.

The Musee D'Orsay became our Thanksgiving home of choice and we spent almost the entire day there strolling through the various halls within the museum viewing collections of sculpture, paintings, photography, graphics, objets d'art and architecture.

We dined in the historic Restaurant, located on the first floor of what was once the Hotel D'Orsay, first opened in 1900.  It was incorporated into the museum when it was converted from railroad station to cultural icon in 1986. The building has a fascinating history - you can read about it here.

We were lucky enough to have a table right on the windows, where we could look out over the grounds surrounding the museum and across the Seine to the Place de la Concorde.  The day began quite overcast and yet we were treated to a golden view as we settled in to enjoy our very non-traditional Thanksgiving meal!

Today, I can hardly remember what we ate, and yet, there was room for dessert and so on this day of celebration and giving thanks, we indulged!!

OMG!! What a treat and decidedly not what one might expect to close out a Thanksgiving meal with - but scrumptious nonetheless!!

As you might expect, this was probably one of my most favorite Thanksgiving celebrations. I've had them in London and Sydney, and while I always manage to find fabulous food when I travel, it is this Thanksgiving in Paris that has etched its way in to my heart and soul.

It was a week where we celebrated Thanksgiving twice with nontraditional meals. Earlier in the week, we visited Jim Haynes at his Sunday night salon and celebrated Thanksgiving with a home cooked meal that was Spanish in origin.  It was a night of making good friends and finding others celebrating the holiday in an international setting - much like the first settlers who gave us this holiday. For them, America was an international setting and they were far from home!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone - wherever you are in the world - be thankful and enjoy!!!

PS: Here's David Lebovitz' wonderful Cranberry Sauce with Red Wine & Figs recipe.

Wouldn't It Be Loverly ...

It seems that I write about Paris most of the time when I post. But, it was London that first won my traveler's heart. Just before I turned eight, I was treated to my first trip to Chicago with my Aunt Rose, my godmother and a kindergarden teacher, with whom I always traveled during my childhood. She above all is most responsible for my love of and passion for travel.

Photo Courtesy Paramount/CBS

It was on this trip that London became alive for me as I sat in a darkened theater in Chicago's Loop and watched, 'My Fair Lady' - a wide-eyed child on her first travel adventure. A year later, my idol, Audrey Hepburn, created Eliza Doolittle on the screen, and I would fall in love once again with the glamour, pomp and circumstance of London. 

It would be more than 30 years later that my own feet would walk the lanes and boroughs brought to life for me by Eliza Doolittle. Now, there is never a time that I visit London that doesn't include what is my personal 'My Fair Lady' stroll through London Town. During my 2001 London trip, I was fortunate enough to catch an exquisite revival of 'My Fair Lady' with Jonathan Pryce as Higgins and Martine McCutcheon as Eliza, and it once again cemented my love for this most enchanting city.

We forget how often movies and television inspire our deepest feelings and evoke a spirit of adventure in all of us. How many times have we seen a film or program and wondered what it might be like to live in another time period, a foreign city or a completely different life? 

Travel, like movies, gives us a glimpse into another world, and often, let's us have a taste of the past, the present and the future all at the same time.

Traveling to the Movies ...

So are you ready to take a trip of a lifetime to the movies? 

Are you ready to walk in the footsteps of 'Downton Abbey's' Lady Mary Crawley or Lord Grantham at

Highclere Castle, Newbury

Highclere Castle in Newbury? Or stroll though the Versailles-like gardens of Boughton House, Northamptonshire, which represented its French counterpart in Les Miserables? Perhaps you'd prefer to follow 'Alice In Wonderland's' White Rabbit or revel in the wizardry of 'Harry Potter' at Christ Church, Oxford? 

Does the sleuth in you cry out for the clues so craftily laid out by Agatha Christie or deduced by Sherlock Holmes at Hatfield House, Hatfield? Or shall you look through Hatfield House in search of Colin Firth ready to make 'The King's Speech'? 

And if these are not enough to remind you how film and video help to create our world, step back in time to watch the investitures of kings and queens at Buckingham Palace - think 'Young Victoria', the first British monarch to reign from this magnificent palace. Watch the British monarchy break with Rome at Westminster Abbey - think 'Anne of A Thousand Days' or 'A

Boughton House, Northamptonshire

Man for All Seasons'. And finally, these same historical characters and many others were imprisoned and executed in various ways at the Tower of London.

Yes, London and the countryside that surrounds this magnificent city has long been the 'set' for some of the greatest films and television series of the past century. And, while you can enjoy some of these places on your own, there's nothing like having a knowledgeable British guide to lead you on a behind the scenes tour of all these real life movie 'sets' on England: A Tour of British Movie Production Sites, hosted by Freedom Tours LLC.

As many of you know, in addition to my consulting and coaching business, I work as a travel architect with my 'travel partner in crime' - Annie Collins at Freedom Tours now based in Alexandria, Louisiana.    By doing this, I am able to indulge my own passion for travel, while sharing my travel experience with others to help fan the flame of their wanderlust. 

I am thrilled to see this new travel adventure that has been added to the roster of hand-tailored travel adventures FT is offering. I've been lucky enough to spend so much time in the last almost 20 years in and around London and Scotland. 

Cairngorms, near Aviemore Scotland

There's nothing like the English countryside in the summer and Scotland is breathtaking anytime of the year. Scotland had never been on my radar until I became a big fan of the BBC series, 'Monarch of the Glen'. On one of my trips to London, I took four days and visited 'Monarch country' in the heart of the Cairngorms mountain range. Those four days are among my most memorable in all my years of travel - but that's another post. 

I love movies because they have taken me places that I'm not always able to go. But, even more important, they have encouraged me to explore my independent travel spirit in ways that I might not have imagined on my own. 

I hope that some of you will think about joining FT on what promises to be a delightful jaunt through the English countryside with some of your favorite movie characters, and maybe, even me as your FT guide. Wouldn't it be loverly??

Fly Girl is Flying ...

WOW! I can't believe how long it has been since I've posted to this blog! Been too busy flying I guess but so sorry that I haven't been sharing my adventures with you.

I am about to take off to some of my favorite places with some of my travel clients -- beautiful Italy. We'll be hitting the sights in Florence, Rome, Venice and perhaps a few of the hilltop towns of Tuscany. If we're lucky, we'll find the time to sneak off to Milan.

When I'm finished in Italy, I'm training my way overnight to Paris where I'll catch a bit of the French Open, do a little business for some of my clients and then head to London before returning home in early June. I hope to be posting along the way and hope you'll be there right with me.

In the meantime, Ciao Baby!