Swimming with eight-metre-long whale sharks is the highlight of a vacay to Mexico's Baja Peninsula. In my periphery vision, slowly and steadily, a hulking, dark and indeterminate shadow appears. My heart quickens and there's an involuntarily sharp intake of breath on my snorkel mouthpiece. I first focus on an elaborate pattern of white dots on a gl...

Dog travel writer borrowed for a half-day now has a forever home. Tail a waggin', Simba leads the way like he knows where he's going. It's the first time this Chihuahua-terrier cross has been on the Koloa Heritage Trail, but that doesn't damper his ears-perked, tongue- hanging-out canine enthusiasm. My wife, Kerry, and I happily follow, hardly beli...

Father-and-son trip to Dallas proves everything's bigger in Texas. In this case, a hot mess is not the condition you left your last girlfriend or boyfriend in upon breakup. It's the signature dish at Dallas' hottest barbecue joint. Pecan Lodge's Hot Mess is the most tender and moist, low-and-slow-cooked brisket shredded atop a baked sweet potato. I...

Ancient tortoises, deserted beaches and travelling by catamaran are the highlights of this island-hopping holiday in the Indian ocean. Tyson stretches his wrinkly, 120-year-old neck as an invitation to stroke it. It feels much like it looks: dry and leathery, yet utterly wonderful. Tyson is a rare Aldabra giant land tortoise and me and my wife, Ker...

Indulge. Repent. Repeat. It will become my wife, Kerry, and I's mantra during a long weekend of self-regulated revelry in West Hollywood. For every drink sipped at the rooftop pool of The London West Hollywood Hotel there will be an hour of cycling in Beverly Hills spying the mansions of the rich and famous. The morning after a wine-paired dinner a...

The full moon is auspicious. Perched at a corner table bordering the wall of windows on the 35th floor of Asiate restaurant with the view spilling out to Columbus Circle and Central Park, my wife and I remark this lunar illumination can only spell good luck. I'd already jogged effortlessly in Central Park, New York City's forested gem, that morning...