ASED ON THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE of me with my one true love – the spaghetti pomodoro served at the Four Seasons Hotel in Florence – could my reason to travel have been to celebrate World Pasta Day in its motherland ? I would cross an ocean for it , but the fact that I was in Italy on that auspicious occasion,Oct.25,2023,was serendipity.The idea of indulgence is why I chose to accept the “pleasure tax” (i.e., the high cost of flights) and not cancel when a late-breaking work situation made the timing of the long-planned trip awkward. Physically and mentally, I needed respite through immersion in a culture of mesmerizing beauty. I escaped thinking of my everyday through lavish meals, lashings of wine and voraciously consuming antiquities and art. During my six-hour tour of the Vatican museums, my guide’s accented English seemed to morph into the Irish lilts of the nuns in Jamaica who taught me about the Renaissance and its patron popes, who had the temporal power of kings. As I stared up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, I could see myself sitting in that classroom in Kingston, transported to the time and the place I first heard of Michelangelo. As I flew home the next day, I could feel how the alchemy of travel had centred me.
In this, our annual Reasons to Travel issue – 24 for 2024 – we highlight the most relevant trends, au courant destinations and industry innovations that make getting there less stressful. But, most of all , we invite you to travel with us. Turn to our special MAPPED section to discover how sharing your travel experiences could make you a winner, as part of the Zoomer Travel Awards coming at you – same time, next year.

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• Star Magazine USA – February 12, 2024
• Woman’s Weekly New Zealand – February 12, 2024