Easy escape: I had a bad boyfriend breakup and I purchased a last minute ticket on a Bolt bus and jetted down to Baltimore last summer. It was the perfect last minute trip to visit a friend, get out of the town and visit a really cool city. The arts, culture, music and nightlife is everything I love about Detroit (where I used to live) but much closer to New York.

One unusual item you've brought back from a trip: I was planning a beach trip this past fall and couldn't find any flip-flops stocked in stores, so I bought Crocks. I hate saying it, but it was the best thing I've ever bought for a vacation. From the beach, to the hot springs, to rainforest hikes ... they were amazing.

One place everyone should go: Fiji is just amazing as far as being unspoiled, and it's often a free stopover on flights from Australia. Make sure if you plan to stop there, however, that you take the time to travel to the islands off the main island. For $12US/day including meals (at least in 2003) I stayed at a cute, rustic place I found in my Lonely Planet; it felt really remote, it was gorgeous, and you could swim with Manta Rays. Every island seems to have its own resort - either less rustic ones or party hostels or luxury hotels ... there's something for everyone there.

Best beach vacation: One of the amazing things about Sydney is how it's this massive city but you can still walk along the shore and pass alongside coves of different pristine, brochure quality beaches. I lived briefly in Coogee Bay, which was a calm, family friendly clean beach about a half or a quarter mile long. Around the corner was Gordon's Bay, which was an all rock beach good for snorkeling and where all the "cool" kids hung out. Around another corner was Bronte Beach, where the waves were huge and I love just standing at the water break and having the waves crash into me and topple me over. Around the next corner was the famous Bondi Beach that was really long, stretching for miles and known for surfing and was usually pretty crowded.

Best solo getaway: I flew out to Australia by way of Fiji and met so many people that do the "around-the-world" ticket. Traveling alone was one of the most liberating feelings I have ever experienced. I was rather nervous, but felt forced into an overwhelming feeling of empowerment. I thought if I were to travel alone again, I would consider the around-the-world trip. There were so many others doing it that it seemed to be well planned out, female friendly and that you would meet a lot of people along the way that you could plan parts of your trip to join and break away.

Favorite hotel you've ever stayed at: The Treehouse Hotel in La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rica. You have to get over the bug factor and the rainforest was really loud at night, but staying there was one of the most unique experiences I've ever had.