Last vacation you took that you really loved: Tulum, Mexico. I've been every March for the past three years. It's the perfect beach vacation destination because it's so gorgeous and so simple. You don't have to try very hard to have a really nice time. You can go see amazing Mayan ruins, or take part in a Mayan ritual, or spend every day kayaking, but you can also just lay on the beach and have a beer and be perfectly content. It's about a three-hour plane ride and a two-hour drive - so five hours total. It's really easy.

What's your biggest travel splurge? I will always splurge on meals. In general I will scrimp and save on everything else - like I’ll take the weirdest, worst flight and not care. And I’ll sleep in a flea-ridden place. But I will definitely always splurge on a great meal and really get the flavor of the city that way - that’s more important to me than any other indulgence. For example, when I was last in Paris, we had an amazing lunch at a place called Senderens. It was an amazing, amazing meal - like serious nouvelle cuisine. Gorgeously presented and everything was just so special. And I never felt for a moment that it wasn't worth the money I spent on it.

What are some of your favorite travel resources? I’ve done a lot of Lonely Planet over the years. And I always like them, even though there’s the tipping point when you’re traveling when you can just see everybody going from Lonely Planet site to Lonely Planet site and you’re like “Didn’t I just see you at that trendy bar from page 67? Get a life, man!” 

Any tips for a solo female traveler? Bring headphones, sunglasses - all those urban tools of ignoring people. Learn what countries you're more likely to be harassed on the street in. And don't be afraid to be rude and standoffish. I think as a New Yorker it's important to have those skills anyway, like putting on the blinders. Lastly, don't get wasted if you really don't know where you are. Other than that, I don't follow a lot of rules.

If you have to travel for work, what do you do to make it more pleasurable? I was recently working for the NBA and went to Paris, Cologne, and Barcelona. I barely saw any of the cities we were in because we were working about twelve-hour days. But I tried to always get up early enough to make sure I at least took a walk to get a coffee, pastry and local paper. Then at night, I'd always go out for dinner, no matter how late or how tired I was. You just have to think: "You're here! You've made it this far, you have to go out to dinner." I always did and I always felt at least a tiny bit connected to each city I went to.

Ever rented an apartment or house on vacation? Yes, once! I stayed in a cute apartment in the Marais with two of my closest friends. It was a one bedroom so we traded off sleeping on a futon and staying in the bedroom. It was so much less than what we would have paid at a decent hotel much farther from the center of the city. And it had laundry! Another big plus was that you could make your own breakfast: you'd just go out and buy some baguette or fruit from the market, whatever, and have it at home. Also important: you could make your own coffee, which is something I need first thing when I wake up in the morning, and is certainly key when i'm jetlagged. And no matter how nice they are, most hotels in Europe don't provide this amenity.

Favorite city to escape to: I really love Paris, and on a more affordable note, Philadelphia. It’s a really great city: great food, great music scene, great art scene. And it’s so close: you can take the train and it’s like an hour away. Easy and fun and way cheaper than New York.

 

What meal would you travel for? The breakfast at Mezzanine in Tulum, Mexico. It's the most beautiful breakfast I've ever had: two eggs on spring onion and potato pancakes with pickled-onion relish and fresh tomatoes and a slice of tria (mexican spinach). It's super colorful: purple and bright, bright yellow (from fresh eggs from that morning) and bright, bright green. They also make the best mango margaritas with fresh mango.

What's the best hotel you've ever stayed at? Again, the aforementioned Mezzanine; it's both a Thai-Mexican fusion restaurant and a boutique hotel. The location is perfect - on a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean - and there are only four rooms, so each one has a beautiful view. Of note: every Friday the expat Australian couple who run the place host this funny Euro dance party, which is really kind of bizarre - it's always full of trustafarian Europeans sporting dreadlocks and trying to fire-juggle or whatever. That aside, it's really peaceful, so serene and gorgeous. And it's also totally eco-driven: they use windmills and solar paneling for all their power. It's a lovely, lovely place to go.

Favorite mode of travel: I've found in Europe that meeting people in trains is a social mode of travel. But I also love to drive and be in control and be able to stop anywhere that I like and just have complete freedom to go off on a different road.

Best general travel advice: Something that's always stuck with me that I learned from my dad (who traveled to like fifty countries while working for ABC News) is to take at least one walk when visiting a new place, even you only have a half an hour of free time.

And I've definitely taken that to heart, probably to the extreme, to the point where I'll pretty much try and get lost. It'll be like, "Perhaps I'll find this tiny store that I read about once that carries this rare kind of wallpaper and I don't really know where they are but maybe I'll just walk for six hours and become completely exhausted and not stop for food and be really dehydrated and maybe I'll find it." And then if you actually do stumble into it, it's the best. Either way, I'm just always thrilled when I get to walk for hours with or without a real destination. It's the best way to enjoy a city. 

Name a book you'd recommend fellow jauntsetters take on a trip: I just finished one, actually: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. I could picture it being a great book to travel with somewhere in the States, like California - that would be amazing because the story's set out there in the late 50s/early 60s. It kind of transports you to a different era. And it’s totally a page-turner.

What travel accessory would you recommend to fellow jauntsetters? I've had an iPhone for almost a year, and it's really an amazing travel tool. With the map functions and web access, you can instantly find answers to the important questions like, where is there coffee, where is a bar, where am I? It's pretty awesome.

What's an exception that you make to your way of living when you travel? I definitely indulge in $15 worth of magazines at any airport anytime. I would never consider buying them anywhere else but somehow at the airport, it's not only acceptable to buy tons of magazines, it kind of becomes imperative.

 

Are you a frequent flyer with any particular airline? I’m not a frequent flyer with one airline because I'm basically obsessed with finding the cheapest flights I can ever find in any situation. If something is $25 less, I'll be like "sold!" I’ve dabbled in them all, but it totally comes down to Kayak and who’s telling me who’s the cheapest. As a result I’ve flown LOT Polish Airlines, Virgin, Air France, all the domestic airlines, Air India - whoever lets me on their plane.

Tell us about your worst airline experience (and anything you did to make it better)? The last time I went to Paris, last year, I took Air India and that was kind of a crazy experience, because almost everybody was flying on to Mumbai, just with a stopover in Paris. I was the one person who was basically only going on the shorter leg of the flight and also the only person who didn’t rush the gate like five times right before the flight was about to take off. The airline employees kept announcing “Please sit down,” and I was the only one who did. Like really the only one. And then somebody wandered over to me and handed me a first class ticket. It was really nice - I didn’t even ask for it and I couldn't have been more surprised. 

At first it was really exciting; I'd never ridden first class before, I was flying alone, and I was like, this is going to be great. But then the man next to me talked all through dinner, all through cocktails, and then fell asleep and talked in his SLEEP the entire night. So it was first class and I was so psyched to have a chair that reclined, but all I could do was elbow this man and growl at him for talking nonstop. So ironically, that was probably the worst flight I've ever had. Still, it was good to know that I could get upgraded just by being nice and following directions!

Ever asked for an upgrade? I stayed at the Mohonk House once in New Paltz, New York and I requested a room with a fancier bath tub and they actually gave it to me. Because I got to the room and it was really nice but I was like "I am sorry, I was just really expecting a claw-foot tub. Very specifically." And they were like "All right." They changed my room. Usually I'm not that demanding, but it was like this odd impulse overtook me that I really wanted to take a bath in this nice lodge, so they gave it to me. That was great. So always ask!

Finally, share your biggest overall travel tip: I try to write every day and take pages and pages of notes of where I walked, what restaurant I loved, where I had an amazing croissant one morning, random thoughts. I love to look back on that stuff and reread it and give friends tips.

On that note, please make sure to check out an entry later this month on some of Kate's favorite getaways on our constantly-updated blog!