Text & photos © Catherine Nichols Never before had I been so stressed on a trip. There we were, stranded in Vancouver in a nightmare Airbnb situation with four kids. Count ’em: four. It was the one time we had decided that two of our daughters could bring two of their friends along on what...

Text & photos © Catherine Nichols With leaf earrings dangling from my ears, I got in my car and drove three miles to one of the best kept secrets of San Diego. Even though I live so close to San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas, California, I rarely visit. I decided to go this year because we’ve...

Text & photos © Catherine Nichols WHAT I ORIGINALLY THOUGHT OF as a one-time, frivolous trip to the East Coast has become a necessary part of my year. The trees in all their colorful glory call my name. By the time October rolls around, the whispers become shouts, and I find myself packing my suitcase...

Text & photos © Catherine Nichols Imagine a place where it’s bumper-to-bumper traffic for the better part of most days and evenings in the summer. The tourists have descended on your city and there’s nowhere to escape. It takes you 30 minutes to get anywhere (at a minimum), and you just want...

Text & photos © Catherine Nichols “Where’s a good place to hike around here?” I asked the local waitress. “Just up the street about a mile at Wildwood Recreation Site,” she replied with a huge smile. How can you tell you’re in a great place where the majority of the people are happy?...

Text & photos © Estrella Azul. Feature photo: Debrecen University 2010. I AM VERY LUCKY: I can walk down a street once in a strange city and then walk around later like I’m a local. Walking with my friends and admiring the flower floats that participated in the St. Stephen’s Day parade in...

Text & photos © Catherine Nichols and Sam Nichols I BELIEVE THERE ARE no coincidences. Let me explain my assertion. On a recent trip to San Francisco, I stayed at an AirBnb with my girls in the quaint, small town of Fairfax in Marin. The hostess sent me a text wanting to know when I was going...