Erik Trinidad

When Karl the Fog has his gloomy summer residency in San Francisco, the place to be is just across the Bay Bridge in Oakland, where it’s often sunnier and 5–10º warmer. But better weather isn't the only reason to visit “The Town” as it's nicknamed (SF being “The City”)...

For many people, a big Caribbean cruise means a multi-day party on the open seas. Food, so much food. Cocktails, ditto. “Exotic” port-of-call excursions that amount to a booty call with a new country. On the flip side, for crew members a cruise can be a grueling ordeal. Long, arduous hours on your feet, no access to land, and lots of cleaning up after passengers whose idea of a vacation is piling up empty buffet plates...

The process of choosing just 19 places to visit in 2019 was long, arduous, fraught with infighting -- nah, just kidding, we had a great time. But by necessity, a list so limited overlooks some truly remarkable corners of this big ‘ole world of ours. As we Sophie’s Choice’d one destination after another, we kept coming across cities in our own backyard that made surprisingly compelling cases for a visit...

You fantasize about a island vacations for the same reason everyone else does: Earth gave us hundreds of thousands of islands to choose from, so whatever your perfect dream trip entails, an island somewhere will fit it perfectly. Maybe you're cool flomped on a sandy stretch of strangers' skin, nodding at the fittest among them and listening to some dude blasting “Turn Down for What” on a football-sized Blu-Ray speaker. Or maybe you're inclined to find a vacant, balmy postcard sanctuary...

Ugh, people, amiright? Always inviting you on trips, asking you to come out into the world with them, to try new things, see new countries, make new memories. “Hell is other people,” as Jean-Paul Sartre would say, but it’s also other places -- places out of your comfort zone, place...