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Ushuaia

Posted by Mark Sullivan on January 25, 2026
Posted in: Argentina, South America. Leave a Comment

Hiking just outside town and enjoying the views of Chile just across the Beagle Channel

From Buenos Aires, we took a 4-hour flight to Ushuaia, the capital of Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province. Argentines call Ushuaia the southernmost city in the world. That title is in dispute with Puerto Williams, a small Chilean settlement just across the Beagle Channel, which Chile recently reclassified as a “city.”

Ushuaia’s nickname is “El Fin del Mundo,” the end of the world, and it does feel that way. It’s the launching point for 90% of the world’s cruises to Antarctica. It’s a cute town, full of provisioners of hiking and trekking gear. The streets are filled with people getting ready for adventure of some kind. The landscape is dramatic. The weather is moody. As soon as we stepped outside the airport Jim said, “This feels just like Alaska.”

We did a bit of hiking here, enjoying some spectacular views of the rugged landscape. We enjoyed some pretty good meals, appreciating both the grilled meats that are ubiquitous in Argentina and the seafood plentiful here in this sea facing town. And of course we found ourselves combing the town with all the other adventure seekers for last minute provisions. We are about to get on a boat for 18 days, and I really don’t want to run out of toothpaste.

So much stunning landscape around here

The town is surrounded by rugged mountains

Hiking through woodlands

A lunchtime view of the Beagle Channel and the Chilean mountains beyond

A beautiful plate of seafood to match the lovely view outside

A peat bog in the middle of the forest

Hiking through multiple terrains — forest, peat bog, mountainside

So many beautiful views

When we reached a peak, fully exposed on all sides, the views were fantastic but the wind was fierce

Just like in Alaska, the summer flowers, like these lupines, are notably huge, due to the extremely long sun exposure each day

Hiking in the forest

A gorgeous arrangement of lightly pickled fish and accompaniments

Relaxing at the end of the day in the warm pool above the Beagle Channel

Jim spent the last few hours in Ushuaia at the laundromat. While the clothes were drying he snuck down to the port and took a shot of Le Lyrial, our home for the next 18 days. We’ll be moving in soon, ready for the journey to the White Continent!

Christmas in the Caribbean

Posted by Mark Sullivan on December 25, 2025
Posted in: Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, North America, St Lucia, USA. Leave a Comment

The harbor in Soufrière, St. Lucia on Christmas Eve

I saw this bizarre looking boat after we left Virgin Gorda and did some Googling. It’s Black Pearl, the largest sailing yacht in the world, owned by some Russian billionaire.

A Christmas Eve toast from Jim

We are not normally “cruise people,” but we decided to take a Christmas break this year on a week-long Caribbean cruise. How did that come about? To begin with, the Internet marketing gods determined that I was a good target for ads from the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. Clicking on one of those ads certainly didn’t help matters, so they kept coming, and I found myself intrigued by the product.

This is a cruise line targeting a very different audience from other lines. The “yacht” holds hundreds rather than thousands of people, and it feels like a luxurious hotel — one that happens to be on the water. It is like being at a really nice resort. The food is great, the service is top-notch, and the room is ultra-comfortable. We’ve been meeting lots of interesting people, and they all seem to be having a great time. Many profess to also be “non-cruise people.” And some are downright addicted to this company.

One of the reasons we don’t normally do cruises is that we are travelers who want to do justice to the places we visit. We’re not normally content to drop into a place for half a day. We want to stay in places, get to know them, meet local people, enjoy the cuisine. But these Caribbean islands are places we’ve already been to or wouldn’t likely get to otherwise. So we’re pretty happy to enjoy the “resort” and pop off to a nice beach each day.

Our cruise was launched from San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we spent a couple days before boarding the yacht Ilma. So far we’ve made stops in Virgin Gorda (British Virgin Islands), Antigua (Antigua and Barbuda), and St. Lucia. Today we are anchored in Guadeloupe for Christmas. Our next two stops are in St. Barthélemy and St. John (U.S. Virgin Islands). Then back to Puerto Rico to catch a flight home. Meanwhile, Merry Christmas!

We spent a couple days in San Juan, Puerto Rico before boarding the cruise

Jim was on the beach in San Juan when storm clouds moved in out of nowhere. I was at the gym and was shocked to look out the window and see torrential rainfall…

…and minutes later it was all back to beautiful sunshine

Pool time aboard Ilma

The Baths in Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands

Swimming in The Baths

Climbing through the caves of Virgin Gorda

The spot in the caves known as The Cathedral

In The Cathedral

The stunning Dickenson Bay Beach in Antigua

A tiki bar off the beach at Dickenson Bay

Our “yacht” Ilma anchored in the harbor in St. Lucia

Some beach time in St. Lucia

We spent Christmas Day anchored near the lovely Îles des Saintes in Guadeloupe

Estelle Manor

Posted by Mark Sullivan on September 1, 2025
Posted in: Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

Estelle Manor in Oxfordshire

For our last stop on our UK summer adventure, we took a taxi just a half hour from Oxford to stay at Estelle Manor, an imposing manorial hotel in Oxfordshire and a destination unto itself.

When I booked hotels for this trip I chose Estelle Manor based on a stellar rating in the UK newspaper The Telegraph, whose reviews I use a lot for trip planning around the world. In fact this is one of just two hotels in the UK to be awarded a perfect 10 by that paper. So for our final stop I decided to splurge on a nice suite here.

Strangely I must not have cross-checked TripAdvisor reviews at that time, which I virtually always do. (I research hotels a lot and like to process lots of opinions.) A few weeks ago I did pay a visit to TripAdvisor, and the reviews of Estelle Manor were horrible. So many reviews trashed the place, their sleazy business practices, the chaotic check-in, the dirty rooms, the bad food, and the terrible service. One reviewer went on and on about how disgusting and filthy the gym was.

How could the Telegraph assessment be so wildly different from everyone else’s opinion? I dreaded ending our trip at this expensive, crappy place. And my reservation was non-refundable. How did I screw this up so badly?

We arrived and approached the check-in process with dread. But it wasn’t as chaotic as a lot of reviewers said. In fact, Svetlana was super gracious and informed us that they’d upgraded us to the best suite in the hotel. The room was truly spectacular. The restaurants — one British/French, one Chinese, one Japanese — were incredible. The public spaces were stunning, buzzy, and stylish. The service was perfection. And the gym was one of the best hotel gyms we’d ever encountered.

What on earth happened? The best I can guess is that somebody (A competitor? A disgruntled customer or employee?) orchestrated an on-line attack on this place. Cuz it’s one of the best hotels we’ve ever been to. Worth a splurge. A perfect finale for our UK summer.

One of the buzzy, beautiful lounges at Estelle Manor

Our incredible room at Estelle Manor

Sunday roast

Beautiful sashimi at the Japanese restaurant

We did tear ourselves away from Estelle Manor for a morning visit to Blenheim Palace, the home of the Dukes of Marlborough and the birthplace of Winston Churchill. I was there in 1992 with my parents and fondly remember having a great tour. Sometimes great memories can’t be relived. This time Blenheim had a lot of disruptive renovation going on. And It was very crowded, in no small part because a huge auto show was taking place on the grounds. Less than perfect, but still kind of an amazing place.

Blenheim Palace, possibly the most audacious home in Britain

Winston Churchill was a man of many talents. This is the room where he was born, decorated with his own paintings.

Exploring the gardens of Blenheim

Britain’s biggest auto show was also taking place at Blenheim

There were thousands of fancy cars here

Winston Churchill himself!

So now we head home. We booked this trip to escape the heat and humidity of a New York summer, and we did so quite successfully. The temperatures rarely exceeded 70°F (21°C). We didn’t get any beach weather, but we didn’t bake either. We had plenty of mist and gloom, enough to be atmospheric. But we hardly ever had enough rain to stop us from doing anything. Not bad! So now we go home for the fall season we love in NYC. See you there!

You probably can’t tell from the picture, but just as we arrived at Heathrow airport for our flight home some of the nastiest, windiest, rainiest weather of the whole trip moved in