My desire to see Bali had been a long-held dream, after studying Indonesian at school and most of my Australian friends making the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. So when the stars aligned and I found an opportunity to take a solo trip, I couldn't have jumped faster.

We received a lot of advice about getting to Yosemite early, parking in one of the main lots and then taking the Shuttle, which takes you to just about every popular place, or you can hike from those popular places to where you want to be. This was our plan until my 14-year-old daughter sprained her ankle literally two days before our trip and ended up on crutches.  Our plans for hiking now had to be adjusted to Plan B: driving and parking as close to the sights as possible.

My first time seeing the Pacific Ocean almost didn't happen. I almost...

My Weekend Pleasures Around LA Without Crowds shows that if there is a silver...

As we share our stories, we have been fortunate to meet others along and...