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Shorty’s is a throwback to an era where you hopped in your ’57 Chevy, put the kids in the back, and rolled to the drive-in for a bite to eat on a summer night. Featuring the usual selection of American hotdog and hamburger fare, Shorty’s also has selections to please the healthy side as well. There are five different salads to choose from, small plates featuring hummus and pizza bread, and larger plates that range from wood-fired P.E.I. mussels and salmon to grilled chicken sandwiches and barbecue pulled pork delights. And if that doesn’t work, you can also customize your pizza with a huge array of toppings. It may be called Shorty’s, but the menu options are anything but that.

One of the few remaining tidal wetlands on the southern California coast, Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad is full of hiking trails and a beautiful lagoon. Bird watchers will love trying to spot the 185 bird species, which naturalists can take in unique flora like pickleweed, lemonadeberry, and iceplant.

For the most authentic Mexican food in Laguna Beach, head to Carmelita’s, where the kitchen works tirelessly to prepare each dish from scratch using as much local produce as possible. On the menu, diners will find favorites like made-to-order guacamole and fire-roasted street corn alongside traditional options like veggie-stuffed poblanos, carnitas tacos, and tampiqueña (skirt steak served atop enchiladas with guacamole). Pair it all with handcrafted margaritas in flavors like pomegranate, cilantro-cucumber, and pineapple-jalapeño and you might just find yourself planning a trip 85 miles south to the border.

The head winemaker at Eikendal in Stellenbosch, Nico Grobler has been producing award-winning wines for more than nine years. An innovator in the Western Cape wine industry, he makes mostly single varietal wines like chardonnay, using an “old world” approach that focuses on terroir to produce the fruitiest vines possible.

The whole family is welcome at Eikendal. While adults enjoy a pizza and wine pairing, children can partake in a juice tasting of their own. On a nice day, visitors can also take a 1.5-mile self-guided walk around the vineyards to learn more about the winemaking process and the farm itself.

From this 900-foot-high viewing platform—equipped with a telescope, map, and signage—you have a panoramic view of the majestic Mesopotamia Valley (“Mespo”), home to St. Vincent’s fruit, vegetable, and spice crops. A sea of green expands in every direction, bordered by the blue Caribbean far to the south and the mist-shrouded Grand Bonhomme Mountain to the north. It’s the perfect spot to soak up St. Vincent’s rich natural beauty—and to catch a cool breeze.

The Caribbean’s first long-distance hiking trail runs 115 miles south to north. Fourteen segments break Waitukubuli into manageable day hikes—important for rule-followers, as camping is tolerated but not technically legal in Dominica’s reserves and national parks. Brace for lofty peaks, precipitous valleys, and riotous tangles of rain forest vegetation on this trek, which bears the island’s original indigenous name, meaning “tall her body.” Consider hiring a local guide for expert advice on trekking the steep, corrugated landscape, which Christopher Columbus once described by simply crumpling up a ball of paper.

With its Spanish moss-draped oak trees and beautiful stucco buildings, the College of Charleston‘s campus is long on atmosphere and makes a great place for a stroll. Randolph Hall, a magnificent edifice built in 1828 and one of the six college buildings on the register of National Historic Landmarks, has appeared in movies from The Patriot to Dear John, and in the Civil War miniseries North and South. Also of note, the President’s House, once the parsonage of St. Philip’s Church, is the oldest building on campus.

A visit to Hyderabad may not be complete until you have savored the cuisine at Paradise Food Court. The Secunderabad location—considered the largest sit-down restaurant in all of India—has multiple spaces, including Paradise Cafe, Paradise Bakery and Confectionery, Paradise Roof Garden, and Paradise Heights. But whatever you do, make sure to try the biryani—a fragrant mixed rice dish cooked with meat or eggs. Hyderabad has more varieties of biryani than any other South Asian destination, so come hungry and sample the goodness.

Hotel Atarazana is a simple, airy, and clean hotel a stone’s throw from Plaza España at the north-east of Santo Domingo’s Zona Colonial. There is a cute walled courtyard where you take breakfast, and an open rooftop (with some shade) for sunbathing, reading, and rum; drinking water is included; and the staff are friendly and some speak English. All the Zona Colonial’s sights are within easy walking distance; the pedestrianized El Conde is a ten minute saunter south. (Note: The hotel is so close to the bars / clubs off Plaza España that it can get noisy at night.)

Jamaican food is not all jerk and meat patties! You can sample one of the island’s most popular snacks, pepper shrimp, along the south coast. In the town of Middle Quarters, roadside vendors cook the shrimp in big steaming pots on outdoor grills. The shrimp, caught in the Black River, are boiled in salty water and then spiced with chopped scotch bonnet peppers, sea salt, vinegar, and black pepper. Plastic bags of the fiery little shellfish are peddled to drivers passing on their way home from work and to lucky tourists for a messy and addictive snack.

Between Miami and Fort Lauderdale is a local beach town filled with surfers, joggers, and free-spirited beach lovers. The Hollywood Beach Boardwalk moves at a slower pace than those on bustling South Beach and Fort Lauderdale’s Beach Place. Choose from a wide variety of shopping boutiques, restaurants, bars, and experiential beach activities for a fun-filled day by the water. The seven-acre park is eco-friendly and perfect for families. Transportation includes trolley service and boat charters on the marina.

This little market is full of treasures (and a few tourist souvenirs). What you get to experience here is everyone’s trade and how these crafts help support their family and village. Lots of things to buy...and they’re willing to bargain.

As obvious as it may sound, what sets Sanctuary apart from any other Scottsdale resort is location. Sitting on the north side of Camelback Mountain yet minutes from downtown Scottsdale, it has a balance of desert mountain isolation and easy access that no other Scottsdale resort can match. Since Sanctuary opened in 2002, the combination has especially appealed to publicity-shy celebs (Beyoncé and Jay-Z even stayed here while on their honeymoon). The views from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the adobe casitas look out at the mountain and across Paradise Valley. The casitas have wood-block floors, glass-tiled showers, and, in many of them, oversize tubs with romantic votive candles.

225 meters below the surface of the earth, visitors make their way through dim passageways that miners in the late 1800s had navigated in search of gold. The tour guide ‘jokingly’ points out that if for some reason we get stuck down there, the only way out is a via a steep emergency exit tunnel. In the photo for this post, there is a miner located beyond the struts (which are used to support the ceiling), who’s job it is to demonstrate what it was like in the past when miners excavated the gold bearing ore with nothing but a candle for light! During the tour, you’ll learn about the gold rush that caused the formation of Johannesburg and you’ll also be shown some interesting historical items, like dynamite which was manufactured by Alfred Nobel

During my last stay in Seoul, I spent most of my time in the historic heart of the city north of the Han river. I did take a Sunday afternoon, though, to walk around the Gangnam district—the chic high rise–dominated neighborhood south of the river. (As recently as a few decades ago, this area was still rice-paddies.) Just around the corner from Bong-eun-sa temple (which dates from the 8th century), this striking building caught my eye: the headquarters for the Hyundai Development Company. Designed by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, it’s known as “The Tangent.” In the architect’s words, “the Tangent is a project that is about the relationship between the ever-changing circle of nature and the straight line of technology.” (Those words could also succinctly describe the recent history of postwar Korea.) In my mind, though, because this structure reminds me of one of my favorite artists, this is the Kandinsky building in Seoul. And across the street, beneath the Korea World Trade Center tower, is the COEX mall, Asia’s largest underground shopping center. Grab a bite in the food court and get a feel for the youth pop-culture vibe; a K-pop dance competition just might be taking place on a nearby stage. To get here: Take Subway Line 2, exit Samseong (COEX) station.