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Nutty bread layered with olive oil, jam, salt and cured pig’s neck were the perfect accompaniment to rich Portuguese wine and 80 year old port. When visiting wine bars let the staff select your wines ask for the stories behind them. You’ll feel more connected to food and the people. (And when offered 80 year old Port always say yes!)

Doña Olga* is a large kiosk in Piñones, from which the smell of fritters wafts all the way to the beach. I often find myself getting a large order of bacalaitos (round cod fritters), empanadillas (turnovers), alcapurrias (dough of plantains or yucca and filled with meat), and piononos (deep-fried sweet plantain balls stuffed with meat and cheese). Halfway through the meal, I start thinking my eyes are bigger than my stomach, but the flood of Puerto Rican flavors in my mouth makes me devour every last morsel in front of me. Of course, there’s no way I’d be able to handle all that without a refreshing drink on hand. My drink of choice is coconut water. (It’s completely natural; an employee will chop off the top of the coconut with a machete and bring it to you with a straw.) After you drink the water, you can scoop out coconut meat (the white stuff), which serves as a pleasantly light dessert. A swim in the nearby beach (two minutes away walking) and a nice nap will perfect your day. *Doña Olga is my first choice, but this whole road is bursting with beachside kiosks selling fritters and other Puerto Rican fare.

One of the most beloved Vietnamese eateries in Saigon, SH Garden has lovely views of a pretty part of the city, but it has earned its following with dishes that celebrate the flavors of all the country’s regions, from north to south. Situated on the rooftop of an old colonial edifice at the intersection of Nguyen Hue and Le Loi streets, around the corner from the Opera House, it surveys a pretty part of the city with plenty of other colonial buildings nearby. Named for its owners Son and Ha, the restaurant doesn’t compete with the higher-price-point options in the city and instead serves good old mom-style cooking.

The Louisiana-style, year-round barbecue at Buster’s is in a league of its own. Main-course options at this no-frills (read: It’s a glorified picnic shelter) Calistoga eatery include shoulder, pork ribs, tri-tip, chicken, pork loin, and pulled pork—all cooked medium rare unless otherwise specified. Most dishes come with sides such as baked beans, macaroni salad, and cole slaw. All portions are heaping, and every dish comes with signature garlic toast. Dessert options include house-made sweet potato pie and fresh-baked cookies. Because of Buster’s proximity to downtown Calistoga, the restaurant is a great stop after a morning hike on Mount St. Helena. On warm days, try to grab a table outside and watch the ‘cue masters work the outdoor grills, and on Sunday afternoons, stick around for live blues and jazz on the patio.

One of the oldest and largest tailoring shops in town, Thu Thuy is well respected and is a good option for having a suit or a fitted dress run up. Good service and an adjoining coffee shop makes shopping here even more desirable.

After a couple of days in Mexico City, once you’re well-rested and adjusted to the altitude, why not try a little street eating? After all, some locals do it every day, and the techniques vendors use have been in place for centuries, if not millennia. A good jumping-off point is the sometimes-grilled sandwich known as a torta. The ingredient combinations are endless, ranging from egg, shredded chicken, and pork loin to the Mexican piece of breaded beef known as a milanesa—and the list goes on. String cheese and chipotles or pickled jalapeños add a lot of flavor, but do it your way. A lot of customers at a stall is good sign both in terms of taste and cleanliness. With a torta under your belt, start thinking about tacos. Or that spot with the caldo de pollo chicken soup, perfect for all kinds of add-ins. Soon enough you’re a seasoned streeter.

The apéritif of choice in the Dordogne (and in many parts of France) is this sweet dark liquor called walnut wine, but there’s nary a grape in site. The vin de noix is made from young green walnuts harvested between La Fete de St. Jean (June 24) and Bastille Day (July 14), when the shells are still soft and green. Walnut wine is a typically home-brewed concoction. Think moonshine, with a sophisticated French flair. Though I have found it commercially, the best accompanies a good meal with friends around a kitchen table or at the region’s numerous Fermes Auberges (Farmhouse Inns), where all products are made on site. Walk in to any home and you’ll likely be offered a sip. There are hundreds of family recipes for this elixir, each claiming to be the best, bien sur! But most agree, the longer it sits in the cupboard, the better (6 months to years). But it’s worth the wait. Recipe: green walnuts, dry red wine, sugar, and some patience. Et Voila! I’ve often been asked what it tastes like, and my description usually results in a nose wrinkle. A blend of port and prune juice---and it’s delicious. My friend Roland, knowing my love of the apéritif and the memories it summons, sent me these two glasses he’d found in an antique shop in Perigueux, along with a small bottle of his homemade walnut wine. I set the glasses out on my terrace, poured in the chocolate-hued liquor, and toasted to the memory of my beloved Dordogne, and the people from there who have flavored my life.

This English-inspired hotel has been the place to stay in New Orleans for basically forever—well, since it opened in 1984, at least. It’s plush without being pompous, stately without being too serious, though it should be said that this is the kind of place where gents might wear a pocket square and watch fob and feel right at home. The $8 million art collection, which includes original works by Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Huysman, is museum-worthy (you can even take an audio tour), and the 4,500-square-foot spa, part of the 2012 $22 million renovation, is one of the city’s most luxurious. Other notable upgrades include the lobby cocktail bar—a more feminine alternative to the leather-clad Polo Club Lounge, and an outdoor pool.

From the luxury Oetker Collection, Le Bristol is one of the first hotels in France to obtain Palace distinction. Occupying nearly an entire block on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré near the Élysée presidential palace, this soulful property has been a gathering place for Parisians since 1925. The 190 guest rooms, which feel like private apartments, are decorated with precious fabrics, paintings, and 18th-century antiques. The on-site attractions include a spa by Le Prairie, a teak-lined pool resembling a yacht, and a courtyard garden fragrant with jasmine. For more than a decade, chef Eric Frechon has held three Michelin stars at Epicure, where menu fixtures include the macaroni stuffed with black truffle and foie gras. Frechon’s culinary dominions are a portal into French gastronomy itself: The hotel has its own chocolate factory, cheese cellar, flour mill, and boulangerie.

The Kamptal, or Kamp Valley, is one of eight wine regions in Lower Austria, which with around 27,000 hectares of vineyards grows more wine grapes than any other province. The town of Langenlois produces the most wine here, with an assortment heuriger wine taverns and wine specialty shops as well as internationally known producers. There’s even a wine resort and spa called the LOISIUM, which has proven to be a popular getaway for wine lovers.

Bến Thành market has been around Saigon in one form or another for over 300 years. At some points it neighbored bodies of water including a small lake. It is a monster, overwhelming at first. If you come to Saigon and you love to shop, this is the one-stop shop you are looking for. Personally nothing is more thrilling at Bến Thành than the art of “The Barter.” It’s a strategic game of wits of where you pit product desire against pocketbook ability and the house always wins. It’s not always easy, in fact it’s never easy. Hot, stagnant air ripe with the smell of fish and squid always seems to hang in the air right over that gift you can’t live without. You’re constantly walking that fine line between feeling like you got ripped off or feeling you’re further oppressing the local population. Bến Thành is the stadium packed with hundreds of thousands of pieces of clothing, jewelry, and art- and they’re all yours to play for.

The Daly Waters is everything an outback pub should be: kitschy but “fair dinkum” (genuine) and in the middle of Woop Woop (the Aussie term for “the Boonies”) but still offering revitalizing grub and grog. Oh and there must be beds, considering the next one could be a few hundred miles away. This ancient watering hole, established in 1893 and named after this small town along the Explorers Way between Alice Springs and Darwin, ticks all the boxes and then some. The tap beer is delightfully cold (kept at a degree below freezing), and food offerings range from kangaroo loin and crocodile sliders to chicken shnitzel. The decor is the best part; everywhere you look there are hilarious mementos left by patrons. Are those bras over there? Yup. An Irish hurling stick? Yeeeaah. Why is that weird?

My CIA educational experience continued in one of the culinary world’s most famous classrooms. Named after France’s greatest chef, Paul Bocuse, the restaurant utilizes modern cooking techniques on classic traditional French fare. The multi-course meal we shared, prepared and served by aspiring young chefs was truly a delight. They showed off their skills first with an apple squash soup with mushroom foie gras ravioli followed with an entrée of strip loin of beef with oxtail bordelaise, marrow-encrusted endive, smashed fingerling potatoes, chanterelles, and gruyére foam ending with a chocolate molten cake with vanilla ice cream.

Taste culinary creativity at its finest and flavors from around the globe on this four-day Toronto getaway filled with incredible restaurants and food experiences.