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Color, shape, and naked geology: Northern Arizona appeals to the senses in the most elemental ways. Agnostic hikers, secular scientists, souls searching for spiritual energy — all end up in Sedona, seeking and finding. Mid-week in this red-rock country, we found a few days of calm: early morning trails around town, and afternoons in galleries seeking shelter from summer thunderstorms. Weekends bring crowds from Phoenix, just two hours to the south, but away from pavement, you can still get away into the elements.

The central hub of downtown Amsterdam is Dam Square, and it’s been at the heart of the city’s history since the 13th century. Today, the open-air public space is ringed by shops and restaurants and packed with people, including street performers and tourists en route to nearby attractions like the Royal Palace, the National Monument, and the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), where you can catch a horse-drawn-carriage tour of the city.

Playa del Carmen’s 10th Avenue runs parallel to the city’s famous 5th Avenue but has a more low-key vibe, a relief when you tire of crowds, malls, and big-name brands. This bustling one-way street does allow cars, but it’s also lined by a sidewalk and a nice restricted-lane bike path. And despite the central location just a block from the town’s most touristy area, the storefronts here are largely locally owned restaurants, ranging from cheap taco joints and Mexican bars to eclectic gourmet cuisine and smoothie stands, as well as various convenience stores, pharmacies, banks, and small hotels.

Pisco, a distilled grape brandy, is the Peruvian national liquor. Arguably the most popular way to drink pisco is mixed into a Pisco Sour, the famous national cocktail. The most classic version of this drink combines pisco with key lime juice, syrup, ice, egg white, and angostura bitters. You will find Pisco Sours nearly anywhere you go in Peru, and you may well encounter the cocktail in bars around the world. However, it all began in Lima. The Pisco Sour was first created in the 1920s at the Hotel Maury Bar in Downtown Lima, which is still an symbolic place to enjoy the beverage.

It’s all about the playful details at Holiday House, from the love beads that guests receive on arrival to the custom fortune cookies they take home with them. But make no mistake—this 21-and-up property is an upscale, high-style destination. Built in 1951, the 28 rooms and communal spaces were originally designed by pioneering architect Herbert W. Burns, one of the major forces behind Palm Springs modernism. A 2017 update by lauded interior designer Mark D. Sikes reinvented the hotel, giving fresh life to its clean lines with curated artwork and a cobalt, white, and warm wood palette (even the bicycles match). Accommodations are organized as Good, Better, and Best—and the latter is well worth it for the soaking tub and outdoor shower. The pool scene is laid-back and refined—waiters serve rosé flights between guests’ dips in the water—while an honor-system pantry is stocked with such desert “essentials” as sparkling water, straw hats, and potted succulents. Pro tip: Make a reservation in advance for the al fresco Friday night fried chicken dinner, which draws a crowd for its locally sourced chicken, delivered fresh that day and served with comfort-food sides.

One of El Salvador’s great surf spots, El Tunco is a beach whose crescent of sand is reached by scrambling over sea-smoothed stones.

El Tunco is also the name of the town where the beach is located, and a popular places for Salvadorans and foreigners alike to come and relax, chill, and enjoy a laidback vacation by the ocean.

When the tide’s just right, you can explore beach caves, which are tall enough to walk through. Even if you don’t surf, you’ll want to leave time to spend some time swimming as well—this is one of the area’s better swimming areas.

If you’re here in the afternoon or evening, take a short walk to Monkey La La, a bar and hotel on the other side of the Rio Grande to catch the sunset, cold beer in hand.

Trade your yodeling for yoga at this free-spirited meditation center in the former Grand Hotel Sonnenberg, a converted Beaux-Arts property nesting atop an enviable ridge in Seelisberg that overlooks the peaceful and turquoise Lake Uri below. The center was founded by the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru to the Beatles (among many other celebrities). For the unenlightened, the center’s friendly, English-speaking staff will give you a free tour of the facility and a 101 on TM (Transcendental Meditation). Additional activities like yajna rituals and Ayurvedic treatments can be arranged for long-term visitors. Even if TM is not for you, it’s worth the trek to Seelisberg for the glorious views and the rhododendron and rose gardens surrounding the center, which is open to all.

It’s got trendy cocktails, DJs, and a fashionable crowd, but the real reason to head to this swanky lounge is for the views—of the sea, the sky, and the whole of Barcelona below. Located 26 stories up, on the topmost floor of the renovated oceanfront W Hotel, the sleek bar is wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass; there’s simply no better spot to watch dusk fall and the lights of Barcelona twinkle on than from a coveted window seat here. The cocktail menu changes seasonally, but mainstays include the watermelon martini and passion fruit martini; there’s also a rather good sushi menu. DJs start spinning at 11 p.m. on weekdays, midnight on weekends, and that’s when the party really gets started—after all, nothing happens in Barcelona before 10 p.m. Be sure to reserve a table in advance, and dress smartly.

The unofficial symbol of St. Louis, the Gateway Arch is the tallest man-made monument in the United States, rising 630 feet into the air. It sits at the center of Gateway Arch National Park, which was established in 1935 to commemorate Thomas Jefferson’s vision of a transcontinental America. In 2018, the park emerged from a five-year, $380 million renovation, which added a grassy pedestrian walkway over the interstate as well as a revamped museum with new exhibits about the construction of the arch and how the expansion of the United States affected Native American communities. Tour the new sites, then take the four-minute, vertigo-inducing tram to the top of the arch, where you can see up to 30 miles east and west on a clear day.

No visit to Antigua is complete without taking in the sunset atop Shirley Heights Lookout at its weekly Sunday sundowner party. The view from Shirley Heights is without a doubt the most famous, most photographed, most celebrated vista gracing Antigua. Immediately below, English and Falmouth Harbours clutch their bays. On clear days you can see Guadeloupe to the south and Montserrat with it’s still active volcano to the south west. It does get busy, so expect a crowd and while there might be a couple locals sprinkled in here and there, it’s mostly visitors. Around 7ish, the tunes crank up with either some reggae classics, some pumping soca, or even live a steelpan band. Smoke from a collection of barbecues compete with the music to fill the air and stimulate your senses. Expect chicken and ribs slathered in local flavors, plus burgers for the less adventurous. I did have some trouble getting grilled fish on my last visit, but once I found some, it was charred to perfection.

The Leopard at des Artistes is more than a restaurant. It’s an Upper West Side landmark, a Manhattan treasure and genuine New York classic. It was once Cafe des Artistes, a restaurant where luminaries from the worlds of art, politics and publishing dined in secluded elegance, surrounded by naked nymphs - each one painted in 1937 by Howard Chandler Christy in the glowing murals that line the dining room to this day. A lot has changed in 97 years behind the doorway at One West 67th Street that now welcomes you into The Leopard. In 1917 the restaurant catered exclusively to artists who lived in the building above - Norman Rockwell, Rudolf Valentino and Isadora Ducan were among its original clientele. But after a renovation in 1975, Cafe des Artistes became a dining destination for the Who’s Who of media - Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Peter Jennings and more dined in the soft-lit, intimate restaurant on a regular basis. With the arrival in 2011 of new owners, Gianfranco and Paula Bolla-Sorrentino and Chef Vito Gnazzo, a new dining experience was introduced to One West 67th Street. Celebrity is no longer a must for a table in this illustrious space (although you will see many here). What you discover on the other side of a door framed by velvet drapes is a classic, elegant setting where the center of attention is you and Southern Italian cuisine prepared with joy and genius. Bossa Nova and jazz set the mood. This is a restaurant that whispers, “Welcome to the real New York.”

Nothing defines Boston quite as much as the town’s devotion to sports (10 championships since the turn of the century doesn’t hurt), and with all due respect to the five-time-Super-Bowl-champion Patriots, it’s Fenway Park, not Gillette Stadium, that’s the temple of sports fandom. Opened in 1912, the quirky green bandbox between Lansdowne Street and Yawkey Way is almost as famous for its obstructed-view seats as it is for its fabled Green Monster wall in left field, but that’s a price Sox fans gladly pay in exchange for maintaining Fenway’s historic layout. It’s both intimate and loud on game day even in years when the Sox aren’t contenders (tickets are often hard to come by, so plan ahead); the old ballpark also is open for one-hour, behind-the-scenes tours that take you inside and atop the Green Monster. You’ll be able to stroll around the field (the warning track, not the grass), and visit the press box, the Pesky Pole, and (on days with no games) the dugouts and bull pens.

Crupet is a member of the organization Les Plus Beaux Villages de Wallonie (The Most Beautiful Villages in Wallonia). It is a very small village with gorgeous stone houses decorated with many different types of flowers. Most of the houses date from the 17th, 18th and 19th century. The highlights of the village are the Crupet Chateau—a medieval farm-chateau situated below the village center, dating from the 13th century, and the Grotto of St Anthony of Padua. The grotto was designed by the local curate and inaugurated on the 12th July 1903. It features 22 religious-themed statues. Many of them depict scenes from the life of St. Anthony of Padua. The Ardennes region is an undiscovered Belgian treasure. There are many more charming little villages like this one. They look like time did not pass over them. When you enter a bakery people treat you like one of their own. Go and discover this wonderful part of Belgium. For full size photos see www.facebook.com/adisphotopage and www.lifeinasuitcase.com

Rumi was born in Afghanistan, spent time in Persia (Iran), then settled in Konya, Turkey when his father was invited there to be a scholar. Rumi became an Islamic scholar himself teaching peace, love, and tolerance. He built quite a following of the educated – who saw him as a wise philosopher – and uneducated – who saw him as a prophet. Rumi’s life changed when he created an intense friendship with an older, wandering mystic -- Shams of Tabriz. Shams was a brilliant outcast and Rumi was deeply drawn to a learning relationship with this man who was ultimately supposedly killed by some of Rumi’s fans due to the influence he was having on the younger Rumi. From this tragedy, Rumi found a deep well inside himself filled with an ability to channel poetry. It was about this time that he also introduced the experience of divine harmony that comes from whirling. Thus, a new form of religious ecstasy was created and the Whirling Dervishes (also known as the Mevlevi order) have been doing this annual ceremony marking Rumi’s death for almost 750 years. This is the start of the Sema (ceremony) with each Semazen (dancer) bowing upon arriving on stage and the Basi (the leader) at the “head of the class.” The mesmerizing ceremony represents man’s journey to the oneness of perfect truth – amidst separation and longing - through the power of divine love. In 2005, UNESCO proclaimed the “Mevlevi Sema Ceremony” as amongst the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Since its founding in 1985, Studio Ghibli has become one of the world’s preeminent masters of film animation. The Ghibli Museum, opened in 2001, is nested within one of Tokyo’s most beloved parks, Inokashira Park—just 20 minutes by train from Shinjuku to either Mitaka or Kichijōji. Take time before or after your museum visit to stroll through the park or to rent a paddle boat. Included with the price of admission is one viewing in the Saturn Theater, where Ghibli’s short films—made exclusively for the museum—are screened. The tickets themselves are precious as well—each one is made of original 35mm film print. On the second floor, the permanent exhibits are set up as an animator’s workshop and display the many steps of the animation process. Tubes of paint, pencils, and figurines sit scattered across a desk alongside paint palettes and works in progress. A stack of books about World War II aircraft sits in the corner, while model airplanes dangle from the rafters. Visitors can see original concept sketches, storyboards, background matte paintings, and animation cels—a rare treat for fans. Other exhibits demonstrate the science of animation, including the “Bouncing Totoro” zoetrope. When illuminated by strobe lights, the figurines on the turntables spring to life. Admission is by advance purchase only. While it is possible to buy tickets in Japan at most Lawson locations, visitors outside Japan can buy tickets through an authorized travel agency. Photo: Grace Lingad