There are worse things than being in Paris and observing Superstorm Sandy. But disasters can cause people to feel isolated, when friends and family are in the eye of the storm. But, because modes of communication are so very different now than just 10 years ago, it’s a very different scenario.

It's like visiting a foreign country without going abroad. Just a short drive from Maine, New York, Prince Edward Island, or Newfoundland, one can visit Montreal or Quebec City, the Province’s capital with the same name. It's built on two levels and offers visitors a chance to live in a French milieu.

If you have to explain to a US customs inspector what St. Bart’s is, you might cause some confusion. You see, St. Bart’s uses euros, calls are long-distance, the language spoken is French, the culture is decidedly French – and so is the food (which is mostly imported). It’s no surprise then that the small island is part of France. “So you’re going to Europe,” asks the intimidating inspector with a healthy hint of skepticism. “No, it’s in the Caribbean,” you start to explain nervously. It’s no use, by now the inspector is certain that you’ve invented the place. But, luckily, he lets you go anyways. After all, if you went through the effort of inventing a dream destination, the least you should be allowed is to go there.

For many years during the first half of the 20th century, an artist’s atelier with attached living quarters a few blocks from the Luxembourg Gardens was the scene of regular Saturday night soirées that drew a stunning array of intellectual and artistic talent from across Paris and around the world. Now visitors to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art can take a look at the “modern art” everyone was so eager to see at 27 rue de Fleurus, back when it was something very new. The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde, on display through June 3, has brought together more than 200 works of art collected by Gertrude Stein, and by her brothers Michael and Leo, in the early years of the 20th century.

Winters in San Miguel Mexico allow one to follow the sun, eat and live well and enjoy people and ideas from around the world. This is our fourth winter here and again it is the people and activities that draw us. Where else could one attend a violin concert by a young talented American, a top notch 1950’s French film, a reading of a Neil Simon Play, all in three days. Yes, San Miguel has it all.

I couldn’t believe my luck when I learned masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso Paris were being exhibited at the newly renovated Virginia Museum of Fine Art (VMFA), the only East Coast stop of a seven-city international tour. U.S. Francophiles are encouraged to attend Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris.

The Keukenhof Gardens near Amsterdam are in full bloom and spring tours of the gardens and flower fields continue until May 20. Consider this as a daytrip or overnight getaway: just over three hours by Thalys fast rail or rent a car for a scenic five-hour drive north to the magnificent Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse, Holland.

It’s entirely your fault. You voted to read more about my Berlin trip. Once again, it wasn’t the usual “three days here or there” because we skipped so many must-see sights.

After another week of thinking about Berlin, it’s more than clear there was no way we could do the city justice with a fast in-and-out trip. Living in Paris has so many advantages including being the ideal jumping-off place from which to travel. If you're a travel junkie and find it enriching, it's heaven.