"Like a pointer finger, a rainbow as thick as a column, illuminates the sky
above Castello di Vicarello."
~Magical Maremma, Toronto Star, March 30 2012
"We’ve exchanged our car for a boat and we’re heading across rollicking
seas to Skellig Michael—an immense rocket of stone that explodes amid water straight toward the sky. Just visible on its face are steps that we know lead to the remains of a centuries-old monastic settlement high above the ocean."
~Irish Indulgence, The Ring of Kerry -- CAA Magazine - Canadian Automobile Association
"A sudden herd of reindeer crosses our path like a truck running a red light."
~ Chasing The Northern Lights in Norway, Dallas Morning News, February 24, 2012
"In bygone days hungry wolves skulked along the newly built Nevsky Prospekt like rapacious adversaries from a children's story."
~St. Petersburg: City of Dreams Mariner, Fall 2011
"Huts made from cow pies look like gingerbread houses—some are being repaired by women so concentrated in their tasks they resemble painters fretting over a canvas."
~India in Style Virtuoso Traveler May 2012
"The crowd cheers. And, a royal band emits a euphonious serenade. I
dismount the immense beast by ladder, snuggle my elephant’s crusty, swishing trunk and accept a well-deserved flute of champagne from a nattily clad waiter."
~Yoga Overlooking the Taj Mahal - San Antonio Magazine - June 2012
"While I wait for the bartender at Dukes I ponder the big question: would I rather be Miss Moneypenny or a Bond girl? It's easy to meditate on such things at Duke's Hotel."
~Bar Bash Washington Flyer, August 2011
"Brussels is as textured as the tapestries that put it on the Medieval map."
~Brussels Sprouts Anew, National Geographic Traveler, March 2010
"The ancient city’s main square sits just behind the one-time convent (now a sleek, restored, boutique hotel), the silence is so ponderous one might think the entire staff and every guest has taken a vow of silence."
~Cognition and Reflection - Organic Spa Magazine - November 2012
"We follow a path abundant with draped, fading prayer flags that flap in
the cool wind like colorful bird's wings. Pine trees scent the chilly air, and the
faraway rhythm of rural villagers at work sounds like nature's solemn hymn."
~Taking the richer road less traveled in China Austin American Statesman - December 2010
"The city of Lucerne nestles the water--scattering around its edges and up the mountain like a slowly spreading spill."
~Swiss Treat Washington Flyer, February 2012
"Being with him in the the room where he paints . . . is like being a string on Itzhak Perlman's violin or a pot in Thomas Keller's kitchen."
~Beyond The Tango, Toronto Star, January 10. 2013
About Hotel Guanahnai: “[Its} as if Paris put on flip flops, but still donned a little black dress.”
~As quoted in Cigar Aficionado January 2013
"Villages with colorfully painted houses seemed torn from the pages of a storybook. You’ll want to linger in them, as we do, for scones or a pint of beer. Even the narrow undulating roads, lined with hedgerows and flower-flecked meadows thrills."
~Irish Indulgence, The Ring of Kerry -- CAA Magazine - Canadian Automobile Association
Photo courtesy of Kevin Garrett
Austin-based Becca Hensley has never met a stranger. Award winning, this
travel and lifestyle writer, poet and essayist can't resist the unexplored
alley, that glass of champagne in an unknown bar or taking the train far
beyond her planned destination.
An ebullience addicted curiosity seeker, a peripatetic globe trotter, an
expert in all things luxe, her work has appeared in hundreds of magazines
and newspapers and on myriad websites. She dishes on hotels, food, drink,
spas, art, design, people and nature.
Read her monthly dispatches in Austin Monthly and San Antonio Magazine.
Find her frequently in Washington Flyer, National Geographic Traveler,
Toronto Star, Organic Spa, Bridal Guide, Travel Channel, Destinations,
Weddings & Honeymoons, Austin American Statesman, Fodors and Virtuoso
Traveler.