I’m one of the writers/editors for The Purple Passport to Los Angeles, a new eBook guide to my home port of LA. It’s organized by neighborhood to help readers get oriented in the LA sprawl and includes hip, handpicked venues from the Westside to the Eastside. Whether your LA pleasure is celebrity sighting, beachcombing, dance clubbing, art spotting, nature trolling, movie going, or fine dining, the guide has you covered. Helpful maps and must-knows about transportation, seasonal highlights, and local culture are also included. It’s available for download through the Amazon Kindle Store for Kindle readers and Kindle apps for Android/iPhone, so you can slip it in your bag as you take a “Red Carpet Ride”!

It’s the high life at sea level…The Purple Passport has launched its eBook guide The Purple Passport to Palm Beach! I’m one of the writers/editors for this comprehensive guide to the South Florida playground’s choicest hotels, restaurants, nightlife, spas, shops, and activities.

It points locals and travelers to distinctive experiences, which include checking into a lavish, grand dame resort inspired by Rome’s Villa Medici with a pamper-you-silly beach club; capping off a spa day in a relaxation garden complete with hanging chairs over a reflecting pool; shopping for everything from couture gowns to flirty resort wear amid lush, flower-lined vias; scoping original Pollock and Picasso canvases under a Chihuly glass ceiling; dining on delicious Milanese fare while taking in the buzzing crowd on the hottest see-and-be-seen restaurant terrace; and dancing the night away at Palm Beach’s best party spot. Helpful maps and city-orienting information about transportation, seasonal highlights, and local culture are also included.

The eBook is available for purchase at the Amazon Kindle Store and can be downloaded to your mobile device of choice (Kindle or Kindle app for iPhone/Android) for easy, on-the-go use…so you don’t lose a single second working on your tan!

After two trips to Cartagena, Colombia, this year, I feel like it’s my second home. And as cooler weather approaches in Los Angeles, my mind is beginning to drift back to the tropical heat of the Caribbean coast. When the chill and rain of January and February hit, there’s no place I’d rather escape to than the sultry streets of Cartagena to drink in the color, cumbia rhythms, and fresh tropical juices.

For others curious about the magic of this colonial city, I’ve just published a guide to the Best of Cartagena on Trip Out Travel. It’s got all the must-hits for the best sights, restaurants, and nightlife just in time for your winter trip planning. And don’t worry: the city’s come a long way from its “Romancing the Stone” days. The danger is gone, but the beauty and sex appeal remain.

Though I’ve only visited Paris in the summer, I have to say that it’s a pretty amazing time to be there. Sidewalk cafes come to life with alfresco diners, sunbathers loll on the Paris Plage, picknickers flock to the Jardin des Tuileries (one of my absolute favorite spots!), and oh those summer nights in the City of Light! Even if the city gets showered in a summer storm, that’s simply a handy excuse to spend the day lost amongst the Old Masters at the Musée du Louvre or the Impressionists at the Musée d’Orsay.

Just in time for the season, The Purple Passport has launched its Paris Guide! It’s the perfect way to plan a trip to the “Metropolis Magnifique.”

When I was in Cartagena, Colombia, for a month in January/February, a new audio guide to “The Cartagena of Gabriel Garcia Marquez” was released for the first time to the public.  I was so excited to be one of the first to take the tour, as the Nobel Prize-winning author’s story “Love in the Time of Cholera” was part of what drew me to this Caribbean seaport.  I found a city of romance and enchantment but also one of eerie windswept nights and a tumultuous colonial past.  These contrasts were captured in Garcia Marquez’s novels set in Cartagena, and the tour taught me so much about how the magic of the city informed his style of magical realism.  Read more about the link between the author and his muse in my feature from this Sunday’s Los Angeles Times Travel section.

I spent four weeks during January/February in Cartagena de Indias, a colonial jewel on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.  It’s been so hard readjusting back to life in Los Angeles (especially because of the recent cold snap) — all I do is keep dreaming of the tropics.

Well, you don’t even have to get out your passport or clear customs to get a taste of the tropical good life.  For the perfect escape right on U.S. shores, look no further than Palm Beach, Florida. With everything from palatial resorts to pristine public beaches, designer boutiques to vintage diners, and buzzing bars to serene spas, this is the high life…at sea level.

Check out the just-launched Palm Beach Guide on The Purple Passport for the inside track on the best hotels, restaurants, nightlife spots, and more to help plan your spring vacation!

Today, of course, those imperial palaces abut gleaming high rises…and you’re more likely to find Beijingers at shrines of conspicuous consumption than shrines to ancient emperors. But with The Purple Passport’s just-launched Guide to Beijing, you can feel like you’ve got a seat on that central throne. From the hottest nightlife spots to the plushest hotels, trendiest boutiques, most decadent spas, tastiest restaurants, and not-to-be-missed sights and activities, the Beijing Guide will put you in the absolute center of the action (and help you pamper yourself like a royal)!  Pop on over to peruse it!

Have you landed at the latest Hollywood film premiere? Nope, you’ve landed on The Purple Passport’s new Los Angeles Guide. That’s right: LA is now “up in lights” on the site, and you’ll find everything you need for planning a perfect Tinseltown adventure (ok, except the paparazzi), from the hottest nightlife spots to the plushest hotels, trendiest boutiques, most decadent spas, tastiest restaurants, and not-to-be-missed cultural activities and outdoor adventures.

Just a few of my personal LA favorites you’ll find in the guide: soaking up the Mexican-kitsch vibes at nightlife spot El Carmen, taking in a movie at the plush ArcLight Cinemas, shopping for new tunes at Amoeba Music, and dining at gastropub-in-a-French-chateau Bar Marmont (actually, I’m going there tonight for a belated birthday dinner!!).

Be sure to sign up for an account in the upper right hand corner when you visit the site (super easy, no cost, takes two seconds, and absolutely no spam involved). Having an account allows you to post your own pics and reviews and create printable/emailable “Passports” with annotated maps for the spots you select from the site.

What can I say? Even in record-breaking 116 degree heat (the high on Tuesday), I still love LA. Hopefully, with the Purple Passport as your guide, you’ll find new ways to love it too!

You’ll see that “TPP” is a one-stop shop for all your urban travel needs, from researching a trip start to finish to creating an itinerary tool sharable with friends. The TPP team has personally visited all the choicest spots, from restaurants and hotels to spas and shops, in the hottest destinations around the globe. And they never take compensation for covering a venue on the site, which means you’ll get the most honest, unbiased travel information for the world’s most exciting cities.

The first stop? London. While the site will ultimately encompass guides to global hotspots from Los Angeles to Beijing, it’s being tested with all of the London content. That said, please excuse any bugs you encounter while the site’s in this testing phase. The team would love to hear what you think, so click the “Contact Us” link on the site (or simply email us at info@thepurplepassport.com) to send questions, comments, and feedback.

As you peruse the London picks, be sure to try out the site’s super handy dandy “Passport” function. Once you sign up as a user, you can save your favorite picks in your own customized Passport. From there, you can print the lot of them, email them to friends, or use the ultra-convenient mapping tool to plot your sightseeing excursion or night on the town.

On behalf of the whole team, I welcome you to The Purple Passport community and hope you’ll pass the word to fellow travel enthusiasts. Get ready to put your stamp on the world!