Three days alone in New Orleans — the French Quarter and its tangled French-Spanish-American history, a swamp full of alligators, Preservation Hall jazz, a streetcar to the Garden District, and the National WWII Museum, which turned out to be the best thing I did all weekend. Plus all the food, and practical notes for anyone planning their own trip.

A solo Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas — an 'adult Disneyland' in the desert that I'm glad I saw and wouldn't want to live in — anchored by an overnight tour to the Grand Canyon at sunrise, plus Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, the Strip, the Sphere, and Fremont Street. The canyon was the whole point, and it didn't disappoint.

Eight days in Berlin in December — half work trip, half slow discovery of a city that refuses to erase its own memory. Co-working until 9 PM, Christmas markets, the DDR Museum and the Holocaust Memorial, the East Side Gallery, and what German work culture taught me about actually logging off.

Three days in Barcelona — Gaudí's architectural theology at the Sagrada Família, Park Güell and the Gothic Quarter, discovering Catalan identity, getting scammed over a croissant at 1:30 AM, and an honest verdict on a city I expected to love more than I did.

A week in Italy over Christmas — Mass at St. Peter's with the Pope on Christmas morning, the Colosseum at night with ChatGPT as a tour guide, Michelangelo's David and the Vasari Corridor in Florence, and Venice's canals, Doge's Palace, and a Vivaldi concert. The best leg of the whole European trip.

A five-day theme-park marathon in Orlando — Magic Kingdom by boat, fireworks over the castle, Hagrid's motorbike and Butterbeer at Universal, walking nine countries in an afternoon at EPCOT, and a solo hour watching dolphins at SeaWorld. Verdict: worth it, and get the express passes.

Yosemite over Labor Day weekend with a friend, and neither of us drives — so the whole trip hung on a seasonal bus. Mirror Lake was dry, we missed our tour because a shuttle ran late, and the best trail was the one nobody had told us about. Plus everything I learned about fire, sequoias and how these valleys were actually carved, and full practical notes for doing the park car-free.