Winds threw the ocean around while we tried to have a conversation over the noise. It was the first day of the Sanibel and Captiva Islands trip off the gulf coast of Florida, and I’m being hit with a storm. There’s a riptide advisory against swimming, but it went ignored as my husband was determined to get in the water. We has endured months of freezing London weather, then an additional two snowy weeks in Boston. It was time to vacation no matter what. Growing up, my family often migrated…

While living outside the U.S., I’ve fielded tons of questions on how to have the best vacation in America. People all over the world come far and wide to take trips across the U.S., usually hitting the big, iconic hotspots. Many people I meet in London and throughout Europe have been to New York City, Orlando, or even Los Angeles. But the rest of the country is often lost on them. Photo via Flickr by raphael.chekroun I get it. For two decades I’ve road tripped and flown all over the…