The master of all things boozy: the bartender at Dukes.

London's Best Classic Bars

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 Dukes Hotel (dukeshotel.com; rates from $350), as I sit on a bar stool at this venerable institution just steps from Prince Harry’s house in the heart of St. James, London.

Fullerton Hotel

72 Hours in Singapore

If this were Vegas, my main man would rule the Strip.

I’ve been around guys like Abdullah before. They’re as cunning as casino moguls and as resourceful as sidewalk hawkers. And Abdullah is sort of funny, akin to a big-time lounge act pacing the stage like a grinning lion and telling corny jokes with a wink and a soft elbow to the ribs.

The Drake Hotel doubles as a hot spot for entertainment and a wonderful place to stay.

Cool Central: Toronto's West Queen West Neighborhood

Betty Ann Jordan is worked up about her street. Which prompts her to speak in a clipped Canadian staccato and move like a point guard, zigzagging along sidewalks and ducking into shop entrances. I trail a couple paces behind her and try to keep up.

But there’s so much to see in Toronto’s West Queen West neighborhood—bohemian galleries, boutiques, cafés and plenty of what filmmakers might affectionately call grit to give the place atmosphere—I stumble behind like a distracted child.

The author swims through a fresh-water cenote in Riviera Maya.

Warm-Weather Escape: Riviera Maya

I float atop teardrop-colored water and can’t stop thinking about the dead. Not the blind albino salamanders or bat corpses I might see—though these would be eerie enough if I encountered a bloated floater amid all this darkness.

Melanie D.G. Kaplan

Colorful houses and cobblestone streets are commonplace in the city's historic La Candelaria neighborhood.

A New View: Bogotá, Colombia

It’s a weekday afternoon in Bogotá, and I’m on a mountain bike dodging potholes, a horse and a minibus—and I’m wondering if I’ll survive. I’d hate to leave the country before I’ve had a chance to do some salsa dancing. So I jump my wheels onto a crumbling curb, giving the horse’s nostrils and the bus’ fender a couple inches of clearance.

Discovering Ethiopia

I like cream in my coffee, and I like a lot of it. However, my preferred shade of au lait will not be possible this evening at a traditional coffee ceremony in Lalibela, one of Ethiopia’s holiest cities, with 13 rock-hewn churches carved straight into dusty red volcanic rock during the 12th and 13th centuries.

Getty Images

Wild Nights in Madrid

“Go ahead, throw it on the floor,” says my amigo Alvaro, a dashing Madrileño whose father was a matador. He’s talking about my napkin, which I scrunch up and toss to the ground with glee. It falls into a heap of white serviettes that sits amid a forest of stiletto heels and polished, sensible Spanish men’s shoes. People might as well be doing the flamenco the way they tromp sensually over the debris.

A chef applies finishing touches to art on a plate at Nimb Brasserie, located in the historic Nimb Hotel.

Copenhagen: Hungry Little Village

It's dusk on Friday night in Copenhagen, a town that settles into evening as it does everything else—quietly, courteously, effortlessly. Save for strands of cyclists pedaling home from post-work cafés, the streets are nearly empty, an oddity for any town of more than a million people.

Except here, of course, a big-city water village awash in diffused light languishing on the Øresund, a strait between the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea.

The tropical courtyard at El Taj Oceanfront leads to an infinity pool, outdoor bar and restaurant, and, naturally, the Caribbean.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico: El Taj Oceanfront

Despite what some may tell you, Playa del Carmen is far from the sleepy fishing village it was 15 years ago. Sure, the place is still small enough to walk from end to end in the time it takes to down a chilly Dos Equis, and you can still watch brightly colored fishing boats offload the day's catch behind the beach shack where you're nibbling grouper tacos.

Trek to the Tulum ruins, then treat yourself to a soothing swim in the Caribbean (hint: stairs lead down a cliff to the beach).

Riviera Maya Ruins: Beautiful Sights

When I first scrambled up the steps of Kukulkan pyramid at the Yucatan Peninsula’s Chichen Itza 30 years ago as a child, I felt like I was queen of the world. The only person at the precipice, I looked across the pre-Colombian cluster of Mayan ruins in awe. Below, near the edge of the surrounding jungle, my parents tried to coax me down.