Wine and Spirits Travel

It’s not often I get to combine both tennis and travel into one trip. I was happy when the opportunity came to do just that in Madison, Wisconsin . I had been to Madison only once before, and that was quite a long time ago for the Celebration of American Distilling . I only stayed for one night and didn’t get to see much of the city. This trip was scheduled for three nights: two at the Graduate Madison and one at The Edgewater . They are totally different accommodations and I was looking forward to seeing Madison from these completely different angles. My friend Roberta came along with me. Our first stop in the city was to check in at the Graduate Madison . I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t what we got. The Graduate brand has truly unique hotels. They are very welcoming with large open lobbies. They are also each uniquely remodeled to the (college) town they are located in. Although my first instinct was mo

It was 2006 and I was ready to take my first trip to Europe by myself. I had only been once before at that point and, as a single mom, I hadn't thought about going back. Just as my daughter was about to turn 21, the opportunity presented itself to cover a tennis tournament . I also had enough miles for a first class ticket to Europe. It didn't take me long to make the decision. The tournament was a special one. It was the Smirkva Bowl , a competition in Pula, Croatia, for 10 and under kids. They had teamed up with "Little Mo," a similar organization in the United States founded by the family of Grand Slam champion Maureen Connolly Brinker, to bring four players from the U.S. to Croatia for an exhibition event. I planned to spend time in Paris and Rome too, but it was Croatia that would take most of my time and attention. Three weeks before the trip, I developed shingles. If you've seen the television commercials for the shingles vaccine and wonder

It was the final day of the Longines Future Tennis Aces tournament and I was ready to see the championship match. I was also more than ready to complete my own personal Grand Slam. Even though the American Adam Neff had lost in the first round, he was excited to be able to watch the match with Longines Rising Tennis Star Ryan Harrison. He also felt better knowing that the player he lost to, Rudolf Molleker of Germany was the winner of the tournament. In addition to Harrison, tennis stars Sabine Lisciki (who would reach the finals of Wimbledon a few weeks later), Arnaud Clement and Fabrizio Santoro gave out prizes and did exhibitions before we left for Roland Garros. I have covered the US Open nearly every year in the past three decades. I have been to Wimbledon and I’ve been to the Australian Open , but I’d never been to the French Open. Roland Garros, the fourth major, had eluded me – until this day. I was finally getting to complete my Grand Slam, at least as

The weather was almost winter-like as we bundled up for a full day of tennis at the Longines Future Tennis Aces tournament in Paris. I was up early for a quick breakfast at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand . We boarded the luxury bus to the Hotel de Ville, where a beautiful red clay tennis court was set up. There was a screen for those who also wanted to keep up with the action at the French Open. Though rain in Paris is not unusual, it was nearly snowing so we went into McDonald’s to warm up with some coffee while we checked our email. It was a McDonald’s like no other I had seen, with a full coffee bar (they even had French macaroons and croissants!) and kiosks you could use to pre-order food. I was quickly reminded that I wasn’t back in Champaign. We headed back to the courts for a while, enjoying the tennis live and on the screen with the marketing group from Longines before walking to Pamela Popo for lunch. The appetizer was scallops so they instead ga

After many years as a (magazine, web and book) tennis writer, I found myself without full time work in that field in 2008.  I was lucky enough that I had the experience and opportunity to continue my work as a writer, but I needed an additional niche to fill my schedule (not to mention my pocketbook).  I stumbled upon the obvious one purely by accident. Let me begin with the beginning. I have been a writer for as long as I can remember, working for magazines even while I was a “kid” in school.  One of the things I did to push my career forward was to join the staff of the C.W. Post Pioneer .   It was a wonderful experience to be on the newspaper staff then (where I worked my way to Managing Editor), but it led to an even more exciting opportunity now. In January of 2008, there was a reunion at C.W. Post of past editors of the newspaper and magazines.  I hadn’t seen anyone in years so I thought it might be fun.  It was by chance that I met former fellow Pioneer editor Frank Col