Cast Your Vote!

November 8, 2010

THE WORLD- You’ve seen all of our fabulous writing contest entries (read more about the contest and prizes here), and now it’s your turn to vote! Submit your choice before 11:59 PM EST on November 15th. Did you enjoy searching for moose in Canada, mangoes in Australia, or computer cords… (more)

Tempting Tuesday: Hot Dining in Cool (Cold!) NYC

January 25, 2011

NEW YORK, USA – It’s been a bitterly cold winter. No doubt about it. For those of us on the East Coast, the past few days have been especially brutal, with temperatures in New York yesterday dropping into single digits. (And wind chills in the negative double digits? Ouch!) Needless… (more)

Writing Contest Finalist 1: Winter Enchantment- December in Nürnberg

November 1, 2010

Note: This is the first of five posts in our writing contest finalist series. The Purple Passport’s Editorial Team has selected five finalists from the many entries we received. We will post these entries throughout the week and open voting at week’s end after all the entries have been posted.… (more)

Everything but the moat at the Chateau Marmont

September 7, 2010

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA – Castles are curious dwellings. They’re synonymous with profligate opulence and ravishing royalty, yet these fortified palaces also figure prominently in the mythology of despair, from infamous recluses like William Randolph Hearst to cursed princesses á la Sleeping Beauty. At Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont, which New York… (more)

It’s all Greek to us at the Getty Villa Malibu

July 22, 2010

PACIFIC PALISADES, USA – Gladiator sandals. Loose fitting tunics. One shoulder toga-style dresses. When you step out in this season’s hottest fashion trends, you may feel a little bit like you’re headed for the agora in ancient Greece or Rome. Which just goes to show that the ancient cultures of… (more)

Purple Madrid: Part III (Museums)

October 10, 2010

MADRID, SPAIN – This is the third in a series where I dish on all my best Madrid secrets! For an overview of Madrid and tips on Madrid hotels, check out the previous posts. A Spanish beauty queen, an homage to a civil war, and a slightly insane painter: it… (more)

Diving It, Japan Style, at Decibel

October 11, 2010

NEW YORK, USA — For anyone who’s ever called rural no-man’s-land home, New York can seem like a foreign fantasy where cabbies act like stagecoach men and congested traffic like a celebratory parade. Even having lived in a city, New York always makes me feel a bit like a doe-eyed… (more)

A+ architecture at Commune by the Great Wall

June 28, 2010

BEIJING, CHINA – An urban legend that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made structure visible from the moon with the naked eye has circulated at least since the 1930s.  Though the claim’s been disputed by many a moon-walking astronaut, that doesn’t mean the Great Wall isn’t one… (more)

Purple Madrid: Part V (Restaurants)

October 26, 2010

MADRID, SPAIN – This is the fifth in a series where I dish on all my best Madrid secrets! For an overview of Madrid and tips on Madrid hotels, museums, and sights/shopping, check out the previous posts. Let’s face it: no matter how much fabulous art, architecture, and fashion Madrid… (more)

Last record store standing?: An ode to Amoeba Music

July 13, 2010

LOS ANGELES, USA – I spent two summers of my late adolescence working at Sam Goody, a music store in the local mall.  Despite the embarrassing corporate “Sam Goody” apron I had to wear, it was a teenager’s dream job to get paid to listen to music all day and… (more)