Karen Moline – Best Selling Author

Karen Moline is an internationally recognised author of two novels: the newly reissued Lunch, and Belladonna. She is also a non-fiction ghostwriter for over two dozen bestselling books.

Karen got the travel bug early on, and still has many destinations on her bucket list.  Here she chats to us about her love of travel and gives us some insights into San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

"When you spend much of your childhood in Buffalo, New York, on the shores of Lake Erie…where the winds howl and the snows usually begin around Halloween and end around Easter, dreaming of travel to sunnier spots is a no-brainer."

“I was very lucky to be a pop culture and entertainment journalist for newspapers and magazines in America, Australia, and the UK for many years, and I was often sent abroad on assignment,” she says. “What my friends used to jokingly call me was a professional freeloader, as my expenses were paid and I was frugal with the per diems so I could splurge on a wonderful meal or two before I went home. But while it’s wonderful to have expenses paid, business travel is never quite the same thing as taking a holiday with no obligations more pressing than improving your swimming skills and scarfing down local delicacies!

“One time, I was doing a story on shopping in Hong Kong for a magazine called New York Woman,” she adds. “The Hong Kong Tourist Board was helpful, but then one day a guide met me in the lobby of my hotel, looking very nervous. They had only just realized the magazine was owned by American Express (which of course I’d never mentioned), and I was suddenly a VIP. Dinner that night was with a lovely higher-up on the Tourist Board food chain, with endless courses that I was obliged to try even though I was stuffed. I was even upgraded to first class on the flight home, which was marred by a man so drunk that he became belligerent and spent most of the flight handcuffed to his seat. But that made for a great story.”

San Juan, Puerto Rico

“Puerto Rico/my heart’s devotion/Let it sink back in the ocean” sang Anita in “America,” that toe-tappingly delightful song from West Side Story. She might have been happy to leave this tropical island, but visitors who arrive for a much-needed vacation will be happy to sink their toes into the gorgeous turquoise waters of the Caribbean and happily inhale the tropical breezes.

Puerto Rico is an ideal hot-weather destination for Americans on the East Coast as the dollar is the currency, no passports are needed, most people speak English, and it’s only an hour further south than Miami (it takes about four hours from NYC to get there). Yet it is still delightfully exotic enough to make the 50 states seem another country indeed, and it’s not anywhere as pricey as some of the other Caribbean islands, making it a bargain place to visit.

It’s also ideal for family travel. What you want is a resort that has a large, safe pool and a clean, safe beach; reasonably priced meals with lots of options for picky eaters; lots of drinks for parents who need a break from the kids; daily activities for the kids with a ‘camp” or on-site babysitters; sturdy umbrellas to help protect tender skin from the sun (yes, mom, that means you cut out the “I-need-a-tan” routine!; and quiet and calm in the evenings so the kids conk out and you can enjoy nothing more noisy than the waves hitting the sand. On my first visit to Puerto Rico several years ago, we stayed at the Rio Mar Resort, about an hour’s drive from the airport, which was so wonderful that my son, then 8, had no interest in any tourist excursions. His idea of the perfect holiday is spending all day in the pool.

Now that he’s 13, my son’s needs haven’t changed at all. We booked a last-minute break to San Juan through American Airlines Vacations and chose a resort closer to the airport (it’s not even a 20-minute ride), and the Hilton Caribe, on its own private peninsula, is ideal for that—and for families. There is a large pool on several levels, with a very shallow one for the wee babes, a mid-sized one for young children, and a 4-foot deep one for swimmers. There’s even a small pool around the Atlantico bar so you can swim up for a mojito before getting in the Jacuzzi. There is also a private beach with a man-made breaker so there is no undertow or strong waves, and everyone can enjoy the salt water before returning to one of the chaises to relax.

Young children will also love walking around the garden, which has several resident peacocks and a swan family in the bird sanctuary as well as enormous koi in the fish pond. There is a Kidz Paradise Club for kids up to age 12, and a game room with video consoles for older kids; parents can head to the well-equipped gym, which has a daily schedule of free classes (including yoga and Latin dance lessons), or the Olas Spa for a massage or facial. You can also book scuba or snorkeling sessions with certified diver-instructors, day-trips for rainforest hikes, or boat excursions.

Since the Caribe Hilton is so centrally located, it’s barely a 10-minute taxi ride to the Castillo de San Cristobal, an enormous fort built by the Spanish (starting in 1634—it only took 150 years to finish!)  Just past that is Old San Juan, a charming village of cobblestoned streets and colorful shuttered buildings, making you feel like as if you’ve been transported back to Spain as long as you avoid the tourist-trap tee shirt stores Since the city is on a grid you can’t really get lost, so wander around before grabbing a Puerto-Rican-grown coffee at the historical and grab a coffee at the Café Quatro Sombras on Recinto Sur #259 or dinner at the Marmalade Restaurant and Wine Bar at 317 Calle Forteleza.

What we especially liked at the Caribe Hilton was the food, which was delicious and reasonably priced for a 4-star hotel, especially if you got breakfast at the Starbucks in the lobby (a brilliant idea). Trust me, we’re New Yorkers and tough critics, but were happy with t about our meals. There are 6 restaurants for all budgets and tastes, and the Atlantico and the Palmeros (breakfast only) had a deal where the kids’ meal was 50 percent off if one adult bought a regular-priced meal. (You don’t often see bargains like that during the high season.) We had an outstanding steak thanks to room service with a garlicky, plate-licking salsa verde, and the pina coladas would make a pirate proud.   

The only downside was that the Tower, where we stayed, is about to be renovated, so it’s a bit past its prime—although the showers are brilliant and the Peter Thomas Roth beauty products a plus for chlorine-ravaged hair. And the way this tower has been built means that you have an ocean view from your balcony, but you also have to gaze upon an unappealing expanse of the ugly roofs of the hotel’s banquet and conference rooms.

But since we spent little time in our room, that was a minor quibble. We swam every night in the pool as it grew dark, with rarely more than a few others for company, watching the palm trees sway and marveling up at the stars.

Karen’s Travel tips…

Pack light. And I mean light. When you’re on assignment you are often on a tough schedule and nothing is worse than missing a flight or your baggage because you thought you needed more than you do.

My tip is to place everything you want to take on your bed, and then get ruthless and cut it down by 80 percent.

The only thing you must take are comfortable walking shoes. Wear your heaviest pair on the plane even if you think they make you look like a fashion disaster—what’s more important, blisters or seeing all the amazing destinations you spent your savings to see without wincing?

Oh, and don’t forget the sunscreen. There are so many brilliant brands that there’s no excuse anymore to get fried. It drives me crazy seeing pasty white Yanks turning redder than the lobsters they’re going to eat for dinner!

Karen’s Hidden travel spot…

My favorite hidden spot is in the middle of the Lot province in France, which is way off the tourist track, about 20 kilometers from the pilgrimage site of Rocamadour. Any village around there will do. Try to go in June when the cherries are ripe as you will never eat anything so delicious in your life.

Final words…

Go off-season. The weather might be iffy, but the prices are lower and the crowds are gone. Bliss.

Photo credit:  Thank you to Karen's son, Emmanuel Moline

 

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