How to set out solo, but not travel alone: Trips, tips and ideas for the active traveler.
With the Olympics over, I'll have to get my British fix elsewhere – in the short term by watching my new (to me) favorite television show: Doc Martin.
I had fun watching segments on England that NBC aired during the Olympics. One was on the words used by the British that are different from those we use in the U.S.
For example, what is the "English" word for:
(answers below)
Any lighthouse fans out there?
My lunch companions wore plumeria flowers behind their ears, necklaces strung with black pearls and Ni'ihau shells, and clothing with floral patterns. All signs that they live and work in Hawaii. In this case, Kauai.
[Quiz of the day. Can you name the eight major Hawaiian islands? Answer at the end.]
We on the East Coast often choose the Caribbean or Mexico over Hawaii because those places are closer. But obviously, they can't offer the unique culture and language of Hawaii, which is why it's worth a visit to the Aloha state. 
Nowhere else in the world are you greeted at retail establishments with "aloha" and thanked with "mahalo." And, where else can you spend a day swimming with sea turtles, watching hula dancing and attending a luau?
It's a long haul for most people. And it can seem daunting for solo travelers to fly a long way, rent a car and spend beach time alone.
But there are ways to find people to spend time with. For example, snorkel with others on an adventure tour. So many beautiful creatures live in that part of the Pacific, including the humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa, Hawaii's state fish.
It's time to give away three copies of "1,000 Places to See Before You Die."
Last time, all you had to do was "like" boldlygosolo. You can still do that and *everyone* who is a fan by the end of the month will be entered again to win.*
For the other two copies, all you have to do is name a favorite place you've visited or where you'd love to travel to next. I'm going to see if it's in the book and perhaps blog about it.
It can be as simple as one or two words (Borneo. Hamura Saimin Stand in Lihue on the island of Kauai, Hawaii)
Or it can be a phrase or a sentence or two about why the place you've named is your fave or why you'd like to go there. (Best escargot in the world. I love getting lost on the winding, cobblestone streets)
You want to write several paragraphs? Make my day!
"Places" can be countries, cities, sights, sites, restaurants, hiking paths or wherever else you've been or would like to go. That way everyone who reads your answers gets to learn about places they should possibly consider traveling to.
Your choice does NOT have to be in the book for you to win. Name two places (one per day) and you get two additional chances to win. Max of three chances: one "like" and two "places."
Go to the boldlygosolo facebook page to enter.
Good luck and happy daydreaming about the best places to travel.
*Sorry, only U.S. and Canadian residents are eligible.
Photo: Fiji's Coral Coast. By Ellen Perlman
I highly recommend kayaking with manatees next time you're in Florida. Even if you don't see manatees. (After all, they're not on call for interested visitors.)
But there they were last week, paddling around Sarasota Bay during mating season. Cruisin'.
Even if I'd had a camera out, it would have been tough to get photos. They don't surface much. Only a bit of their heads rise out of the water when they come up for air.
But there's plenty more to see out there.
The second edition of "1,000 Places To See Before You Die" is out and I'm waiting to be assigned to do the "Solo Travel" edition. (Kidding! Sort of…)
Do the math and you realize that even if you travel three times a year, you'll have to live to be 334 years old to actually see all these places before, well, you die. And that's if you start the year you're born.
But, of course, this is beside the point.
"1,000 Places to See Before You Die" is one of those armchair travel books great for reading about where you've been, and for perusing where you might want to go.
Want a copy of your own? I've got three to give away. Which gives you three chances to "win." 
To be eligible* for the first copy, all you've got to do is "like" boldlygosolo on Facebook. I'll choose a winner for that one on May 15.
Ways to win one of the other copies coming up.
As for the book, I already "like" it. When I first flipped through, it just happened to open to places in Israel. Where I'd just visited in January. The two entries on facing pages were Caesarea and The Galilee.
Had enough Titanic stories yet? Can I sneak just one more itty bitty one past you?
I was in Belfast a few years ago where I learned about the city's ship-building prowess and the fact that the RMS Titanic, and its sister ship the RMS Olympic, were built there for the White Star Line.
The best part of the tour on a gray day was a visit to the S.S. Nomadic, the last remaining White Star Line ship. The Nomadic was a tender used to ferry passengers from Cherbourg, France, to the passenger ships that were too large to dock in the harbor. 
And it brought the passengers at Cherbourg to the Titanic for its last, fateful trip.
The haunting part of the visit to the Nomadic was the exhibit inside.
It contained dishes, place settings, bedding and other items that the company had provided to its ships, including the Titanic.
I knew as soon as I booked a trip to Israel that I wanted to find a way to get to Petra, Jordan, too.
Years ago, I'd seen the city, carved into rocks, in a photo in a magazine. It immediately went on the travel to-do list. Since visiting, I think a fair amount about Petra, the "Pink City."
It feels mysterious and unknowable. But it was astounding, nevertheless, to walk down the main "street," in the place that was home to the nomadic Nabataeans, who began settling in the Petra Valley in the 4th century, B.C.E.
What remains for visitors now are tombs and mausoleums, remains of a colonnaded street and ruins of temples, altars and rocks and more rocks, variegated in color with reds, oranges, and browns striated with black.
I like how the Jordan Tourism Board puts it: "The giant red mountains and vast mausoleums of a departed race have nothing in common with modern civilization, and ask nothing of it except to be appreciated at their true value – as one of the greatest wonders ever wrought by Nature and Man."
Having never heard of the Nabataeans until shortly before my visit, I did just that: appreciated a great wonder for what it was. Beautiful, unique, special. Not simple to get to but worth it.
I've been home from Israel for several weeks now and still haven't figured out what to write about it. Facts and figures about history and religion rained down on me during my 10-day visit. I was awed by sights that millions have visited before me.
The religious and political aspects of life in Israel, and between Israel and other countries, have been written about time and again.
So where do I take a story? Or a blog post? No point in me recounting the complicated history I learned (and maybe should have already known). That can be found in books. 
Books retelling stories from the Israelites to the Babylonians to the Persians to the Greeks during the Hellenistic period to the Romans, the Byzantines, the early Muslims, the Crusaders, the Mamluks, the Ottomans, the British…
Green and white awnings and a small sign are all that distinguish the Richmond home of Maggie L. Walker from neighboring duplexes that have been carefully restored to their appearance circa 1925.
What distinguished Walker in her day was her skill at overcoming all the obstacles society could place before a black woman living under Jim Crow segregation laws.
But wait. Maggie who?
The answer to that is in the story I wrote on Walker for today's Washington Post travel section. I won't repeat a lot of what is in it, since you can read it for yourself.
It was cool taking the walking tour in Richmond and learning some of the black history of the Southern city. Including about Bill "Bojangles" Robinson who was born in Richmond.
Boldly Go Solo 