Whenever I move to a new community, one of the first things I look for is whether there is a good hardware store nearby. Now, I’m not talking about one of those big, warehouse-sized national chain stores–though I have nothing against them and certainly shop there on occasion. What I am on the lookout for is a place that has been there for decades and has employees that have, shall we say, the patina of experience upon them.

You might be led to believe that because a good hardware store is high on my list of hometown necessities, I am some kind of do-it-yourself, remodeling whiz, but nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, I re-grouted a shower stall once, and I can replace a washer, broken sprinkler head or leaky toilet valve when necessary, but that’s about the extent of my fix-it skills. Nevertheless, I have come to appreciate a store that stocks all kinds of interesting gadgets and gizmos even if I don’t know what most of them are, and I appreciate even more a knowledgable staffer who can tell me how to deal with whatever domestic disaster I am currently facing.

Perhaps my fascination with such emporiums began when, as a little girl, I accompanied my dad on his early spring trips to Holland’s Feed Store in downtown Beaverton, Oregon. While he picked up seeds for our enormous vegetable garden, chicken wire, stakes and twine, oil for the rototiller and a new hoe, my sister and I would be draped over a stock tank set on the floor holding the season’s batch of fluffy little chicks and bunnies. I must admit that I was just as thrilled some forty years later when I walked into our hardware store in East Wenatchee one March day and followed the sound of chirping to cages holding ducklings, chicks and even baby turkeys (What is the proper nomenclature for a baby turkey? turkling? goblette?). My younger daughter, true child of mine, though 15 at the time, seemed equally entranced and annually made it a point to find an excuse to visit that store at that time of year.

Cute balls of fluff aside, I honestly enjoy just strolling the aisles from plumbing to electrical to garden, taking in all the thing-a-ma-bobs and doo-hickeys and nearly always finding something that I didn’t realize I urgently needed until I saw it there. The clerks are always helpful and pleasant and seem to be able to tell when I need some serious assistance as opposed to when I’m just doing some serious browsing. And believe me, when I have a technical question, I want to be talking to a grizzled veteran who has clearly worked a lifetime as an electrician or plumber. I imagine this man (they’re almost always guys) retired one day, spent a few weeks around the house driving his poor wife crazy trying to find something that needed fixing, and then was kindly nudged by her into applying for that opening down at the hardware store. Now everybody’s happy!

Yes, I don’t want to live too far from a decent mall, a well-stocked specialty food store and options for cultural entertainment. But believe me, when the toilet handle breaks an hour before dinner guests are expected, it’s far more important to be 10 minutes from your helpful hardware place than 10 minutes from Nordstrom’s!

 Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader

Unfortunately, I had to return early from my two weeks in Europe, but while I was there, I was able to experience the old-world charms of three magnificent European cities - Budapest, Berlin and Warsaw.

I was not sure what to expect from Budapest, but was immediately impressed upon arrival. The city is absolutely beautiful. After touring the more popular sights like the Citadel, castle, Parliament, we took a cruise on the Danube. From the river we had a great view of St. Margaret’s Island and the three magnificent city bridges that connect Buda to Pest. This city is a definite must for a Europe excursion.

Next, we ventured to Berlin. We stayed at the Kempinski Bristol Berlin on the Kurfurstendamm, or Kudamm, the main shopping boulevard in the city. There is so much to see and do in Berlin - from walking along what is left of the Berlin Wall, learning about the horrors of Hitler’s Nazi regime and the oppression of the Soviet communist reign, Checkpoint Charlie, the Brandenburg Tor and much more. Unfortunately, I never got around to visiting the top floor of the KaDeWe like Alex Young suggested.

And, finally, we visited Warsaw, one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited in my life. Before Warsaw, we stopped in Bydgoszcz to visit my dad’s aunt and cousin. It was a smaller city, but full of charm nonetheless. Back to Warsaw, it is truly amazing how the city was able to rebuild the Old Town back to its original splendor after it was destroyed in WWII. Other sites worth visiting include the Jewish Ghetto, the Warsaw Uprising monument and Lazienki Park.

-Kimberly Krol, circulation and PR executive, eFlyer editor

Last night, GT hosted its annual cocktail reception at the fabulous Hotel Bel-Air. More than 100 people from the travel industry and Bel-Air Association turned out to fete the West Coast-based winners of our GT Tested Awards. We told the Bel-Air staff we wanted a Roman theme and they truly transformed the front lawn into the ancient city with columns, ice sculptures and more. Look for a complete recap of the event in a summer issue of GT. This event is a personal favorite for more than one GT staffer! We also got to enjoy the meeting facilities at the hotel, and dinner at the award-winning restaurant. Staying here is a true treat and I can see why our readers continue voting the property “Best Hotel in the U.S.”.

However, this being my third trip to the Los Angeles area since starting with the magazine, I was determined to see a little bit of LA and I wanted to hit some of the hot spots I read about all the time. And, I’ll admit, I wanted to see some celebrities! So, we decided to have lunch at the Ivy on Robertson Boulevard yesterday afternoon. Two tables over from us were Melanie Griffith and Sharon Stone. I got a taste of what the paparazzi are like as well. Then we did a bit of shopping at trendy Kitson boutique and got our sugar fix at Sprinkles Cupcakes!

But we didn’t even need to look further than our own hotel and our own event! Kathy Hilton, you know, Paris’s mom, stopped by the party and chatted with us all! Well, I’m off to LAX for my flight back to the real world!

-Kimberly Krol, circulation and PR executive

A friend in Israel just had a baby, and I’m shopping for a gift. I could have bought a gift when I was there earlier this month, but I decided to send one from America instead. I actually started my shopping on the airplane home, though.

In the past gifts for kids were mostly souvenirs from my travels. But what about hostess gifts, thank you gifts, and various other gifts–such as new-baby gifts–for those abroad? Especially after the fact?

Online shopping is great for that because it deals with the issues of shipping, customs and excise taxes, etc. And there are all sorts of e-commerce stores that can accommodate you. But I realized that a good place to start is sometimes with the airlines. Not only do they have those duty-free catalogs onboard, but nowadays they all seem to have online stores as well.

I wasn’t sure about Israeli gift protocols, so I was able to ask my flight attendant on the way home what she thought of some of the items in the catalog. We pretty much agreed that an adorable little pendant would be fine for a girl.

Well, of course my friends just had a boy, and I don’t see anything in online airline catalogs that I think would be appropriate, so I’m going to go back to Plan A, which is to get something tastefully tacky-touristy from Florida in a onesies–something with palm trees, or a flamingo wearing shades, maybe.

But the episode keeps reminding me that I keep forgetting to shop those online airline shops–you get miles for doing it too!

–Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer

I seem to be on a wine kick, at least blog-wise. In last Saturday’s blog, I wrote of the Inverness Resort’s wine flights. Now I want to tell all you wine-lovers about wine bars that are opening up in various U.S. airports. The Wall Street Journal called them “a suave chain of wine bars with first rate food,” which is a pretty savvy endorsement.

The Vino Volo chain of wine bars currently operates in 5 major domestic airports, and expects to be in at least 12 by the end of the year. You get comfy leather chairs to sit in, a chance to taste at least 24 wines by the glass or in tasting flights, appropriate light fare that goes well with the wine (to eat in, or it can be packaged for an airplane picnic), and an outlet where all the wines you can sample are also sold by the bottle.

Right now, you can find a Vino Volo wine bar at Sacramento (SMF), Concourse A; Seattle-Tacoma (SEA), Central Terminal Marketplace; Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) in Southwest’s Concourse A; the original Vino Volo at Washington Dulles (IAD), United’s Concourse C; and the latest, at JFK in American’s Terminal 8, Concourse B. Two more are scheduled to open this spring: at Detroit International (DTW) and Philadelpia International (PHL)’s food court in the B/C connector.

A nice touch is that in addition to carrying a better quality of wine than you find in most airport bars, and giving you a chance to compare, say, Rhone wines or pinot noirs against each other, each of the wine bars also carries local wines–Long Island wines at JFK, Virginia wines at Dulles, Washington State wines at Sea-Tac, etc.

Cheers!

–Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer