When winter is full on and we’re over the frenetic pace of the holidays, I start daydreaming about travel. Colorful cityscapes from adventurers and travel photographers wallpaper my Instagram, so, inevitably, my head’s already there a lot. Around this time, if we’re lucky, we may also be planning to go away, by plane or by car, as the winter starts to fade.
This is somewhat new for us. Iris, our youngest, has reached an age where she travels so well. It’s hard to not want to take both our girls away all the time, every available weekend.

As an obsessive planner, I can really get into the research. Aside from general trip and destination reviews, one of my favorite ways to breeze through a half hour is by scrolling through pictures of hotels. Being drawn to simple design and the visual beauty of faraway places keeps my focus. I’ve spent many hours on Tablet, randomly searching hotels in New Orleans or Austin, Reykjavik or Chile. There is simplicity in everything with posts ranging from budget spots to mountain escapes to places in the middle of nowhere. I’ll pick a city, plug in dates (real or imagined) then wait as the genius backend search serves up a handful of perfectly-curated places to stay.

Like this adventure hotel miles from Iceland’s center …

… or this warm India retreat with views from every window of the Taj Mahal …

… and this Austin farm-and-breakfast where you tend the chickens and coax out a few eggs for organic breakfast.

It puts the romance back into winter — even when we’re not planning to go anywhere. :)

{Photo credit, from top: The Line L.A.; ION Iceland; Oberoi Amarvilas; Travaasa.}