My Winter Elixir

Oh, this Arctic weather! Is Dunwoody really a tundra? What did we do to deserve this? Aren’t we Southerners by choice and didn’t Al Gore promise me some global warming? I’m thinking that there are some polar bears and seals looking to find a home in my pool. When have we suffered this much? Never is my answer, and my poor frozen fingers shake as I type into my dying laptop.

Luckily, www.cheapcarribean.com recently answered my call of the wild with promises of sandy beaches and swim-up bars, all for about 80 bucks a night (with airfare included, and all the grub and libations for free). I quickly winged my way down to the Riviera Maya for eight days of bliss. Heaven on a shoestring—and I have the tan to prove it. I am still bitter that I had to leave.

Of course, there were friends like my old TV producer who insisted that I would be gunned down or forced into being a drug mule, but as I found myself alone in Playa Del Carmen shooting a video series, racing up and down the pitch-black streets with a cameraman I had met a few hours earlier looking for a cigar emporium, I hooted with glee. The folks are friendly and there was not a Federale in sight. (OK, there were a couple Federales when I tried to scoot through security with a bottle of Pellegrino and some lemons. My bad.)

Last fall, I had some designing to do for my handbag collection, which is made in China. So, with the first fall breeze that descended upon us, I decided that I would book some R&R in Hong Kong at the Mission Hill Golf Resort. Oh, how sublime! The heat, the beauty and the tropical paradise of southern China and Hong Kong—I could barely spare an hour for design when there were pools for swimming and international cuisine and shopping nirvana on every corner. I did get a ton of work done—until the factory slammed the door on me, screaming, “You are done for 2011! You are not Fendi!”

Now I am back, swathed in furs and mittens, wrapping my dog around me like a heating pad. Next month, look out Barcelona. Anyone want to trade some Delta SkyMiles? I have a 16-year-old who can cook and clean; she has to…she is my child. She needs to stay Stateside for school, but I have drunk from the fountain of discount travel and will not be quenched.