Dear readers,

Merry Christmas! I hope you’re looking forward to an excellent holiday season and I hope your travels aren’t too impacted by the fearsome storm system impacting the midwest. I’ll be flying to California on Christmas; it won’t be warm there, but it also won’t be frigid, and that’s a result I’ll take this week.

Since so many of us are traveling, I thought this would be a good time to answer some of your questions about vacations this week.

Drew asks:

I live in the United Arab Emirates, and try to take advantage of travel as much as possible. But I find I am often caught between packing the day full of sites, museums, etc.; or spending a day on the beach without an agenda. Do you have a preference when planning your travel? Does it depend on destination?

There’s no right answer to this question. For me, it depends entirely on the destination.