Miss Adventures » Travel

Spending the Holidays Three Houses Down from America’s Christmas Lights Display Winner – #sonyholiday

Melanie Renzulli — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:36:54 +0000

I’m spending the holidays in Tallahassee, Florida, which happens to be the town from which the Whitis family, the winners of Good Morning America’s “Our Lights Are Better Than Your Lights”, hail. I’m not only in the same town as this Christmas lights attraction, but approximately three doors down from it. When my family and [...]

Is There Anywhere You Wouldn’t Want to Travel To?

Melanie Renzulli — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:35:56 +0000

I’ve probably been thinking about this post ever since I learned that Bobby Flay doesn’t like lentils. While that may not instantly trigger in your mind the idea for a blog post about travel, I remember thinking, “He’s a chef – he’s not allowed to not like lentils.” But of course chefs have their likes [...]

Rule Britannia: My Article for Saveur

Melanie Renzulli — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 18:08:06 +0000

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of writing a FOB (front of the book) “feature” on the legendary Parsi eatery Britannia & Co. for Saveur magazine. At the time, I was living in Bombay, India, and had frequented Britannia enough to know that it deserved to be written about – if not by [...]

Twitterland Is Full of Goodness

Melanie Renzulli — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:53:35 +0000

Over the weekend, I was in New York City where I finally got to meet up with fellow travel writers and talk shop at a “tweet-up.” For the uninitiated, a tweet-up is a meet-up whereby Twitter is involved as the coordination tool. Indeed, almost all of the travelers I met with I had gotten to [...]

My Culinary Tour of Montreal

Melanie Renzulli — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 01:14:55 +0000

There are some travel destinations you visit for the sightseeing and some you visit simply for relaxation. Montreal falls into the latter category specifically as a city where you can relax, recharge, and tuck into some of the best food this side of the Atlantic. I had always heard about Montreal’s culinary traditions: France-centric with [...]

My Travel Life List

Melanie Renzulli — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:09:45 +0000

As long as I’ve been traveling and dreaming of travel, it is a surprise to me that I’ve never sat down and written out my travel life list. After all, one of the earliest goals I ever remember setting for myself was to visit Paris before I was 20. As an exchange student to Germany [...]

Five Films About Italy

Melanie Renzulli — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:29:25 +0000

I recently got the coolest invitation ever. The editorial director of focusfeatures.com, distributor of the new George Clooney film The American, asked me to come up with a list of my five favorite Italy films. The result was Five in Focus: American Expat Bloggers on Italian Movies. I was one of six bloggers that was [...]

Six Things You Must Do in Istanbul

Melanie Renzulli — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:23:23 +0000

As you may know, Istanbul is the Europe Capital of Culture for 2010. Istanbul has been prepping for this year for quite some time, readying the city for an influx of new tourists to sights like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and the Grand Bazaar. While I’m not heading back to Istanbul any time soon [...]

28 Things I Learned At TBEX

Melanie Renzulli — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:31:11 +0000

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend TBEX, a meet-up of travel bloggers organized by Travel Blog Exchange and, in particular, Kim Mance of Galavanting. For those of you who attended and may have met me, I was under the guise of Italofile, my blog about Italy travel (@italofileblog on Twitter), and also [...]

Three Best Travel Secrets

Melanie Renzulli — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:00:06 +0000

I’ve been tagged by Robin Locker at My Mélange to provide my three best travel secrets. She actually tagged me on my Italofile.com site. But I had so many good secrets beyond Italy that I wanted to share my top three non-Italy secrets here. To see the Italy list, head over to Italofile. Have a [...]

Paul Theroux On How He Became a Travel Writer

Melanie Renzulli — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:09:08 +0000

Paul Theroux may be a curmudgeon, but he’s a damn good travel writer (if that’s what you must call him). This piece in the Guardian about how and why Theroux became a travel writer comes a few days shy of the release of his books The Great Railway Bazaar and The Old Patagonian Express as [...]

Planting Season at MissAdventures

Melanie Renzulli — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:38:21 +0000

Dear friends, I must apologize for the long delay in writing. But, I have been up to big things. First of all, I have been concentrating on my writing and my other blog Italofile.com. I am using Italofile as a way to explore the Italy travel landscape beyond the pages of my books The Unofficial [...]

Beypazarı and the Food of Anatolia

Melanie Renzulli — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:46:28 +0000

Last weekend we went to Beypazarı, a small village an hour and a half by bus from Ankara. Located on the old “Istanbul to Baghdad route,” Beypazarı has been inhabitated by various tribes and peoples, including the Seljuks, who left behind a 12C mosque, and the Ottomans, whose “konak” houses dot the town’s hillside. Beypazarı [...]

Here First! Miss Adventures or Ms. Adventure?

Melanie Renzulli — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 20:55:53 +0000

Hi there! Are you looking for Ms. Adventure, the website of the Animal Planet television show that launched in January 2007? Or are you looking for Miss Adventures, the on again-off again blog of freelance travel and food writer Melanie Mize Renzulli? If it’s the latter…welcome! If not, check out Ms. Adventure here. It’s unfortunate [...]

From One Colony to Another

Melanie Renzulli — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 04:18:17 +0000

It’s not fair to compare Bombay and Hong Kong, two bustling Asian cities once under the realm of Britain, but I couldn’t help doing so while on a recent trip. Hong Kong has been an Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China since the British handover of 1997. India fought for and won its independence from [...]

Not India, but Italy

Melanie Renzulli — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 04:32:47 +0000

Good news, everyone! As you may or may not know, in between voiceovers, observing India, and blogging, I’ve also maintained a pretty full freelance writing/editing schedule. The results of those long days and nights last fall have been two guidebooks on Italy that I am quite proud of. Michelin Green Guide Tuscany: In stores since [...]

JP II

Melanie Renzulli — Sun, 03 Apr 2005 15:46:38 +0000

I don’t think I was the only non-Catholic to shed a tear this morning when I heard the news that John Paul II had died. I definitely didn’t agree with many of the stands that the Catholic church had taken over the last few years – though I did appreciate its stand against the death [...]

Joys of Jaundice

Melanie Renzulli — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 12:50:00 +0000

Fellow misplaced expat Karilyn hit the nail on the head with her recent comment. Indeed, I have come down with jaundice and I’m finally somewhat well enough to sit up straight and write about it. Basically, I have succumbed to the second – yes, second – outbreak of jaundice in Bombay over the past three [...]

Start Spreadin’ the News

Melanie Renzulli — Wed, 07 Jul 2004 03:36:23 +0000

I can’t be the only one who thinks that keeping up with a blog is impossible when faced with holiday weekends and the lack of a day job, can I? I’m back from my trip up to New York & the gIsland (Long Island), it’s late, and I think I used up all my vocabulary [...]

Summer Travel in Texas

Melanie Renzulli — Mon, 28 Jun 2004 18:59:54 +0000

This gives a whole new meaning for the word ‘Weblog’

Gay Pride in DC

Melanie Renzulli — Tue, 08 Jun 2004 17:16:03 +0000

Back when the whole hullabaloo over gay marriage was in effect, I wrote this lil service article on spec, just for the hell of it. I shopped it out a few places, but I think that the mainstream papers are a little apprehensive about gay-oriented travel. I’m not gay but I occasionally work in a [...]

Long Weekend in Apalachicola: Part 2

Melanie Renzulli — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 14:05:40 +0000

Knowing that I was going to one of the nation’s oyster capitals, I also knew that I would eat well. But when I got to Apalach, I was surprised to learn just how small the area was. It was all made clear when we had to go to the Piggly Wiggly. If you really want [...]

Long Weekend in Apalachicola: Part 1

Melanie Renzulli — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 20:56:16 +0000

The word “Apalachicola” ranks up there with Okeechobee and Massapequa as one of the more amusing Native American place names. It has a foreign air, but just enough grit that you instantly know that the town can be found somewhere on a map of America. In fact, you can find Apalachicola on a map of [...]

Sea You Later

Melanie Renzulli — Fri, 28 May 2004 19:44:58 +0000

Of course, on the day before I take off for vacation, work is crazy. And, of course, almost all of today’s work came in the later half of the day. No matter, though. I’m heading off to Florida tomorrow; in my mind, I’m already there… I’m heading down to Apalachicola to hang with my family. [...]

I’ll Have Fish and Fries, Please

Melanie Renzulli — Wed, 26 May 2004 21:00:54 +0000

The Onion Always Gets it Right: U.S. Gives Up Trying to Impress England… The best quote from this article: “I’ve admired the British ever since I saw them on PBS as a kid.”

Ecotourism Prize

Melanie Renzulli — Wed, 26 May 2004 14:40:02 +0000

Are there any truly unspoiled destinations in the world? Conservation International and the National Geographic Society seem to think so. On June 8, the two organizations will present the World Legacy Award, which will “recognize excellence in environmental, social and cultural travel.” Here’s the breakdown: Nature Travel - for positive contributions to the conservation of [...]