?We were so busy going to new places that we realized we had forgotten all about Paris.? No, this is not a caption from a drawing in The New Yorker?you can just imagine it, a dressed-to-the-nines Park Avenue couple marooned among the spear-carrying, loincloth-clad South Seas islanders; rather, it was an admission made to me in my frequent role as travel confessor at a party the other night. Though my dinner partner went on to describe the gratifying few days he and his wife had spent reacquainting themselves with the French capital, his statement serves to illustrate a trend I know full well, having opted this summer for a trip to East Africa, where my husband and I have never been, over the guaranteed pleasures of revisiting a favorite spot in southern Italy. Followers of my travels in this column and on Twitter might ask why I don?t just stay home for a change, but, as dedicated travelers know, this path is not easily taken when there is so much to see.

?While on holiday in Melbourne with my husband, I often heard Aussies comparing Sydney to Los Angeles and Melbourne to New York City. Sydney has its share of glamour, but Melbourne is an urban center full of beautifully designed, progressive architecture, on the cutting edge of green development?and, as is true of New York, you can walk endlessly, right in the heart of the city.