As I planned my trip to New York, Balthazar — a restaurant named for having the best fries in the world — was at the top of my list.

Ever since Garance Doré travelled through Big Sur in her rented Volkswagen minivan, we've been planning to pack up and head out on our own summer road trip. We wanted to get a taste of the California coastline. Nancy Silverton's famous pizza, a Michelin-starred restaurant, L.A.'s taco trucks and some roadside dinner parties were on our list, too.

My heart skips a beat as we drive down Berkeley's Shattuck Avenue looking for 1517. We arrive at the restaurant, an important-looking heritage house, with a menu in copper posted to the front gate.

Where to stay, what to eat and the must-see of the most amazing city in the world!

I was raised to believe that god created everything. I always wondered about that. How could God have created everything? My first few hours in Sicily, on a guided bus tour of all things, it began to make sense.

I was raised to believe that favours should always be performed without thought of repayment. But it’s lovely when someone you’ve helped wants to give back. And when it involves one of the hottest boutique hotels in New York City... Well, let’s just say, this young lady knew what she was doing.

The first thing I notice is the Manhattan skyline. The facets of clustered towers of silver, gold and black, seem to rise straight up from the river banks. I watch, entranced, from my room in Brooklyn, as the buildings turn a burnished bronze flecked with gold in the light of the setting sun.

New York is one of the most festive places in the world to spend December, and in Brooklyn's Dyker Heights the festivity is amplified with the biggest, maddest, sparkliest display of Christmas lights you're likely to see anywhere in the world.