Just before New Year’s Day, I published my top travel pictures of 2025 and I also separately published my favorite travel hacks, while at the same time I invited readers to send in their own favorite travel pictures and travel hacks, for publication on this site. I am happy to report that many readers responded to the call, and I am also happy to set out below readers’ top pictures and travel hacks. The pictures are amazing!
The first reader-submitted travel picture may also qualify as the most exotic. Shawn Okum of Lockton in the U.K. send in this picture from his March trip to Samarkand, in Uzbekistan. Shawn’s comment about Uzbekistan is that he would “absolutely recommend it to anyone, especially if you like your Silk Road history. A beautiful country and still very much off the beaten track!”
The next picture is from Anne Hardner at Arch. She sent in this picture from her summer visit to the Swiss Alps. The picture shows the town of Zermatt with the Matterhorn in the background. She notes that “The Swiss Alps are absolutely jaw dropping beautiful!”
Here’s an interesting picture from Francine McKenna, whom many of you may know as an investigative journalist and blogger covering the accounting industry. While she was teaching at Cambridge University in the U.K. in September, a friend took this picture of her in front of a house on campus where Charles Darwin once lived. You will note that the friend also doctored the picture to add a message, just below the plaque honoring Darwin, to note that she also taught a course nearby.
Sarah Abrams of Bowhead Specialty Underwriters, whom many readers will recognize as a frequent guest contributor on this site, submitted this picture of the Golden Temple in Kyoto, taken during her family’s trip to Japan last summer.
Cathryn Thom of TransRe sent in this picture of the Blue Lagoon, taken during her December trip to Iceland. She added the following comment about her visit to the Blue Lagoon: “The Blue Lagoon was one of the highlights during my visit to Iceland. The Blue Lagoon is a natural self-cleaning spa which contains silica and sulfur. I was advised that the sulfur and silica are beneficial for the skin. It is very warm even in the middle of winter. The Blue Lagoon also has a swim up bar where you can have a drink while relaxing. I highly recommend visiting the Blue Lagoon when visiting Iceland.”
Umesh Pratapa, a liability insurance consultant in India, and a frequent guest contributor to this site, sent in this picture taken in Venice, during his April visit to Europe. Umesh added a comment about two interesting days he experienced while in Europe: “An experience of a lifetime — having breakfast in one country, lunch in another, and dinner in a third, not just on one day but on two days! Day 1: Breakfast in France, Lunch in Belgium, Dinner in the Netherlands. Day 2: Breakfast in the Netherlands, Lunch in Belgium, Dinner in Luxembourg” He adds that it was “a thrilling and memorable journey we’ll always cherish!”
Carrie Goesel of Zurich sent in this picture taken during her hiking visit to the Swiss Alps over the summer. Carrie actually sent in a number of pictures and they were all absolutely fabulous, I had trouble picking just one. On the other hand, the picture I did wind up choosing it pretty special.
Retired indusry veteran Jim Proferes send in this dramatic picture of a hurricane approaching at sunset at Sagaponack, NY. Many readers may recognize Jim’s name from his many years at Chubb and at Markel. I asked Jim how he wanted me to refer to him in this post, and he said to refer to him this way: “Jim Proferes, Retired Financial Lines Executive and loyal D & O Diary reader from inception.”
Peter Halprin of the Haynes Boone law firm sent in the picture of Macchu Picchu in Peru. I asked Peter if had any descriptive commentary to add to this picture, to which he responded: “Macchu Picchu!”
That wraps up the submitted readers’ travel pictures. I did also get a bunch of suggested travel hacks, which I have set out below. I did edit some of the travel hack submissions for the sake of brevity and concision.
The first travel hack suggestion came in from Albert Peterson of Travelers. He echoed my travel gripe about the lack of sufficient suitcase racks in hotel rooms, and added his own gripe that hotel room drawer space increasingly is inadequate, as well. To solve these problems he recommends using “a hanging travel organizer from L.L.Bean that solved both problems beautifully. Since pretty much every hotel room has a closet, this thing lets us completely ignore drawers and luggage racks altogether.” Albert says that the organizer, which is designed to fit inside your suitcase, “compresses surprisingly well without turning clothes into a wrinkled mess, which is what makes it possible for me to fit two weeks’ worth of clothing” into his suitcase.
Justin Kudler of ARC, commenting on my suggestion that travelers can solve the hotel room inadquate electric outlets problem by packing a power strip, said that instead of power strip, he travels “with an extension cord that has three outlets at the end of it. In addition to providing three outlets (which is enough for me), it helps out because I like certain things to be plugged in near the bed and if the outlet is either far from the bed or somehow positioned in a way that I can’t reach it, I am able to get everything near the bed…”
Justin adds that “I always carry two very large binder clips and I use them to keep the light-blocking curtains closed. I’m never able to keep those damn things closed, they always spread open a little bit – this blocks the light and also guarantees privacy.”
Damian Brew of Marsh sent along his admonitions about eating fresh greens while traveling overseas, including an anecdote involving he and his wife eating fresh cilantro while traveling in Vietnam. It didn’t turn out well. Damian’s travel hack is straightforward: shun fresh greens, and otherwise generally be very careful about drinking the water (even, for example, in the shower). In case problems do arise, whether or not due to the water, he recommends bringing in your suitcase “small doses of Benadryl, Tylenol (including PM) and (especially) immodium can be invaluable.”
Shawn Okum of Lockton, whose picture of Uzebekistan is featured above, recommends “getting a e-SIM for whatever country you’re going to. Most phones now have e-SIM capability and it saves a ton of hassle being able to instantly connect to the internet once you’ve landed in a new country, plus the plans are usually quite reasonable. There’s plenty of providers but I tend to use Airalo – I’ve found the connections to be reliable everywhere I’ve gone so far.”
Tommy White of Inigo has this suggestion as way to find the best local coffee shops: “Seach ‘Coffee Roasters’, because if they’re roasting their own beans, then you know they care and usually know what they’re doing. Double check the pictures of the venue before heading off to grab your coffee though, because I have embarrassingly turned up at a coffee roasting warehouse in a French industrial site before!”
Peter Halprin, who submitted the Macchu Picchu picture above, has the following list of travel hacks:
- Points.me – great aggregator of award flights, shows you how and where to use your points for the best options, then shows you a step-by-step guide to doing complicated transfers
- Wikipedia airport pages – shows you destinations so that if you have a place in mind, you can see all the different airline options
- Seat guru – now defunct but showed you the plane and seat set up for your route so you could pick the best seats. I’m searching for a replacement but it was the best.
- Airport day rooms – especially if you have young kids or folks that hate jetlag (such as a NY to London flight where its too short to get in a full night) some airports have hotels in the terminals (such as the Aerohotel at Heathrow) where you pull in after baggage claim and can rent the room for a few hours to let the kids get some sleep.
- Long flights – recommend hydrating beforehand and during, sleeping as much as possible, and skipping meals that would throw you off on the time zone.
- Exercise is the best way to beat jetlag – highly recommend finding hotels with 24 hour gyms when you come off long flights.
Cathryn Thom, whose picture of the Blue Lagoon in featured above, suggests the following travel hack: “Get a window seat. I love to sleep so I place my pillow, blanket, rolled up sweater (anything soft and comfortable) against the window and rest my head. I don’t have to worry about anyone waking me up to go to the bathroom.” [My version of the same travel hack is to always be sure to get an aisle seat so that I can get up and go to the bathroom without disturbing anybody else.]
Carrie Goesel, who picture from the Alps is posted above, suggests the following: “I always bring a reusable water bottle and stay in hotels with a gym. You can usually find filtered water in the gym, and sometimes fruit snacks as well.”
My thanks to all who submitted pictures and travel hacks. The D&O Diary community certainly is full of well-traveled observers.