A hilltop villa above the island's quieter east end, with the week built on beach rotations, a private pool and water activities. St. Barts, sized for younger kids.

Ten years after a first family visit, St. Barts again at an adult pace: one central base and meals as the main event, with fishing and sailing to complement.

A girls' trip to a wellness-first all-inclusive in St. Lucia, starting with a helicopter over the rainforest, then a daily class and treatment with beach time in between.

A week on a sheltered bay between the Pitons, where the days ran from scuba and water skiing off the beach to boat trips up the coast in search of dolphins.

Grace Bay's long white beach is the base for a four-night girls' getaway, with an adults-only all-inclusive setting a social, easygoing pace from morning tennis to late nights.

A multigenerational ski week in Jackson Hole beneath the Tetons: skiing for every ability, backcountry and wildlife tours and a mountain town with a country cool off the slopes.

Chicago in late December, a walkable river city of landmark architecture and storied arenas, with three leagues in four nights and a five-star stay on the river between games.

New York City in December, lit up from Midtown to Wall Street. Two nights balanced between the season's big spectacles and the calmer pace of the Upper West Side.

Three countries for a father and son. The domes and bazaars of the old Silk Road, a rural Kyrgyzstan of horses and yurts, and Kazakhstan's canyons and steppe running out to Almaty.