Go Team Pugh!

So long Razr! You’ve taken major blows yet stayed true for three years, but your looks are slipping and your battery life bites.

Hello iPhone! I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship. (And I promise to treat you better than Razr.)

French cuisine is so luscious that even a simple, on-the-go meal can become a feast for the senses. The epicurean spread here was assembled by Le Fruitier, a gourmet grocery in Avignon, France. We enjoyed it on the train from Avignon to Barcelona. Délicieux!

One of the highlights from our recent trip to Europe was spotting the King of Spain! We saw King Juan Carlos of Spain while we were outside Palau de la Musica Catalunya in Barcelona.

This is the guy who recently told Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to “shut up” at the Ibero-American summit, which made Spaniards love him all the more!

Click to see the photos in order and with captions.

Twelve days in Paris, the south of France, and Barcelona.

We ate like royalty.

We fell in love in Aix-en-Provence.

We caught a glimpse of the Spanish King in Barcelona!

And we got bumped up to business class for the return flight.

Amazing vacation!

Does Machu Picchu mean “Old Mountain” or “Old Penis”?

It depends on how you pronounce it.

Join G and me and our guide Carine from Q’ente Adventure tours as we explore this great ruin, one of the new seven wonders of the world.

At first the whole Europe trip seemed unlikely. Not only is the dollar at an all time low against the euro, but plane tickets to Paris began at $1,400.

Was it really worth it?

Sadly, yes.

How many free summers like this will we have?

Then we learned we could pool our American miles and get one ticket for just $300. The other, full price ticket was $1,450.

Things were looking up.

Then, disaster. American Airlines practically laughed at us when we tried to book a summer trip to Europe with our miles. “Our AAdvantage members are already booking trips for next spring,” they said.

Totally deflated, we searched Expedia one last time and, like a freak beam of sunlight that pierces torrential skies, United tickets popped up for under $700!

Europe, here we come! May 21-31, which gives us 10 full days over there.

We’ll start in Paris.

Hit Avignon or somewhere else in the south.

Then spend a very long weekend in Barcelona before flying home.

Whoo hoo! Thank you God! Thank you United!

[photos by flickr users cuellar, manufrakass, and 3dom]

What’s for lunch at the posh Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge? This $800 per night hotel served up a pretty mean buffet - just what the doctor ordered after our sunrise start and a long morning of exploring the beautiful Inca ruins.

Here Genevieve leads us on a tropical garden tour in Peru. Behold the bizarre starfruit tree, luscious pineapple bushes, papaya clusters, bunches of plantains, mango trees, basil, lemons, limes, coconuts, and a nursery for saplings. This is Inkaterra’s garden within their Reserva Amazonica Lodge.

Watching this video here in cold grey Chicago makes us long for those sweltering jungle days! A tall glass of chilled starfruit juice wouldn’t be bad either.

The girls in this case are Lisa, Wendy, Genevieve, Grace, Abby, and Ava.

We burned up the lanes last weekend for a post-holiday get together. Strike!

Here’s Mike’s other clip that aired on the travel channel this past December. It’s of mountain gorillas in Bwindi National Park, Uganda. Hoooo!