Welcome back to the second half of my photoblog alphabet of travel memories, which if you missed the A-to-N first half you can find here. Initially I was a little concerned since this half of the alphabet contains all those intimidating Scrabble letters (you know, the ones worth all the points that you don’t get until the end of the game when the board is full and you have no vowels left?) Surprisingly though, it wasn’t difficult at all to find a travel solution suitable for every one of those 10-pointers. Check it out:
O is for Oh the Places You’ll Go, the last book penned by Dr. Seuss about the ups and downs as you travel through life, brought to life by the Burning Man community in this video.  (Yes, it’s 7 minutes long, but it’s inspiring and pretty to look at, and c’mon, your attention span is longer than a millennial’s, isn’t it?)
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P is for Positano, quite possibly the most romantic place in Italy. That’s big, if you know Italy.
Positano by day or night is magical.
Q is for Quinoa, which no one – including me – had even heard of until a few years ago when I visited Peru and ate it 3 times a day. (Bonus: now you know a new approved ‘ Q’ word for your next Scrabble game!)
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R is for Rome. Because I have a terminal case of Romesickness.
The Colosseum needs no introduction
S is for the former Smithsonian Institute research station near the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica, now a comfy lodge-y type lodging where if the weather cooperates and the mountain gets feisty, you get a view of the lava-burping volcano right from your pillow.
Arenal Observatory lodge Costa Rica has views to die for
T is for Traghetto in Venice, a cheapo-bonito way to ride a gondola like the locals do.
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U is for Uros, the floating islands in Lake Titicaca, Peru, that are constructed of bundled, tied-together stacks of reeds, and on top of which an entire community of locals builds their homes.
Living off the land takes on a whole new meaning on these floating islands.
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W is for White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, one of the most other-worldly places you’ll find in the U.S. and one of the most photogenic. Check out our own gallery.
This isn’t snow, it’s gypsum sand! And it does sparkle when the sun hits it.
X is for Xanterra Parks and Resorts which operates all the accommodations on the Grand Canyon’s South Rim. I recommend choosing a hotel close to the rim (i.e. El Tovar or Thunderbird) where you can walk 50 feet from your room and enjoy this view – day or night.
This is a long-exposure photo taken at midnight by the light of a full moon (and its shadow). Check out the stars.
Y is for YYZ, my airport starting point for all my travels (and a nice town to visit, by the way!) You might even want to hang around its most famous landmark…
Doing the EdgeWalk on the CN Tower in Toronto.
Z is for Zanzibar, or as my husband Henk describes it, the hottest place he’s ever been. And one of the most beautiful. And with some of the most extreme tides and clearest water. The ‘ands’ go on and on about this island, but that’s enough for now to use up my “Z” scrabble tile! (Too bad this word is a proper name, or I could latch ‘Z-A-N-Z-I-B-A onto an open ‘R’ on my Scrabble board, and clear all 7 letters for an extra 50 points!)
The tide at Pongwe Beach in Zanzibar would recede a kilometre or more from shore
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Jane is an award-winning travel writer and photographer and an accredited member of the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC). In their annual awards competition, TMAC named GrownupTravels.com as the Best Self-Published Travel Blog in 2025 .
She is also a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association, and a freelance travel writer contributing to both print and online publications.
These are all great choices and more than a few I still need to get to.
Thanks,Suzanne.
Such a clever and beautiful post. I think it is so amazing that you went to Zanzibar! Double z! Loved the photos. Thank you
Clearest water I’ve ever seen, Suzanne!
These all look like fabulous places to visit. I’ve been to a few. I’m very curious about "Burning Man". It sounds so different than anything I’ve ever heard of. I just don’t know if my dust allergies could handle it. I loved looking at all of your photos!
Yeah, it’s a bit of an obsession of mine, this Burning Man thing…not sure I’m enough of a camper to handle it, though! 🙂
Very clever! White Sands is one of our favorite undiscovered 9at least by most people) spots.
It really is an incredible place but I just stumbled on it through a photographer..would love to get there for the hot air balloon festival.
Excellent! I hope some day I travel enough to be able to put together a list this cool!! Very entertaining.
Thanks so much, Marilyn!
How about Quesnel, BC? You’re so right about quinoa.
Loved the birds at the Arenal Observatory Lodge on a stay there years ago.
You’re so right! Thanks for reminding me…I remember sitting at breakfast watching the bird feeders on the property!
I’ve enjoyed both your alphabet posts. I have to say hanging off a building is on my "Nope List," though. Awesome photography. 🙂
Ha ha! Thanks Betsy!
So glad you finished the alphabet since I really enjoyed your post last week and learning about even more fascinating "places to go"! Uros and Zanzibar are especially appealing destinations and your photos are beautiful!
Thanks, Anita!
I love this clever compilation. . .and I can appreciate the time it took you to collect and write it. Nice job~
Thanks, Jackie. Actually, this one came so easy I want to do it again with different places….X might be a challenge, though 🙂
Great alphabet soup of travel! Nice to see White Sands in there! An
other great S- Santa Fe!
You’re right – I could probably do one of these every week!
"U is for Uros" – unfortunately if you look behind the scene you soon discover that the islands you get taken to have long been abandoned – they are kept in shape as a tourist attraction, and the people live in regular houses on the mainland…
That’s true for some of the islands, you’re right. But there are other islands with schools, etc, where you can’t visit, but people still do actually live there. I don’t mind that they keep us off of those, to be honest.
Great photos once again. No way I’d do the Edgewalk on the CN Tower. Brave lady.
Funny, since heights aren’t a big fear of mine, it’s not as big a deal. You couldn’t get me to bungee jump, though, not for anything!
This would make a great e-book for a young person too!