If you could squeeze in a few more days, going to the Galapagos would be worth it, especially around Wolf and Darwin Islands. You can see hammerheads, whale sharks, giant manta rays - the thing is that you need to be an experienced diver because of the cold and the strong currents. I went with Quasar Expeditions on their liveaboard schooner the Alta, and it was a vacation to top all vacations. If you go, get yourself a good underwater camera.

With the holiday season here, it's easy to get overwhelmed with the shopping and the cooking and the wrapping and the baking and the decorating and the stuff. So make a pact with your best gal pals to spend an afternoon or an evening – a day, if you can – just hanging out together and having a good time.

Maybe you'll go shopping; maybe not. Maybe there will be mani-pedi appointments; maybe not. Maybe there will be pasta, coffee and chocolate; maybe ... OK, there will be pasta, coffee and chocolate!

You'll trade recipes. You'll admire shoes and handbags. You'll brag – just a bit – about the kids. And for a few hours, you won't be somebody's mom, or wife, or boss,...