Caribbean: Dominican Republic & St. Lucia

Although founded by the French in 1627, St. Kitts is a very British paradise where cricket and tea are the norm. The dramatic mixed island landscape is rimmed in gold-sand beaches and dotted with well-preserved plantations left over from when the island was covered with sugar cane.

A mecca for outdoor enthusiasts with thriving coral reefs and rain forest preserves. Explore the world's only drive-in volcanic crater at Sulfur Springs. Visit the Diamond Botanical Gardens and Falls and the Morne Coubaril Estate.

With an area of only 37 square miles, the island of St. Maarten is the smallest landmass in the world to be divided between two governments. The southern Dutch half offers casinos, duty-free shopping and island culture. The French half is all subdued sophistication.

The town of Charlotte Amalie has one of the most breathtaking harbours in the world. Once home to pirates of long ago, today visitors find treasures of a different kind, for now beautiful beaches and bountiful duty-free shopping are truly its claim to fame.

Puerto Plata (or officially known as San Felipe de Puerto Plata) is the ninth largest city in the Dominican Republic and the capital of the province of Puerto Plata. For spectacular city views, take a ride up the Pico Isabel de Torres mountain which stands over 2,600 feet high. History buff? Visit Fortaleza San Felipe, which was built in the 16th century and served as a prison under the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. Or head to the Amber Museum, a museum filled with a unique collection of valuable Dominican amber which is semiprecious tree sap that has hardened for millions of years capturing many fossils of plant and insect life.

Everyone loves New York and there are a million reasons why. Here are but a few: the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, the Ellis Island National Monument, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, Times Square, Broadway, Greenwich Village, 5th Avenue and Central Park.