I have two new pieces out this past week in Forbes, one on Labor Day road trip ideas, the other on the best dining options in airports. Enjoy!

Photo: Chicago’s O’Hare airport

This morning: Gross thunderstorms which make me want to stay in bed. One month ago, this was my view from my hotel in Picinguaba, Brazil. Sigh.

I’m still kind of shocked at myself for not posting anything on either this or my work blog about my trip to Morocco (it was in November!) and I really realized this was ridiculous when I had the pleasure of sitting next to a new Moroccan friend on my bus trip up to New York. As he and I discussed our love for Essaouria, I wanted to go back and look through all of my pictures again and relive my trip. And today I was listening to the audio clips I took in Djemmaa el Fna, Marrakech’s main square, wanting to drop everything and head back.

Perhaps it was the simple need for a bit of privacy, as I was starting to feel like every step I took became a blog post. But I realize that means I’m keeping a lot of really great stuff all to myself. So I swear I’ll get some of the posts and videos I’ve started up at Intelligent Travel soon, and in the meantime, here are some photos of lovely Essaouria.

Blue is the color of this city. All of the boats and doors are in varying shades.

Beneath our fish lunch, one of the country’s many stray cats enjoyed his own.

There are entire books of photos devoted to the doors of this city,  I’m sure.

This little guy was bawling when we saw him in the street.

One of the woodworkers who carved the thulia wood, traditional to the region.

The wall that surrounds the city can be a bit desolate in places.

A scene from our cooking class at l’Altier Madada.

The lovely and wonderful Anne, whose Prêt à Voyager blog has always fed my appetite for all things design and wanderlust, was kind enough to ask me to contribute to her Boarding Pass series of interviews with travelers a few weeks ago. Well after I dawdled a bit with getting her everything (sorry! I wanted it to be good!) it went up today and she did a lovely job with the photo selection, don’t you think?

Thanks so much to Anne for her constant stream of thoughtful posts, and for including me in such great company.

[Boarding Pass: Janelle Nanos]

I have another story out in the latest issue of D.C. Magazine about an elite travel group for mavericks in the business world, the aptly-named, Maverick Business Adventures. Totally dig the photo they used. Check it out in fancy PDF after the jump.

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My article in this month’s issue of Traveler deals with using Twitter to meet all your traveling needs. (And yes, I do Twitter myself: @Janelle_IT_Blog should you find my musings interesting…)

At long last, my article on Boulder, “This City is Better Than Yours” is out this month in Traveler (PDF to come, don’t worry). The online version went up today, complete with its very own slideshow, and this is my favorite photo. Excellent work done by Joanna Pinneo, who shot the piece.

Boulder is a fantastic town, and yes, it’s very easy to imagine packing your bags and living there (the girl who fact-checked this piece literally did just that as we closed the issue). At the risk of quoting myself, here’s the intro:

It’s been called the smartest city in America, the thinnest city in America, the best place for a runner or an überjock, and the top green and clean city in the United States. You have to wonder: Where is this perfect place? To find it, head about an hour’s drive outside Denver to Boulder, Colorado, a city of 100,000 people and a university town at the foot of the Rockies’ Front Range. “You’ve got 45,000 acres of open space and a hell of a natural park,” says Jim Philips, a naturalist for the city of Boulder, explaining its charms. But that’s not all: “It’s the air and the mountains—it’s everything.”

Really though, the moment I knew this city was kind of “perfectville” was at brunch one morning at the Dushanbe Teahouse. A 10-year-old sitting across from me was wearing a medal and had numbers written down his leg. After I finished my yummy meal, I congratulated the kid on his medal and asked what he’d done. “Swim, bike, run,” he said nonchalantly. Apparently it was not his first triathalon.

Update: See the full piece after the jump….

Photo: Joanna Pinneo

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In the last two weeks I’ve been in Boston, Providence, New York City, Long Island, and now I’m heading to Vermont. But that doesn’t mean I can’t still post some of my favorite photos from Puerto Rico…

The fort at El Morro

Kayaking the Bioluminescent Bay

The Puerto Rican Virgin Mary

San Juan

I quickly became obsessed with the colorful buildings and their gorgeous doorways.

Lots and lots and lots of photos from my trip to Israel, here’s the first three days or so. The highlights: Haifa, ATV riding in the Golan Heights, a night out with Kabbalahguy, horseback riding by the Sea of Galilee, and some Tel Aviv streetscapes… much more to come. Plus Ten Dead Sea Tips over at IT.