Ah, June. Don’t you just love this month, with all its glorious light stretching late into the evenings? What an ideal time of year for after-work gatherings at a cafe or a hurriedly thrown-together barbeque or picnic. It won’t be long before the length of the daylight hours begins its slow but inevitable decrease, but with three months of (fingers crossed) warm summer weather ahead of us, who’s really going to complain?

There are many ways to note the passing of the summer solstice, a date that nearly coincides with celebrations held throughout much of Europe to mark St. John’s day. The saint being honored is none other than St. John the Baptist, and the day upon which he is celebrated falls just after the solstice, on June 24.

If you're contemplating a trip to a Mediterranean paradise such as Turkey, Croatia, Malta, Italy or Greece, your first instinct might be to go with one of those all-inclusive package deals. You'd most likely end up with a charter flight to a busy resort offering the usual array of beaches, pool and buffet dining. That's nothing to sneeze at, but by midweek you might find yourself longing for a change of scenery or physical activity more strenuous than laps across the pool.

When it comes to planning your next vacation, are you willing to gamble? How would you feel about purchasing flight tickets to a destination unknown? 

Did you ever have one of those perfect days out that made you feel like you were on a mini-vacation? I did, just a couple weekends ago. I now hold yet another recipe for a fun-packed and relatively inexpensive outing, and I'm pleased to share it.