Girls Night Out: Upper West Side

Last Wednesday, I met up with fabulous and fun travel writer/author Karen Schaler on NYC’s Upper West Side.

After a pair of heavenly pear martinis at the Empire Hotel’s swanky lobby bar, we headed over to Karen’s favorite neighborhood haunt, Riposo 72. A cozy wine bar with a friendly and vino-savvy staff, Riposo also serves up a mean cheese platter and tasty flatbread. I learned the hard way that ordering both is an exercise in overindulgence.

Riposo 72: A cozy haven for oenophiles on NYC’s Upper West Side (photo courtesy: Time Out New York)

Over the course of the evening, Karen and I talked about the highs and lows of our previous lives as TV reporters, the power of serendipity and the impact of dreaming big. Karen is one of those inspiring people who doesn’t ask why, but instead, why not?

In addition to our shared past in front of the lens, we found common ground in life-changing trips (Afghanistan for her, Australia for me) and industry connections -- it turns out the agent I met with last month was Karen’s first agent when she was pitching her new book, Travel Therapy.

Deciding it was definitely kismet that our paths crossed, we made a toast to our new connection and to sharing future successes.

“This is only the beginning,” she texted me after we said goodnight. “Just believe and it will happen!”

That’s the thing about dreaming big -- when you’re lucky enough to have good friends cheering you along, anything is possible.