Please join us in welcoming William Mullins and Leslie Banker to The Window Seat. They are the co-authors of Britannia in Brief: The Scoop on All Things British and their guest blog reveals the top rock sites in London.

When you marry a Londoner who loves music as much as he loves his native city, excursions around the city follow a different narrative than the usual guidebooks. That’s how I know that Notting Hill was the neighborhood where Jimi Hendrix finally kissed the sky and where the riots occurred that inspired the song “White Riot” by the Clash. We were in London last spring doing research for our book, Britannia in Brief, and as we walked for miles William noted a few of his favorite music destinations in the city.

Visiting the Big Green Apple this St. Patrick's Day? You'll need more than a four-leafed clover and an Irish grandmother to find the pot o' fun at the end of the rainbow. Use the itinerary below to make the most of your day.

10am Sleep in, Danny Boy. It's going to be a long day.

11am Okay, lazy bones, up you go. And don't forget to wear green and some comfortable walking shoes.

12pm Time to linger over a long Irish breakfast. Dine at Tir Na Nog, Fitzers, or the Wheeltapper Pub. Not only will you get your fill of black and white pudding, Irish bacon, and Irish oatmeal, you'll stay near the parade. This is no time to be wandering off.

The Window Seat recently had the chance to chat with Melanie Asher, owner and distributor of the Peruvian brandy, Machu Pisco. As the drink gets more and more popular here in the U.S., I asked Melanie all about the pisco sour and the Peruvian heritage that stands behind it.

The Window Seat: First of all, what is a pisco sour?
Melanie Asher: The pisco sour is a quintessential Peruvian cocktail, made with pisco, a Peruvian brandy and sour mix. Oddly enough it was invented by an American in the 1920s who travelled to Peru and liked his piscos so much that he decided to stay and open the Morris Bar where the pisco sour was born.

TWS: Why is a pisco sour better than a margarita?

If you're still looking for Mr. Right or Ms. Walks-on-Air this February 14th, you might wonder if your chances would be improved by a visit to Valentine, Texas or Valentine, Nebraska. Recently a single friend suggested I write a travel blog called: You Don't Have to Go to Alaska to Meet the Man of Your Dreams. She wanted me to figure out where the most single men live so that she could vacation accordingly.

Karaoke might be the perfect ice breaker for travelers. Whereas 100 years ago, travelers used to gather around the inn piano for a good old-fashioned singalong, we now can find an instant sense of camaraderie beneath disco lights and the LCD screen. Plus, even if you’re a total bomb at the mic, the beauty of karaoke on vacation is that you never have to see any of your audience again.

Today you can find karaoke almost everywhere (except for North Korea, where they banned it in July). Finland, of all places, holds the world record for the most people singing karaoke together at one time (imagine 80,000 people singing heavy-metal hit “Hard Rock Hallelujah” in an attempt to usher in the “arockalypse” to Helsinki).

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member angelsil.

Last week, the Godfather of Soul shimmied on up to the big boogie-fest in the sky, and I paid my respects in the only way I could: By roller skating in Redwood City. For this brilliant idea, I can only thank a friend of mine who passed along the news of a roller rink jam tribute to James Brown, with the promise of music and costumes. Even though I hadn’t been on skates in years, how could I turn that kind of homage down?