Please join us in welcoming Martha Stewart to The Window Seat! This is an abbreviated version of Martha’s first travel column that debuted in the April 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living Magazine. This article is a part of the new quarterly travel section and her next piece is scheduled for the August issue, which hits stands July 20, 2009. An abbreviated version of the next travel article will also be featured on The Window Seat so be sure to check back soon.

In the summer of 2008, I decided to travel to England, Ireland, and Poland to visit some of our company’s strategic partners. I also planned to sightsee and to film several segments for my TV show. This is not an unusual scenario. I frequently combine my love of travel with business because I go places that I think most of us would enjoy seeing and experiencing.

With all the excitement surrounding the inauguration of the 44^th president, travelers looking for ways to keep the momentum going should visit one of the President’s favorite spots. With Presidents’ Day weekend (February 14-16) fast approaching, we've come up with five destinations near and dear to the President that are worth visiting.

About 10 years ago, Hollywood wasn’t really much to see. Rundown and dirty, you had to dodge the homeless and their shopping carts to see the handprints in the ground at Mann’s Chinese Theater. The stars on the Walk of Fame had lost their luster, and many tourists went back home disappointed. But last weekend, I headed to Hollywood for the first time in years, and was shocked. It’s got its star power back! The streets are clean, the stars are bright, and stores like H&M have opened up and are thriving. Once again, Hollywood is the land of movie stars and fancy cars--and I was about to have a weekend straight out of the pages of Us Weekly.

Photo: Me and a scary new friend at the Quarantine movie premiere.

We have to take this with a pinch of salt, of course, but reports surfaced earlier this week that Britney Spears--she of the bald-headed breakdowns--delayed a Miami-bound flight for almost an hour, after she threw a tantrum and stormed off.

The reason? The seats on the plane weren’t made of leather.

Heidi Ewing has produced and directed documentaries for The Discovery Channel, Britain's Channel 4, the BBC, A&E Network and Arte. Previously, Heidi produced and co-directed a one-hour film for the Discovery Channel on the ancient origins of tribal and religious body modification, a documentary shot on location in Sri Lanka and Ethiopia.

More recently, Heidi and her Loki Films partner Rachel Grady were aboard an early morning United flight from NYC to Santa Barbara when the captain announced that their documentary film Jesus Camp was nominated for this year's Academy Awards. The entire plane went crazy with applause. I caught up with Heidi in between Oscar-nominee lunches and meetings to glean her perspective on seeing the world through the eyes of a filmmaker.

As someone who makes a living inspiring travel, I can't help but feel a little sorry for Kazakhstan, given the flogging it's taken lately with the success of "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." In the optimistic spirit of The Other Iraq (yes, really) and travel ads for Chernobyl, Kazakhstan has launched a slew of TV ads, promoting it as the "heart of Eurasia." I love a savvy marketing campaign as much as the next gal, but I'm guessing it's going to take a whole lot more to get people to spend their summer vacations in, say, Northern Iraq. All empathies aside, "Borat" might just be the funniest movie I have ever seen.