Today is a clear sunny day in New York but, as we say in Croatian, the sun has teeth. Translated, this means: it is freezing cold! I sit ensconced in my apartment and dream of being heated by sunshine rather than the piping hot radiators that I can’t control. So I thought I’d devote this post to beaches around the world, a small selection of those I’ve visited in the last few years. Just looking at these photos made me feel a little lighter. The one to the right was taken a couple of summers ago on an islet off the coast of Korčula, an island in Croatia where I vacation every summer at a friend’s house.

In October this year, I visited the French Polynesian hideaway of Bora Bora for the first time. The photo above was taken at the beach of St Regis Bora Bora Resort, located on a motu (small volcanic island) called Ome’e. Oh, how I wanted to swing in that hammock, for days and days…

In the spring of 2005, I made my way to Australia to visit a close friend who was then living in Sydney (and has since moved to Berlin). On my first morning in the city, we did a coastal walk along the beach enclaves, from up-and-coming Coogee to the iconic Bondi, pictured above.

My mom had always fantasized of visiting South America so in April 2006, I took her for a ten-day trip to Brazil, Argentina and Chile, with a side excursion to Uruguay. She talks about our adventure to this day… On a sunset walk along Ipanema, I snapped the pic above.

In the winter of 2007, I lived in Buenos Aires for three months, writing, dancing tango and doing some traveling. During my South American sojourn, I visited a beach community of Cabo Polonio in Uruguay (above), a magical place I dream of returning to one day.

It was love at first sight, from the moment I visited Portugal back in 2005. So in the winter of 2008, I moved to Lisbon for four months. During this time, I explored the country far and wide, including the beaches of the Algarve in the south. The photo above was taken on Praia da Galé, near the town of Albufeira.

In December 2007, I took a holiday in Jamaica with two friends from New York. I was enchanted by Treasure Beach on the island’s southern coast, where the above photo was taken, a walk away from Jake’s. I loved the laid-back rootsy vibe, away from sanitized gated resorts that Jamaica is known for.

If I ever move to Los Angeles, I know exactly where I’d live: Venice Beach. The last time I visited a surfer friend who’s been living in Venice for a few years, we took a walk along the beach on a cold and cloudy day quite uncommon for southern California. As always, even without the sun, I loved it.