Every once in a while, we get this terrible, fiendish itch to go … somewhere. Anywhere. Just not this house, this town, these places. Hot Plates had to dash up to New York for less than 48 hours, but it maybe was just long enough to remind us how bad our travel itch — which we always have, just usually at a lower level — has become. And when we opened The Washington Post today and found the Food section, there seemed to be nothing but hints that we should go, go, go.

There’s a front-page story by writer Jane Black on Charlottesville, Va., a town we have been absurdly delinquent in not visiting by now. The story touts this college town as a “food lover’s destination,” and makes the case really well. “In a city best known for Thomas Jefferson’s architecture, there’s sushi worthy of Nobu in New York … rustic but transcendent tapas, plus all the other things a great food town requires: standout bread, real espresso, artisan chocolate and locally brewed beer.”

Then, going inside to page 3, we read about a new place in Georgetown called Tackle Box. No, we are not so suburban that we think going into D.C. is “traveling” — the reason we get wanderlust from reading this is because Tackle Box reminds us of other places. It is a “seafood shack (that) would shock New Englanders,” Jane Black writes. Lobster rolls! Grilled and fried oysters! Blueberry pie! We, personally, think of Montauk, way out east on Long Island, when we think about these after-beach foods. By the way, Tackle Box is a production of (and located next door to) chef Barton Seaver’s Hook, which has been written up in these pages by Victoria Schiller.

But of course, delving into the other papers only makes the lemme-outta-here feeling get worse. The N.Y. Times dining briefs feature a couple of delicious tidbits on new places in Brooklyn (we can’t fuhgeddaboudit! we love it there!). One’s in the delightful neighborhood of Carroll Gardens and it’s called The JakeWalk. Why is this a perfect getaway? It’s “a counterpoint to Manhattan’s conspicuously chic enotecas, less a wine bar than a friendly neighborhood bar with over 200 wines.” Bonus: JakeWalk “is the offspring of Smith & Vine (a wine shop) and Stinky Bklyn (a cheese shop), so dairy gets equal billing.”

Sigh. We know fun can be had in our own backyard. Sometimes, though, you have to take a little trip to appreciate your own four walls.