This is our collection of newly published articles
River cruising is often described as relaxing, immersive and easy – and it can be. But what the river cruise experience actually feels like day to day is something most first-time travelers don’t fully understand until they’re on board. If you’ve ever wondered what a river cruise is actually like, the answer depends a lot on how you choose to spend your time.
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Few destinations offer such a close connection to wildlife and the natural world as the Galápagos Islands. Located nearly 600 miles off the coast of mainland Ecuador, this volcanic archipelago has long attracted travelers interested in nature, conservation, and the remarkable species that call the islands home. Giant tortoises roam the highlands, marine iguanas bask on lava rocks, and blue-footed boobies gather along rugged shorelines shaped by volcanic activity and ocean currents.
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The street dogs of Kathmandu spend most of the year in a kind of dignified obscurity. They doze in doorways, trot along temple steps with the unbothered confidence of longtime residents, and generally receive the same attention any city gives its strays, which is to say very little. Then, for one day each autumn, everything changes. The same dogs that were ignored on Monday wake up on Tuesday to find themselves garlanded in marigolds, marked …
The pharmacist in Osaka was polite about it, which somehow made the whole thing worse. She examined the box of cold medicine, the kind you can buy at any Walgreens without a second thought, and explained, with practiced patience and a small apologetic bow, that its primary active ingredient was a controlled substance in Japan. She suggested he try a different product and placed the box into the trash.
That kind of encounter happens to …
The road into Bath County narrows as the mountains close in. You pass through Warm Springs, the county seat with a population of 121, and something in your blood pressure drops before you even stop the car. The air here carries the scent of pine and cold stream water, and the light falls differently at 2,270 feet. Then the valley opens, and there it is: a colonnaded red-brick structure sitting against the wooded hillside like …
Stand in any airport security line long enough, and you will notice a choreography of small frustrations. Shoes off. Laptop out. Belt in the bin. An officer glances from your face to your ID and back, making a judgment that takes two seconds and has changed little since the 1970s. The TSA intends to change all of that. Across four technologies now in active deployment at airports nationwide, the agency is rethinking how checkpoints identify …
Lexington, Virginia, asks very little of you on arrival. What it gives you in return is considerably more complicated. The setting for the small town of 7,000 inhabitants is both beautiful and strangely captivating. You first come for the history. Lexington is a town that rewards the visitor who slows down enough to feel what is unresolved about it. Few towns of Lexington’s size have asked so much of, or given so much to, American …
Located easily within the Puerto Rican capital’s wider urban map, the barrio neighborhood of Santurce might still be missed by some travelers focused on the more commercial or oceanfront districts of San Juan. But including some time for Santurce on any trip to the island can certainly provide its own distinct and immersive encounter with this city.
In fact, Santurce’s present-day urban profile has its origins in a variety of historic, cultural and economic factors. …
Eight minutes. That is all that separates the roar of Manhattan from one of the most improbably pastoral escapes. Governor’s Island, a 172-acre jewel anchored in New York Harbor, has outlasted centuries of history, and emerged as the city’s most quietly extraordinary day trip, a place where the skyline just 800 yards away looks like a movie set. The pace of life on Governor’s Island, by way of contrast, is nearly surreal, a best-kept secret …
There are ghost towns scattered across the world, but few carry the weight of Kayakoy. Perched on a rocky hillside in southwestern Turkey, its hundreds of roofless stone houses, cobbled lanes and silent churches speak of a community that was not simply abandoned but deliberately erased by the politics of a vanishing empire. It is one of the most affecting places in the Eastern Mediterranean, and yet it remains, at least by comparison with many …
You won’t wander far without coming face to face with a troll in Bergen. In fact, these characters of Norwegian folklore even have their own museum. Their presence adds a whimsical aspect to a city surrounded by natural beauty. Cute wooden houses line the hilly streets, and the colorful waterfront is unbelievably picturesque. The visual delights of the city combine with Norse mythology to make Bergen an exceptionally alluring destination. I recently spent a few …
Five weeks in Europe: river cruising, barging and walking parts of the Camino.
Our most recent five weeks in Europe began and ended in Paris — with a barge cruise through Burgundy, a river cruise down the Saône, and a walk along the Camino Francés — and an unexpected ending.
We arrived in Paris with four nights to shake off the flight. By the second morning, Marucia and I were beginning to feel ourselves again …
For decades, luxury safari sold access: dawn game drives, leopard sightings in marula trees, sundowners against a burning horizon. Now, for a certain kind of traveler, access means something else entirely. It means paying not simply to see wildlife — but to help keep it alive.
Across parts of South Africa, a new form of ultra-premium conservation tourism is emerging in which guests contribute substantial sums — often around US$15,000 on top of the cost …
“People don’t take trips, trips take people” ~ John Steinbeck
There’s a word for happy accidents, those series of unplanned events leading to good memories: serendipity. I am convinced the best trips are those in which we allow serendipity to go along for the ride. On a business trip to London several years ago, I did something I do with some regularity and never with regret. I had always wanted to go to Glastonbury. It …
