Planning your perfect holiday involves several exciting decisions: will it be seaside or city, on-tap entertainment or splendid isolation, excellent for culture vultures or family friendly?
How well a country treats its people, its animals and its environment rarely even gets a look in.
But in these days of eco-friendly everything, it’s now possible to choose your destination by its human rights record, conservation efforts and social and animal welfare. So if you’re tired of …
Traveling to the interior of Central Africa before the advent of the railway was near impossible. On land the journey between Cape Town and Victoria falls could take the better part of four months, on train though, it was just four and a half days. By 1904 the railhead from Cairo had reached the Zambezi and required a bridge to be built to cross the chasm. The bridge was constructed in fourteen months by the …
So Spring Break is rapidly approaching and you have made no plans whatsoever? And your family is clamoring for a beach getaway? No problem. The Gulf Coast of Florida awaits in all its magnificent sugar white sand and turquoise water splendor.
Although people have their favorite beaches and I have visited plenty of them, none compare to the gorgeous beaches which line the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. With plenty of family-friendly accommodations, great seafood …
Panama is a small nation with a capital that offers an astounding cross-section of cultural and historic experience: from the colonial legacy of its old quarter to a newly energized modern city, to the legacy and continued expansion of the Canal to the easily accessible countryside just beyond. While all these different routes to exploring within and beyond this vibrant city depends on a visitor’s own interests and time, some of these options to experience …
My French came back to me with remarkable clarity as I staggered out of the ocean clutching my stinging ankle.
“Je suis blessé,” I wailed, then proved I was injured by tumbling over as my ungainly flippers snagged on the volcanic rocks peppering the beach. Something that felt suspiciously like a crown of thorns had gripped my ankle as I’d waded through the murky water. Now my ankle was punctured by five black splinters and …
Yeah, traffic may be backed up because of those drivers who are freaked out by ice and snow, the temperatures are so low you simply can’t put on enough clothing, and school has been called off yet again. Why not forget about all that and actually enjoy this fabulous winter? This is pretty easy to do if you head to Michigan to check out three equally marvelous resorts, all of which provide enough winter sports …
I travel frequently, and always prepare for my various jaunts doing fact-finding, participating in forums, asking friends, and even reading literature from my destination country. I’m prepared, but not too prepared, ever open to the spur-of-the-moment experiences traveling promises. For my month-long voyage to Southern India I spent an excessive amount of time planning. Hours, days, and months were spent investigating the merits of the SteriPEN® and concocting a route south from Mumbai. I weighed …
The most overused words in travel-speak must be ‘once in a lifetime.’
But if you’re open to a journey that has a habit of changing lives, I think I may have found it. It’s a trip on the Europa, a glorious sailing ship with riggings, a crow’s nest, a poop and sloop deck and other fascinating terms that baffle the average landlubber.
The Europa is largely crewed by people who signed up as paying passengers …
So Many Marvelous Mini-Adventures!
Truth be told, I did not know that the Abaco Islands were part of the Bahamas called “Out-Islands” nor did I know that the Bahamas are not considered part of the Caribbean, but are a separate region with some 700 islands in the archipelago ( some inhabited and some not) and none of them in the Caribbean Sea! But I had heard that the Abacos – a 120-mile–long chain that covers …
You might feel like you have escaped to the edge of the planet, but in fact you have just reached the edge of the south Caribbean when you arrive on the island of Roatán. Best of all, that impression of distance continues as you make your way around this best known of Honduras’s Islas Bahias (Bay Islands), thanks to the pristine beaches and interior, the low-impact tourism, and the size and scale of everyday life …
Maharasthra is a diverse state in western India that includes coastal plains, vineyards, the Deccan Plateau and the Western Ghats. The region also has the largest number of caves in the country, some dating back to the 1st century BC. Making it even more convenient for travelers, several of the architectural caverns are an easy day trip from Mumbai. Mumbai, formerly Bombay, is the largest city in India and often considered the commercial and …
The death of Nelson Mandela is focusing world attention on South Africa as never before. His departure at the age of 95 is uniting the country again, just as he pulled the fragmented society together in 1995, when he wore a Springbok’s jersey to the Rugby World Cup, the country’s first major sporting event since the end of Apartheid.
I have always felt privileged to be part of Mandela’s land, a country where one astonishing …
Just as New Orleans celebrates its Mardi Gras on the day before Ash Wednesday, the streets in down town Port of Spain, Trinidad erupt into one of the largest street masquerade parties in the Caribbean. It takes place, not in one, but two whole days–known as Carnival Monday and Carnival Tuesday–before Ash Wednesday. It sees people frolic in the streets dressed in sequins, feathers and bright sunshine colored costumes. The dancing doesn’t stop as they …
At least 100 elephant are slowly shuffling past our vehicle. They come pouring into the dry riverbed towards us, first appearing over the left bank, then over the right. An elephant traffic jam forms as they filter together, greeting each other, gathering in small social clusters, kicking up dust, then trudging in unison up the dry river. We sit open-mouthed, awed by the immensity of the herd passing within meters of us.
Then one young …
