Browsing: North America

Santa Catalina Island is a slice of tropical life nested in Southern California. Once you arrive in Avalon, you can forget all your worries and play as if you’ve landed in the Caribbean.

You will find Catalina Island listed as a stop for a number of cruise ships on their way to Mexico from Los Angeles or San Diego. It is also just a short ferry ride from the Southern California ports of Marina Del …

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Inspiration for your next trip can come from many places — websites, guidebooks, other people’s travel tales and even classic Disney cartoons. Those idealized landscapes, the sweeping opening shots set to iconic music — no trip could ever be as perfect as it seems in a Disney movie, could it? Here are seven trips to try out and see if life is as wonderful as art.

An African safari (The Lion King)
Perhaps …

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San Francisco has a lot to offer to both tourists and locals. Take a ride on a cable car, be awe inspired by the ingenuity of the Golden Gate Bridge, eat a noodle bowl in Chinatown- there are so many places to explore and experience. These sites attract thousands every year, but they may not be the type of memories everyone is looking for. Are you a resident of San Francisco who wants to find …

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Polar bears, beluga whales and Northern Lights await in Churchill, Manitoba. This rugged town on the shores of Hudson Bay offers the perfect place to explore Canada’s North. Connected to the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay is the second largest bay in the world. Churchill was founded in 1689 as a fur trading post for the Hudson’s Bay Company. With no main roads into the town, access is by train or by …

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The sound of crashing waves on the beach, compliments of the Atlantic Ocean, lick my ears as I awaken to embrace another resplendent day in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Despite the fact that I am visiting this dazzling island primarily for business to attend the International Destination Expo, I’ve still found an opportunity to shave some time away for myself in order to soak in the unrivaled hospitality extended by almost every individual I have …

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Travel is full of enthralling encounters, of moments that stick with you forever — a glimpse of a wild gorilla, an African sunrise, your first sight of the pyramids.

But those moving moments wouldn’t seem so spectacular if they weren’t peppered with less exciting experiences. For every lion kill there’s a lame museum; for every gargantuan sculpture there is a giant ball of yarn. Here are eight utterly underwhelming tourist attractions, places that have you …

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Don’t laugh.

Often, when I travel, one of the first places I seek out is the local cemetery, and not just during Halloween season. Why? Because there, believe it or not, you can learn a lot about the place you’re visiting — about its people, about its history, about its lifestyle, and about its colorful characters and legends. You can be moved to tears, of course. But you may also find yourself laughing out loud, …

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The beauty of Canada is undeniable, with its cascading mountains, huge lakes and flowing waterfalls, but beyond Montreal, Niagara and Vancouver, there is another part of Canada that people often forget. The Okanagan Valley has all the scenery of its fellow states and has also become a region known for its wine and food. It’s not a surprise considering the fish, fowl, fruit and vegetables grown throughout the area.

You can easily find Inniskillin (which …

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Here’s a great secret – you don’t have to spend a fortune to spend time in Hawaii.  Don’t get me wrong – if you want to stay at first class properties, fly in the front of the plane and eat at some of the world’s finest restaurants, Hawaii will certainly afford you the opportunity.  However, it is also possible to visit Hawaii, see the sites, eat well and experience the Islands up close and personal …

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Following a bountiful breakfast of dim sum, my wife Fyllis and I strolled along lanes lined by shops selling merchandise both familiar and unknown to us. Some stores displayed unrecognizable animal body parts, while others stocked herbal remedies said to heal a hospital full of ills.

Lunch meant a steaming bowl of pasta accompanied by a glass of Chianti wine, and a pause to watch several men competing in a lively game of bocce.

The …

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Want a Halloween celebration full of fantastical costumes, throbbing music and jumping bodies?   Welcome to the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval, the world’s largest Halloween street party.  It’s a Halloween celebration that’s both family-friendly and hedonistic at the same time.  If you love Halloween, dressing up, or just partying with thousands in the street, then making a pilgrimage to West Hollywood for the Carnaval is a must.

West Hollywood – known to locals as WeHo – …

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I suspect that if you looked up the phrase “finding paradise” in the dictionary, one of the definitions you’d be given would read like this:

“the act of spending five carefree, abundantly sunny days exploring the idyllic Hawaiian island of Oahu.”

The Hawaiian islands are legendary. The image of arcing palm trees casting shade over a fuzzy-haired surfer as he waits for the tide to come in, has become so iconic in American culture that …

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Almost 47 million people from around the world visit New York City each year. The city offers much in the way of culture, entertainment, and cuisine. Local attractions have inspired many artists to pick up a brush throughout the decades. If you have never visited the Big Apple, consider arranging your itinerary around these works of art. Below is one such painting tour of New York that will take you to all the major sites.…

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America is one enormous country, no doubt about it. It covers more surface area than most people will traverse in their lifetime, and yet, has a history that takes up a relatively small part of the world’s archives. Luckily, because its story is so recent, it’s still easy for us to see just how these States came to be United.

If you hop on an Amtrak train to journey from Boston to Washington, D.C., you’ll …

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