Can a Florida Congressman Put the Brakes on American Travel To Cuba?
Posted on 04/30/2015, 9:00 AM
The vast majority of Americans favor travel without restriction to Cuba. Heck, in a recent poll the overwhelming majority of Cuban Americans answered that they wanted to end the 50-plus year embargo. But the will of the people doesn't seem to matter much to eight Cuban-American Congressmen, a group apparently led by Republican Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami. On Tuesday, Congressman Diaz-Balart sn...
Some How-To's for Visiting the Increasingly Popular Indian State of Kerala
Posted on 04/27/2015, 11:30 AM
Open the pages of any glossy travel magazine, and, if it mentions India at all, it will likely be gushing over the state of Kerala. Few places on the subcontinent (or the planet for that matter) offer visitors the variety of adventures and sights as does this southern Indian state, with its emerald green tea plantations, groovy surf towns, temples, nature preserves and scenic backwaters. And be...
We’re Proud Spain’s "Autonomous Region" of Catalonia has Chosen a Frommer Guidebook—Barcelona Day by Day—To Be a Contest Prize in Celebration of One of its National Holidays
Posted on 04/22/2015, 9:00 PM
St. George’s Day—he’s the guy who vanquished that dragon—is celebrated in various ways all over Europe, but in a very special fashion in Spain’s region of Catalonia. Instead of giving each other boxes of candy and the like, residents of Barcelona and its neighboring regions give books and roses to their relatives and friends—that’s right, books!—as a means of marking this Catholic feast day. ...
Are the Attractions of Costa Rica No More Desirable than Those in Other Central or South American Countries? Ecuador Says Yes
Posted on 04/22/2015, 1:45 PM
Is tourism to Costa Rica based on a hoax? Is Costa Rica's leading touristic position among other nearby countries simply a product of public relations? In an elaborate hoax of its own, recently performed by the tourist office of Ecuador, those issues were sharply highlighted. An unidentified person in the tourist office of Ecuador, recently arranged for a group of 40 you...
The Reason Why Guidebooks to Some Countries or Cities Sell Better Than Guidebooks to Others, Is An Enduring Mystery of Travel
Posted on 04/20/2015, 4:30 PM
As a co-publisher of travel guidebooks, I have to participate in choosing, each year, the destinations--the countries, the cities--about which we will be researching and writing. And in doing so, I must constantly remind myself that the mere fact that a destination is heavily visited by Americans, does not mean that a large number of Americans buy a guidebook to that location when t...
On the Eve of What Will Undoubtedly be a Record-Breaking Summer Travel Season, Here Are Some Europe-Related Observations
Posted on 04/18/2015, 11:30 AM
We are on the brink of the summer travel season, best known as the Summer of the Strong Dollar. For the first time in many years, American vacationers are enjoying an edge--a definite edge--in the costs they encounter in locations ranging from Europe to Japan to South America. To Europe especially, and despite sporadic reports that the European economy is improving, the European ...
A Recent "Symbolic" Vote in the U.S. Senate, Transferring Our Public Lands to States (And Thus Eventually to Private Interests), Should Raise the Ire of Every Citizen
Posted on 04/17/2015, 5:00 PM
To be handed over to private business: America's National Forests (credit: Kaibab National Forest) If you are a normal, sensitive American in love with your country's natural wonders and determined to preserve them for generations to come, then you will be devastated by the subject matter of this blog. The awesome news to which I refer is a budgetary amendment adopted last month...
A Recent "Symbolic" Vote by the U.S. Senate, Selling Off Our Public Lands to Private Interests, Should Raise the Ire of Every American
Posted on 04/17/2015, 1:00 PM
If you are a normal, sensitive individual in love with your country's natural wonders and determined to preserve them for generations to come, then you will be devastated by the subject matter of this blog. The awesome news to which I refer is a budgetary amendment adopted last month by the U.S. Senate, by a close vote of 51 to 49, that would transfer ownership of ...
Linger Longer in Madurai, India: This Often-Overlooked (By Americans, At Least) Tamil Nadu City Has Much to Offer
Posted on 04/09/2015, 3:30 PM
Visitors often complain that India is too chaotic. But is it chaos they’re experiencing or simply a far more complex way of life than they’re used to at home? India is, after all, about a third the size of the United States yet it has five times as many people. The flow of every day life therefore has to have far more layers, because there are exponentially more interactions between human be...
How Exactly Do You Make a Trip to Cuba? Here's An Attempt to Explain a Several-Step Process
Posted on 04/09/2015, 12:45 PM
The recent loosening of restrictions on the right to travel to Cuba has permitted almost any American to go there. You no longer have to apply to the Treasury Department--or to anyone else, for that matter--for a "license" to do so. If you honestly and validly feel that you are going there for any of 12 non-touristic reasons--religious, educational, professional, humanitarian, an...
