Cuomo Boosts Northern NY Tourism at Adirondack Challenge
Posted on 07/24/2014, 1:00 PM
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo may be hobbled by scandal in the corridors of power but on Indian Lake in the Adirondacks it was smooth sailing this past weekend. The Governor, Vermont counterpart Peter Shumlin and Cuomo's gal pal, Food Network's Sandra Lee kicked off the Adirondack Challenge, a three-mile white water rafting course on the pristine North Country lake. Teams included...
Riviera Nayarit, Part 3: Intense Huichol Art
Posted on 07/17/2014, 9:00 PM
Back in March, I was lucky enough to be in Mexico City (one of my favorite cities) and at the small guesthouse where we were staying, the owner had a striking work of art on the coffee table of the reception room. An actual cow's skull, it was covered with brilliantly colored beads, looking like a cross between something Sol Le Witt and Georgia O'Keefe would have created....had they ever col...
Riviera Nayarit, Part 2: The Saint of San Pancho
Posted on 07/11/2014, 3:30 PM
I find, when I travel, that the people I meet are often as memorable as the sights I see. That was certainly the case on my recent trip to the Riviera Nayarit. After wandering through the hippie chic, beach town of San Pancho (officially named San Francisco) I wandered into Entre Amigos, a vibrant community center (more on that below), where I met the director, ex-Californian Nicole Swedlow....
Explore the Allure of the Seas On Your Computer
Posted on 07/07/2014, 12:30 PM
The Ice Rink as seen by Street View, complete with creepy blurred faces Today's latest gimmick: Royal Caribbean has invited Google Street View onto its (current) biggest ship, Allure of the Seas, enabling you to get 360-degree views of the ship from your computer. As an idea, it's a great one, although its execution is not as revolutionary as you might suspect. Only a few major publ...
A Trip Report: The Riviera Nayarit
Posted on 06/28/2014, 6:15 PM
Kim Kardashian goes to the Riviera Nayarit yearly. Christina Aguilera got engaged there. And on the visit I finished last week, I shared the sands with the Presidents of Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Columbia and Mexico. (OK, I never actually saw any of them in their speedos and bikinis, but they were gathering in the town of Punta de Mita for a high-stakes meeting of the Pacific Alliance). Ye...
Boston Gives Its Beloved Freedom Trail a Makeover
Posted on 06/26/2014, 12:30 PM
If you have ever tried to follow Boston's Freedom Trail, one of the great city walking tours in America, you might have had some trouble. At times, the faded paint line—which runs 2.5 miles past 16 historic sites in Charlestown, the North End, and downtown—can dwindle into faintness, just like our children's sense of American history it was designed to fortify. If you're trying to use it to ...
Will APC Machines Speed Your Airport Arrivals? Delta is Banking On It
Posted on 06/24/2014, 3:30 PM
If you're one of those travelers who love being greeted back into the US by Customs officials you may have to wait a lot longer, but your trip through customs could get a lot speedier. Delta Air Lines announced today that Automated Passport Control kiosks are opening in their terminals in Detroit and LAX. The two terminals join Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, JFK and Seattle as inte...
#CarryOnShame Campaign Exposes Bag Hogs on U.S. Airlines: Are You Next?
Posted on 06/12/2014, 9:45 PM
When Spud Hilton, Travel Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote about carry-on bag hogs on the paper’s travel blog, Bad Latitude, this week, he had no idea that the response would be a tidal wave that flooded his in box with affirmations that the “carry-on bag hog” is now considered one of the lowest forms of traveling humanity—right next to the kid kicking the back of your seat and the...
Legal Marijuana in Jamaica and Free Wi-Fi in Japan
Posted on 06/10/2014, 6:15 PM
Getting wifi in Japan and legal marijuana in Jamaica: most would assume these would be slam dunks for tourists. But despite reputations to the contrary, it's near impossible for tourists to get online in the "Land of the Rising Sun" (mostly because most locals use broadband). And ganja? That's illegal mon, no matter that everyone's smoking it. But both situations seem poised to change. T...
Would You Bet $25 That Your Flight Will Be Delayed?
Posted on 06/04/2014, 11:45 AM
If you’re like most travelers across the U.S., you are probably looking forward to a summer of hurricane and storm-related flight delays, cancellations and missed connections. A new travel insurance brand, AirCare, is banking on it. AirCare, a new product from the Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance group, says it’s the first low cost fixed-benefit flight protection available for flig...
