Tagged: travel

12 Lessons Learned from a Life on the Road

Rule No. 1: Travel is no fun.Really. If you think it's all about smiling stewardesses attending to your every whim, friendly hotels offering fawning service, and romantic sunsets on…

Rebuilt, Vibrant, and Unpronounceable Wroclaw

The Poles don't realize they have too many consonants in their language, and not enough vowels, probably a result of trying to put a Slavic language into Roman letters, unlike, say,…

How to Get Old-School Adriatic Bliss in Brand-New Montenegro

European travelers looking for the new summer vacation spot are already on to it, so it won't be long before Montenegro loses its status as one of Europe's best-kept secrets. One of…

Bhutan's Improbable All-Inclusive Mountain Splendor

The Kingdom of Druk Yul, or what we know in the west as Bhutan is a tiny nation located in the Himalayan Mountains and one that remains perhaps the least-touched by western…

Travel Troubleshooter: Plenty of Rain, But No Raincheck for Leaky Hotel

Jennifer Holland prepays for a hotel room on Hotwire.com. But a severe storm threatens to wash out her vacation. Holland wants the travel site to give her a rain check, but it won't,…

Five Answers to the Perennial Question: What're You Doing New Year's Eve?

New York gets all the fuss for its Waterford crystal ball and its throngs of people, but elsewhere around the world, New Year's is celebrated in its own particular way. We've found…

Touring Tennessee's Appalachian Towns

"I started it for the people," says John Rice Irwin, speaking of his role in founding the Museum of Appalachia. "And so it's about the people." He's not kidding, either, as I…

10 Mountain Destinations Where the Dollar Goes Further

Snow is falling on the high peaks of the Alps and the Rockies, and ski resorts have cranked up their snowmaking systems. Ski season gets serious this week, and by holiday time…

Travel Health & Safety: Plenty of Fish in the Sea?

There's a splendid restaurant chain out of Boston that calls itself Legal Seafoods, and I used to imagine the name originated because eating fish can be so dangerous at times, and…

Park of the Week: Haleakala National Park

"Maui High" means different things to different folks, no doubt, but for outdoor enthusiasts, it means hiking on Haleakala, the island's highest point, at 10,023 feet above sea level.…

Touring the Vineyards of South Australia's Barossa Valley

Planning a trip to Australia? Most visitors tend to head towards Sydney and Melbourne or perhaps the Great Barrier Reef and Ayers Rock, but Australia is blessed with an abundance of…

How to Check Out European Apartments Before You Check In

With the Euro now above $1.50, there are far more reasons than mere coziness to start looking away from hotels and towards apartments in Europe. Savvy travelers have settled in empty…

Slope Specs: Alpe d'Huez, the Glacier-Crowned Giant

Fans who follow the Tour de France know Alpe d'Huez (tel. +33 (0) 476 11 44 44; www.alpedhuez.com) as the finish of an every-other-year stage that culminates in a steep mountain road…

4 Vineyard Vacations to Chile and Argentina

Chile and Argentina produce some of the finest wines in the world and a visit to either country wouldn't be complete without sampling their best known produce. Central Chile enjoys…

Editor's Choice: What to Do When Something Goes Wrong

Disasters happen to the best of us, and it's rare that you can travel today with no incident (whether it's sitting on the tarmac for hours with no food and water or finding that…

Road Work: How To Live Abroad (Legally) Without Going Broke

In late 1997, I felt like I needed to get out of the country. I'd traveled abroad before, but I wanted to get a true perspective of what it was like to settle outside the US, at least…

Cohen, Caetano and the Circus: Madrid's Fall Festival Celebrates Culture

For the past 24 years, culture enthusiasts anticipate the Madrid Fall Festival, or Festival de Otoño (www.madrid.org/fo2007/en/elfestival.html), which is organized by the culture and…

Rockies Report: Rock-Bottom Prices and Sky-High Thrills

U.S. Kids Free at Two Canadian Resorts Big White (www.bigwhite.com) and Silver Star (tel. 250/558-6023; www.silverstar.com) sister resorts in British Columbia are offering free…

Disney Saving 101: Avoiding the Package Peril

When you make advance reservations for any of the four Walt Disney World parks, there's a giant pitfall that Disney wants you to trip into. Anytime you call the company and ask for…

Vancouver Counts the Days Until the Olympics

On a big clock in the courtyard of the Vancouver Art Gallery, locals are busy counting the days -- as well as the minutes and seconds -- until the opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics…

7 House Rental Agencies That Make Disney Feel Like Home

In most guidebooks, the home rental option is relegated to a single box or a few wan paragraphs. That makes zero sense to me. For value, renting a home is quite simply the best way to…

Tips for Choosing Hotels when Traveling with Infants & Toddlers

My two-and-a-half year old daughter is a hotel veteran, having slept at numerous properties around the world -- from five stars to no stars and everything in between. But with the…

Romance & Shopping in Montréal

Yes, romance and shopping can go together -- especially in a place like Montréal. Up front I must disclose that my husband proposed to me in Montréal so I am particularly partial, but…

Summit County Skiing Basics, Mountain by Mountain

First, the bad news: Summit County is not the most pristine part of the Rockies. In the heart of the county, a large reservoir stalls water before diverting it to Denver via a tunnel…

Travel Health & Safety: Can I Drink the Water?

"Is it safe to drink the water here?" These were the first words uttered by a young American tourist appearing at my door in London when I lived there some years ago. Well-traveled…