Category: Travel

Finding the Middle of the Pacific: Mangareva

I’ve always been a map guy. Even as a little kid, my constant companion was an oversized Rand McNally road atlas that I’d haul around the house, curling up on the couch in the living room and tracing with my finger the blue lines of interstates, and curling red threads of rural two-lanes. I’d sit…


Tiny Island, Two Nations: St. Martin

Blink, and you could easily miss it. And keep your passport in your pocket; you definitely won’t need that. Driving from south to north, you’ll simply see a sign welcome you to the “French Side,” and from north to south, the “Dutch Side.” But beyond the technicalities of division and governance, it’s undeniable that there’s…


A Sherry-Driven Andalusian Adventure

It’s a corner of Spain that remains well off the main tourist track, nowhere near the popular cities of Madrid, Barcelona, or Málaga. Set on an Andalusian islet in the southwest corner of the country, the port city of Cádiz has been welcoming ships from around the world since ancient times—and they’ve all left their…


One Day to Find Old San Juan

It was once a renowned redoubt, built almost five centuries ago to protect Spanish assets in the New World. Rising on a steep promontory next to the water, this registered historic site is still formidable. Walls and turrets overlook San Juan Bay, with the fort’s cannons still fixed and ready to fire on an enemy…


Ed Perkins on Travel: Tempting, Tricky, and Taboo

A new (to me, at least) air travel hack lets you buy elite status in a few lines’ programs. It joins other hoary hacks, around for years, that offer some great cost reductions but violate airline policies and contracts. Two outfits—airlinestatus.com/ and joindeluxe.com—sell time-limited elite status in several major airlines. Currently, airlinestatus.com sells Gold and…


Athens: Weaving Old With New

A century and a half ago, Athens was a humble, forgotten city of about 8,000 people. Today, one out of every three Greeks packs into this city of over 3 million. The city is infamous for its sprawl, noise, and pollution. For a long time, my advice was to see the big sights, then get…


How You Can Go Shark Cage Diving Off Oahu’s North Shore

By Laylan Connelly From The Orange County Register The realization that I was entering a reverse fish tank became as clear as the Hawaiian water I was about to dip into off the North Shore of Oahu. I nervously made my way down the ladder into the small cage floating in 600-foot-deep water and peered…


What I Learned Staying at an Eco Retreat in US Virgin Islands

By Chelsea Davis From TravelPulse It’s easy to forget that the Virgin Islands are a part of the United States. St. John in particular is so lush and untouched that it feels worlds away from the States, yet, in reality, it’s just a three-hour flight from Washington, D.C. One of the most surprising—and telling—facts about…


A Guide to Las Vegas Dayclubs and Water Parks

By Madelon Hynes From Las Vegas Review-Journal Las Vegas—Pool season has gotten underway in the Las Vegas Valley. Dayclubs and water parks are busy opening up on and off the Strip, offering fun in the sun for all ages. Here is a list of some venues that have opened, and others still to come. Aria…


Iceland, the Volcanic Island

In Iceland for just a few days en route to Sweden, my husband and I had limited time to explore, so we booked a round-robin excursion near Reykjavik called the Golden Tour. This popular route visits myriad geologic formations that created this island nation, where tourism has surpassed fishing as the main industry. We set…