Most of the people visiting Budapest never pay to much visits in Pest on the other side of the Danube. Except the castle. And this is totally wrong, because this part of the city is really interesting by several points ov…
Magnus Nilsson is often described as a wunderkind. A food purist and surely as intense as foodie as you could imagine. He is the chef at Faviken, a restaurant in the remote Jamtland province of central Sweden. His meals are…
Puglia's history is inextricably linked with those of other Mediterranean countries and the invaders who came from afar: the ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Normans, and the Spanish Bourbons. All left their imprint in some tangible way. For…
There’s nothing like the expectant feeling of hope in the air, and we got a sense of that after a Tunisian street vendor set himself alight and ignited the so-called Jasmine Revolution and then the Arab Spring. Many around the…
NPR broadcast a story entitled 'You Are Invited': Isolated Iran Seeks Foreign Tourists, which juxtaposed the revolution's slogan, "Death to America," with its current international tourism campaign inviting foreigners (even Westerners) to its land. Over the past couple of years,…
Is Miir’s 32 Ounce Howler the perfect bottle for transporting your craft beer? Close to it, anyhow. These handy howlers are made of double-walled stainless steel for a vacuum-insulated seal that keeps cold things cold for upwards of 24 hours,…
1. Apply for Global Entry - U.S. Citizens can clear customs quickly with Global Entry. (Citizens of Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and other countries have similar pre-screening programs that work in tandem with Global Entry). Application involves a…
Marinaleda, in impoverished Andalusia, used to suffer terrible hardships. Led by a charismatic mayor, the village declared itself a communist utopia and took farmland to provide for everyone. Could it be the answer to modern capitalism's failings? I was leafing…
Flying first class on Emirates was one of my all-time favorite travel experiences for its sheer luxury, its on-board showers, and its warm, impeccable service. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a flight attendant aboard one of the Middle…
Underwater accommodations seem to have become a trend among hotels in recent years, but a resort off the coast of Tanzania is now putting a unique spin on the concept. The Manta Resort recently unveiled its Underwater Room, a three-floor…
Chefchaouen, a small town in northern Morocco, has a rich history, beautiful natural surroundings and wonderful architecture, but what it’s most famous for are the striking and vivid blue walls of many of the buildings in its “old town” sector,…
Whenever I visit Hong Kong or Ho Chi Minh City, my first order of business is going to the tailor: not to get clothes fitted to my body, but to get new pieces custom made for me. Some of the…
When Rena Effendi went to Transylvania to photograph hay for National Geographic, she envisioned a fairy tale, someplace almost medieval. But when she arrived in the Gyimes valley, she was disappointed. The scenery had been spoiled, she thought, by modern…
I’ve mentioned a few times that going to every country in the world wasn’t as expensive as most people initially think. But how much did it really cost? The short answer is that I’m not 100% sure of the precise…
Curious wanderlusters should head to the island of Hainan, in the South China Sea, before it gets any more popular. The tropical island with sprawling rainforest and pristine volcanic hot springs is a totally unexpected retreat from mainland Asia. On…
Armenia is a country where the boundary of the reality and myth is invisible. A country which existence is a myth, but the history is real. Armenians are ancient people in an ancient country. Their homeland is the plateau sprawling…
The young and rich of Iran’s capital are flaunting their wealth on social media. Will they escape the harsh punishment meted out to the Pharrell Williams ‘Happy’ dancers? A handful of young Iranians were sentenced to six months in prison…
The Hakka, sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak Hakka Chinese and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China. Although the vast majority of the Hakka live in Guangdong,…
The dome is the world’s largest freestanding building, and it was originally owned by a company attempting to develop a transport dirigible. When that company went belly-up, a Malaysian company took the reins and created a year-round tropical paradise that…
Now there’s a new way to travel with no accommodation costs, offering stays in beautiful homes at zero cost, provided you’re one of the few. Conceived by a graphic designer couple from Barcelona, Agust Juste and Eva Calduch, the site…