I’ve spent years traveling around the Caribbean for fun, for travel conferences, and I even lived there long-term twice. When you spend that much time there, you quickly realize there’s a huge difference between a town that looks on great Instagram and a local community that blows your mind in real life. Whenever people ask …

As I watched an episode of Ted Lasso on my seatback screen during a flight into London, a sudden realization hit me. I checked my digital flight tracker and saw that Richmond upon Thames sits just a few miles from the runway at Heathrow Airport. Layovers at major international hubs usually involve sitting under harsh …

Even if you haven’t made it to Italy yet, you’re probably familiar with Rome‘s ancient sights and the millennia-old Colosseum, Venice‘s winding canals and soaring campanile, and Florence‘s distinctive red-tiled dome and Renaissance palaces. Undoubtedly gorgeous as those may be, what if we told you this year’s crown in one of Italy’s best-known beauty contests …

Ever saved up thousands, booked a Caribbean getaway, landed in paradise just to find thousands of other people had the exact same idea? That’s not a vacation. That’s fighting for a pool chair and dinner reservations. But when we recently traveled to Miches, it completely blew our expectations out of the water. This quiet spot …

When I first stepped off the water taxi onto the wooden docks of Caye Caulker, the chaos of international transit vanished instantly. I was carrying my heavy bag under the blinding Caribbean sun, but my pulse immediately started to slow down. There are no massive concrete hotel towers blocking the ocean breeze, no gridlocked traffic …

As of September 7, the European Union’s grace period for its new, controversial Entry/Exit System is officially over. Under the rules, border authorities no longer have the same freedom to suspend biometric collection simply because queues are getting out of hand, though enforcement may still vary somewhat while certain airports iron out their remaining technical …

Chasing changing leaves can feel like a gamble. Trust me, every single year I try to plan the perfect trip to the Red River Gorge just 2 hours from my house to catch the leaves, and the window is tight! Normally, you get a tiny, unpredictable two-week window in late October before a random storm …

My favorite resort brand has finally arrived in Thailand. I have stayed at RIU resorts throughout Mexico and the Caribbean countless times, and there is one reason I keep going back every single time. Bang for your buck. There might not be another all-inclusive brand on the planet that delivers a consistent offering at the …

If Barcelona or Mallorca are the only destinations that come to mind when you think of an off-season fall getaway in Spain, think again. Instead of flocking to the same done-and-dusted hotspots that are, in fact, chasing tourists away, why not give the fast-rising, equally exciting, but still relatively unknown Valencia a chance? Offering miles …

If you think escaping the winter freeze means dropping half your paycheck on an overcrowded mega-resort in Cancun or the Bahamas, think again. That might be the default playbook for travelers dealing with freezing temperatures across the States, where winter brings endless slush and gray skies, but this Central American country didn’t get the memo. …

The Mediterranean travel map is feeling entirely tapped out this year. Italy is fighting mass tourism with aggressive new city fees. The Greek islands are overwhelmed by cruise ship crowds fighting for sunset photos. Finding a quiet slice of the region that offers elite natural beauty without the crushing tourist congestion feels almost impossible for …

Whether it’s the shambles at security with staffing headaches and snaking queues, or the chaotic rollout of the new Entry/Exit System, which now requires Americans to have their fingerprints and facial image collected, I can’t think of a worse place to be right now than a European airport. The Old Continent seems to have got …