What comes to mind when you envision a West Coast getaway? For most, it’s a mixed bag of big city thrills and gorgeous beaches — and they’re not wrong. Today, I’m putting on my tour guide hat with one exception: I’m going to be honest as your resident insider who’s traversed each West Coast state …
The security situation for international travelers has degraded over the last 24 hours. In an unprecedented overnight wave, the U.S. State Department has issued a staggering 19 new travel alerts, spanning active conflict evacuations in the Middle East to massive demonstration warnings across Europe and Australia. If you are currently abroad, or planning international travel, …
Now that the days are finally stretching out again, you’re not bundling up for a morning Kroger run anymore, and the forecast isn’t a total soul-crusher, chances are you’re itching to plan your next trip. Enough hibernating. We’re not talking another all-inclusive Mexico (Lord, no) or blowing cash on a wild weekend in the Florida …
When you think of France, I bet it’s probably places like Paris, Nice, Lyon, Marseille that come to mind. The touristy quartet, and hey, no shame in loving them, by the way: I’m a proud adopted Parisian myself. What can start getting on your nerves, however, especially if you’re here in the frog-eating heartland for …
Let’s cut right to the chase: yeah, that headline is a bold claim. Visiting 100+ medieval European towns takes years of obsessive travel, and a borderline-nerdy passion for Gothic history that’d make most big-brained Oxford scholars jealous. I’m no prof, but I’ve always loved getting lost in the shadowy alleys of a 15th-century walled town. …
Sandwiched between iconic beach cities Los Angeles and San Diego lies a sprawling swath of vibrant California coastline. Not all of Orange County straddles paradisal shoreline, but after a day of screaming kids at Disneyland, there’s no better place to find blissful shores, often without the level of tourists LA and San Diego see. We …
Whitewashed towns clinging vertiginously to rugged coastal cliffs, bright-blue church domes against blood-orange Aegean sunsets, and every postcard-ready pebbly paralia hugged by turquoise seas you can fit in between: Italy, Spain, and France may have their charm, but as far as Mediterranean getaways go, no country can touch a 227-island-strong Greece. I’m sure you’ve all …
I was only born in 1997, so I never got to experience the world beyond the Berlin Wall while it was still up, nor travel around Yugoslavia while it was still, well, a country, but the stories we were drip-fed through the media told tales of bleak, wintry landscapes and limited freedoms. Living in the …
Travel the world long enough, and you will find yourself in a sketchy situation. I’ve been scammed, had taxi drivers throw coffee at me, and once booked a nonexistent hotel in Mexico, leaving me and my girlfriend stranded in a town we probably weren’t pronouncing right. In other words, a little research goes a long …
Can’t cope with the Lisbon crowds anymore? The jam-packed praças, narrow alleys where you’re practically standing shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow tourists, and those reheated pastéis de nata that taste industrial, yet are charged as if they’re freshly-made? There are always exceptions to the rule, of course, but let’s not sit here and pretend that, undeniably stunning …
Vespa rides into blood-orange sunsets, soft pistacchio gelato on the stone pier, as you watch the ebb and flow of swimmers and boats along the marina, the incessant chant of cicadas up the olive tree hills… Say what you will, other poor excuses of seas can’t hold a candle to the Mediterranean. I’m not talking …
There’s no point sugarcoating it: whether you like it or not, America’s reputation in Europe isn’t exactly glowing right now. From the ever-so-often diplomatic rifts, to U.S. tourists reporting not feeling welcome across a number of European cities (fancy getting chased down the calle by a water-pistol-wielding Catalan, anyone?) and of course, the mounting piles …