Blogs

When touring New Zealand, the North Island has plenty to offer holiday travellers. With so much to see and do, hiring your own car allows you to travel around at your leisure on your own schedule and see the sights you want to see. If you fly into Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, then you can hire a vehicle from the Auckland Airport  and start your New Zealand holiday journey from there. Auckland is the first place on our list of North Island adventures; from there we take you to Hamilton -

Recently I traveled back to my old stomping grounds in Washington DC to attend an event and decided to check out one of the very few tourist attractions I hadn’t already been to (hey, I went to college here, and have been back quite a few times since).  And I have to say, International Spy Museum, founded in 2002, turned out to be probably the best infotainment attraction I can recall ever experiencing.

And I do mean “infotainment” in the best possible way. Because this three-story espionage-o-

Did you know that you can find frogs and toads on every continent except Antarctica? Just in Costa Rica there are 133 species of frogs and toads.

From real-life Kermit look-alikes to miniature candy-colored frogs, Costa Rica’s amphibians are so incredible you have to stop and take notice.

In the tropics like Costa Rica, you can’t help but be enamored with rainforest frogs. They have all kinds of neat features, like red eyes, or green bones, translucent skin and neon colors. At night, their bett

Whether you motor east or motor west on Interstate 8, you will find the friendly town of Yuma a delightful surprise and a hubbub of activities for all ages. Bordered by California, the Colorado River, and the country of Mexico, this southern Arizona jewel welcomes everyone: road-tripping travelers, retirees, and those who are looking for fun, family-oriented vacations.

Yuma also claims the Guinness World Records Title of “The Sunniest Place on Earth,” attracting not only snowbirds from througho

With its roots in the hippy/crunchy counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, not all that long ago, much vegetarian dining was for hardcore veggies only, the type who really dig stuff like wheatgrass shots – as I recall from visiting one such spot back in the 1980s on Greenwich Avenue in New York City’s Greenwich Village.

But especially in recent years, the rise of vegetarianism, health consciousness, and the foodie movement have led to more mainstreaming of meatless dining and eateries that not on

The lighthouse at Cape Byron stands atop the rugged cliffs near Australia's most easterly point, in New South Wales. The stark white lighthouse with its ornate crown was constructed in 1901. 

It contains two lights to warn vessels approaching the rocky coastline at night. The main light at the top of the tower shines its light 27 nautical miles (40 kilometres) from the coast. A smaller red auxiliary light warns ships approaching reefs, rocks and seamounts to the north-east of the lighthouse ne

Traveling to Morocco can present some challenges when it comes to planning the best place to set up camp, as its varied geography makes it a destination with several possibilities. The solution to this situation may be establishing the city of Agadir as your base camp, to then go on different one-day (or two, maximum) excursions through its territory, and thus be able to experience a country as close as it is mysterious for some of us.

To start, visitors must immerse themselves in this city full

image: MKB-DESKKART

Our Porsche Macan road trip started in Stuttgart continues from the Lake Garda area in the north of Italy to the west coast and the Italian Riviera. Our decision to stay in Sestri Levante, just south of Portofino, came from an inspiration after seeing a photo of an unknown beautiful seaside village several years ago, and researching until we found it… let's go there!

The mystery village was perfectly situated in the middle of the Italian Riviera and had easy access to the maj

Fewer foodstuffs in the world today seem to have more fans than xocolātl, the cacao-based infusion the Spanish conquistadors found quaffed by the elites of Aztec, Mayan, and other Mesoamerica societies they conquered. Back then, it was not necessarily always sweetened but also confected in varieties included fermented and chili-pepper-spiced.

But of course once chocolate made its way back to the aristocrats of Spain, then and onward to the rest of Europe and the world, it was transformed into

Our English-speaking tour guide at De Halve Mann Brewery in Bruges makes a point of telling us as we ended our visit, “I don’t care what the boat men tell you, we don’t use canal water to brew our beer with.” Then pausing for just the right effect, she added, “Well, except for the dark beer that we sell to the French.”

Her well timed shtick brings a chuckle from the English-speaking audience as we head for the tasting room and highlights that while French is one language spoken in Belgium, the F

by José Miguel Rodríguez

Several years ago, during a planespotting photo shoot near Madrid's Barajas Airport, I tuned in via airband radio (able to receive but not transmit on frequencies used by pilots and air traffic controllers) to learn what airline and aircraft model was next due over the horizon in the coming minutes.  

While I was hunting for the right frequency, I passed one that some of my companions mistook for a controller communication with a pilot. But it wasn't; it was an ATIS.

One of Europe’s greenest, loveliest lands, the Emerald Isle – also fondly dubbed “the Oud Sod” – is a delightful mix of small, fetching cities; bucolic landscapes; and of course friendly, gregarious folk. At the same time, Ireland these days is dynamic (though not quite the “Celtic tiger” it was several years ago) and multicultural. It adds up to a winning blend of the traditional and the forward-looking, and there’s enough to see and do to keep you coming back for more. First-time visitors, t

Guanacaste, Costa Rica is one of the most popular areas in the country and a preferred Costa Rica vacation destination. But did you know these interesting details? 

1. Try to pronounce the indigenous word “quahnacaztlan” and you’ll see why “Guanacaste” is a lot easier. The province is named after the beautiful tree indigenous to tropical areas of the Americas. Also known as the “Elephant Ear Tree” (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) for the shape of its dark brown seed pods, it was named the national tre

Starting to think about upcoming summer travel? Beach season in Europe presents an embarassment of riches. I've decided to start a series covering the pick of the bunch in various countries. Since there are in fact so many, here’s just a tiny sampling of some of the very best – keeping in mind that criteria on what constitutes a fabulous beach vary hugely and very much according to tastes – so if you have any favorites not mentioned here, please share in the comments below!

Croatia

The long Dalm

Milan is an elegant and cosmopolitan city proud of both its business importance and cultural heritage, and of course it's world famous for its fashion industry and shopping, 

Duomo

Few can be indifferent to the magnificent Gothic building that is Milan's cathedral - the world's sixth largest, holding more than 40 000 people. Located at the heart of the historic center, with all roads leading to it, the Duomo was built over the course of six centuries, from 1386 to 1965. 

La Scala

This famous

The fields of deep lavender (bleu lavande) stretch vividly toward the green hills.

Donkeys at the donkey ranch nuzzle their mistress, and the honey bees buzz about at the Miellerie Lune de Miel, the honey farm.

About 150 miles south of Quebec and maybe 90 miles east of Montreal, The Eastern Townships of Canada (Cantons De L'Est,)  are so French, you may have to brush up on your language skills.

The villages and hamlets are French Canadian enclaves, and while the 95 Cantons may bear English na

In Nayarit state on Mexico's mid-Pacific coast north of Puerto Vallarta, Chacala is an nearly unspoiled port town which makes its living through fishing and tourismjust. Its beach is one of the most beautiful bays of the riviera which gives the region its name, with white sand and multicolored waters, and it is also one of the best preserved. Surrounded by palm trees and a dense rainforest of mahogany, parota and rosa morada trees, mango and banana orchards, and animals such as the beaver, arma

The name “Jim Thorpe” may no longer be a household name in the United States, but in the early 1900s there was nary a child or sports fan that did not know of his legendary sports achievements.

Enrolled in the Carlyle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania in 1904, the Sac and Fox Native American from Oklahoma was destined to become one of the most celebrated athletes of the 20th century.

Pop Warner and Company

Coached by the famed Pop Warner, a team led by Jim Thorpe from the little known Carly

From Hora, on Patmos, we could see the island of Lipsi on the horizon. It’s called the Island of Churches, because there are 42 churches serving barely 700 souls. That’s one for every 16.6 (recurring) people on the island … although some of them are too small to hold even half that number. All are immaculately kept, all regularly painted in white, picked out in pale blue and nearly always with a blue dome. But, the reason for that apparent ecclesiastical overkill isn’t religious fervour. When th