Imagine my surprise, not long ago, to discover I wanted to write a glowing article for my travel series “Best of London” about a department store!  (Just when did I fall and hit my head, anyways)?  But no, there were no mishaps involved.  If anything, our discovery was what I would term a “happy accident” as we wandered down Piccadilly Street, the atmosphere vibrant on this uncommonly sunny London day.  We paused to focus on the historic grandness all around us – and what should our eyes alight

Dining Journeys  (part 1 of 3)

Ron's Swedish grandmother had once said "I live to eat...I don't eat to live." That sounds like our philosophy. This journal recalls our most memorable dining experiences, in loose geographic order (and mostly chronological) , during 30 years of travel outside the U.S.

Many details add a little color to our foodielogue, including tales (those we dare print) about people in the travel industry who we met along the way. Working for and with international airlines and

by VaDeAviones.com

If you fly with any frequency, you may well have heard a pilot say the phrase — especially in relation to a sudden delay — “we’ve lost our landing slot.”

So what exactly does this magic word slot mean? Well, on one level it refers to the interval of time allotted to an aircraft to execute a determined operation or maneuver,  such as permission to take off or land. But this is a longstanding aviation term which has a number of different meanings, and there are different types: 

It has been a long-standing rule that when traveling through Kansas, it is best to do so at night because there is a common thought that there is nothing to see, but I believe I can prove that notion wrong. We had three days, two kids, and a small budget to drive out to one of Kansas’s geographic wonders and back again, finding new places along the way to explore.

The seven-hour drive from Kansas City was always too much to tackle so I had put Monument Rocks and Castle Rock on the back burner f

If your usual Christmas is cold and gray, and you can’t go outside without wearing at least 10 layers, wouldn’t it be nice instead to spend Christmas in the Caribbean with your toes deep in warm sand instead of wool socks?

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica is already merrily decorated for Christmas on the southern Caribbean Coast as Caribbean Costa Rica readies for its cheery Christmas celebration.

Christmas is an important holiday for Costa Rica, just like in other countries. Christmas traditions in Costa

Cachaça is alcohol made with sugar cane, which is created by distilling the fermented juice from the cane. It's widely used in creating the caipirinha, a cocktail which mixes it with ice, sugar and lemon, and which is popular internationally. It has an alcohol content of between 38% and 50%.

In Brazil, cachaça also has many other names: caxaca, caxa or chacha, and pinga. It was Christopher Columbus who brought the first sugar cane stalks from the Canaries to be planted in the Caribbean, from w

Yountville, California embodies many quintessential visions you undoubtedly have when planning a Napa Valley excursion. It all started in 1836, when George Calvert Yount founded the town planting Napa Valley's first official vineyard. Today, vines stretch from the Mayacamas mountains to the Napa River. Yountville's compact layout, clustered around Washington Street, is also perfect for biking not only on the existing street grid but along the ever expanding Napa Valley Vine Trail which when com

The first thing I did the next morning was look out of the window. It was totally blue! After I had my breakfast and dressed, I walked outside. It was magical with the amazing blue sky and the high mountains of the Southern Alps. Totally different than yesterday, when it was raining and cloudy and you couldn't see a thing.

I packed all my things because my plan was to drive to Lake Tekapo today, but first I had to get a icescraper because it was quite impossible to get the ice off my windows (I

Any flight that leaves at 1:20 in the morning is already doomed as far as I’m concerned.  It can only go down hill from there, especially when the airplane seat back doesn’t seem to want to recline backward.  But this one’s worse than that.  Not only do I arrive in Shanghai at six in the a.m. with seven hours until my onward connection, but I have to change airports—not terminals—to do it.  Fun fun fun.  At least I get something of a view of Shanghai in the process, though not exactly like cruis

Balboa Park is one of San Diego's largest and most historic vacation destinations. While touring California, this place just can’t be overlooked, so make sure that you stop over and take a scenic view that will give a revitalized feel to you. The total area of this mammoth park is 1,200 acres and it is an urban cultural park named after Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, who was a Spanish maritime explorer.

This park is often referred as the “Smithsonian of the West” for its concentration of cultural institu

by Cristóbal Ramírez

Zurich, Switzerland has footpaths so tidy, cobblestones so perfect, a lake so clean, urban sounds so harmonious and subdued that it’s almost enough to make urbanites used to other cities miss the comforting chaos they might expect. Indeed, more than one might be tempted to toss a bit of litter onto the ground to see what could happen. Please do refrain.

As for the rest of it, this burg that many tend to associate with little more than banks and insurance companies can actual

The fam and I wanted to make a weekend getaway to an awesome East Coast beachfront hotel, but we had a troika of conditions:

• We wanted to stay in a laid back locale that was...
• Outside of New Jersey (we live 12 miles west of New York City in the Garden State and we were pining for a non-Joisey Shore destination), and...
• We didn’t want to spend too much time driving to get there.

Looking at a map, the mid-Atlantic region of Delaware or Maryland met our travel math needs (less than a four-hour journ

Ever since the first commercial canopy zip line tour came into being in Costa Rica in 1999, the zip line industry has soared quickly into big business with dozens of zip lines all over the country and across the world. Zip lines are probably the all-time favorite adventure tour in Costa Rica for visiting tourists. There are dozens of zip line tours – more often called “canopy zip line tours” or simply “canopy tours” – all over the country.

I recently took a friend, who is a bit of an anomaly, on

In Cuba's capital these days, the dining scene has improved and evolved immeasurably in recent years. Here's just a quick sampling of some of the best in the city these days, both state-owned and privately owned:

Al Medina

Once upon a time, Cuba had significant Arab immigration, and this Lebanese eatery in a restored colonial-era school in Old Havana provides good, exotic fare (as a change of pace from the ubiquitous Cuban) amid exotic decor. Calle Oficios 12 between Obispo and Obrapía.

La Bodegui

We began this adventure by purchasing a Porsche Macan S and picking the car (which we named Max) up at the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen Germany... we're now on our official maiden road trip. This segment of the series is dedicated to our adventures while touring the Innsbruck, Austria area. 



The Drive from Salzburg to Innsbruck

We left Salzburg before noon and headed straight to the “famous” Grossglockner High Alpine Road, and this time a “suggested” side trip lived up to the hype.

This

Last week I had occasion to send a technology team from my Our Russia Magazine to Moscow. Sasha and Natalya, my partners in the new media experiment, were scheduled to meet with Skolkovo science city executives and other key technology people in town. As it happened, they stayed at a wonderful hotel I knew of, Mamaison All-Suites Spa Hotel Pokrovka, so I thought a review here on Tripatini might be helpful for any of you headed to Russia's capital.

The Mamaison brand part of a group of upscale b

Napa Valley is a gourmand's paradise. A quick 45 minutes north of San Francisco (sans traffic) over the Golden Gate Bridge, across the barren hills of San Rafael and Galinas, and then onto Route 37 along San Pablo Bay and its cooling breezes that ultimately moderate The Valley's ideal growing climate.

The City of Napa is the Valley's southernmost gateway to endless wine tastings thanks to more than 400 vineyards spanning roughly 50 miles anchored by posh inns and retreats along with an extreme