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Vibrant tulips, buttery coffee cakes and local wines were just the beginning as I was welcomed on board my river cruise. seven days ahead and I was ready to partake of as much as possible, and why not? It was vacation and more highlights were about to unfold. Usually boarding a ship begins in the afternoon, but I saw the AMA Waterways ship moored early at the dock in Amsterdam and stepped on board.  Smiling staff offered to take my luggage and told me to make myself comfortable in the lounge. T

Budapest never fails to fascinate those who visit , both due to its history and its architecture. Furthermore, it has an attraction which remains largely unknown to the general public: the large number of caves which run beneath it, formed by the erosive effect of the thermal underground waters. The best known and in the best condition is the Pálvölgyi Cave, a formation discovered in 1902 and opened to the public in 1927, 18 kilometers in length. It is the second longest cave in Hungary, and has

It has been some time since we reviewed a Hawaiian vacation property, and the Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas on the leafy garden island of Kaua‘i  is particularly interesting for several reasons.

Mixed Clientele

The Westin Princeville is a village style resort that caters to a number of different types of vacationers. We spoke with Westin Vacation (timeshare) owners, business people using their Starwood Preferred Guest points for a much deserved vacation, and ordinary folks seeking a safe

The whole purpose of a railway is to reduce the friction of the wheels, to enable a heavier load to be carried for the same amount of power. That lack of friction works against the train if it has a steep slope to climb or descend. The usual way is to tunnel through the hill, avoiding the slope altogether.

This, though, is very expensive, and, when they built the railway westward from Sydney in the 1860s, Engineer-in-Chief John Whitton did not have the money available to him to tunnel through A

Whether it be for business or for pleasure, or better yet, combining business and pleasure. I've always found that travel inspires me more than anything else in life. Nothing excites me more than to travel for business, only to discover new sightings that quickly turn into personal encounters. Evidence of the languages, cultures, scenery, food, style, design sensibilities that I discover all over the world can be found in every business venture that I have set out upon.

I always bring home a pi

Southport, Connecticut is a picturesque, historic (est. 1639) port town on the Long Island Sound, just an 80-minute Metro North train ride from midtown New York City, And just a quick stroll from the local train station, Delamar Southport's classic white clapboard colonial architecture situated on the Old Post Road looks like it's been a fixture here since the town's 19th-century maritime heyday.
 
Until walking inside, it's hard to conceive that construction on the property was actually comple

The relaxed Caribbean beach town of Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica not only has some of the prettiest beaches in Costa Rica, along with upscale Costa Rica boutique hotels, is also the gastronomic capital of the Costa Rica southern Caribbean coast.

Puerto Viejo’s dining scene reflects its widely varied international population – Caribbean, Italian, Argentinean, Mexican, Asian, Spanish, Middle Eastern, North American, and of course, Costa Rican.

“Considering the size of Puerto Viejo – a small beach tow

For Memorial Day Weekend our son invited us to Bakersfield, CA.  Normally when we think of Bakersfield we think of a small city North of  Los Angeles, CA, just past the Grapevine.  What was once a small little town of honky tonk bars, race cars and working farmers is now a sprawling city boasting of small communities where folks are neighborly.

Surprisingly enough good food and local shopping is easy to find.Major hotel chains offering comfortable accommodations are located just off the 99 High

For the third and final leg of my Southern business trip, I pulled in to charming Charlottesville, Virginia and was eager to sample one of the town’s premier lodging offerings.

While the popular Boar’s Head Inn, Omni Charlottesville Hotel, and Keswick Hall all seemed interesting, each – IMHO - had its downside (too big, way too big, too stodgy, respectively). Digging a bit deeper, I found the elegant Oakhurst Inn, and judging from the ebullient reviews on TripAdvisor (4.5 stars), Yelp (5 stars)

The truth is that most people arriving at  Bergamo airport ignore the city and prefer to go to Milan right off the bat. (very often it's cheaper to fly in here on airlines including Ryanair, United, and Lufthansa, then pay 10 euros for a 50-kilometre (30-mile) bus ride than flying directly to Milan). But whether you're flying in, or find yourself passing through the Lombardy region - the wonderful city of Bergamo is well worth a day or two of your precious holiday time.

image source: https://flic

Did you know that one of the more prominent beach resorts of Europe was not so long ago locked away behind the Iron Curtain? Bulgaria's town of Nessebar, on the coast of the Black Sea, is home to a booming and still growing resort called Sunny Beach, which began in 1958 as the then Soviet régime's version of fun in the sun. 

Sunny Beach's menu of beaches, culture, leisure, dining, and activities on water and land is such that the visitor will be have no choice but to leave some for the next time.

Africa is of course a huge continent (despite the belief of a surprising number of Americans that it is a single country), but in all its vastness I can’t think of any other city that serves visitors anything like the heady cocktail that is Cape Town, South Africa: a vibrant, progressive, multicultural metropolis with fantastic historic sights, dining, hotels, entertainment, and shopping, all against a backdrop of spectacular natural beauty and with equally mesmerizing sights and experiences w

One of my absolute favorite scenes in the 2012 movie Life of Pi is when a huge glittering whale jumps out of a sparkling night sea behind Pi’s raft, everything around them glowing from amazing bioluminescence. Another favorite is the illuminated neon forest in the movie Avatar.

Bioluminescence is most common in the tropics. Walking along a tropical beach at night or sea kayaking after dark, especially the closer you get to the equator, you often can see sparkling lights in the water. It seems

A fair number of folks know that Great Britain is still hanging on to its colony at the Iberian Peninsula's southernmost Iberia, Gibraltar. Fewer are aware that Spain, too, has its own enclaves hereabouts – though a big difference is that they’re not colonies – carved out of another country (those who have been paying attention to the international news, though, might have been hearing about African migrants trying to break into them). Ensconced along Morocco‘s Mediterranean coast, under Iberia

Whether or not you’re a shopper (and I can’t say that I particularly am), I do love me some good travel mementos. However, I’m not talking about the rubbish you see at the average stand aimed at tourists who barely know where they are (I’ll never forget the joints hawking spangly Mexican sombreros at the Leaning Tower of Pisa).

Whether you’re shopping for yourself or others, there are certain items that will always be worth seeking out. Paintings and other kinds of art are a prime example – wh

by José Miguel Rodríguez

You think your job is stressful? Imagine, for just a moment, being an air traffic controller. Have trouble imagining? We invite you to read this quick overview through to the end and then tell us: Could this be a job for you

Admittedly, air traffic control is not for the faint of heart. Though very much behind the scenes and (as it were) under the radar, this work has different aspects depending on the individual unit where it’s carried out. In a given tower there will be