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We set out down the beach under a leaden sky stuffed with clouds. It was 8:00 at night, close to my bedtime (I know, I’m on Costa Rica “country” time). At first it was hard to see, with the nearly full moon sliding in and out of clouds; but soon our eyes adjusted to the dimness. A light mist began to dust us, and not a soul stirred nearby.

We were on sea turtle patrol.

Five of us were decked out in dark colors to blend with the night. Sea turtles don’t like bright lights – and, ergo, light-colored

I've been experimenting a bit more than usual with spices recently, and so pungent Hungarian paprika has been very much on my radar, bringing back memories of a three-week stint in Hungary several years ago. This spice is used in cookery throughout much of the world, but boy do Magyars love them some reddish pepper powder – and in some cases in much stronger versions than the capsicum annuum you might use in your own kitchen.

The word paprika is itself Hungarian but derives from Serbo-Croat

So it was an easy chat with a friend who knew I had something to do with the travel biz. He knew I traveled. He knew I produced content (videos, Audio PostCards, travel news reports, trends) for our own site, New Media Travel,  Technorati Travel and Tripatini, among others.

But he was fixated on the actual travel. The grand act of "going places," as he called it. But this was the surprise: he thought it (travel) was a waste of time, money and energy.

The usual responses to my hitting the road

Las palmeras son altísimas. Recife, ubicada en el noreste de Brasil, resulta cautivadora y la prueba de que el país carioca es mucho más que Sao Paulo y Río de Janeiro. Aquí verá cuestas empedradas, calles elegantes y fachadas de colores. Puede que le encuentre un aire a La Habana, pero está mucho más cuidada. Se ven cuerpos esculturales, fibrosos, de un moreno envidiable, y si uno no está en forma le dará cosa sacar a relucir sus carnes en la playa.

En las playas, porque Recife tiene kilómetr

On your visit to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, or Cuba, at some point soon you’re likely to find on your plate one of the locals’ favorite starchy staples: cooked plátanos (plantains -- and not just these three countries, by the way, but also various other Latin lands with Caribbean coasts and/or tropical regions, such as Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama, etc.). Yes, they’re long, curved, and greenish or yellowish, and they do peel back to reveal white flesh inside. But, for those

At first glance, it may seem that luggage tags, portable electronic device protectors, and smart phone stands don't warrant a spot on the latest must-have travel accessory list. But as travelers know, simpler is better and the devil is in the details. Is your smart phone protected from twisting and bumping? Is your neck pillow too bulky for stuffing in your carry-on? Can you quickly identify your luggage at baggage claim or are you one of the stragglers staring at the rotating sea of Samsonite

I called this post Hoi An Part 1. I should probably have called it Hoi an BCC (Before Camera Class) and the next post  Hoi ACC (After Camera Class). I took an excellent camera class in Hoi An and hopefully you will see a marked improvement in my photography skills in the next post.

Hoi An is a wonderful little city. It has the 3rd largest GDP in VN behind Hanoi and Saigon, and it is almost all based on tourism. The center of the tourist industry is what they call ancient town. Hoi An was spared a

When I first visited Turkey, I did something I won’t be able to do again. I gave the coach driver a 2 million lira tip! Shortly after my visit, the revalued their currency, simply by deleting the word ‘million’. The Turk with the price of a packet of cigarettes in his pocket is no longer a millionaire!

But, we weren’t there to marvel at the currency. Most of the shopkeepers in the resort town of Kusadasi, where our cruise ship called on its tour around the Aegean Sea preferred to take Euros, an

Central America forms a bridge literally between North and South America, which throughout its three million year history has served as a natural biological passageway between the two continents. In the last century, however, much of that corridor has been destroyed by farming and urbanization.

Biologists have determined that biological corridors are one of the most effective methods of conserving biodiversity to maintain genetic fluency between populations of species and prevent against their po

With Burj Khalifa, Dubai became the home of tallest building in the world. Besides Burj Khlaifa, the city also features contemporary architectural structures such as Burj Al Arab and Palm Islands. However, the city is not only about skyscrapers and modern residential complexes there are numerous parks where you can spend some time away from bustling environment. Book Dubai flights and visit the following parks to find another side of the modern city.

Al Mamzar Park

It is not merely a park but

Cold Beers are flowing at Rock & Brews

What do you get when you take a legendary rock star, a successful restaurateur, and a rock promoter and put them together?  You get a micro-pub restaurant like no other.

If you’re like me and grew up as a teenager in the 70s, you most likely attended a Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd or Stones show back in the day. If you find yourself in the confines of Los Angeles and make your way to its south beaches, you can relive your “rock n roll fantasy” and dine on barbequ

Reviews do matter, but what seems to matter more is who writes them, and the question, can they be predicted?
And it seems Airbnb is saying, "yes."

Booking an Airbnb place anywhere can be a 50-50 proposition, but it's the very unpredictability and rich individuality of each place that makes the stays (and the site) so undeniably attractive. 

In a delightful comment, GigaOm, a data science and social web site, says reviews do indeed matter more and more because we are in an age of "Data Darwini

When we visited Jordan in 2002, we ate lunch in one of the lowest restaurants on earth. But, it wasn’t low in the sense of being cheap, or because not very nice people eat there. Jordan’s Dead Sea Spa hotel is 400 metres below sea level, which is as low as you can get on the surface of the Earth. I did hear that, since our visit, another hotel has been built even lower down.

We drove from Amman, the country’s capital to the ancient rock city of Petra, and to Wadi Rum. We had two options ; that of

If Costa Rica's professional surf scene had an A-team, it would look something like this: Carlos Muñoz, Jair Pérez, Noe Mar McGonagle, Gilbert Brown, Anthony Fillingim, Luis Vindas, Leilani McGonagle, Lisbeth Vindas, and Nataly Bernold. The nine top surfers seem to shuffle places between being national champions and taking the top five slots at any given competition, with the odd interloper upsetting the order.

Heading into Costa Rica's 13th annual Grand Final Reef National Surf Championships, se

The line on South Street wrapped around the corner. Once inside the chrome facade it continued to snake around in Disney-ride fashion. Each person mumbling to themselves as they tried to memorize their order. The line moved along one timid customer at a time. Each one blurting out their selection, as if on the soup-nazi episode of Seinfeld. “One, provolone, mushroom with" (The 'with' referring to onions). 

The line bumped forward. This placed reeked with the essence of grilled beef.  Jim's Steakh

The veneer is peeling off and heritage is fighting a losing battle here. But all need not be lost if Kathakali can find new patrons and the Chinese fishing nets came up with some more fish

You see the palm fronds swaying an eager welcome even as you come in to land. Reach by rail or road and the greenery doesn’t wait for you to cross the border before gathering you in a lush embrace. Nature, it would seem, has been taking lessons in haste from the natives.

For a long time nature and natives chart