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I never thought I’d go cross-country skiing again, but I went this morning. I tried cross-country skiing years ago, not out of desire but because it was a story assignment for a Tahoe weekly paper I worked on. If I recall, I spent most of my time that day in the snow. Not on it. And my take on the whole idea of cross-country skiing? Tougher than downhill skiing. Painful. Not worth it. Not by a long shot.

For a downhill skier, which is how I identified myself at the time, wobbling along on skinn

My playmate’s father walked with a stiff leg from the D-Day invasion of World War II. At the age of seven, we all knew the basics of what this meant – we also knew older kids still without fathers. We boys all talked about what our fathers had done in the recent war. Knowing these men puts faces on the deeds they did as exhibited by the National D-Day Memorial near Lynchburg, Virginia.

Visitors at the D-Day Memorial experience a powerful tribute to the young Americans of the Allied landings in

9th July Plaza

By Roy Heale

With remarkably well preserved historic architecture, grand parks, and a vibrant nightlife, it is no surprise that LGBT travelers have recently discovered Salta as a gay-friendly Argentine vacation destination.

Surrounded by the Andes mountains, Salta is a very gay welcoming city located in the Lerma Valley, at almost 4000 feet above sea level in Argentina's north west region. Along with its metropolitan area, it has a population of almost 700,000 inhabitants. Within Ar

From Stage to Screen

Best known as a Broadway musical, Fiddler on the Roof has been delighting audiences for almost half a century with its blend of boisterous and mournful melodies. The Tony award winning story of Tevye, the humble milkman with five young daughters and a feisty wife, has played out thousands of times on the stages of Broadway, London’s West End and in theatres all around the world.

With such a popular stage play it was inevitable that a movie version would be made and in 1971

I watched the horse, as if  possessed by the devil, run at full speed, urged on by a charro (Mexico’s answer to the cowboy). It was useless though; there was no possible way out. The circular arena, called a lienzo, only allows for running in circles. Meanwhile, in the middle of the ring, another impeccably spiffy charro, with coffee-colored hues on his boots, pants, jacket and shirt, whips his lasso, twirling it in the air, waiting for the charger (called a corcel) to get close.

One turn left

por Cristóbal Ramirez

Bajo sus calles se esconde oro. Cemento, hormigón y más abajo oro. Johannesburgo se erigió sobre la riqueza de este mineral y hoy sus rascacielos brillan bajo el sol sudafricano. Pero eso fue hace mucho tiempo y hoy lo que todos tenemos en mente es el Mundial de Fútbol de este año, un evento donde la ciudad fue protagonista y demostró su capacidad (y la de todo el país) para organizar grandes acontecimientos. En el distrito cultural de Newton ya no se escuchan vuvuzelas, per

A visit to India's Corbett National Park is only a two day affair, provided you are not planning to go for excursions, which are, if not more, as exciting and enchanting as the jeep safari in Corbett Park.

There are so many other places to be seen around the Corbett National Park that one is tempted to increase the stay duration at Corbett resorts by another two days at least. Hence, if you’re planning a four-five days trip to Corbett, here are the places you definitely need to visit.

1.    T

Tall, impressive Volcano Arenal is at the top of everyone’s list of places to visit in Costa Rica. Towering above the rainforest that surround its base and the beautiful Lake Arenal, Volcano Arenal’s perfectly symmetrical conical shape makes it a stunning sight.

Even though Costa Rica’s most active volcano is taking a rest lately from spewing lava, gas and ash nearly every day and night, standing close to an active volcano is still a thrilling experience. The much-loved volcano entered into an in

It's an axiom among those of us who fly: You never know whom you'll be sitting next to.

Could be a fascinating character from some terrific movie, your next love or, more likely, someone you really, badly want to get away from.

New Media Travel reported on the idea of "Social Seating Solutions" (Never Sit Next to Boring People Again), so the idea of selecting one's seat mate  has been around for a while. But the enabling tool hasn't been very successfully developed or employed. And there was al

I arrived in Cusco the day before the US embassy website posted the kidnapping advisory for US citizens in Cusco & Machu Picchu.

I spent the next week walking around the city of Cusco, often alone, and went to the village of Ollantaytambo for a hike to unknown ruins. 

I made a short video of my observations while in Cusco that I hope will address some of these questions . . .

It all started as a bit of an accident. A big fan of Cuban music, American guitarist Ry Cooder had been invited to Cuba to work on a collaboration with local musicians and two well-known musical stars from Mali. When the Africans were denied entry visas to Cuba, Cooder set about creating his Plan B: A recording of Cuban son music with local musicians.

A Star is Born

The resulting album, recorded in only six days, included the title track Buena Vista Social Club and was released to critical acclaim

The Caribbean is filled with fresh from-the-tree & garden ingredients along with daily just-caught fish right off shore. Up until just 5 years ago, many Cayman Island restaurants simply had key ingredients shipped in from elsewhere instead. On the surface, this may seem like lunacy. Why not simply harvest what's in your backyard rather than have it shipped from around the globe? The answer is twofold. First, more obscure island produce couldn't be farmed and sold profitably. As a result, island

por Cristóbal Ramirez

Ella es esa novia guapa y moderna por la que todos nos envidian. Se llama Barcelona y nos lleva de la mano por las Ramblas, el paseo de la ciudad por antonomasia, que bulle a cualquier hora. Y por aquí no solo se camina: se bebe agua en la fuente de Canaletas (donde los hinchas del Barça celebran sus triunfos), se compran flores, se lee un libro sentado en un banco, se observan las actuaciones callejeras, se compra el periódico, se beben cafés, carajillos, zumos de frutas

Sarapiquí is one of my favorite places in Costa Rica.

Rust red-orange earth meets up with jade green water of the Sarapiqui River, next to fluorescent green grass and darker emerald-green, thick rainforest. Jewel-toned birds and butterflies swoop here and there, and this time of year, the cicadas bring a tumultuous cacophony to the sunshine. Colors seem more vibrant here. Maybe it’s the moisture in the sun-soaked air. Maybe it’s the abundance of nature.

Sarapiquí is considered one of the world’s m

What would you guess most determines how we choose a hotel? Price? Location? Recommendation by a friend or someone else?

In a connected social media world, it's surprising to discover that what our friends, and friends of friends recommend, say on Facebook or other sharing platforms, counts for only 6.8 % in determining what influences our hotel choices.
"Past experience" weighs in at 11.9%.

In truth, according to Hotelmarketing.com what actually influences a hotel choice is location.
For exa

I’m a huge animal lover, and I’ve been writing about vacation resorts for a few years now. These two facts might at first seem like a non-sequitur, but on my recent visit to Iberostar’s five-resort Playa Paraíso complex on Mexico’s Mayan Riviera below Cancun, they came delightedly together. 

Here not a day goes by where you won’t spot a charming critter with feathers, fins, or fur. Strolling from my room to dinner one evening at the Paraíso Maya, I came across a peacock calmly striding around t

Haiti tourism, it would appear, is once again on the march.  

Yes, thanks to its rough history, the Massachusetts-size country sharing the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic has admittedly been a tough sell from a travel standpoint for many years. And yet... Haiti also has a surprising amount to offer. Its beaches and waters are pristine (in fact, many thousands of Royal Caribbean cruisers have experienced them, since its Western Caribbean itineraries include northern H

Nestled in the Andes mountain range, Salta is a city in the heart of the Lerma Valley, at 1,152 metres (3780 feet) above sea level in the north west part of Argentina. Along with its metropolitan area, it has a population of approximately 800,000 inhabitants, which makes it the second most populated city in the northwest of the country. Within Argentina, Salta is the city which has preserved its colonial architecture the best. Also known as Salta la Linda ("Salta the beautiful"), it has become

The fun-loving beach town of Jacó lights up as “beach party central” on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast. Just an hour from the San Jose metropolitan area on the Route 27 and Costanera Sur highways, Jacó is one of the country’s most developed beach towns.

Jacó spreads out in front of a low green mountain range along an azure horseshoe bay and features hotels, funky restaurants, souvenir and surf shops, bars, discos, casinos, and a wide beach. Just before Jacó is Playa Herradura, home to the ren

My God, it wasn't just your run-of-the-mill gorgeous outdoor destination, it was a freaking, sparsely populated island in the Galapagos! "How could you people walk away from the sky and ensconce yourselves in walls. For chrissakes, come outside and sleep!"

Those were the thoughts that passed through my mind as I dragged my mattress off the rustic, yet sturdy, hand-cut, wooden bed frame and dragged it across the floor of the cutest little cabin I'd ever been in, and slammed it down outside on th