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por Jorge Mira

Hay una larga lista de personas famosas con fobia a volar. Quizás el más destacado de todos ellos sea Gabriel García Márquez, quien hace ya tiempo escribió un cómico artículo sobre el asunto titulado “Seamos machos: hablemos del miedo al avión”, en el que nos dejaba algunas perlas como éstas:

“Yo lo padezco como nadie, a mucha honra, y además con una gratitud inmensa, porque gracias a él he podido darle la vuelta al mundo en 82 horas, a bordo de toda clase de aviones, y por lo m

By Shannon Farley

Tortuguero is like the imaginary jungle coast in Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.” It is a wild place.

You can just imagine what was going through Christopher Columbus’ mind when he anchored off the palm-fringed beach in 1502 … “I have come to the end of the earth,” he must have mused.

The Tortuguero coast along Costa Rica’s northern Caribbean region is a 22-mile-long, desolate, volcanic black sand beach littered with driftwood and tree logs tossed up on shore from wil

And, yes,  we told you so.

In a New Media Travel article we discussed the low-to-no threat that cell phones pose to navigation, and why some many other airlines like Emirates are permitting cell phone use in flight. US-based airlines don't.

But we also said most passengers don't actually want to talk in the air. Nor do they want to talk to their co-passengers.

Apparently saying "I love you," at 35,000 feet isn't a great a temptation for 38% of us who fly.

It seems we'd rather enjoy the quiet

We recently interviewed Brian & Bill Rogers of Timeshare Users Group (TUG) on our show, The Traveling Eye.  Bill, the father and founder of TUG told us that there's no "in the middle" for timeshare owners.  You either love it or hate it.  Why because you either understand the business of timeshare ownership or don't.  This is exactly why we did the show and looked to TUG for some expert advice.

I think we have all been to a presentation or two.  For my husband it became a sport to find and rece

Last week, Vilma Soltesz died after she was denied her seat on a flight because of her weight. Soltesz was planning to fly home to receive treatment for diabetes and renal disease, but she passed away in Hungary before she could get home. Her husband has filed a lawsuit, but the two airlines named in the suit (Delta and KLM) are claiming that they could not physically accommodate Soltesz.

Though the details of Soltesz's ordeal remain in dispute, her story—and the experiences of countless other fl

We all know Harry and David for their delicious gourmet savories but did you know they're planning to produce their own wine? That’s right, this month the iconic purveyor of vaunted gustatory delights opened their own Oregon winery and now offers seasonal lineups throughout the year.

Partnering with winemaker Linda Donovan of Pallet Wine Company, Harry & David now features 9 different varietals, all made with signature Oregon grapes. Their collection includes five charming red wines: Tempranillo,

Sometimes even living in a nation with arguably one of the best cuisines on the planet, I still crave something other than delicous tacos and some of the freshest sea food on the planet. After all, variety is the spice of life.

Table with a view

On Puerto Vallarta's malecón (boardwalk) lies one of the my favorite Italian restaurants in the world, La Dolce Vita.  Yes, I could eat Mexican food on a daily basis if I had to. However, we all have a place that we call home. As pizza and pasta aficionado

By Shannon Farley

Take a deep breath. Now imagine your lung capacity reduced by one-fifth. Find it a bit harder to breathe? What if that lessens?

Now take your focus out to a global view, and you have a clear picture of what is happening in the Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon is the largest contiguous tropical forest in the world, and releases 20% of the world’s life-giving oxygen. Today in 2012, due to mostly slash-and-burn deforestation, nearly one-fifth of the Amazon’s forest has been cleared (Am

Traveling to a new destination is about learning more about the culture, by getting to know the locals. And you will mix best with them, by trying to eat what they eat. Unusual and different, trying these local drinks and dishes border with ‘extreme dining’ to many of us. Sure, we all get excited by trying something new and little bizarre, but read on and you tell us where you draw a line.

#1. Birds Nest Soup in China

A nest of twigs and leaves wouldn’t be edible, but the Swift’s nests, made of sa

According to a recent article posted on the economist.com, the perfect airline passengers are single European men, in their 30s traveling for pleasure. 

Once he’s got his airline tickets, it seems the single European man is content to go about his travels, with minimal interaction with airline staff. 

Is that what it takes to be a perfect passenger?

For those we aren't "perfect passengers," listen up to what your problem may be. 

The majority of the complaints listed in the survey on Skyscanner soun

When your child needs to travel alone preparing them well in advance will make the world of difference.  If they know in advance what to expect it will make if fun for them and limit some of the fear or anxiety, especially for TSA.

• You should educate yourself and your child on the policies and procedures.
• They should know what to expect and how they should be handled by the airline and staff.
• Contact the airline for their policies on pricing, age requirements, flight cancellations and delays.
• Try to

"This Camdodian temple, in the Angkor region, is undoubtedly a woman.

One begins to realize it even before finding out the translation of its name: Banteay Srey means "refuge of women," and it was built for them.

It is small and elegant, like a genuine woman.

Every line is well-balanced, every angle is magnetic like a genuine woman.

It is neat and clean like a genuine woman.

It has smooth and soft skin, like every woman has.

Though everything is made of stone, one can believe, that it is a soft spon

I love to travel as much as possible, and I always travel by cruise. However, I heard very good things about Dalaman, Turkey. It’s a quiet, peaceful town in southwest Turkey and has beautiful weather. I’d also heard great things about a fantastic 5-star hotel called hotel Grand Azur; however I still love my cruises so I didn't know what to do. I can only get the time off work once a year to take myself and my wife away on vacation.

So after hours of research I discovered that we could spend a wee

To be a native Californian, one grows up with an appreciation for outdoor spaces. Where else can you surf and ski in the same day or climb a waterfall and be in the desert in a matter of hours. California, “The Golden State”  that brings us Hollywood, Cable cars reaching for the stars, up San Francisco hills, fine wine, technology that charges the world, also gives us some of the greatest outdoor spaces that rival any destination on the planet. In California you’re never far from nature. Waterfa

Do you like to work out in your hotel’s gym when you’re away? If you happen to be staying in Denmark’s Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, keeping fit while traveling will help generate the hotel’s electricity and earn you meal vouchers in their restaurant. The flagship eco-hotel is the first hotel in Denmark to generate all of its power from renewable sources – solar panels, geothermal heating and cooling pumps, and stationary bicycles connected to generators which provide the hotel’s electricity.

In an example of great partnering, Family Travel Forum (FTF) and the Society of American of Travel Writers
teamed up to work with and announce the lucky bloggers who earned the 2012 Teen Travel Writing Scholarships, awarded by both of these respected  professional travel content organizations.

The fierce competition attracted more than 6,300 students ages 13-18, educated in US or American-International schools or home-schooled, all of whom applied for the merit scholarships. 

This is the  sixt

I travel a lot which means I'm away from home and it also means that I think about home safety and security.  I have a few things that I do but I'm always on the prowl for tips and useful information on keeping my home safe.  I live in a condominium and recently received a notice under my door that our building had two break ins.  Both break-ins occurred when the home owners were out of town.  This means that someone must have known they weren't home.  You couldn't get any closer to home than th

WHEN OFF THE JOB: TRAVEL AND LEISURE In order to see the world, we need time away from our jobs. That we can all agree upon, whether we call it holiday, vacation, quality time, or something else. But how we handle that free time of travel and leisure, and how much of it we have avaliable differs wildly, a new survey shows.

Net travel agency Expedia’s study “Vacation Deprivation“, in which over 8,000 people in 22 countries have answered questions about their holidays, how they want to spend it and

I saw this at the Asian Civilization Museum in Singapore:

I sat there for a few moments, thinking about what this meant. Why do people like me, travelers, choose to be so far away from the people they love, first and foremost, our families? It seems like a cruel way to pay back those who helped raise us, helped us become the people we are today.

I rarely meet other travelers who keep in touch with their family as well as I do. Part of that is natural - I'm closer to my parents than most peopl