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As I sit here in my condo in the warm weather of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, sometimes I forget how blessed I am. Born on perhaps, as many will attest to, the most beautiful island in the world, Santorini, then to have my parents move to San Francisco when I was 4 years old, I feel very fortunate. I have spent a lifetime roaming the streets of this world-class city. Contemplating my return to the city this weekend to watch the 49ers with my fellow locals, I just learned that San Francisco received

I know a lot of financial experts say to skip travel if you're poor.I totally disagree with that.Travel can open the door to business ideas and jobs.It also acts as a strong motivation to make more money.The very planning and saving for trips can lead to different opportunities.If you have kids,travel opens their eyes to careers they haven't thought of and colleges they might like to attend in the future. On top of all that, planning of trips brings happiness and of course travel is educational

See video Voices United for Mali - 'Mali-ko'

It’s horrible, of course, the war currently going on in Mali, the desecration of Sufi shrines in Timbuktu, and the disruption of lives in a place where life doesn’t allow much margin for error.  Maybe the most ironic aspect of it all is that Mali has been able to cast itself so successfully in the last twenty years as the capital of world music, starting with Ali Farka Toure’ and including dozens of regional stars in its roll-call before making Ali’s s

La esquina de la luz y el duende se llama Cádiz. El aeropuerto de la provincia está en Jerez de la Frontera (la ciudad más poblada, con más de 200.000 habitantes) Osborne y recibe al turista con un toro de . Todo un símbolo en la tierra del sherry, ese tipo de vino que se puede probar en más de 30 bodegas, como la de Tío Pepe o la de Álvaro Domecq. Incluso está el Museo del Misterio de Jerez, un pedagógico paseo por la historia de estos caldos desde el siglo XVIII.

Otro de los mayores orgullos de

We reported frequently in New Media Travel that hotels notoriously use photos of empty swimming pools, restaurants and rooms in their marketing material for fear of offending potential customers. Their thinking is that couples without children, for example, will be discouraged by pictures with children in them, while families may be be turned off by photos  featuring adults.

Enter Socialgraphics which claims the days of travel marketers having only the basic customer information they ask for, a

You’ve got your flight to Costa Rica booked, your hotel reservations or tour itinerary set. Now what about getting around?

There are many choices, from in-country flights to renting a car, hopping a local bus or hiring a private shuttle or tour bus complete with bilingual driver. It all depends on how fast you want to get somewhere, how many places you want to visit, what you want to see and, of course, how much money you want to spend.

While Costa Rica is small, comparable in size to West Virg

Among the images conjured by mentioning Brazil are those of beach volleyballers on Ipanema, with green mountain slopes in the background and golden sand running for miles. Aside from the all-night-long beach parties, beach volleyball is one of the country's most popular symbols; it's long been associated with beach volleyball not just because of Brazilians' obession with the sport, but largely because many of the best players in the world are from Brazil.

Introducing Brazil to the World

Jacqu

por Cristóbal Ramírez

El Atlántico se presiente (aunque no se vea) y la historia se siente (y también se ve). Vayamos al grano: Boston fue la madre de los Estados Unidos. La pionera. La adelantada. La espabilada. Califíquenla como quieran, pero sepan que su centro neurálgico es un parque, el Boston Common, algo inusual en cualquier urbe del planeta. En su Lago de las Ranas se puede patinar sobre hielo en invierno o chapotear (sólo niños, atención) en verano. Al lado está Public Garden, el prim

Legend tells that when God made the world, after he finished painting the sky a brilliant pastel blue, he washed his brushes in a beautiful Costa Rican river, coloring the river the same intense sky blue.

Rio Celeste (Sky Blue River) is still revered as a sacred site by the indigenous Maleku tribe who live in this Northern Costa Rica region near the Tenorio Volcano. The river begins its journey as crystal clear water tumbling and flowing down the lush rainforest of Tenorio Volcano National Park;

New England is not an easy place to get to know, especially in its winters when the dark and the cold and the snow hold the land in a formidable grasp, and the people disappear into their homes and cafes for months.

But that can also be the fun part of New England, and especially the iconic state of New Hampshire

Here the spirit of Robert Frost is alive and well, his woods fill with snow, are dark and deep, and the lights on the landscape come from villages in the hills,  and especially old in

by Nellie Huang

Spain, a Western European country rich in Mediterranean flavors and Arab influence, is actually a few countries packed into one. With its location in the southern end of Europe and just a hop away from North Africa, Spain serves as Europe’s link to the Arab world. This link has been running strong for centuries: With large swaths having been ruled by the Moors for centuries as al-Andalus (origin of the name of today's southern Andalusia region), evidence of Arab influence is st

Many of us have been fortunate enough to have been on safari in Africa - some of us more than once. An African safari is something that should be on everyone's bucket list.  I have been fortunate enough to have been on a hot-air balloon over the Masai Mara - truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But all safaris, safari lodges, and games reserves are clearly not all alike. Once in a while you just have to live like a star.

But even if you're not Brad and Angelina, but just have three friends wi

It often seems that at least 90% of foreign tourists only step into one part of Indonesia – Bali, the formally Hindu majority paradise just to the east of Java. But by the time I finally took the ferry across the narrow waterway between the two islands, I'd spent three months in Indonesia, all in Java.

I was truthfully, scared to come here. It features heavily in classical writing about Asia, a tropical paradise, Shangri-la, with an amazing unique culture and perfect artistic light. But something

Remember the proverb about giving a man a fish versus teaching a man to fish? That ancient bit of wisdom was well at work in an inspiring documentary I saw recently about three of my favorite topics: Peru, food, and Peruvian food. I even got to meet its stars, both world famous chefs, and in the process was pleasantly surprised to learn something new about how a little creativity and imaginative thinking outside the proverbial box (another example would be micro-lending) can have implications f

Una cosa hay que dejar clara: no venga buscando grandes monumentos en El Salvador. De todas formas, ¿quién los quiere con esta naturaleza exuberante? Los parques nacionales de Los Volcanes, El Imposible y de Montecristo muestran bosques majestuosos, ríos frescos y miradores donde uno se siente amo y señor de la naturaleza. Los 300 kilómetros de costa del país dan para mucho: sol en Las Tunas, buceo en Los Cobanos y las mejores olas de Centroamérica para los surfistas en Sunzal y La Paz. Túmbese

More than 700 miles of beach on Pacific and Caribbean coasts, warm water, tropical climate, lush rainforest and cloud forest, jungle wildlife, stable country, and friendly people – Costa Rica entices millions to visit every year.

If you live anywhere in the Americas, and most likely even in Europe, then you have heard the buzz about this Central American paradise. Maybe you’ve already visited and promised yourself you’d return. Maybe you’re still looking at websites and brochures, plotting your e

Whether for elegant shopping or hotels, Vienna Austria has become a hot spot in Europe. Hotels of all categories have been transforming and mushrooming for a while, with more and better places to sleep, at (still) reasonable prices. That makes the choice a little harder, and more people are looking for the most popular hotels in town. But does that reasonably narrow your search? The answer is no, as probably a third of all local hotels and B&Bs rank among the top 10 on different sites, and in di

Or, Are Facebook and Twitter a Waste of Time for the Travel Marketer?

How surprising is this: In the second half of last year, fewer that 1% of visitors arrived at a hotel or travel booking site, "via a social media link or a link shared by by a friend," reports Hotelmarketing.com.

Does this mean hotels are wasting their time chasing the Holy Grail of Twitter and Facebook? Could be.

We love our friends' photos and status updates, the report goes on to say, and it's very true that social media

Once a humble Howard Johnson's overlooking I-95, JHouse is now Greenwich, Connecticut’s newest hotel and live-music hotspot. Resulting from extreme adaptive reuse, the property’s exterior footprint is the only discernible clue revealing its HoJo origins. The rest is a tricked out ultramodern architectural gem. A grand glassed entrance with a valet at the ready leads into a bright reception area. At first it feels as though you’re entering a museum and in some ways it is once you look up at the i

Dalmatia.he


by Nelly Huang


Croatia, a land of more than a thousand islands splattered off the beautiful Adriatic Sea coastline in the Balkans of Eastern Europe, is chock-full of intriguing history, Mediterranean cuisine and Slavic cultural heritage. And on a recent visit to its Dalmatian coast, I decided to delve deeper into its less explored side of the country, and so I ditched the crowds on the beach, left the tourist trail behind me, and headed deep into the world of music.

Journey int