A quick and easy day trip from Costa Rica’s capitol city of San Jose is to the Botanical Gardens at CATIE (the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) in Turrialba.

Just an hour and a half from the Central Valley, you’ll be in a tropical plantation paradise.

Nature lovers, get your cameras ready! Stroll down paths beneath the shade of Costa Rica’s national Guanacaste tree, and under 100-year-old Ceiba trees while you learn their importance in the country’s history and folklore.

With UK based budget airline easyJet offering service to Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, more visitors from Europe have an opportunity to visit this exciting country, which today's New York Times Travelsection includes among its list of 45-places to visit in 2012.

When I saw Jordan on the listit stirred memories of my trip there a few years ago. I had less than a week so I did a quick hit of three important sites.

The River Jordan - There’s not much water left in the Jordan River and wh

This is something I wrote for The Travel Doc:

 While traveling cross-country a few times last year, I experienced something I suspect that a lot of travelers out there can relate to. All of the travel pillows I tried were more uncomfortable than not wearing one at all.

I tried numerous travel pillows, and more often than not, I would arrive tired and with a sore neck that would last for hours or even days. My head and neck just weren’t being supported properly.

A little research helped me iden

A step beyond Eco-tourism? This should be the way to travel, for everyone. Ethical Traveleris a nonprofit organization, founded to "empower travelers to change the world." We seek to use the economic clout of tourism to protect human rights and the environment. When something like this caught your eye, you better not turn away. Surfing the web I came across this interesting website and I couldn't just read, I had to write about them.

What is the purpose of Ethical Traveler?

Ethical Traveler is de

Yes, Costa Rica is fast becoming one of the world’s top destinations for cycling and mountain biking.

The annual Vuelta Ciclista a Costa Rica (Tour of Costa Rica) just finished in December. The 12-day-long stage race is Costa Rica’s own version of the world-famous Tour de France, and has been steadily attracting international competitors over the past 40 years. The race crisscrosses the country across towering mountain ranges from sea level to more than 3,000 meters (nearly 10,000 feet high).

One

Lake Placid is the perfect destination in any season and for any reason.  But it is the winter season that put Lake Placid on the map. Lake Placid, in the High Peaks area of the Adirondack, is considered the birthplace of winter sports in America and it was the site of 1932 and 1980 Olympics. After the skiing, snowboarding, skating and sledding check out these indoor activities.

1. Olympic Museum: Explore the legacy of the 1932 and 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games in the many exhibits, which include

La definición de Ecoturismo ó Turismo Ecológico es la actividad turística que se desarrolla sin alterar el equilibrio del medio ambiente, evitando así daños a la naturaleza.

Una de las cosas que hace del Ecoturismo algo muy atractivo es el vínculo que se logra entre el visitante y las comunidades locales que son quienes reciben muchas veces al turista y a su vez vigilan que sus recursos recursos ecológicos se vean afectados.

El ecoturismoconsiste en viajar por áreas naturales sin perturbarlas, con

Here I am on an Air Arabia flight over the middle of the Indian Ocean on my way to a city I had never even heard of a year ago, Colombo. (I am wondering if I should be wearing a crumpled trench coat and smoking a cheap cigar, but I digress) Colombo is the capital city of a country I had only heard of because I am a news junkie, Sri Lanka. 

Sri Lanka is only a few years past a civil war that pitted the Tamil Tigers (never to be confused with the team from Detroit) against the establishment who n

There’s no doubt marketers and brand managers are spending lots of human and real capital to leverage the power of Social Sites, especially Facebook and Twitter. But does it do them any good? Meaning, do consumers promote brands via Social Media regardless of how hard those brands try to get in front of consumers?

eMarketer says very clearly that 57.8 % of US Facebook users had not mentioned a brand in their status updates as of October 2011.

Hotelmarketing.com reports the same figures in its

When in Lake Charles, Louisiana head to Sha Sha’s of Creole for the most amazing bread pudding.  Life is short so enjoy it.  They take the original bread pudding batter and then deep fry it. When it's golden, they top it with powdered sugar, rum sauce, and Cool Whip. My! Oh! My!

Sha Sha’s concept and design is reflective of Creole, the Creole Nature Trail and the entire Cameron Parish area. Their handmade tables were crafted from log and cypress. T lights are metal shrimp buckets turned upside d

For this year Tnooz shares a study done by Simpliflying where they analyzed the data from a recent EyeforTravel report understanding how travel companies are approaching social media in 2012.

Here are some interesting findings from the study, Social Media and Mobile Strategies for the Travel Industry 2011:

• Location-based services such as Foursquare will be huge this year. Almost half of all the airlines surveyed wish to increase their presence in location-based social networks in 2012 (they’re goi

La brillante carrera del capitán italiano Francesco Schettino podría tener un final de pesadilla. El que fue hasta hace tres días capitán del lujoso barco Costa Concordia está preso, y su cara reflejando una mezcla de sorpresa, angustia y ¿miedo? me impactó.

Lo conocí mientras hacía una travesía por el Caribe en el Costa Atlántica. Eran sin duda unas condiciones muy distintas a las que vive ahora. Al timón de la nave lucía en control total, y no era solo mi percepción, sino que así se sentía. Seg

There is still time to hop a flight to Hong Kong where celebrating Chinese New Year is special with fireworks and a great parade.  The Chinese New Year celebration starts on Jan. 23 goes to February 5.  According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar it will be the Year of the Dragon 4710.  The flight to Hong Kong from New York State is long – very long so book a stay at the SkyCity Marriott located on Lantau Island next to Hong Kong International Airport.  The luxury hotel is the perfect place to recu

On a mild December night, I took my husband for a surprise visit to an independent bookstore in Brooklyn to give him his Christmas present: not just a hard-cover version of the recently released Queen of America by Luis Alberto Urrea, a book we'd been anticipating as the sequel to our favorite, The Hummingbird's Daughter, but a signed copy and a chance to meet the author.

Jon was delighted when he r

From Kenya’s capital, Nairobi to the Samburu Game Lodge is about 150 miles as the crow flies. But, if you leave Nairobi in the middle of winter, and you’ll arrive at Samburu in midsummer. However, that’s not because the roads are so bad, or the little Nissan safari buses which most tour operators use being anything other than quick and efficient.

The reason for the seasonal shift is that on this journey crosses the Equator, at a place called Nanyuki, where the buses always stop. Ostensibly, it’s

Check out these two amazing winter getaways inSE Asia

One of the best beach destinations in the world is in Myanmar (Burma).  Ngapali beach is long, the sand is cool and soft, the sea is gentle and warm, and there are none of the pesky annoyance found on many beaches. No bugs, no vendors, and no rip tides. Like the rest of Myanmar the beach is very safe.  If that sounds amazing, it is.  Amazing Resorts Ngapali is located on the Bay of Bengal and while it is growing in popularity, especially with

Patrick Smith’s column, Ask the Pilot  is almost always an acerbic look at the airline industry with its many foibles and Alice in Wonderland rules and regulations.

But the regular contributor to Salon, the award-winning online news site, also provides helpful insights into basic questions such as: Are Pilots Ever Afraid of Crashing or what do all those bells mean during a flight. Human stuff that’s reassuring and informative.

Recently he took the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)