Blogs

Amtrak's AutoTrain is wonderfully family friendly, and kids are utterly enamored with trains. At the Lorton,VA station - the northern terminus - there is even a playground.
The train goes to Sanford, FL, just outside Orlando © 2010 Karen
Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The idea of long-distance train travel invariably evokes a sense of romance and nostalgia for the golden years when trains were the high-tech way to travel.

That spirit is still alive here in the United States in perhaps the most une

Our well-travelled staff have brainstormed and come up with an adventure travel Wish List for Santa. Here are a few of our gift ideas and we'd love to hear some of yours.

(1) Small powerful flashlight. Think rural Chinese toilets at night!

(2) A colourful sarong. You can wrap yourself in it post-swim, cover for temple visits, brighten an outfit or use it as a sleep sheet on an Indian train.

(3) Extra camera batteries and storage. You can never have enough.

(4) Camp, water-resistant duffle bag that c

I tend to have rather funny things happen to me when I travel. Perhaps it is because I travel
for fun, usually. I don't mind much, except standing in line at immigration in
a place like Lima Peru. In Lima, at least three jumbos arrive within a half
hour of each other at night, about midnight. The immigration post has a dozen
or so stations, of which two or three are manned. The line snakes back outside
of the immigration room, into an adjoining hallway, where people crush and
elbow their way towards

My wife and I were on the 14th floor of the Hilton Hotel for NYE in Caracas, Venezuela. Everyone in Caracas bought BIG skyrockets, and with no organized program, complete mayhem ensued. That was the most impressive display of community participation in an event I have ever seen. Until now. The night(s) of the November full moon find the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand alive and vibrant in a wonderful celebration. Actually there are two different traditional celebrations happening at the same time.

By Ed Wetschler

The five ducks at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, are the most popular ducks in the world (sorry, Donald). Over the years, hundreds of thousands of people have watched them march, if “march” is not too dignified a term, through the hotel to the marble fountain in the Peabody's Grand Lobby every day at 11 a.m. And their fans gather again each day at 5 p.m. to watch the marching ducks waddle back through the lobby toward their home on the hotel roof. All this, of course,

Yesterday my wife came home with my passport. It had a full-page Visa in it. The visa has my photograph on it and a holographic stamp. It is quite impressive. AND, it is good for three years.

Now, We must proceed to the next step. We have to get the UAE national ID card called EIADs an acronym Emirites Identity Authority doodah. I look forward to having this card. Not only because it make me totally legal, and allow me to do things like get a driver’s license so I can rent a car, and a liquor lic

It’s not often I get the opportunity to right a wrong or set the record straight while thoroughly immersing myself in sugar white beaches, clear blue ocean waves, and warm tropical breezes. Pair that with total engagement in culinary nirvana, a high-end waterfront condo stay, art, music and eco-friendly golf cart tours and I can truly say I’ve lived the life of an oil-free Diva in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama.

A few weeks back the Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism Bureau invited me to

Everyone should see Nepal.

My bonafides for saying that are simple. I have done my share of traveling (not enough yet mind you) and a lot of that has been in back water bizarre places. I have been all over the Altiplanos of Peru and Bolivia. I have been on an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca. I’ve been to Machu Picchu three times. I’ve been so far south in Chile I can almost say I have been in Antarctica. I have walked in the Atacama Desert in a place with zero rainfall ever. I have walked o

Taking a 'gap-year' is an experience that everybody can do and it doesn't mean being irresponsible.

I took two gap-years during my career in human resources (the first at 28, the second at 31), moreover having to face the Italian culture where the topic of the 'sabbatical' is still seen as an 'holiday'.

We often create some excuses to ourselves. Let’s start with the first three:

1. “Where can I find the money?”

Let’s try to have a realistic look at the money we really need to travel the world ‘on th

(After the book Paris Movie Walks came out last year, I've discovered several more sites that I want to share with my readers. Inception is one of them. For others, feel free to read them in my official site.)

Just before Inception came out, when anything everybody had ever seen from it were a few clips and a print synopsis, it was hailed, even by journalists from serious newspapers as a masterpiece, a thinking man’s adventure entertainment, half reflection on the nature of human consciousness, h

How many times have you heard yourself saying, “I need a break”. Yes, I know exactly what you mean and today I would like to tell you ten reasons why you should take a vacation on the enchanted island of Puerto Rico.

Reason # 10 can simply be because it is like going to another country but you don’t need a passport.

You can still use U S currency and most people know some English.

Reason # 9 is that you can go the many casinos in the hotels.

Reason # 8 is that there are almost 20 golf courses around