Even for a city like New Orleans, which has been bouncing back from calamities viral, meteorological and otherwise for three centuries, the last couple of years have been rough. But today, the most freewheeling city in the nation is strutting forward with a sense of relief and renewed confidence, seducing visitors with time-tested charms and…
In the United States, gender is a required data field for flight bookings. The requirement was set by the Transport Security Administration in 2009 as part of its Secure Flight program, an initiative that arose from the 9/11 Commission. This enabled the agency to use additional passenger information, which included gender, in later stages of…
Of the many feats Harriet Tubman accomplished, none awe me more as an historian than the estimated 13 trips she made to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Each time, she stole family and friends from enslavement much in the way Tubman first secreted herself away to freedom in 1849. Born on the Eastern Shore, Tubman grew into…
With a map in one hand and a cold beer in the other, I sat alone at the bar of the Baobab Beach Backpackers Lodge in the coastal town of Vilankulo, gazing out at the sweeping sandbars and vivid turquoise waters that surround Mozambique’s Bazaruto Archipelago. I’d planned to leave the following morning for Zimbabwe,…
Dear Tripped Up, When the pandemic broke out in March 2020, my wife and I cut short a trip to Norway, changing flights and canceling reservations that included a train ride from Bergen to Oslo that we had booked using Euro Railways. All the other vendors reimbursed us long ago, but we still haven’t received…
Cruise lines would like to see booking windows expand again and some are incentivizing it. Virgin Voyages, which operates in the Caribbean and Mediterranean, is offering 10 percent off bookings made 180 days or more in advance, and five percent off those more than 120 days out. High-end ships are filling up Luxury ocean, river…
Over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, Copenhagen somehow seems only to have become more thoroughly itself. With restrictions long gone (they were lifted in January) and summer at hand, the city’s outdoor spaces, designed to extract every bit of joy from summer, have multiplied. There are more harborside spots to sip wine and swim,…
Britt Ruggiero and Justin Giuffrida bought a 2002 Bluebird school bus in February 2021, with plans to convert it into a 30-foot home on wheels. At the time, diesel fuel prices in their home state of Colorado were averaging around $3 per gallon, the same as the national average. The engaged couple, new to the…
This is the first story in a new series exploring the world through books. We’ve asked some of our favorite writers to recommend reading that helps you get to know their cities and tips on literary landmarks to check out. We’ll be traveling the world with them for the next few months, from Madrid to…
For American travelers heading abroad, the growing strength of the dollar is the upside of a volatile economy. Currently, the exchange rate with the euro is about $1.04, meaning each 100 euros will cost about $104. One euro was worth about $1.22 this time last year. The present rate is down significantly from its high…