36 Hours in Zermatt

“Nature is built on a stupendous plan in that region,” Mark Twain once wrote of the valley leading into Zermatt. “There is nothing tame, or cheap, or trivial — it is all magnificent.” Much of today’s Zermatt would still be familiar to Twain. The high, stony pyramid of the Matterhorn — “lonely, conspicuous, and superb,”…

Are Frequent Flier Miles Killing the Planet?

In October, a two-line recommendation buried on Page 35 of a report commissioned by the United Kingdom’s Committee on Climate Change garnered disproportionate attention in the world of frequent fliers. “Introduce a ban on air miles and frequent flier loyalty schemes that incentivize excessive flying,” it suggested. Message boards and blogs that serve points-obsessed, platinum-status-seeking…

Ice Fishing Is Fun!

With frozen dirt road crunching under the car tires, my longtime fishing buddy (and paleontologist) Mike and I pull out of the driveway of my family cottage in New Hampshire for the hour drive north east toward the White Mountains , where an invite we’ve long coveted has us giddy. It’s to sit on a…

52 Books for 52 Places

The Times’s 52 places to go in 2020 spans the globe, from Washington, D.C., to Mount Kenya to Sabah, Malaysia. Maybe you’re already buying your plane tickets, or maybe you can’t get away anytime soon — but either way, we recommend the books below, which will help you explore on the ground or from your…