Read Your Way Around the World is a series exploring the globe through books. In American fiction, my state is code for outpost. Maine is where you send a character you want to get rid of, someone who goes off to raise goats, farm oysters, prep for the apocalypse — or write a novel. Apart…
The moment the motor turned off, I was hooked. It was 20 minutes into my first Swedish sailing trip on a blazingly sunny morning in late June. I’d set sail with two friends from their summer house on Kilholmen, a wooded islet in the central archipelago, about an hour by bus (then a five-minute boat…
Step behind the unassuming facade of Mendel Goldberg Fabrics on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and you’ll suddenly find yourself surrounded by an array of gorgeous fabrics on its floor-to-ceiling shelves: bolts and neatly folded stacks of fine cottons, silks, satins, taffetas and lace as well as more opulent materials, from bubble-gum pink metallic brocade to…
Dear Tripped Up, In 2021, my husband, my sister and I signed up for a five-day Tremendous Tawas Lake Huron tour run by Pardson, the Ohio company that publishes Bird Watcher’s Digest magazine. We paid almost $4,800 in all. The tour was canceled because of Covid that year, but we were so eager to see…
Southern Europe is baking, thanks to a relentless heat wave with temperatures breaking records across Italy, Spain and Greece. This extreme weather, coupled with one of the busiest tourist seasons in recent years, raises questions for travelers looking to enjoy their vacations while staying safe. Here’s what you need to know if you’re heading to…
What is the sound of 488 golden retrievers barking? Imagine the sense of helplessness you might feel when someone’s baby is crying and you can’t solve the problem. Then multiply by, oh, 488. Then add in drenching rain and an onslaught of midges. Why the cacophony? Around 4 p.m. on July 13, the dogs had…
There are plenty of free and cheap things to do in Los Angeles. As a traveler, the issue is getting to them. From Los Angeles International Airport, rental cars recently priced out around $75 a day before tax and gas. Taxis and app-based rides between the airport and downtown cost $40 to $70, depending on…
One of our first infractions at Ghibli Park was hoisting our 1-year-old onto the polyester tummy of a woodland spirit creature. Another was letting him slip under a barricade and shelter inside a furry bus with cat eyes for headlights. “He’s not following the protocol,” I told my wife, as the staff overseeing the cat-bus…
“The general ocean ship cruising with 30 restaurants and 4,000 people, I don’t know how long that is actually going to survive,” said Joshua Smith, the founder and travel designer at Global Citizen Journeys, a travel company that caters to millennials. “I’m seeing more and more companies introducing niche cruises, like the groove cruise music…
Summer has arrived in Paris, and the world with it. By day, international hordes pile into the Musée d’Orsay to catch the final month of the blockbuster “Manet / Degas” exhibition as throngs surround the closed, fire-damaged Notre Dame Cathedral to snap any possible selfies. By night, the available picnic space quickly disappears on the…