In the 1951 novel “Requiem for a Nun,” William Faulkner crafts a character who travels from Kentucky to Mississippi along the Natchez Trace: Jason Lycurgus. Who, driven perhaps by the compulsion of the flamboyant name given him by the sardonic embittered woodenlegged indomitable father who perhaps still believed with his heart that what he wanted…
The Natchez Trace Parkway: A Peek into This History-Filled Attraction in the Mississippi Delta
Meet Maine’s Passionate Seafaring Couple Wowing Travelers with Relaxing Windjammer Adventures
One could say that the husband and wife co-captains of the J. & E. Riggin windjammer were destined to one day own and command this particular vessel. Justin Schaefer and Jocelyn Schmidt both grew up on the water. Justin, at just a year and a half old, was introduced to sailing by his captain father….
Craving an RV Getaway? Get Inspired by Stories of People Already Living the Dream
Picture this: You’re on Interstate 15, a four-lane highway that snakes through the Virgin River Gorge, situated between St. George, Utah, and Beaver Dam, Arizona. Your foot’s on the gas. The speedometer’s needle hovers around 55 miles per hour. The late afternoon sun peaks through the towering cliffs to the west, casting a heavenly light…
A City and Its Secret River: Prague
Europe is filled with great river cities—the steeples and citadels of Buda and Pest rising dramatically on either side of the Danube, the Rhine flowing near the massive cathedral in Cologne, the Seine slicing Paris into Left Bank and Right Bank. But Prague? Not really one of them. Yes, water runs through its heart. And…
Finding Rotterdam: So Many Surprises in Holland’s Second City
Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, is one of the most popular destinations on earth. With travelers returning to Europe in droves, it is again flooded with tourists, people eager to experience its famous charm, walking down dozens of storybook canals, cruising under bridges and past houseboats on aquatic tours, heading to the Rijksmuseum to…
Siena’s Palio: 90 Seconds of Sheer Medieval Madness
“For the Sienese life story: You’re born…there’s the Palio…and then you die.” That’s how my friend Roberto explains the importance of Italy’s world-famous horse race, the Palio di Siena, which takes place twice every summer on July 2 and August 16. The city’s residents hurl themselves into the traditional revelry of the event with abandon….
Hidden Italy: Puglia
They are weird, and strange, and feel somewhat otherworldly. Approaching them on foot felt a little like discovering an alien village in some outer-space sci-fi movie, not a UNESCO-protected settlement in the south of Italy. Climbing a small rise, the details of the tiny dwellings become clear—round, white-washed base with a conical roof, some splashed…
Exploring Venice One Morning at a Time
As my husband and I sat with our suitcases awaiting an early water bus to the Venice airport we had time to watch the city come to life. Cartons for delivery clattered past on handcarts designed for the narrow alleys of the city while boxes of flowers and fresh vegetables motored down the Grand Canal…
Finding Our Way in Florence
I’d never seen a bathroom with such a tiny shower in it, and I wasn’t quite sure about the closet-sized kitchen that was three steep marble steps down from the rest of the apartment. But marble floors, arched ceilings and worn stone stairs intriguingly recalled the apartment’s period as a monastery for the thousand-year-old church…
Authors and Opulence in Bangkok: The Mandarin Oriental
As a writer, I am a sucker for historical hotels, but especially the haunts of iconic authors of old. Tell me Hemingway drank there or Melville stayed the night, and I will visit. So an “Authors’ Lounge” in a five-star hotel with a beautiful river view in the heart of Bangkok? This is not to…
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