A man who's visited over 100 McDonald's restaurants around the world shares 10 items he thinks should be on every US menu

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tobi Oluwole, a 30-year-old former sales manager at a Big Tech firm who recently relocated to France. His former employer is known to Business Insider but is not named for confidentiality. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Oct 2, 2024 • 7 min read

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Read more about the winners for the best airports in the US here.

Every year, Condé Nast Traveler readers weigh in on their favorite hotels, airlines, cruises, islands, and more in our annual Readers’ Choice Awards. Luggage is also among the categories you voted on this year, applauding the brands you trust the most for durable, practical suitcase and bags. After all, no matter the trip—be it a safari, cruise, city escape, or weekend in the woods—you need something to carry your belongings. And for many of us, that same carry-on, duffel bag, or backpack becomes our trusty travel companion for years at a time. Below, find your fellow readers’ favorite luggage brands, plus a few of each brand’s most popular pieces of luggage, should you be looking to add a new roomy weekender or sturdy suitcase to your collection.

As a beer aficionado, I've been to my fair share of brew festivals throughout the US, several of which were "Oktoberfest" themed.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Celia Robbins, an American who relocated to Berlin with her family. She works at the Embassy of the United States of America in Berlin. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Since the dawn of time, the romance of railways has seduced poets, spellbound novelists, and dealt directors the perfect hand for capturing fleeting friendships, illicit affairs, and all manner of crimes and capers. A ticket is not just a permit to ride, it’s permission to trespass on the intimacies of other people’s lives. Trains bring us up close and personal—both inside and outside the carriage. On board, passengers chat politics in Finnish dining cars, clamber into couchettes above strangers on the Trans-Siberian, and share samosas on India’s many raucous mail trains. Outside, the world flashes by, a slideshow of rivers growing into oceans, deserts rising into mountains and cities sprawling then receding into darkness as the train thunders on through the night.

There are two types of train trip: The long, slow, and often luxurious train journey that takes you through beautiful scenery that you book specifically to spend time on the rails; and the speedy, no-nonsense, cheap train ride you take to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. In the first category, you’ll find grand trips like Australia’s The Ghan, South Africa’s Blue Train, and Britain’s Caledonian Sleeper. In the second, there are trips from London to Brussels in just two hours, from Rome to Venice in four hours, and from Miami to Orlando in three hours. And if you’re a train traveler who belongs to the second category and likes getting places fast without flying, there are plenty of trains in this world that do just that at speeds previously unimaginable on land, including the fastest train in the world and its closest competitors.

Amsterdam, like many other European cities, is facing an overtourism problem. The numbers don’t lie. In the year 2000, the Dutch capital broke a record when it welcomed over 4 million visitors. In 2019, the city’s enthusiasm for unbridled tourism had curbed: 10.2 million visitors came to Amsterdam, which has a population of about 820,000, that year and spent 21.8 million nights in the city.

The opening ceremony for the 2024 Olympics in Paris is designed to be a major spectacle on July 26. Yet issues have plagued the games before they’ve even begun. Just hours before the opening ceremony, arsonists attacked France’s high-speed rail network and disrupted travel to Paris from around Europe for 800,000 people — fans and athletes alike.

I think of myself as a well-traveled individual with a very solid knowledge of geography and tourist sights. Most of the people at Matador Network see themselves in the same way. After all, we live and breathe travel day in, day out. Yet, apparently, none of us know much about Germany.