Adventure sports in the Pyrenees

It’s a bird; it’s a plane; it’s a flying restaurant? Acclaimed Dutch Chef Angélique Schmeinck has created quite a stir with her popular CuliAir Skydining, the world’s first hot air balloon restaurant, where lucky diners enjoy a three-course meal while floating in the skies above Holland.

It’s hard to know if Milan’s fashionistas are bemused more by my driving or by my vehicle as I stall, splutter and crunch the gears while double-parking the tuk-tuk on Via Monte Napoleone, the city’s swankiest street. Both it and I look comically out of place on a thoroughfare dripping with designer shops and high-end motors. I’ve just seen a Hermès shirt with a €10,500 price tag and spotted the Argentina World Cup winner and Inter Milan star Lautaro Martínez laden with Gucci shopping bags, and bouncing into a blacked-out Hummer with his girlfriend and minder.

It happened at an indoor wall for the sport of “bouldering”. I was standing watching some athletic young men conquer a tricky route that was beyond my abilities, half-listening to their banter, when I suddenly understood what they were discussing. A proposal to climb outdoors. They had never done it. They dreamed of it, but were uncertain how to go about it.

Ever dreamed of packing up everything and moving to another country? Here are the most livable cities in the world, according to a study by The Economist.

Looking for a new museum to add to your travel to-do list? TripAdvisor (SmarterTravel’s parent company) has released the Travelers’ Choice Top 25 Museums of 2018, including the top 10 worldwide and the top 10 in the United States, with some surprising frontrunners. The findings also highlight bookable ways to see each winner—think VIP tours and scavenger hunts—with some offering the added perk of allowing you to skip the lines to get in.

AirHelp, the online service that files complaints against airlines on behalf of passengers entitled to compensation for air delays or cancellations, knows a thing or two about air travel. Because it’s hard for the average person to understand air passenger rights and pursue a legal claim when they’ve been wronged, AirHelp is always going toe-to-toe with airlines and airports—and reveals once a year which ones that treat their passengers for the better (or worse).

In this time of isolation, businesses and individuals around the world are sending out messages of hope. Discover, in photos, how we’re keeping our spirits up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the sixth year in a row, Finland has claimed the top spot in the World Happiness Report. The annual report, compiled by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, surveys residents in over 150 countries to determine which nations are the happiest.

Endless miles of scenic highways that wind coast to coast and meander around breathtaking natural wonders and ever-changing landscapes make hitting the open road second nature in the US. When it comes to the Midwest there’s often a misconception that it’s all about flyover states and repetitive countryside. But away from the big cities, industrial centers, and sprawling farmland, you can stumble upon some of the most European cities in America.

In the mid-20th century, Aruba was a mostly ignored deserted island. Compared to its lush and volcanic Caribbean neighbors like Cuba or the Bahamas, Aruba’s landscape of cactus-filled rock swept bare by hot trade winds didn’t seem as much like a vacation paradise as it did a place to send misbehaving sailors.

If all you do in Queenstown, New Zealand, is while away a few hours at the airport, you might still feel as if you’ve escaped to an alpine chalet. The mountains overlooking arrivals alone fulfill Peter Jackson’s promise of a landscape befitting the fantastical world of Tolkien’s creation, with every inch of the drive into town solidifying the suspicion that Middle Earth may have been discovered, not invented.

What makes a fine rail journey? We all have our own ideas on this, but I find it’s best not to dash and to retain an element of spontaneity, taking the chance to stop off here and there along the way. So, last month I ended up taking three days for a train journey of only 200 miles.