Hotel employees share the 7 red flags to look for when checking into a hotel

There's something extremely nostalgic about visiting a college town after Labor Day. Even on a warm day, there's a crispness in the air. Fall is on its way as campuses hum with activity and fans cheer on their favorite college teams at packed stadiums.

Cooler temperatures and shoulder season deals will have many travelers are flocking to the Caribbean for a sun-kissed vacation this fall.The islands offer not only warm weather and abundant sunshine but one-of-a-kind experiences, world-class hotels and resorts and spectacular nature in addition to vibrant culture. But before they go, travelers will want to read up on the latest U.S. State Department guidance.

Sep 9, 2024 • 5 min read

Dating is complicated. Finding love while living abroad can seem impossible.

Koji, the mold that transforms soy beans and wheat into soy sauce and rice into sake, is so beloved in Japan that it has its own holiday. And lately, chefs have been finding new uses for the fungus, which has a fruity aroma and an ability to make “anything it touches better,” says Jeremy Umansky, 41, the owner of Larder deli in Cleveland. He uses koji for almost everything: to cure pastrami; to ferment Chinese-style black beans, which are ground and swirled into chocolate babka to embolden the chocolate; and to sprinkle over salads and fries in the form of what the restaurant calls Special K, a seasoning of dried ground koji. “It’s a harmonizer,” he says. Bartenders, too, are taking note. At Nancy’s Hustle in Houston, the bar manager, Zach Hornberger, 32, adds it to the nonalcoholic Silver Brining cocktail, a sweet-sour-salty mix of pickle brine, grapefruit and lime juices, koji and tonic. “It brings this umami background to beverages, and it plays well with citrus, taming the high acid notes and rounding the drink as a whole,” he says. At the restaurant Fête in Honolulu, the bar manager, Fabrice McCarthy, 41, infuses rum with shio koji (a slurry of koji, water and salt) and shakes it into a mai tai to add salinity — the effect, he says, is similar to how salted peanuts make you want to drink more beer. Ryan Chetiyawardana, 40, the owner of the bar Lyaness in London, experiments with koji in multiple forms — for one cocktail, he ferments parsnips with koji, which he says unlocks the sweetness and delivers “a huge tropical brightness.” While koji often plays a supporting role, at Paradiso in Barcelona, it wraps around the entire lip of the glass used for the Fleming, named for Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, another influential mold. For this fungus-inspired cocktail, which includes grapefruit, tequila and miso, the manager of Paradiso’s research lab, Matteo Ciarpaglini, 30, one-upped a classic salt rim with a fluffy cloud of koji, its floral fragrance accompanying every taste. —

Everything was on track when it came to Jón Óskar Árnason's culinary career — until it wasn't.

Nestled below California's Laguna Mountainis Campo, a small unincorporated community that Deborah Jean Peck calls home.

I was an avid traveler long before I had children. Now, one of my greatest joys is sharing my love of exploration and adventure with my family. Yet, traveling with my four kids has been an adjustment.

Melissa Dewalt caught the travel bug a decade ago when she drove from her home state of Pennsylvania across the country to California to visit her then-boyfriend. She then road-tripped north to Seattle.

Ski season is just around the corner, and the Ikon Pass is making it even easier to ski across the country by adding a new California mountain to the mix.

Travellers from outside the EU are getting ready for the launch of the new Entry/Exit System (EES) on 10 November, but are Schengen countries ready to welcome them?

Travelers to several major cities in the U.S., including Honolulu, Boston and San Francisco, should be prepared for possible disruptions to hotel stays as thousands of hotel workers prepare for potential strikes.