I’m a travel writer based in LA – here are the questions visitors ask me the most

As the summer travel season winds down, travelers can take advantage of fall travel deals as a jumpstart for their next vacation. Norse Atlantic Airways, a discount European airline, recently revealed dozens of flight deals on flights from the United States to Europe throughout the rest of 2024 and early 2025 as part of a September Sale. The sale extends to several top tourist destinations in Europe including Athens, Berlin, London, and Rome, all for less than $200 one-way.  Travelers can purchase the fare sale tickets between today and September 12, however the tickets are sold in limited quantities, which means the sale could end sooner.  Best of all, the discounts are available in Norse’s Economy Light cabin, which, as of September 2, will also include a standard carry-on bag. The cabin class previously had a fee for carry-on bags, or required the purchase of a higher class of fare. In addition to Economy Light, Norse offers Economy Classic which includes a meal service and standard checked bag, and Economy Flextra which includes priority boarding and is a refundable fare. Travel + Leisure spotted dozens of one-way flight deals available including:

Summer is over and airlines, like the weather, are shifting into fall mode. That means fewer leisure-oriented flights and more connections aimed at business travelers.

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.

A few years ago, when flight prices were awfully expensive, I saw an Amtrak ticket from California to Washington, DC, for just $250 and snapped it up.

Back in March, Southwest Airlines announced it would be launching it first red-eye, i.e. overnight, flights; however flight schedules are revealing more details about new flight options for passengers.  The first overnight flights will depart on February 13, 2025, and arrive on February 14, 2025. These inaugural journeys depart from Las Vegas to both Baltimore and Orlando. The airline will also operate flights from Los Angeles to Baltimore and Nashville, as well as Phoenix to Baltimore. 

When Los Angeles–based designer Clare Vivier began decorating the 19th-century house she'd bought in her husband's hometown of Saint-Calais, in France's Loire Valley, she had a particular aesthetic in mind. “I love color and patterns but wanted something peaceful, so the intention was to create a dialogue between those two things,” she says. She wanted the house to have a blend of contemporary pieces, antiques, and textiles from heritage maisons to create a space that, much like her namesake handbag and fashion label, channeled both California fun and French sophistication. She also knew that she wanted her longtime friend Kate Berry, a designer and creative director, to help her make it happen.

On a cloudy morning in Senegal, surfer Babacar Thiaw paddled through a sea of plastic. That day, he was the only local in the lineup at his home surf spot of Virage on the coast of Dakar, where his father first opened a surf shack in the 1970s. As he marveled at the barreling brown waves riddled with trash—and travelers—it hit him: “They’re just here for fun and will leave, but I’ll be here forever,” he thought. “Am I going to be condemned to live in this environment for the rest of my life?” Fast-forward more than a decade, and you’ll now find Thiaw making his own waves as the owner of Copacabana Surf Village, a surf shop, zero-waste restaurant, and a hub for sustainability initiatives like beach clean-ups and youth surf camps with an eco lean.

Hundreds of charter and personal planes touched down on the same tarmac this weekend — and it wasn't in the Hamptons, Lake Tahoe, or any other particularly bougie hot spot. It was a pop-up airport called 88NV in the middle of the Nevada desert.

As a full-time travel writer and creator, I'm always eager to explore new places. I've visited all 50 states and have spent my fair share of time in nearly every major city in the United States.

If you plan to travel this Labor Day weekend, you are far from the only one.

Hawaii has often been the go-to for Los Angeles residents who want a warm, sunny beach getaway (with a recent heavy focus on how to do so ethically). But what if we were to tell you that you can actually fly to parts of the Caribbean from Los Angeles faster than you can fly to parts of Hawaii? 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ray Zahab, a 55-year-old Canadian explorer and ultra-distance runner who has traversed nearly 12,400 miles across Earth's most extreme environments, from the Arctic to the Sahara. It's been edited for length and clarity.