I went on my first Mediterranean cruise and made one mistake I still regret months later

Hidden in the main hall of Varvakios Agora market in Athens is seafood so fresh that the air smells of saltwater. At Hasapika, you can choose your fish and specify how you’d like it cooked: seared octopus, salmon ceviche, gigantic fried prawns – the choice is endlessly delicious. But the highlight is the Hasapika pan – handmade pasta in a decadent tomato broth overloaded with crayfish, mussels and shrimp. It can serve three, but two of us fought for every last scrap, wiping the pan with warm, olive oil-soaked bread. My Italian friend declared it some of the best pasta he had ever tasted. Well worth €28 for two.Suriya Bala

The lure of island life is hard to resist…

For New Year's, I thought it would be fun to go skiing in another country while casually conversing with a friend I had known for over 20 years. A few days after I brought it up, she bought her plane ticket from Florida to Barcelona.

Few things in life are as miserable as flying in an uncomfortable airline seat for hours on end. Fortunately for air travelers, cramped legroom and sleepless flights are so last year.

Luxury cruise line Seabourn wants to help travelers escape the cold in style — and for less — with a big winter sale that has up to 25 percent off fares.

In the smash new Broadway show Gutenberg! The Musical!, actor Josh Gad reteams with Andrew Rannells, with whom he had undeniable chemistry on stage a decade ago in The Book of Mormon. So where would they travel together, if given the chance? “We would have to go to Uganda,” Gad laughs, referring to their Mormon characters’ journey to eastern Africa. “You’d see how similar we are in real life to Elder Cunningham and Elder Price. It would potentially be both disastrous and life-changing—actually, a great documentary!”

This is an as-told-to story based on a conversation with David Purcell, 78, a retired attorney. It has been edited for length and clarity. Purcell was among the dozens of people who signed up for a three-year cruise with Life at Sea — an around-the-world journey that was canceled two weeks before its departure. He and 77 other would-be passengers who have not received refunds are asking the US Attorney in Southern Florida to open a criminal fraud investigation into Miray Cruises, the parent company of Life at Sea.

Holland America is taking inspiration from the 1920s again for its latest over-the-top Mediterranean cruise.

The Seven Seas just got a bit more crowded: Nine new world cruises have recently set sail, joining Royal Caribbean's ongoing Ultimate World Cruise in a quest to travel around the world in 2024.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was temporarily detained at an airport in Germany after he failed to declare a pricey watch, caught in a little-talked-about travel snag. 

China is addressing the bottlenecks that have restricted outbound travel from the country. But the enthusiasm among Chinese travelers to visit the U.S. is diminishing, according to the latest survey from China Trading Desk, a marketing technology company.

Nevada is getting a brand-new state park this month. It’s one every would-be Indiana Jones (or maybe more like the Ross Gellers among us) will love, and as a bonus, it’s within a quick driving distance to The Strip.