My mother has dementia – and a trip together helped me understand her condition

If you’re never had Singaporean cuisine, but live in certain areas across North America, you can use a different kind of passport to try it.

I moved to Spain about a year ago and at one of my first meals in Madrid, I saw a handsome young couple drinking some kind of unidentifiable light brown cocktail on ice with a wedge of orange and green olives. It was before noon and I was stumped. I had to know what it was. Vermouth, they told me.

I was 20 years old and had J Robert Oppenheimer's house all to myself. From the porch of the small yellow cottage, four steps led down to the beach where coconut trees swooped low at the water's edge and the Evian-clear Caribbean gently lapped the sugar-white sand. Day after day, I'd hike here after work to marvel at the parrotfish, butterflyfish and hawksbill turtles that glided between the shallow coral reefs, never once seeing another soul. 

”Hong Kong is a photographer’s dream,” says Geraint Rowland. “It’s got impressive architecture and the busy streets teem with life, day and night.” The Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year winner was blown away by the territory. As part of their dual-destination photo commission, the four winners of the UK’s biggest travel photography competition were first guided around Hong Kong and its many islands. They soon discovered there were plenty of opportunities to point their lenses, whether the neon skyscrapers, the old neighbourhoods from which the city evolved or one of the 260 outlying islands, whose slower pace of life, unusual wildlife and natural landscapes offer a contrast to that famous urban bustle.

As I bowled along the roads linking Herefordshire’s ‘Black and White Villages’ (named in honour of their two-tone buildings), I believed, for a second, in time travel. Here, in one of England’s least populated counties, little appeared to have changed for decades, centuries even.

Late last year, I was itching to leave my hometown of Los Angeles and booked a short trip to the East Coast. But, as soon as I boarded my return flight, I realized I couldn't wait to get back home.

We’re proud to announce the winners of the 2017 SmarterTravel Editors’ Choice Awards. We spent six months and enlisted eight subject experts to select our Editors’ Choice winners, and then turned it over to you, our readers.

Thailand officials have announced they will maintain closure of the famous Maya Bay indefinitely, after closing the beach to tourists this past June. If you’ve never heard of Maya Bay, there’s a decent chance you’ve seen it regardless—Maya Bay was the setting of the 2001 Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach.

The latest study from J.D. Power proves something you might have already suspected: Air travelers aren’t too happy. The 2019 North America Airport Satisfaction Study found that travelers’ satisfaction with domestic airports plateaued this year amidst widespread delays and crowds. According to the findings, the halt in passenger satisfaction comes after several years of rapid growth.

Last week, I wrote about my upcoming round-the-world trip, which I had been planning for several months (here’s the story). My friends and family were concerned about me going to Asia amid the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. Of course, I had some concerns, too. After asking for answers to the question “Should I cancel my trip to Asia?” on both my website and my Facebook page, I was shocked by how many people said that I should cancel. Some of the comments were coming from big-time travelers, including executives of Asian airlines.

When the legendary host of Jeopardy! passed away on November 8, 2020, the world honored Trebek’s showmanship, philanthropy, and vast reserves of knowledge. But the travel community mourned one of their own.

I sometimes get so used to bashing travel suppliers—especially airlines—for the many ways they abuse travelers’ rights, that I often overlook the good they do. Especially during this global pandemic, travel suppliers are doing a lot of good.