My Wheelchair Is Like My Legs, Not My Luggage

Everything about Las Vegas feels indulgent, from the glittering lights on the Strip to the cacophony of casino slot machines and all-you-can-eat buffets. However, perhaps nothing in Las Vegas is more indulgent than the luxury hotel suites that sit high above the Strip.

Embarking on a trip to Cal-a-Vie Health Spa in Vista, just north of San Diego, feels like visiting a French Provencal-style retreat. It’s nestled into 500 acres of scenic rolling California hillside like a well-being-focused cocoon, hidden away from the stresses of city life – and that’s its entire mission.

Taking a year off and traveling cross country is a dream many never actually get to live out. Those who procrastinate, and explain away their road trip reluctance, often do so by citing real-life responsibilities and jobs. Taking a year-long vacation would mean neglecting a career. But what if you could do both? That’s what aspiring astrophotographer Anthony DeSantis did when he embarked on a one-year vanlife trip across the US — in a van he built himself — with the goal of turning his passion into a career.

When you think about visiting Morocco, you’re probably thinking about staying in riad. Although riads are undeniably pretty cool, it’s worth going outside the box and checking out this ecodome in Essaouira. Les Jardins de Villa Maroc, surrounded by Argan and Tuya trees, is a county guesthouse with 11 stylish and eco-friendly “ecodomes.”

Ever wonder what it is like to be a National Geographic photographer or filmmaker, traveling the world, experiencing exceptional adventures and witnessing spectacular, even rare, sights? I interviewed the intrepid Bertie Gregory, whose new show, Animals Up Close With Bertie Gregory, premieres September 13th on Disney+. This six-episode series — which swoops and soars in Antarctica, Botswana, Central African Republic, the Galápagos, Indonesia and Patagonia — weaves stunning footage and compelling narratives about elusive pumas, imaginative B1 killer whales, distinctive forest elephants, endangered wild dogs, intriguing seals and sea lions, Godzilla-like marine iguanas, iconic gorillas, awesome devil rays, fierce guanacos and handfuls of other creatures that are often not entirely what you might expect them to be. For insightful specifics about each episode, read Forbes’ Love To Travel? Wild About Nature? ‘Animals Up Close With Bertie Gregory’ Will Astonish You. Gregory and I continue our conversation, below, about the power of passion to fuel your dreams.

Korean Air is one of the very few airlines in the world still flying the Boeing 747 jumbo jet, despite many other carriers ditching it during the pandemic.

A Qantas passenger said she crawled along the aisle to her seat after a staff member caused her to fall from her wheelchair.

Qatar Airways' award-winning business class is not the airline's only money-maker.

Last month I went on a weekend-long, women-only summer camp with 200 strangers in their 20s and 30s in rural Pennsylvania. I was hoping to meet a few cool people and get out of New York City, but I ended up re-experiencing some of the joys of childhood and realizing that you are never too old to make new friends. 

When it comes to classical French cuisine that Americans might initially cause us to turn up our noses, frog legs, which have a long history as a loved source of protein, likely tops the list. Recipes for frog legs, known as cuisses de grenouille in French, likely originated in southern China, but it was the French who elevated frog legs to the status of a national delicacy in Western cultures. It’s believed that resourceful monks in the 12th century, who were restricted from eating meat, turned to frog legs as a substitute protein source. Over time, this practice gained popularity and became ingrained in the French culinary tradition.

So, you’ve narrowed your travel list down and finally booked your next trip. With all the arrangements made, your bags are figuratively packed. 

The Brazilian artist Wanda Pimentel’s “Envolvimento” paintings (1968-84) are hard-edged domestic vignettes — kitchens, bathrooms, the insides of cars — rendered in a lean, almost festive palette of mostly reds, greens and yellows. In these claustrophobic spaces, feminine-seeming thighs, ankles, feet and hands make fetishistic cameos, jutting out at awkward angles or lingering near water puddles and toilet-paper rolls. Sometimes, they’re framed by thick, windowpane-like lines that cast the viewer as a peeping Tom. “The house is not only a space of intimacy but also of fear,” says Alexandre Gabriel of São Paulo’s Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel gallery, which will present Pimentel’s work at the Independent 20th Century art fair in New York City next month.