Seville with kids: how to plan a successful trip

When I took my first Mediterranean cruise, I expected to make some mistakes. But I didn't think I'd kick off my voyage with the biggest one. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Morgan Duram, a full-time content creator who moved from Michigan to Madrid. It has been edited for length and clarity. 

The first time I went to Croatia was in 2017. I was on a week-long winter break trip before I would return to London to start my final semester of university. My friend and I stayed in the capital, Zagreb. We hiked through snow-capped trees, went to markets in the city center, and even took a day trip to Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia’s largest national park and a UNESCO site. After that trip, I knew I had to visit the country again.

From St. Peter's Basilica to the Vittoriano, the Pantheon to the Colosseum, Rome boasts one of the most iconic and romantic skylines in the world. So when choosing where to stay in the Eternal City, it’s ideal to find a hotel that gives you a bird’s eye view of the grand cityscape.

Cities usually aren't the first place you'd think of when it comes to clean, pollution-free spaces, but as the fight against the climate crisis heightens, more urban centres are putting sustainability as a priority. From green-powered transport, to waste-free hotels and carbon-neutral goals, these are some of the top cities to visit in Europe with visions of a brighter future.

When you arrive at Post House Inn, the chic and cheerful boutique hotel and restaurant situated in the historic Old Village area of Mount Pleasant, S.C., you might think it looks right out of a movie set. And you’d be right. With its tidy 18th-century white clapboard houses, streets shaded by live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, and old-fashioned storefronts bearing vintage neon signs, the village was actually a prominent filming location in The Notebook.

Planning a trip to Europe or beyond? If you’re looking to tack on an extra destination to your itinerary, it’s easier than you might think. Portuguese carrier TAP is adding flight stopovers in Lisbon and Porto to all of its transatlantic routes, with added freebies like hotel discounts and free wine from their partners if you do choose to stop in either locale.

Calling Europe a “hot” destination this year has little to do with trends; when Paris hit 109 degrees in July, it marked the city’s hottest day on record—shattering the previous record by five degrees. And the worst may not be over: August could be even hotter, and heat waves in Europe, where fewer than five percent of homes have air conditioning, seem to be getting more common overall.

Traveling to Europe is often as easy as simply booking a plane ticket but starting next year, a fee and a visa will be required to visit.

As a 31-year-old woman, I've been on most dating apps and have been on more dates than I can remember. During the pandemic, I even went on a "first date" with someone where we ordered food for each other and FaceTimed. He cut out paper hearts and taped them to the wall behind him.