Ahead of the new season of PBS' "Samantha Brown's Places to Love," Business Insider asked Travel Channel host Samantha Brown to share the underrated trips she's most excited about this year.
22.12.2023 - 14:13 / cntraveler.com
It is often said that the world is a great book, and those that do not travel only read one page. What if you read books as well as travel? You would be quite the literary sort, indeed. Here at Condé Nast Traveler, our journeys take us to places near and far, and we don't always have other humans along for the ride with us—but books are good friends to keep in our suitcases for company.
To celebrate a year of traveling and reading, here are a few recommendations from us for books you might take with you the next time you hit the road (or skies or seas). These stories made the time fly by during a long layover, anchor us in vivid elsewheres during a whirlwind journey, or even take us on trips while already on a trip. They sure did all of the above—and more–for us. We hope they do the same for you. Happy new year, and happy reading.
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If Kingsolver has a million fans, I’m one of them. If she has one fan, it’s me. If she has no fans, I’ve gone to the big airport lounge in the sky. I’ve adored Kingsolver since I read The Poisonwood Bible years ago, and her latest release has only deepened my admiration. I bought this (fairly thick) hardcover—true dedication to lug it around multiple airports—before I left on a trip to Macau and Hong Kong. I knew I’d have plenty of time in the air to dig into this retelling of Dickens’s David Copperfield, set in rural Virginia leading up to the opioid epidemic. Thousands of miles away from home, Kingsolver’s keen sense of place and her deft characterization brought me right back to the US. —Taylor Eisenhauer, editorial operations manager
It’s racy. It’s hilarious. It’s weird and so very smartly written. It’s really like nothing else I’ve read and I couldn’t put it down when I took it on a recent weekend getaway to Big Sur. I even read it on the drive down from San Francisco, which is saying something as that stretch of Highway 1 is beyond stunning and also incredibly windy. I still owe my husband an apology for ignoring him for three hours. It’s one of those rare, laugh-out-loud books that is also about very heavy, very timely topics. It manages to to discuss aging, sexuality, and mental health while poking fun at new-age therapy and wealthy city transplants who are “keeping it real” in the country. (It takes place in Hudson, but it could just as easily be set in Sonoma or Ojai). —Rebecca Misner, senior features editor
The Anomaly, written by French author Hervé Le Tellier and skillfully translated by Adriana Hunter, is one of those truly mind-blowing books you can’t stop talking about after you’ve read
Ahead of the new season of PBS' "Samantha Brown's Places to Love," Business Insider asked Travel Channel host Samantha Brown to share the underrated trips she's most excited about this year.
Fittingly shaped like a tropical fish, St Kitts packs a lot to see and do in its lush and historical expanse.
Travel is always top of mind in the New Year. Brimming with possibility as 2024 is, it's easy to drift off into daydreams about the adventures to come. Whether you’ve already planned this year's big trip a year in advance and have nothing left to do but twiddle your thumbs, or your next vacation is but a twinkle in your eye, travel is always on our minds.
It was 2:38 p.m. on August 21, 2017, when day turned to night. That was the precise moment in Greenville, South Carolina, when the moon, passing between the sun and Earth, fully blocked our view of the sun.
For the third year running, Delta has been named the carrier with the best on-time performance record in North America by the airline analytics company Cirium, which crunches data for 32 million global flights annually. Delta also won Cirium’s Platinum Award, determined by evaluating timeliness alongside the overall breadth of an airline’s operations.
Mexico is known for its beautiful beaches, bustling cities, colorful towns, and delicious food. When a country has so much to offer, deciding the best time to visit Mexico can be difficult. The truth is that figuring out when to visit Mexico depends on what type of holiday you’re looking to enjoy.
If you’ve been conjuring up images of whipping down the ski slope (or simply getting cozy during apres-ski in a beautiful setting), you might also be wondering about the best ski destinations to check off your bucket list. New data from the travel insurance experts at Compare the Market AU has recently revealed some of the objectively best ski destinations in the world to help bring your vision to reality.
£28, Hardie GrantThe second cookbook from food writer Dina Begum is a love letter to Bangladesh. Alongside the selection of tempting recipes are detailed ingredient notes, explanations of distinctive spice blends and advice on traditional preparation and serving, all accompanied by evocative photography of busy street-sellers, verdant landscapes and market produce. Some recipes do feature fish and vegetables native to Bangladesh that might be harder to find in the UK, but the author suggests accessible substitutions for those unable to find a Bangladeshi grocery store.
According to professional travel organisation, European Best Destinations, the Portuguese island of Madeira is the best place to see the annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display. The travel experts polled a panel of 11,963 travellers from 112 countries, mainly from the United Kingdom (22,42%) and the United States (18,91%) and found the top destination to count down the 2024 New Year is Madeira, followed by Marbella (Spain) with London ranking number three. Here are the top ten.
If you're wondering when's the best time of year to visit Machu Picchu, what to pack and how to get there, the answer depends on whether you plan to hike up or take the train, and whether you'd prefer to visit in the busiest season when the weather's better but the site is more crowded.
One of the most picturesque villages in the Tirol, Alpbach is not the place for a rip-roaring après ski scene, but its clutch of classic wooden chalet hotels, traditional stube restaurants and quiet bars make it a great choice for a restorative mountain break. Alongside the perfectly groomed pistes accessed by the Wiedersbergerhorn gondola, are easy snow-shoeing trails, a 7km toboggan run and torchlit hikes. Mountain huts dot the Alpbachtal-Wildschönau valley, serving käsespätzle (Tirolean macaroni cheese) and spiced gluhwein. Stay at the Post, a charming, family-run hotel in the heart of the village – and the best value in town.Doubles from £138 B&B; hotel-post.co.at
People may think of Thailand as a food-focused destination, or a place for great nightlife or even a wellness center and somewhere to go and be pampered.