The joys of winter walking in the Lake District

Historic heatwaves across the United States have people cranking up A.C.s and guzzling ice-cold lemonade. Now is the time to seek cooler climes and experiences to keep your mind off the scorching weather. From a musical milestone in the east to a crafts showcase in the west, here are four ways to escape the sky-high temperatures.

Compared to the typical Latin American tamale — a corn-based mixture steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf — the Mississippi Delta’s iteration is smaller, spicier, meatier and often simmered rather than steamed. Some say the dish came from Mexican migrants or soldiers in the Mexican American war; its origins may lie in Native American cuisine, or hail from the African dish, kush — cornbread hash. The flavours are as varied as the backstory — here are some of the best places to try them.

America’s coastal areas don’t have a monopoly on great beaches . . . or groovy beach towns.

The car was dead silent, and I felt panic set in among my group of friends. 

It happened at an indoor wall for the sport of “bouldering”. I was standing watching some athletic young men conquer a tricky route that was beyond my abilities, half-listening to their banter, when I suddenly understood what they were discussing. A proposal to climb outdoors. They had never done it. They dreamed of it, but were uncertain how to go about it.

OAG, which dubs itself an “air travel intelligence company,” has released its top-10 rankings of the most and least punctual airlines in 2016. The group analyzed 54 million flight records using full-year data from 2016 to compile the list, and for the purposes of the study defined “on-time” as “a flight that arrives or departs within 14 minutes and 59 seconds (under 15 minutes) of its scheduled arrival/departure time.”

Want to visit the United States’ hottest destinations this summer, but don’t want to pay crazily inflated prices? TripAdvisor (our parent company) just released its 2018 Summer Vacation Value Report which gives you the low-down on the best places to visit and the least expensive week to go. Surprisingly, Memorial Day week (May 28) was the cheapest time to go for more than half of the destinations, so if you want to save time and vacation days, you’re in luck.

New York? San Francisco? When it comes to romance, they have nothing on … Biloxi, Mississippi?

Lake Como, or Lago di Como, is what the Riviera is to France: An area of the country that is so beautiful and serene it has attracted the rich and famous for centuries. (It is no secret that George Clooney has a swanky villa along the lake.) All these wealthy celebrities have managed to create a bubble of luxury around this magnificent part of northern Italy by building immense and luxurious villas along the lake’s shore, but if you’re a non-millionaire traveler who wants in on the action, worry not, there are ways to have a good and affordable time on the shore of Italy’s most famous lake.

Lake Como, located in the Lombardy region of Italy in the northern part of the country, is a picture-postcard Italian vacation destination. The shore of this huge lake, shaped like an upside-down Y, is dotted with charming little towns that you can spend many afternoons exploring — in between long swims in the lake’s turquoise water and sunbathing sessions under the lovely Italian sun, that is. And to make the most of your time around Lake Como, you need to find the right place to stay, whether that’s a five-star hotel on the water or a boutique hotel in one of the aforementioned little towns.

I first encountered the Palisades, a set of massive cliffs overlooking Manhattan from across the Hudson River, out of desperation. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I felt an all-consuming urge to get out and explore. For me, that meant jumping on my bicycle and riding deep into the city and then out of it.

It’s hard to encapsulate the full depth and variety of the USA – any nation that can marry cities as life filled as New York, San Francisco and LA with landscapes as breathtaking as those of Alaska, Arizona and Hawaii is beyond easy summary. Its rewards come in droves, from all-American icons like baseball, blues and bourbon to the unbridled spectacles like Mardi Gras in New Orleans.