Boating tips

Oct 2, 2024 • 6 min read

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gabriel Escobar , a 22-year-old actor and social media content creator. It has been edited for length and clarity.

For centuries, Porto Ercole has been one of the ultimate summer hubs for elite Italian travelers. Today, it still retains this reputation of being a bite-sized, chic destination to spend a few days—think sun-soaked beaches, generations-old family restaurants, and sleek yachts bobbing in the bay. It's easy to access—located on Tuscany’s Monte Argentario peninsula, you can drive to this coastal village in under two hours from Rome, or take a one and a half hour train journey into Orbetello. Here, days pass by at a slow, leisurely pace; take picturesque strolls along sandy stretches, feast on Tuscan delights, or explore one of the three impressive fortresses towering over the village. In this guide, we highlight some of the very best things to do, places to eat, shop, and drink in Porto Ercole.

If you time it right, there are several dozens of great places to enjoy cherry blossom season in Japan — and not just in Tokyo, but in Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Sendai, Aomori, and more. And the blossoms are not just found in parks, but also around temples, shrines, castles, etc. Few cherry blossom viewing experiences, however, are as cool as the one you get from the Sagano Scenic Railway. West of the city of Kyoto, the Sagano Scenic Railway, nicknamed the Romantic Train, offers a beautiful 25-minute ride amongst cherry blossoms. It might just be the loveliest way to take in the millions of delicate pink flowers that make spring in Japan so special.

Sep 24, 2024 • 7 min read

Sep 23, 2024 • 6 min read

Sep 23, 2024 • 7 min read

"The gangway is located aft on the starboard side."

There’s something about sleeping on a boat. It’s the rocking, of course, and the sound of the water. It’s also the cocoon effect of containment in a small space tucked away from the world. I’m not talking about cruise ships and luxury yachts here. I’m talking about a vessel that gently rocks, just enough to let a person know she’s not on dry land. If you suffer from seasickness, this could be an issue. As for me, I never sleep better than I do on a boat.

I was in 10th grade, and I was ahead of the trend. My New Balance 574s, ordered with great apprehension from Urban Outfitters and freshly unboxed, were a deep gray suede. The “N” of the brand’s logo, crimson as it was, supplied delicious contrast. Waiting to enter the chemistry lab of my high school’s newly-constructed science wing, I swanned a bit. Sneakers had only recently been incorporated into the dress code, and my peers largely remained in their deflated, untied boat shoes, not ready to step into the future, or donned the same Nikes they’d need for the afternoon’s sports practice (I, on the other hand, did theater after school). I expected praise for, perhaps envy of, my daring. The year is 2015 and yet I am still unprepared for what I receive instead: a gleeful chorus of “What are those?” accompanied by the cruel but requisite air traffic director–esque pointing.

Sep 9, 2024 • 8 min read

Sep 9, 2024 • 5 min read

Sep 6, 2024 • 13 min read

Every July, tens of thousands of visitors descend on Colombia’s Pacific Coast, crowding the frenzied passenger docks in the seaport of Buenaventura as they wait for speedboats that will whisk them to the small communities lining remote Málaga Bay. They’ve come to see the humpback whales.

Aug 30, 2024 • 13 min read

Travelers don’t tend to linger in Cairo once they’ve seen the sights — the city can be notoriously tricky to navigate. But a new collection of serviced apartments from the team behind the luxurious Set Nefru dahabiya boat on the Nile, as well as Al Moudira, a charming hotel in the southern city of Luxor, is giving visitors a reason to stick around.

A cruise on the Mediterranean Sea aboard a superyacht was supposed to be a celebratory event for the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who was acquitted in June of fraud charges tied to the sale of his company, Autonomy, to the tech giant Hewlett-Packard.

A cruise on the Mediterranean Sea aboard a superyacht was supposed to be a celebratory event for the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who was acquitted in June of fraud charges tied to the sale of his company, Autonomy, to the tech giant Hewlett-Packard.

Aug 20, 2024 • 13 min read

A cruise on the Mediterranean Sea aboard a superyacht was supposed to be a celebratory event for the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who was acquitted in June of fraud charges tied to the sale of his company, Autonomy, to the tech giant Hewlett-Packard.

Aug 15, 2024 • 10 min read