Relics, Miracles, and Faith Light the Way Along Spain’s Camino de Santiago

Culture, Europe, History, Travel

It was pure good fortune that enabled me to arrive in Santo Domingo de la Calzada on the feast day of Saint Dominic. I was hiking west along the Camino Frances, en route to Santiago de Compostela, when I saw people gathering in front of the cathedral for a procession that gradually wound its way through the old town on streets lined with spectators. Young men in medieval costumes performed traditional folk dances at points along the route. Young women in period dress marched together.  Men wearing red berets played traditional melodies on flutes. The music and the dances were little changed from medieval times.  I felt as if I were observing a cultural tableau dating back hundreds of years.

Summer Travel 2022: Pay Your Money and Take Your Chance

America, North America, Travel

Count me among the droves of disappointed summer travelers whose vacations were devastated by long airport lines, canceled flights, indifferent travel agents and lost luggage. My intention was to become acquainted with port wine and fado music in exotic Portugal. Instead, I settled for the intimacy of small-town charms in Iowa, a welcoming Midwestern state that has more attractions than I ever imagined.

Elude Makes Traveling on a Budget Easy

Business, Travel

Internet travel agencies turn the customer into the travel agent, requiring him to scroll through pages of itineraries and lodging options before paying the company for using its computer system. Though this process is stress-free for the ticketing company, it can be a nightmare for people on a budget. This tedious process conflicts with the mindset of Gen-Z and Millennials who are not looking for a luxury vacation; they just want to minimize costs and go on an adventure.

Portland’s Whimsical Creativity Trumps Grit and Crime

America, Culture, North America, Travel

When I first moved to Portland, Oregon, in the early 1990s, one of my first friends was a man who self-published a high-brow zine about amusement park rides. He eschewed car ownership, although he was happy to ride in mine. When we played Scrabble, he favored long, obscure words over point value. For all of my friend’s quirks, he turned out to be a surprisingly typical Portlander. Those who found Portland too self-consciously hip could laugh at its liberal excesses as immortalized in Portlandia. But these days, Portland has acquired a layer of grit. Homeless camps and boarded-up buildings covered with graffiti dot the whole city. Does the promise of Portlandia live on? For the sake of journalism, I decided to take an unflinching look at my city. Read More

Agatha Christie: The Mystery Maven Who Traveled the World

Culture, Europe, Middle East, Travel

Chances are, wherever you travel, you’ll find an Agatha Christie paperback. With eighty detective novels and story collections to her credit, Christie’s work has been translated into 130 languages and ranks third in sales behind the Bible and Shakespeare. She loved nothing more than going away and was utterly fearless about trying new destinations. Of her “foreign travel books,” she later would write, “if detective novels are escape literature, the reader can escape to sunny skies and blue water as well as to crime in the confines of an armchair.”

Alumni Travel Is Efficient, Educational and Fun

Business, Travel

Ah, college. Four years of meeting people you know will be friends for life. Going on road trips. Enjoying Spring Break. Why can’t the easy camaraderie attending the shared learning experiences of youth be recaptured later in life? The quick answer is that they can.
Most colleges and universities have an array of alumni programs. It matters little whether the institution is a small liberal arts college or a massive state university. Chances are it has an alumni association that offers former graduates an opportunity to travel together in small groups.