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"Central Europe Anywhere" | All Stories

5 Ways to Explore this Country’s Desert From the Traditional to the Extreme

5 Ways to Explore this Country’s Desert From the Traditional to the Extreme

If you missed your dose of exotic scenery and culture – or even winter sports adrenaline this year, one country’s desert can feed your travel imagination. The Qatar peninsula juts a hundred miles out from the Arabian Peninsula into the Persian Gulf. Most travellers to the region focus on the thrilling, ultra-modern capital city of Doha. But most of the small country is covered by sand, from barren plains to the Khor al Adaid “Inland Sea” of rolling sand dunes...


Celebrating World Cocktail Day with a Travel-Inspired Cocktail... or Two

Celebrating World Cocktail Day with a Travel-Inspired Cocktail... or Two

What’s not to love about May 13th? World Cocktail day has two of my favorite words: world, and cocktail. For those of us who love to travel… and love to get into the ‘spirit’ of the moment with a locally-sourced beverage, cocktail recipes can be some of our most cherished travel souvenirs. And drinks at a smart bar can be among our most cherished travel memories. Here are just a couple of mine:The Original Daiquiri at the House of Bacardi,...

Celebrating World Cocktail Day with a Travel-Inspired Cocktail... or Two

Riding the Rails AND the Waves in the Latest Travel Trend

Riding the Rails AND the Waves in the Latest Travel Trend

There’s a phrase in travel: ‘Multi-modal’. Think of ‘planes, trains and automobiles,’ where you complete your trip via a number of different types of transportation. Multi-modal travel is not new. But one version – larger-than-life journeys combining the romance of both cruise and rail - is picking up steam. Ships and trains are a natural fit, even mirror images of each other: one on land, the other at sea. Cruise and rail modes are both steeped in storied history and traditions, and...


A Twist on 'April Showers' at This Country's New Year Celebrations

A Twist on 'April Showers' at This Country's New Year Celebrations

Many modern holiday celebrations put an irreverent twist on their historic – and often more solemn -traditions. Thailand’s Songkran may be one of the most extreme examples of that phenomenon. Ancient Thai culture marked the New Year in what we now call April. The word is Sanskrit, meaning ‘astrological passage’, and it coincides with the rising of Aries and the New Year of the Hindu and Buddhist calendars. Songkran is a three-day ritual, from the 13th to the 15th of...

A Twist on 'April Showers' at This Country's New Year Celebrations

Spring Gardens, Tropical-Style in Costa Rica

Spring Gardens, Tropical-Style in Costa Rica

'Spring flowers’ takes on new meaning in the tropics. With Costa Rica’s epic biodiversity and commitment to conservation, lush, green landscapes are a given any time you visit. But some of the Central American country’s botanical gems are best discovered not in the wilderness, but in gardens crafted by human hands. Here are five gardens to add ‘color’ to your trip to Costa Rica. Botanical Orchid GardenNorth America has 200 varieties of orchids. Luscious Costa Rica? 1300.The “Guaria Morada” orchid is...


Get Into the Spirit of the 'Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports'

Get Into the Spirit of the 'Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports'

Spring brings longer days, warmer weather… and the thunder of hooves as horse racing begins in North America and Europe. On this side of the pond, there’s no better way to get your heart racing than to be in the stands for the legendary Kentucky Derby. Held on the first Saturday of May, the epic race gets the serious horse racing season going as the first leg of the American Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby was founded nearly 150 years ago...

Get Into the Spirit of the 'Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports'


First, Fully Digital Hotel to Open in Northern Europe

First, Fully Digital Hotel to Open in Northern Europe

It’s in the heart of one of the most historic neighborhoods in London. But this hotel has become a symbol of the future of travel.ibis Styles London Gloucester Road is in Kensington, within easy strolling distance of some of the English capital’s favorite landmarks, like the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, shopping at Harrod’s and of course, its highest-profile residence, Kensington Palace, where Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge and their three children live, alongside other...

First, Fully Digital Hotel to Open in Northern Europe

Meet the Stingray Whisperer of the Bahamas

Meet the Stingray Whisperer of the Bahamas

They are the laid back cousin of sharks, majestically pre-historic looking, and spellbinding in footage ‘flying’ through the ocean on ‘wings’. Stingrays are not as dangerous as their name implies, and for one eco-tour operator on Grand Bahama Island, they live up to their nickname: ‘angels of the seas’.Keith Cooper is known throughout the island as the ‘Stingray Whisperer.’ Keith has been working with stingrays for over a dozen years and has actually developed a personal bond with a number...


Cruise Ships: New, Improved, and Coming Soon

Cruise Ships: New, Improved, and Coming Soon

The latest designs, innovations, and features, in a sparkling white cruise ship gliding over the waves. If that’s not enough to get you excited about taking a cruise on a new ship, there’s always ‘new ship smell’. A new cruise ship may not have a distinctive scent like a new car, but knowing you’re among the first to experience a new entry to the world’s fleet of cruise ships is a not-to-miss sensation. Not every new ship comes ‘hot off the press’....

Cruise Ships: New, Improved, and Coming Soon