Columns

It’s easy to find Wi-Fi at cafés, transit hubs, tourist offices, and public squares throughout Europe. Photo by Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli

When I took my first solo trip to Europe in 1973, I must have kept my parents on the edge of their seats.

The day after my high school graduation, I headed to the airport, accompanied only by a good friend, a rucksack, and a youthful sense of adventure. Throughout the months-long trip, the only way of communicating with my folks back home was through postcards, since paying for international calls was beyond my Europe-Through-the-Gutter budget. Still, I managed to send a...

CONTINUE READING »
Stone gargoyle on the façade of the Nicholson Museum in Sydney, Australia, founded in 1860. The museum holds 30,000 archaeological artifacts from Egypt, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and the Mideast.

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 529th issue — our 44th Anniversary — of your monthly foreign-travel magazine. With this issue, we start our 45th year. (I got a little ahead of myself when, in last month’s column, I said we had completed “45 full years.”)

While I’ve got you looking back and looking forward, Where Were You in 2019? If you haven’t yet sent us your list of countries visited last year, you’ve got only a few weeks...

CONTINUE READING »
mango

India is the world’s largest producer of mangoes, its national fruit.

CONTINUE READING »
Canterbury Cathedral, a masterpiece of English Gothic architecture, will soon have a new welcome center. Photo by Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli

Britain, while engulfed in Brexit politics, is constantly investing in first-class projects to share its heritage, and, in so many ways, Britain’s heritage is linked to our heritage.

While many travelers are understandably curious about how Brexit is affecting tourists, from my experience it isn’t. The only impact I’ve found is that the tourism industry seems to respect visitors more than ever. (And, for those who like to talk politics, the topic is a fascinating...

CONTINUE READING »

Switzerland has maintained armed neutrality since 1515.

Adding water to the simmering Hungarian Goulash. Photos by Sandra Scott

When I was in Budapest, Hungary, in October 2019, I booked a cooking class with Chefparade (Budapest; phone +36 20 316 1876, cookingbudapest.com). Aside from myself, there was only one other participant plus Chef Geri Hajas.

The lesson included three recipes, including a variation on goulash, which in America has become a generic term for any one-pot concoction, but the word gulyás, commonly written “goulash,” means “cowboy” in Hungarian. The Great Hungarian...

CONTINUE READING »
Cēsis Castle, built around 1213.

Riga, Latvia, was the second stop on a month-long trip that my husband, Paul, and I took to the Baltic states in May-June 2019. As with Tallinn, Estonia, our first stop (Feb. ’20, pg. 47), we had allotted eight days for Riga and, as with Tallinn, we could have spent all eight days exploring this vibrant city on the Baltic Sea, with its Old Town, wealth of Art Nouveau buildings and nearby seaside resort town of Jūrmala.

We also wanted to venture into the Latvian countryside to...

CONTINUE READING »
Consider skipping the Colosseum’s crowded interior and just enjoying it from the outside. Photo by Cameron Hewitt

Rome is nicknamed "The Eternal City" and nowadays it could also be referring to the lines you'll wait in. The city (along with Naples) is better organized than ever for the huge crowds that descend on it each year -- but only for those who equip themselves with good information and use it. These tips may be wonky, but for smart travelers in 2020, they will translate into many precious hours saved -- and lots of sweat avoided.

Rome's big sights continue...

CONTINUE READING »