I skipped past pretty cliffside homes painted in shades of pale yellow and robin’s egg blue that looked down on the deep green Atlantic Ocean. I was almost paralyzed with fear from driving a monstrously large SUV down shrub-lined roads built for Austin Minis. I read sad stories about shipwrecks, wandered into funky boutiques and deeply inhaled the salty sea air. I recently spent four days in Cornwall, England, traipsing along the coast in search of the perfect seaside village. I found a fistful of beauties; some bathed in the kind of light you’d see in an Impressionist painting and Read more
Europe
The crowds are gone. But the weather’s still pretty good. Fall is a fabulous time of year to explore European cities and villages. Here are some of my favorite places to check out in Europe in autumn, including Portugal, Italy, France and Austria. WESTERN ALGARVE, PORTUGAL We stayed in the village of Burgau, Portugal a few years ago with friends, and absolutely loved it. It’s a small, huggable little town with several nice restaurants, but it’s not as well-known as other villages on the Algarve and never seemed crowded with visitors. You’ll find fabulous hiking along the cliffs in both Read more
I always knew I was ahead of my time. Okay, all joking aside, I was happy to read in Travel + Leisure magazine that a poll of 2,000 U.S. travellers found that Maui is the most romantic place on earth. The magazine said that FunJet Vacations recently released the findings of a poll it conducted with Talker Research looking into the most romantic destinations in the world. After polling 2,000 “general population Americans” to find out their preferred spots for romance, it turned out that Maui led the way, with 34% of respondents naming it the most romantic destination in Read more
Chicago has been named the best big city in the U.S. for the eighth year in a row, and Victoria has been awarded best small city in the world for the second year running. Conde Nast Travel today (Oct. 1), issued a variety of lists of top cities, best hotels, top islands and more with its 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards. My home state of California came out looking strong, with San Diego being named the number two big city in the States and San Francisco finishing sixth. For International Large Cities, Montreal came in ninth and Vancouver fourth, so kudos Read more
Be careful how you search for flights; it could be costing you tons of money. It might surprise frequent travelers, but experts caution that excessive flight searches could cost you more. The intricate algorithms of online booking sites and the privacy concerns around cookies can lead to price hikes based on your search activity. “When you look for flights multiple times, you might be inadvertently increasing your ticket price,” ProxyScrape CEO Thibeau Maerevoet suggests. The Connection Between Search History and Airfare Prices Numerous studies and real-world scenarios reveal a significant relationship between your search behavior and flight fares, Maerevoet says. Read more
