In Costa Rica there are as many wildlife tours as probably there are kinds of animals in the small Central American country. All of them are very worthwhile, but nearly nothing beats the thrill of whale watching!



There must be something about being in close proximity…

The Danube river, the longest in the European Union and second longest on the entire continent at  2,888 kilometers, passes through 16 countries. This navigable river, which changes its name depending on the country…

When staying in Manhattan, some hotels capture the essence of what it's like to actually live here. Visitors may wonder what drives people to pay a premium for the privilege of forsaking their cars and residing in apartments with square footages approximating walk-in closets. Upon checking into a hotel like the…

by José Miguel Rodriguez

Not long ago, this video went viral on YouTube, racking up more than 10 million views. Apart from the fact that the 1,200-millimetre telephoto lens thoroughly flattens both the foreground and background, making the airplanes seem suspended in midair, what on earth are these pilots…

It’s one of those majestic sights that imprinted itself indelibly on my memory forever when I first visited many years ago: a mystical, mysterious forest of columns stretching into the distance of the vast interior space that was – and is – the UNESCO World Heritage …

Grossglockner High Alpine Road

Costa Rica has become the darling of the international news media even more than usual lately. The popular tropical vacation destination is being featured in everything from news articles to …

Cape Verde is neither a cape, nor is it verde (green). It consists of ten dry brownish islands in the mid-Atlantic, close to the West Africa coast, with a surface area of a little over 4,000 square kilometers - and they're a real paradise to be discovered. The absence of mass tourism and a warm but not sweltering climate which ranges between 20º Celsius in…

The history of a place can tell you a lot about its people, culture and environment, and what makes everything tick. In the case of Nosara, Costa Rica, its unusual and unlikely history strongly influenced how the area developed and how its communities live and thrive…

Summer in northern New Jersey can get pretty hot, sticky, and gross in late July, so the idea of a refreshing excursion to a nearby water park was greeted with thumbs-ups from my wife Sue, our teen son, and our tween daughter.

We had some choices: 

• Breakwater Beach in Seaside Heights, New Jersey (the locale of MTV’s Jersey…

When exploring Florida's coastline, there are definitive contrasts between the sugar-soft sands of Clearwater Beach; historic streets of St. Augustine; and the ever hip South Beach, shaped by Art Deco architecture, galleries, and clubbing. Florida's Gold Coast, a special stretch from Palm Beach to…

Let's face it: there's an audience for anything. What some tourists find unpleasant, others may say it's their cup of tea. That same formula also applies to cultural activities and touristic attractions such as museums, even the more unconventional ones.

The Dog Collar Museum, Leeds (UK): The name says it all and attracts nearly half a million pet lovers…

“Crete, an island bathed in a wine-dark sea, rich, beautiful, populous; many are those who live in its ninety towns, many are its languages.”



The words of Homer, in The Odyssey, written in 700 BC, may help formulate an idea of what visitors will find on this Green island. A historic, Mediterranean, vibrant island with…

(continued from Part I)

Not wanting to outright disagree with a doctor, I countered with the suggestion that we go to a local hotel for the night. The doctor nodded his head without challenging me in any way. When we checked in to…

Nearly all of Costa Rica’s two million-plus tourists each year visit at least one beach during their vacation. Logistics are easy given that the San Jose International Airport is a little less than one hour from the closest Pacific Coast beach, and it only takes 30 minutes or so to get to…