Back in the mid-1960s, the Orlando region of central Florida was lake-dotted but also unappealing to most people - a hot, swampy, mosquito-ridden backwater. Then came “The Mouse” – Disney’s Magic Kingdom – and lo, these 45 years later, Greater Orlando is now a…

image | U.S. Federal Government

I'll say upfront, I'm horrified by the nightmare this country is installing in the Executive branch of our government, and wincing at the massive damage we're going to be taking over the next four (and hopefully only four) years. So it's all the more worth noting that given the…

One of my earliest memories of Spain – lo, these many years ago – was jumping a high school trip in Andalusia to visit (with permission of all concerned, of course) a pen pal in a somewhat isolated, provincial backwater – but one filled with venerable Renaissance…

The allures of the tiny Central American country of El Salvador are still not all that well known beyond its borders.…

Yet another European city tracing its roots back to a settlement of the Roman Empire, the Flanders (Dutch Belgium) city of Antwerpen (Anvers in French) started coming into its own in the late 15th century, and by the 16th…

It's Thanksgiving Day in the USA, and despite all the world's controversies and problems, many pause to reflect on what in their lives they're thankful for, and perhaps, too, the travel-minded a bit on how they can give a little back of their own good fortune the next time they travel.



It's certainly…

One of my very first introductions to Great Britain as a youngster was a short but sweet visit to an ancient, elegant city in the bucolic hills of Somerset some 90 minutes by train west from London (closer to three hours if you drive). A smallish, very walkable and…

photos: David Paul Appell



Way up in the Andes, Ecuador’s capital city – the word’s highest official capital – is something muy especial indeed, its bustling modern precincts surrounding a historic old town dating back to 1543 that is…

Back in the bad old days of the Cold War, Warsaw was one of the main names associated with the Communist bloc thanks to the fact that its military alliance was called the Warsaw Pact. With today’s peace and prosperity under a mixed economy, the capital of…

photo: Orhan Cam



In an intensely grumpy, topsy-turvy election year in the USA, many politicians and citizens alike just love to inveigh against Washington and all it stands for. But as an urban experience, I…

  If…

Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this sun of York.

— William Shakespeare, Richard III

For visitors to England, when it comes to cities London often (and…

As the Spanish wine industry has grown and deepened in complexity in the past couple of decades well beyond Andalusia’s traditional sherries, oenophiles…