Traveling to Victoria in British Columbia?  Give your eyes as well as tastebuds a treat while you sip your evening cocktail.  The gorgeous deep purple color of the signature Empress 1908 Original Indigo Gin from Victoria Distillers immediately differentiates it from others behind the bar. Poured into a glass over…

Do research. Plan trip. Get on plane, train, or in an automobile. Spend hours, sometimes days, in transit. Get to XYZ amazing destination and immediately begin thinking about how to have the best Instagram posts, take the most amazing photos and use all the amenities at your hotel. Unfortunately, the…

Do research. Plan trip. Get on plane, train, or in an automobile. Spend hours, sometimes days, in transit. Get to XYZ amazing destination and immediately begin thinking about how to have the best Instagram posts, take the most amazing photos and use all the amenities at your hotel. Unfortunately, the…

Iceland’s most scenic and popular route is the so called “Golden Circle” of approximately 300 kilometers of breathtaking views, often traversed in a circular pattern out and back from Reykjavik. Within the Golden Circle lie some of the country’s top attractions, including Þingvellir National Park, the spectacular Gullfoss waterfalls and…

Napa Valley in California; Tuscany in Italy; The Rioja region in Spain; and….Michigan? While the aforementioned destinations are top of mind as a wine lovers paradise, don’t overlook this lesser known but beautiful hidden gem just 90 minutes out of Chicago. All up and down the southern shore of Lake…

Baja California’s raw beauty and stunning contrasts draws visitors year-round. Most common is the entry point at Tijuana, just south of San Diego. While convenient to accessing the area’s coastal towns of Puerto Nuevo, Roasarito and Ensenada, the border crossing is large and somewhat confusing, and drivers need to be…

Santorini, Mykonos, Ios…The top spots in Greece’s Cyclades are definitely must-stop destinations on any itinerary through the islands. However, after a period of time you may find yourself burned out on cruise ship crowds or incessant partying groups from Italy, Australia etc. So how do you get a taste of…

Istanbul is a melting pot — Asia butting up against Europe, Byzantine symbols displayed along Muslim icons and a food lover’s mashup with diverse tastes from throughout the centuries. The immense myriad of attractions means many visitors spend their days hoofing it from neighborhood to neighborhood, sometimes hopping on the…

Perched in the misty hills some 3,800 feet above sea level in central Panama, the small town of Boquete (Spanish for ‘the gap’) has attracted countless visitors  interested in the flora and fauna of the cloud forest since its founding some 100 years ago. Boquete’s elevation gives it a dramatically…

Independent travelers know that train travel is one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to get from Points A to B in Europe. For decades, Italy’s Trenitalia has dominated the landscape for anyone looking to get almost anywhere by rail. But in the last two years, a new upstart…

In the heart of Myanmar’s sprawling capital Yangon, an opportunity exists to glimpse local life and communities in a way not often available in other cities. Opened in 1954, the Yangon Circular Railway is a rickety, barely-faster-than-a-jog train that runs a circular path all around the heart of the city,…

Just a few years ago, Myanmar (formerly Burma) was a closed land, with heavy travel restrictions and limited tourist facilities. Since the broad easing of travel restrictions in 2012, tourism in Myanmar has boomed. Inle Lake in southern Shan State is a popular stop on many itineraries, famous for its…

As part of a larger seven-month trip around the world, my boyfriend and I knew we wanted to complete an African safari somewhere along the way. But where? How? I wondered where to start and how to budget for something like this. Like many travelers, I started at a travel…

I’m not advocating necessarily waking up with a glass of “vino tinto” (red wine) with your scrambled eggs and jamon…Although that isn’t out of the question in this area where wine flows often more freely than water. La Rioja is in Spain’s far north, just below the sunny shores of…