[Updated 11/7/22] Making recycled Christmas decorations at home is a fantastic opportunity to slow down and savor the holiday season. It gives us a chance to spend some quality time with our family and friends, not to mention avoiding the ever-increasing consumerist trappings of the holiday season. Using waste materials for our homemade holiday crafts is even…
It seems like every other day another Brown Hotel is opening up somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean, and Greece is high on the list of countries being served by the Tel Aviv-based chain. One of these notable new Brown properties is Brown Beach Hotel Chalkida, located just an hour’s drive north of Athens. Brown Beach…
What if we told you that a single ingredient contained in many of your favorite foods– palm oil– is wiping out rainforests all around the world, from Palawan, Philippines to the Brazilian Amazon? What if we told you that palm oil products are killing endangered species (orangutans being the most famous example) and destroying the livelihood of indigenous tribes? Would…
With the advent of digital and cell phone cameras, photography has become more affordable for the masses. Nowadays, almost anyone can be a photographer. And, of course, there is no better place to try your skills than on a safari in Botswana, Africa. A stay at Pangolin Chobe Hotel is designed around photographer needs and…
Water collection and storage is nothing new. Humans have been harvesting rainwater for centuries… millennia, actually. In fact, many of the ancient archaeological sites that we love to visit—Machu Picchu, the aqueducts of Rome, the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, the ponds and linear channels of Angkor Wat, the rice terraces of the Philippines—provide great models…
There are a few travel and outdoor gear brands out there that skew heavily to women because they make yoga wear, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have plenty to offer both sexes. That’s especially true for Prana (or as they like to spell it, prAna). I literally have 18 different pairs of travel pants…
I absolutely loved Istanbul! The city is a melting pot of cultures, a conglomeration of delights that can feed both the body and the soul. Istanbul’s food scene is as eclectic as its culture, but the Turkish dishes are the ones that impressed me the most. I’ll be the first to admit that food preferences are…
Can a landmark like Hotel 24 South embody a city’s spirit? You bet. The independently-owned Hotel 24 South in Staunton, Virginia, is not only a iconic architectural gem. The Historic Hotels of America property is also a cultural beacon. The hotel sits in the heart of an downtown full of entrepreneurs. Just walk a few…
There’s reason to celebrate as I write this because many countries opened back up to foreign travelers for the first time since March or April of 2020. It’s not as simple as waltzing through the immigration line with a passport and a smile though. First, you’ll increasingly need to be vaccinated to be allowed in….
I’ve been to Romania a couple of times. I had plans to get back there this year at some point, but it was not meant to be. So I hit up a local expatriate who is living there now to give us the rundown on the cost of living in Romania. Violeta Metai lives in…
