Mane Attractions: The World’s Cutest Ponies
Warning: This travel story contains excessive amounts of shaggy manes, fluffy forelocks, tiny hooves and irresistible four-legged charm. You may experience an uncontrollable urge to book a trip and ride off into the sunset. Move over, cat videos. There's a new contender for the internet's cutest animal obsession. And this one comes with a passport.Ponies have a special talent for stealing hearts. Maybe it's their oversized personalities packed into undersized bodies. Or their fantastic bad hair days. But why settle for pony...
The New Language of Travel Trends: Which Speaks to You?The New Language of Travel Trends: Which Speaks to You?
The latest travel trends come with their own new terms, and appeal to every generation of traveler. Are any of these approaches to travel calling your name? Nonna-maxxing: Grandma Knows BestMove over, celebrity chefs. The hottest new travel influencer may be an Italian grandmother.Nonna is Italian for grandmother, and "maxxing" is internet slang for taking something to the next level. Put them together and you have one of the most charming travel trends - coined by younger travelers, but grandmas can inspire...
VIDEO: You Can’t Book a Room on this River Cruise Ship
Take a video tour of the new cruise ship – the first of a whole new cruise line - that’s based on a premise you might find surprising. It means you can’t book a single room on this ship! Transcend Cruises launched in 2026 with a very different idea: charter-only river cruises in Europe. If you thought that chartering a river cruise ship would be just for company conferences, think again. Here are some groups that travel advisors have already booked in Transcend’s...
Sea Turtles, Cenote Symphonies, and Carnival of the Senses: Caribbean Resorts Go Hyper Local
A new generation of Caribbean resorts is delving deep — sometimes literally — into the nature, culture and traditions of their destinations to go far beyond the beach and offer experiences that truly deliver on the promise of ‘a sense of place.’ Three new and returning resort experiences in Mexico, The Bahamas and Saint Lucia illustrate the shift towards hyper-local coastal resorts. They’re answering the call from visitors for experiences so rooted in their destination they couldn’t be duplicated anywhere else. Here...
Holland America Line Hosts 1st Pro Pickleball Invitational on a Private Island
The pickleball takeover of cruising seems complete with news that Holland America Line is set to host the first-ever Professional Pickleball Association – yes, there’s a Professional Pickleball Association! – competition on a private island. The Professional Pickleball Association Invitational takes place in March, 2027 on Holland America Line’s private island beach resort in The Bahamas, Half Moon Cay, during a special Caribbean cruise. The invitational will feature professional players on RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay’s four new pickleball courts. The event comes as...
3 Ways to Chase the Northern Lights
The Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, are Mother Nature’s own light show, one of travel's most mesmerizing natural phenomena that nothing man-made can beat. Electrically charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's atmosphere, creating shimmering curtains of green, purple, pink and occasionally red that dance across the night sky. Standing in the glow of this mystical Arctic phenomenon is on many a travel bucket list. The bad news is there’s a specific time – and place – to see the Northern...
Royal Caribbean Group Buys 50% of Sandals Resorts- A Game Changer for the Caribbean and Global Cruising?
Caribbean cruising - and beyond! - may have changed forever. Royal Caribbean Group -which also owns Celebrity Cruises and Silversea - and Sandals Resorts International announced that the cruise company has purchased 50% of the Caribbean all-inclusive resort chain. It's a deal worth 3 billion USD, and it's sending a tidal wave through both the cruise and all-inclusive resort worlds. Here's why it's a gamechanger for any cruise traveler on Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean, or Silversea. Or people who love high-end, all-inclusive...
Italian Wine Beyond Tuscany: 3 Other Regions Worth Drinking In
We love Tuscany, too. But Italy has 20 wine-producing regions. Why should Chianti have all the fun? Head north, east, and very south from Tuscany for three deliciously different wine adventures. Tuscany has become almost shorthand for Italian wine travel: cypress-lined roads, Renaissance hill towns, vineyard-covered hills and a glass of Chianti waiting at lazy sun-drenched lunches and on terraces at sunset. Now that’s the Dolce Vita. But perhaps it’s time to stop giving Tuscany all the love. Every one of Italy’s 20...
The Only Country Celebrating the Autumn Equinox as a National Holiday
Many cultures have fall festivals, but only one makes the arrival of astronomical autumn a national holiday: Shubun no Hi. What’s more, Japan does it twice a year, also making March’s Vernal Equinox Day the holiday Shunbun no Hi. Shubun no Hi, or Autumnal Equinox Day, falls around September 22 or 23, when the sun crosses the celestial equator and day and night are equal in length. We may pull on a sweater in a new palette of colors and order the...
‘Ditch’ the Boots: Switzerland’s Barefoot Hiking Revival
Switzerland’s famous for its snowy peaks and picturesque slopes. It’s home to some of the world’s chicest ski resorts and 40,000 miles of summer hiking trails. The Swiss have elevated outdoor Alpine lifestyles to a national art form… and the image you might have is a global elite clad in equal parts stylish and highly technical gear. Not so fast. Switzerland Tourism / Colin FreiOn a growing collection of Swiss trails called Barfussweg (‘Barefoot Trails’), the on-trend footwear is… none.Welcome to barefoot...