All in Off-the-beaten path destination
A day trip from Medellín, Colombia, becomes an immersive cultural journey as Karen Gershowitz explores Guatapé with a local driver who brings the region’s history and landscape to life. From the rebuilt town of Peñol to Guatapé’s vibrant streets, decorative zócalos, and iconic rock formation, the visit reveals a joyful community where color, art, and daily life intertwine.
After a restorative spa retreat in Ixtapan de la Sal, Karen Gershowitz ventures beyond the walls to discover Toluca’s breathtaking Cosmovitral Jardín Botánico—an art-and-nature marvel of stained glass and gardens—and Metepec’s vibrant traditions, street food, and festival spirit. Beauty, flavor, and memory prove the best souvenirs, found not on maps but in exploration.
Join Richard Collins on a journey through the Pyrenees as he reflects on encounters with elusive wildlife and contemplates the paradox of experiencing versus documenting moments. Delve into the tension between fully immersing oneself in an experience or capturing it from a removed vantage point.
David Devine recounts an unexpected cave-dwelling adventure in Maymand, Iran, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Despite the challenges of cramped caves, basic amenities, and a cold night's sleep, Devine embraces the unique experience, immersing himself in the cave community's history, hospitality, and charm. From the homemade bread to sharing stories with the locals, his stay in Maymand leaves a lasting impression.
One day Megan Moore made the courageous decision to quit her job and embark on a cross-country road trip with no set plan. Along the way, she finds freedom in being alone, experiencing new things, and meeting people who have taken the road less traveled. This uplifting story reminds us that it is never too late to take risks and explore the world around us.
Erin Coyle shares insider tips on exploring two unique Zanzibar Villages, Pete and Tumbatu, and learning about local traditions while supporting sustainable tourism.
Pamela Blair traveled to Tunisia to experience the beauty of the desert. What she didn't expect was a young camel herder who, when he found she was a psychologist, insisted she help him with a problem. He took her out to a dune, and their session began.
An unexpected change in travel plans sent Terry Huntington off on an unforgettable cargo ship voyage from Canada to Australia, including a raging Atlantic storm, wild nights ashore, passage through the Panama Canal, and a mid-ocean engine failure without a speck of land in sight.
A visit to Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, a cultural and natural UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, takes Carolyn Handler Miller deep into the Maya jungle where she discovers a vibrant ancient culture living intimately with their environment.
This is the story of native New Yorker Cliff Simon, who goes to New Mexico and experiences, for the first time, the magic of the Milky Way in an entirely Steven Spielberg moment.
Richard Collins traveled to the Brecon Beacons, a mountain range in South Wales not far from where he grew up. Despite spending his childhood there, he’d never felt Welsh until he left Wales. But living in different countries had inspired a retroactive yearning to connect with his heritage. So he returned, determined to chase that dragon. It didn’t go easy.
Chris Pady was skeptical that enlightened beings walked the earth; that was until the day an enlightened being flicked him on the forehead and forever changed his mind.
It was 1976 and Mike Chambers was in Afghanistan on his way to see a standing Buddha that had been carved out of the walls of a canyon some fourteen hundred years earlier. Not long afterward, Afghanistan slipped back into the chaos it was to suffer for decades. and the experience had faded into memory until, 25-years later when Bamiyan's Buddha appeared in a TV news post.
Sweat was oozing out of his pores when Philipp Meier arrived at Koh Chang, an island in southern Thailand. The peace and quiet, however, promised to be the perfect antidote after the tourist hustle and bustle of nearby Koh Phayam.
It was 1976 and Mike Chambers was traveling overland on the Hippie Trail across Eurasia. During a stop in Turkey, tempers flared when a fellow traveler insulted a local vendor and suddenly, in the resulting scuffle, Mike became the target of an angry mob.
Philippines-based American expat B.J. Stolbov heads off to Batanes, a remote cluster of islands, located almost 200 miles off the northernmost tip of Luzon, to discover if the islands are as crime-free as their reputation.
Alarm bells went off in Jacqueline Hitt’s mind when the small plane she was traveling on made an unscheduled landing on a makeshift runway in a remote part of Madagascar.
Jailed in a Sudanese prison wasn’t what Mike Chambers imagined when he went to Africa. Then luck and the actions of one officer changed everything.
A hike into the Amphitheatre at South Africa’s Royal Natal National Park to see the world’s second highest waterfall seemed like a good idea—until it didn’t. With heavy mist obscuring any possibility of a view and a water-slicked, cliff-hugging ladder providing the only way in or out, Richard Kitzinger suddenly found himself face-to-face with his greatest fears.
When American expat Elyn Aviva and her husband relocated to Asturias, Spain, after seven years in Catelonia, the safety net of knowing how to do things and where to go was suddenly gone and their spirits soon matched the region’s dismal winter weather.
