Rituals and Traditions

It took many, many long sea voyages and much tedious charting to produce the first crude maps of the world. Today, travelers are increasingly abandoning even the best maps in favor of electronic navigation devices.

Have GPS Devices Taken the Fun out of Navigation?

With the rise of the digital age, the fascinating skills of map reading and celestial navigation are becoming lost arts

A Murray Meisner original dress, sold on Etsy

A Holiday Shopping Reminder: Do We Really Need That Extra Pair of Jeans?

Meaningful purchases trump frenetic shopping and closets bulging with new clothes

Your guests might chase you out of the house if this appears on the table on “Turkey Day,” but cooking a duck as the main course might also be seen as a sophisticated Thanksgiving homage to the cuisine of France—or China.

Exotic Dishes to Spice Up Your Thanksgiving Feast

Add some global flair to your banquet with these savory variations on your favorite "Turkey Day" fare

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The History of Beaujolais Nouveau Day

There's no better time to try this fruity red wine than today, the third Thursday in November, when the French celebrate the release of the new vintage

Ed Heseltine, a British traveler currently living in the Dordogne, shows the first of two beers that he found stashed months earlier by the author of “Off the Road.”

Breaking News From France: My Hidden Beers Discovered!

Six containers of lager remain hidden in remote crevices and crannies in the French countryside. If you wish to find them, read these instructions

Thailand’s dreamy James Bond Island was featured in the 1974 film The Man with the Golden Gun and first brought fame to what is now a popular tourist destination.

Marking 50 Years of Luxurious Travel With James Bond

Since 1962, the films have introduced the world to all sorts of exotic, jaw-dropping destinations

Oregon travelers Lindsay Gasik and Rob Culclasure, shown here in Penang, Malaysia, are currently in Southeast Asia on a nonstop year-long hunt for fresh durians.

Faces From Afar: Two Oregonians on the Hunt for Exotic Durians

Meet Lindsay Gasik and Rob Culclasure, who are spending a year of their lives in Southeast Asia feasting on the bizarre fruit

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Incredible Political Fashion Statements From Past Elections

Forget buttons and T-shirts. Check out these mini dresses, bell bottoms and digital watches from old campaign trails

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The Haunted and the Haunting: Best Places to Visit on Halloween

This Halloween, indulge in the the electric, nerve-zapping thrill of fear, and consider visiting real destinations of creepy history and ghostly legends

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The Witches of Halloween Past

Sexy or scary, the outfit has cast a spell on costume wearers going back many years

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Should Americans Travel to the Middle East?

Today the area is often perceived as a murky and dangerous blur on the map. But how unsafe, really, is this area for tourists?

Emily Post (left): 1946, National Portrait Gallery. Diana Vreeland (right): 1989, National Portrait Gallery.

Dress Codes and Etiquette, Part 2: Diana Vreeland vs. Emily Post on Vulgarity

How much drama is too much? These two famous women, who wielded power over how we dress, could have debated the subject

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Volcanoes: The Top Hotspots of the World

Volcanic landscapes draw countless tourists to rumbling mountains, rivers of lava and boiling geysers. Here are a few of the hottest destinations

As prim and tidy as hedges at the Queen’s palace, a vineyard in England reminds us that rising temperatures are now allowing for wine production in the world’s higher latitudes.

More Wines from Unexpected Places

Good, locally made wines can now be found in such unlikely locales as equatorial Kenya, the Texas Hill Country, and temperate and rainy Japan

Dress code illustration, 1960s

Dress Codes and Etiquette, Part 1: What Not to Wear to High School in the 1960s

Before the Age of Aquarius, there was the age of administrators and their button-down rules about students' wardrobes

Vineyards are nothing new to the desert landscape of Baja California, where the Spanish missionaries left their viticultural legacy three centuries ago. This image shows the acclaimed Guadalupe Valley.

Four Surprising Places Where Local Wines Thrive

Almost everywhere European explorers went, vineyards grew behind them. Here are a few places tourists might never have known there was wine to taste

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Where Travelers Go to Pay Their Respects

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum is not a fun place to go, yet tourists flock here, and toother somber sites around the world

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Snakes: The Good, the Bad and the Deadly

With venom so potent it can kill a person in 30 minutes, the black mamba is a snake to avoid—while others are worth learning about before you cast judgment

Unless you know how to handle a scalpel and have some detailed knowledge of anatomy, Antarctica could be the least convenient place to suffer appendicitis—but it’s happened to researchers more than once.

Health Hazards of the Traveler

Russian scientist Leonid Rogozov was the only doctor within 1,000 miles when, in 1961, he was struck by appendicitis in Antarctica

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Six Things to Do and Places to See Before Climate Change Swamps the Party

Get out and view a wild polar bear and visit Tuvalu and other low-lying islands while you have a chance

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