Carnival is doing away with its free 24-hour room service aboard its cruise ships. So what, it’s only one cruise line, right? Don’t bet on it. Sometime this month, Carnival Cruise Lines will, probably quietly, do away with one of the longstanding traditions of the modern cruise industry — free all-hours room service in your […]
Read MoreRiver cruising — something else again
River cruising is a very different experience from ocean cruising. The environment. The scale. The pace. The vibe. It’s all different. And let me just come right out front and tell you that it’s not for everybody. To truly get the most out of a river cruise, you need to be a traveler of a […]
Read MoreAIRLINES: Southwest going at both ends
Southwest Airlines is experimenting with letting passengers board through the front and rear of their planes at the same time. Will it help speed up boarding and improve on-time departures and arrivals? We’ll see. Some of us are old enough to remember the Boeing 727, a three-engine workhorse airliner with a built-in ramp in the […]
Read MoreThe SEYCHELLES: Where tourism is life
This archipelago of 115 tiny, almost unbearably beautiful islands welcomes visitors as if their nation’s future depends on it. Because it does. You have to look hard to find the Seychelles — 115 microdots of land scattered like dispersed sand grains in the western Indian Ocean. Odds are, your friends and neighbors have never heard […]
Read MoreAIRLINES: Who’s safe?
The crash of a brand-new Boeing 737 off an Indonesian island revives doubts about regional air safety in that part of the world. For the traveler, there’s a different question: How to tell which airlines are safer? When it comes to international travel, Indonesia is an uneasy contradiction. It’s one of the most beautiful and […]
Read MoreGERMANY: Planes & Trains
Germany’s national airline is teaming up with the country’s national railroad to create and air-rail net across the whole country at a bargain rate. Hopefully, someone on this side of the Atlantic is taking notes. In the seemingly eternal death struggle between airlines and passengers trains, Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn (DB) are trying something different: […]
Read MoreIs Ghana trying to discourage tourism?
A Ghanaian government requirement to include bank statements with your visa application is turning off a lot of travelers, especially Black Americans. Late last year, I got an inquiry from a young African-American woman who was applying for a tourist visa to Ghana. She was not happy. According to the application, she had to include […]
Read MoreAfrican Slavery: The Dutch Connection
The history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade creates some unexpected links between West Africa and Europe. One of those joins Ghana and the Netherlands. If someone mentions the Netherlands to you today, what comes to your mind? Amsterdam, a great European capital, laced with canals and full of traditional charm? Friendly people with a reputation […]
Read MoreETHIOPIA: Faith still moves mountains
A Canadian university professor has discovered that the ancient practice of carving Christian churches from solid rock, a skill thought lost for half a millennium, is still alive in Ethiopia…but only just. While in Ethiopia for the first time last summer, I saw four of the 11 famed rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. It’s perhaps the […]
Read MoreIBIT RANT: Just go
Is there a part of the world you’ve always wanted to see, but you’re afraid that those closest to you wouldn’t understand? Don’t let someone else’s doubt mess with your passport dreams. Do you love travel? Do you love to dream about travel, talk about travel? If the answer to any of that is “Yes,” […]
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