Travel

The steep trail near the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway was covered in inches of spongy fallen needles and peppered with ankle-twisting pine cones. It was also shady, which felt remarkable after the first seven miles of the grueling Cactus to Clouds hike offered little more than a brittlebush leaf’s worth of relief.

“As long as there are cows and horses around, you’ll need someone like me,” our wrangler said when I asked if someone could earn a living cowboying these days.

LONDON – Beneath the gift shop of the original Hard Rock Cafe, staff members lead daily tours of the Vault, a space the size of a walk-in closet that guards some of the chain’s most vaunted treasures. Inside, there’s the harpsichord played by the Beatles, Bo Diddley’s cigar box guitar, a bustier from Madonna’s era of traffic cone tops. At the restaurant across the street, diners eat cheeseburgers alongside Jimi Hendrix’s maracas, Keith Richards’ pink Fender Stratocaster, and a pair of glittery sunglasses immortalized on the cover of Elton John’s chart-topping album “Caribou.”

Chaos surrounded us. Informal porters rolling luggage carts zigzagged between cars. Commuters spilled from the bus terminal onto the sidewalk, where they sat on suitcases and duffel bags. Minibus taxis zoomed through the congestion, pedestrians be damned.

Spokane is one of “the hottest destinations” for spring travel, as beloved weathercaster Al Roker put it on the “Today” show earlier this week.

Amid light snow, I skied out of the town of Ste.-Adèle, in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, and headed to Prévost, 8 miles away. Only a few minutes earlier, I had walked out of Au Clos Rolland, a historic inn where I’d spent the previous night dining on a decadent three-course meal and resting up from a day of cross-country skiing.

After packed-to-the-brim days in Philadelphia and New York City, the final stop of our East Coast train trip was here. Ashley, my twin sister, and I had been to Boston before separately but we both had things we wanted to see for the first time, or again, so it was an easy choice to add the city to the itinerary.

“Pachamama,” said our guide, Orlando Condori. He tilted his glass, pouring some blush-colored wine onto the parched sand.

No matter how much time you plan to spend in New York City, it never seems like quite long enough. It’s truly a “so much to do, so little time” situation.

Let’s buck the trend, a local marine biologist suggested.

Despite living in Pennsylvania for about two and a half years while in high school, I visited Philadelphia only once or twice. Wanting to make up for lost time, when my sister Ashley and I decided to take a train trip from Spokane to the East Coast, we chose the City of Brotherly Love as our first stop.

Turns out that whale scene in Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams’ hilarious 2020 movie, “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga,” may not have been so overblown, after all. We chalked up the scene of two massive humpbacks breaching in breathtaking unison to cinematic magic. But the little town of Husavik is considered not only the whale-watching capital of Iceland, Lonely Planet calls it ...

Known as the “Golden City of 100 Spires,” Prague boasts a fairytale medieval Old Town, historic churches and synagogues, and perhaps Europe’s largest castle. A good way to introduce yourself to the city, its layered past, and its resilient people is with a walk across town, starting on lively, urban Wenceslas Square, weaving through the atmospheric Old Town, and ending at the picturesque Charles Bridge.

Just before Halloween last year, my twin sister Ashley reached out to me.

Inflation has hit all parts of the travel world, including Nomadic Matt.

For a window into the soul of a city, take a stroll along the waterfront: Think of the Seine walkways in Paris, the Copacabana promenade in Rio or the Charles River Esplanade in Boston. Or the nearly 14-mile palm-fringed ribbon called La Rambla, in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

In 1978, Rick Steves had a good thing going at home in Edmonds, Washington – until he blew it up.

It’s no secret that Yellowstone National Park can be jampacked in the summer, when up to 1 million people jockey for space each July. But February typically draws fewer than 50,000 visitors. That makes winter the best time to beat the crowds, as well as to experience a captivating and seldom-seen world revealed only when the park is covered in snow.

“Rugged” is putting it mildly when it comes to 80% of Norway. Historically, it was a challenge to live here. That’s why Vikings ventured south and so many emigrants left for America.