Travel Blog

Cruise lovers haven’t even had a chance to sail aboard the first ship on this new – and much anticipated – cruise line. The Scarlet Lady launched a year ago just moments before the travel shutdown, and guests are still waiting to find out what it’s like to cruise the adults-only, Virgin Voyages way. That hasn’t stopped Sir Richard Branson’s disruptor cruise line from continuing to build its fleet of what – in a twist of British cheek – it’s calling ‘lady...

46 nights. 7 rivers. 14 countries. You’ve heard of ocean ‘World Cruises’. This is the first of its kind for river cruising and may be the start of a whole new river cruise travel trend. The longest-ever river cruise itinerary is the perfect way to refill a love for cruising that’s been running dry since the pandemic. AmaWaterways calls it the ‘Seven River Journey Through Europe’, and it sails in 2023. Similar in spirit to ocean ‘World Cruises’, this river cruise version is...

 If you thought Tulip Time in the Netherlands was the ultimate garden travel experience, you haven’t heard about Floriade.Horticulture is famously the Netherlands’ most ‘colorful’ industry. The country sells half of the world’s ‘floriculture’ products and over three-quarters of the world’s flower bulbs. It’s number one in greenhouse horticulture and leads global exports of cut flowers, ornamental plants and even trees.One of the most magnificent Dutch travel experiences is an early spring – ‘Tulip Time’ – visit to Keukenhof, the...

Social media has an acronym for it: FOMO, or ‘Fear of Missing Out’. Over the last year, we’ve been missing out on a lot. A lot of get togethers, events, family celebrations… and a lot of travel. Finally, it looks like there’s light at the end of the tunnel, with travel starting to pick up this year, and gaining real speed in 2022.  If you’re anything like us, you feel like you have a lot of catching up to do.  In addition...

They’re calling it ‘The World’s Most Magical Celebration’ and it's a new entry on the travel bucket list of Disney lovers around the world.  On October 1st, 1971, after years of imagining and building, Walt Disney World Resort opened in Florida, taking the magic of the Disney universe and beloved characters from the silver screen to real life.  Half a century later, some would say Disney World is even better than real life. With millions of visitors every year, the ground-breaking theme...

He mixes drinks, but doesn’t stop there. ‘Rob’ the robot bartender also speaks 8 languages, tells jokes and even dances too! When we can cruise again, you won’t want to miss the world’s first humanoid – and interactive – shipboard robot bartender, who will make you the perfect cocktail to toast your return to cruising and travel. When MSC Cruises launches its newest flagship this spring, it will have at least one exclusive feature. The futuristic MSC Starship Club lets cruise guests feel...

Ever since the first overwater bungalow resort was built half a century ago, they have come to define the ultimate romantic tropical getaway.Overwater villas are the next best thing to a private tropical island of your own – a luxury, rustic-chic bungalow suspended right over top of jewel-toned seas. It brings out the primal human in us all, and activates every romantic instinct.The originals in French Polynesia were inspired by the makeshift, thatched-roof overwater huts made by local fishermen to...

Canada’s Far North is one of the world’s Last Frontiers – and a true polar travel experience. The country’s Northwest Territories extend from the 60th parallel into Arctic Ocean islands all the way to the North Pole. At half a million square miles, the Northwest Territories is six times the size of the UK, but has only about 45,000 residents. Boreal forest thrives at the southern end of the NWT, which thin out before disappearing after the ‘tree line’, with...

The catchy saying is known around the world and has even been inducted into the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame. ‘Virginia is for Lovers’ debuted over 50 years ago, explaining to readers of ‘Modern Bride’ why they should honeymoon in Virginia. Over the next half-century, ‘Virginia is for Lovers’ has come to mean a lot of different things to different people. It’s not just newlyweds who love Virginia, nestled between Chesapeake Bay on the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian...

The steamy, historic-fantasy Netflix series ‘Bridgerton’ couldn’t come at a better time to brighten our stay-at-home winter blahs. We aren't surprised it's shattered Netflix viewership records.Bridgerton is an early-19th century, light-hearted romp of an historic romance on steroids. Bridgerton follows the intrigues of the young Bridgerton family and their high society friends, enemies and potential mates, their scheming mamas, and the revelations of Lady Whistledown's scandal sheets.It's fantasy and eye candy of the highest order, with impossibly beautiful and sexy...

We love airports, don’t you? After a year without travel,  we can’t wait to see the bustle, feel that unique buzz of people excited to be off on a new adventure in a new place… Of all the sights and sounds of a busy airport, the one that’s guaranteed to make you smile is the earnest, adorable faces of hard-at-work security dogs.We may not be going to the airport and heading off to new destinations right now, but the Transportation...

Are you missing travel?  Evidence tells us that travel benefits us more than getting a fresh tan, new social media posts of us having fun in some exotic location, or even new stories to entertain our friends and family. When we had the privilege of unrestricted travel, we took for granted all the benefits it brought, including real benefits to our health that research was beginning to reveal.The old cliché that laughter is the best medicine could really be said...

Amid political drama, it’s easy to forget that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC isn’t only the address of one of America’s branches of government - or a family home, America’s original work-from-home venue before WFH became a ‘thing’.The White House is also a global symbol of the historic roots of democracy. And it’s one of the pre-eminent museums of the history of the United States.It wasn’t always that way. This year, the White House Historical Association celebrates its 60th...

Can we hit the reset button on 2020? Usually, at the beginning of each year, we look forward to new ships guests will be among the first in the world to experience in their inaugural seasons. But in 2020, more than a dozen new cruise ships sailed out of their shipyards only to sit empty, waiting for cruising to resume to welcome guests on new cruising adventures. BestTrip TV’s Lynn Elmhirst provides her list of favorite vessels from the class of 2020 you’ll...

It looks like something out of a science fiction film, but it could be the way you get your very next aerial tour of Singapore. In a world first, after two years of tests and collaboration with the island city-state and a decade of development of its technology, ‘Volocopter’ is set to make no-pilot air taxi services a reality.While other cities around the world experiment with driverless cars as a stepping stone to unmanned taxi service, Volocopter has unveiled pioneering...

It’s made of an astonishing 10,000 western red cedar logs, and ‘logs in’ at a whopping 4-million cubic feet of volume.Fairmont Le Château Montebello lays claim to being the biggest log building on the planet. A massive lobby and rotunda anchor four wings extending out in a star formation that’s painted dramatic black on the outside, but retains its natural warm shade on the inside.Phenomenal, 70-foot log rafters support the atrium lobby, with a central, three-story stone fireplace, a mezzanine...

This January, two powerful forces for wellness travel converge: yearly New Year's resolutions to become or rediscover our best selves, and this year, the pandemic that's both kept us from traveling, and for many, fostered a lifestyle that may not have kept us at our peak.In the travel era BC (Before COVID), wellness travel was already one of the most popular, and growing, vacation styles.Since COVID, the idea of wellness travel has taken on a new dimension – now, ALL...

If this year’s altered holiday celebrations left you wistful and nostalgic for full-bore Christmas festivities, there’s a river cruise that gives you a chance for a re-do. Christmas in July on the Danube comes without snow – but it does come with plenty of seasonal cheer on Uniworld’s S.S. Maria Theresea. On two sailings in July, the Maria Theresea will have her halls decked out in full holiday splendor as she sails between Passau, Germany and Budapest, Hungary, calling in popular...

A year from now, one of the travel events of our lifetime will be over.  Not only will 2021 see the return to travel we’ve all longed for; on December 4th, 2021, a total solar eclipse will take place. A total solar eclipse, where the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, completely blocking out the sun for a short period of time, is as mystical and as primal an experience for us modern humans as it has been for...

In BC (Before COVID) times, viral airline safety videos had fun with things like fastening seatbelts. Times have changed. Alaska Airlines gave the COVID travel era the new type of safety video we really needed right now. The video above is a send-up of the 80’s music classic Men Without Hats’ ‘Safety Dance’. If you want to compare it and get a real blast from the past, here’s the original 1982 new-wave Men Without Hats’ classic.Alaska Airlines’ version was released just before...