Helen Hatzis
More Americans are heading to national parks than ever before. The National Park Service recorded more than 323 million recreation visits in 2025, including over 13 million overnight stays, with 26 parks setting new visitation records. That’s a staggering number of people sharing trails, parking lots, and overlooks – which means that being prepared isn’t
Travelers planning meaningful trips this year and beyond now have an elevated option for building rewards. Chase has made a 100,000 Ultimate Rewards point welcome bonus available on the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card after meeting a $5,000 spending requirement in the first three months. The offer stands out as one of the stronger welcome bonuses
Travelers who value both familiarity and renewal have reason to look again at several established properties. In the past year, a number of well-known hotels completed substantial renovations that refreshed guest rooms, public spaces, and amenities while preserving the operational maturity that new builds often lack. Many of these updates now appear in loyalty program
Williamsburg, Virginia, has long drawn visitors eager to walk through the preserved streets and buildings that shaped early American independence. The region’s appeal extends well beyond those foundational sites, however, with a mix of outdoor recreation, family entertainment, and local gathering spots that suit summer travel plans. Travelers who spend time here often discover a
Trastevere sits on the west bank of the Tiber River, offering visitors a compact district that balances historic architecture with everyday rhythms. Its narrow lanes and ivy-covered facades create an immediate sense of place, while proximity to major landmarks keeps the area convenient without overwhelming it. Travelers often choose this neighborhood as a base because
San Francisco’s Chinatown has long stood as the oldest Chinese enclave in the United States, a neighborhood shaped by generations of migration, resilience, and cultural exchange. This spring, it gained a new landmark with the opening of the OUT Museum, the first institution of its kind dedicated to Chinese LGBTQ+ artists. The bilingual space sits
A 2024 survey of 2,000 people in relationships found that 73 percent consider travel the ultimate test of compatibility. The number stands out because a shared journey packs months of everyday interactions into a concentrated span of days. Decisions arise quickly when plans shift, resources are shared, and surroundings feel new. These moments surface patterns
Every spring, something remarkable happens along the eastern edge of North America. Ancient towers of glacial ice, born from Greenland’s eroding ice sheets, begin a slow, silent drift southward into the waters of Newfoundland. It is one of the few places on Earth where travelers can stand on a rocky headland and watch these frozen
Image credits: Flickr There’s a certain kind of quiet that only exists above 8,000 feet, when the last trail sign is miles behind you and the only sound is meltwater threading through granite. Montana’s most celebrated glaciers are well documented, endlessly photographed, and increasingly crowded on summer mornings. The ones that don’t appear in travel
There’s a particular kind of food destination that earns its reputation slowly, through word of mouth, through chefs who stay rather than leave, through farmers who’ve been on the same land for generations. Wisconsin, and its cultural and culinary anchor of Milwaukee, is exactly that place. It hasn’t been shouted about on the cover of
America’s national parks have never been more loved, and the numbers prove it. The National Park Service’s 2024 visitation statistics reveal a record-breaking year, with the service reporting 331.9 million recreation visits – a nearly 2% increase from 2023 and surpassing the previous all-time high set in 2016. That kind of love, spread across hundreds
There is a particular kind of quiet that settles over the Hudson Valley on a weekday morning in spring. Fog lifts off the river, old stone walls run alongside country roads, and the towns sitting along those bends carry centuries of American life in their architecture, their cemeteries, and their rhythms. This is not a