Helen Hatzis
Most people who plan a road trip through Arizona have Route 66 circled on the map before they even pack a bag. It’s iconic, it’s nostalgic, and it has the kind of cultural gravity that’s hard to argue with. Historic Route 66 stretches from downtown Chicago to Santa Monica Pier in California, and since 1926,
There’s something quietly magnetic about the idea of sleeping inside a forest that has stood for millions of years. No traffic, no city hum, just the percussion of rain on a canopy overhead and the distant call of something wild. For a growing number of travelers in 2026, that isn’t a fantasy. It’s a booked
Every year, millions of travelers return home from vacation with bags full of memories. Some of those memories, it turns out, are flat-out illegal. From beach coral to exotic animal skins to items that pose real biological risks, the checkpoint between “fun vacation purchase” and “federal violation” is thinner than most people realize. Just because
Every food lover knows the usual suspects. When avid travelers talk about America’s great food destinations, the same cities tend to pop up: New York with its bagels, New Orleans with its gumbo, and Chicago with its deep-dish pizza. The real discoveries, though, are happening elsewhere. Across the country, a wave of cities is quietly
There’s a place in Washington State where you climb a wooden staircase into the canopy, settle into a queen bed cradled by fir and cedar, and suddenly the idea of checking your phone feels genuinely unappealing. It’s not a cabin, not a glamping dome, and nothing like a standard hotel. It’s a treehouse. Several of
Most families planning a summer getaway default to the same crowded coastlines and theme park circuits. It makes sense. Those spots are famous for a reason. Still, the US has thousands of lakes scattered across its landscape, and some of the most enjoyable family escapes in the country sit quietly off the radar, largely untouched
Fredericksburg, Texas sits about 70 miles west of Austin in the heart of the Hill Country. It has a population that barely clears 11,000. Yet this small town is quietly pulling in visitors at a pace that would make most mid-sized American cities envious. The reasons aren’t accidental. Over the past few years, a convergence
There’s something telling about the fact that the word “Leelanau” loosely translates to “delight of land” in the Ojibwe language. It’s a name that has taken on fresh meaning in recent years, as Midwest road trippers who once treated the Leelanau Peninsula as a pleasant detour on the way to Traverse City are now treating
Rome is one of those cities where food is simply part of the landscape. Ancient aqueducts, piazzas lined with centuries-old churches, and somewhere around every corner, a hole-in-the-wall serving something extraordinary for just a few euros. The gap between eating well and eating cheaply here is much smaller than most visitors expect. While you can
Most conversations about American wine start and end the same way: Napa Valley. While every state in America produces wine, much of the U.S. wine conversation is still centered around California’s Napa Valley. That’s understandable, but it misses a bigger and frankly more exciting story playing out across the country. From volcanic soils in New
Most people assume a coast-to-coast American road trip is an expensive dream. The kind of thing you save years for, or maybe never get around to at all. That assumption sells the trip short. With the right strategy, a cross-country drive is actually one of the most affordable big adventures available to anyone with a
Every seasoned cruiser eventually learns the same hard truth: the sticker price on a cruise means very little without context. Peak travel season sends fares climbing, and most travelers either pay full price or give up altogether. The ones who don’t? They know a few things the average booker doesn’t. Cruise pricing is a dynamic,