With a bastion-studded castle, Art Nouveau details and eastern-influenced architecture, Budapest perfectly shows off her signature sights. No wonder any trip to the Hungarian capital usually includes the tried and true: a visit to the Parliament Building displaying the royal crown jewels, a cruise on the Danube, a stroll along...

A petite glass peacock appears so delicate that it might melt in the sunlight. In other display cases are equally ephemeral glass creatures: a crowing rooster, a prancing horse, a winged mythical beast that appears ready to take flight.

I'm entranced with these objects in the Municipal...

"This isn't the Love Boat," declares one of the veteran passengers -- she's been on 30+ trips with Zegrahm Expeditions -- who has a sixth sense for identifying first timers, including those with a romantic agenda. She points out a woman decked out in a canary yellow ensemble with clutch...

When was the last time you thought about Luxembourg? Think hard. Are you still thinking? OK, admit it: This wee country -- and its oh-so-petite and eponymous capital city -- probably hasn't figured into your conscious thoughts.

So, after returning from three full days in Luxembourg City, I pressed my...

"Many of the images that I have painted are now either gone or renovated beyond recognition. It is both very gratifying to know that I captured them, at least in paint, but crushing to realize that they are now gone."

These are the words of Max Ferguson, a renowned New...

Green resorts come in all shapes, sizes and personalities. Some are so informal and free of embellishments that you might mistake 'em for a youth hostel. Others are so upmarket and saturated with fuss that wearing Manolo Blahniks by poolside is de rigueur.

Then there's the more uncommon green resort...

Colombia has made all the headlines recently, but, yet again, for all the wrong reasons. And before this bout of bad press, what else do we associate with Colombia, aside from romantic but tourist-laden Cartegena? Perhaps you might say security concerns -- at least that's what you find when you...

The branches of towering Douglas firs and Ponderosa pines sway in the wind. Wisps of clouds brush the rounded peaks. And snow drops gently from tree limbs like fairy dust. An isolated hut, with nary another person in sight, provides a picturesque picnic spot to survey a bucolic, snow-draped field....

Chefs get their inspiration from so many sources. And Anthony Goncalves is now taking his inspiration from chefs who hail from the country of his heritage, Portugal. He's the chef and owner of 42, an upscale dining room perched in a soaring tower of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in...

As countries go, Romania often gets a bad rap. What associations come to mind when you think of Romania? Maybe it's roaming gypsies or hordes of stray dogs. Hardly makes you want to book a ticket on the next plane to Bucharest. What about its tourist highlights? It seems they...

"Montenegro is what Croatia was 30 years ago," says Frank Vukovich, one of the two leaders of our small group of hikers.

Despite our varied backgrounds -- we're a writer, farmer, a botanist, a statistician and a teacher respectively -- we all have a love of nature,...

Let me get one thing straight: I've never been a fan of all-inclusive resorts. Say all-inclusive and I feel like I'm about to be corralled into a bland resort with bad food served buffet style. Imagine my surprise when I found a resort that dripped with native foliage and offered...

What's my recipe for a relaxing stay in either the Caribbean or the Bahamas?
First, I'll start with some of the things that it shouldn't include:

• No gambling
• No glitzy mega resorts
• No wall-to-wall beachfront development
• No raucous hotel or beach parties
• No shopping malls

• No McDonalds or the...

MYTH: You'll find plenty of nudist beaches.

FACT: Rio's beaches may be noted for skimpy swimwear, but going topless is illegal, except on the city's sole nudist beach, Abrico.

MYTH: The crime rate just keeps rising.

FACT: I was warned over and over again to...

There's good reason why Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and their ilk are among the top crowd-pleasing national parks: They're all drop dead gorgeous, with plummeting waterfalls, dramatic chasms, fiery rock domes, spewing geysers and other magical features. Too bad you often have to share this beauty with the throngs. But...