Experiential Travel

I had come to ski some of the 65,000 acres of wooded backcountry that neighbor the resort, but the château was so welcoming that I found it hard to leave.

Using the blade at the end of the pole, he cut a squashlike pod from the tree, then scored it with a pocket knife to reveal a hive of white, pulp-covered beans the size of grapes.

Recently I got to spend a couple days "being" a Canadian Mountie at Regina, Saskatchewan's Royal Canadian Mounted Police Depot Division, where Mounties have been made since 1885.

Last week, Iceland's President, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, kicked off a new tourism promotion campaign by inviting tourists into his home for pancakes, whipped cream and rhubarb jam.

In the bosom of a fjord, under a sky of cotton ball clouds, 500 authentically Viking-clad reenactors from 20 nations bring the Vikings back to life.

Meaningful, connected. That's how I like my trips to be. And it doesn't hurt to have luxury service, a large cabin, and one of the major waterways of Europe within arm's reach.