Some of the most evocative travel books aren’t travel books at all. A strong sense of place can transport you, no matter which section of the book store the volume is shelved in. I starting thinking about the books that stoke my own wanderlust when I was working on this armchair travel episode of my podcast, which focused on how books can make us feel like we’ve traveled without leaving home. When I do my own research into a place (or recommend books about my part of the worl

It can be a challenge to find practical gifts for travelers.  We tend to be pretty independent — and proactive about buying what we want and need for our trips. But it’s not as tricky as you think. Travelers are a diverse lot, but you can’t go wrong with items that make travel easier and more fun. Look for practical gifts to help us pack more efficiently and lighten our load. Help us replace or upgrade our travel gear or give us a beautiful or interesting item to spark our wa

When Linda, a reader and friend from school, asked me for European travel tips, I was excited. Europe is an easy and accessible vacation destination for first time international tourists and experienced travelers alike. But if you’ve never left your home country or planned a trip yourself, going abroad can be intimidating. Europe holds so many diverse countries within a relatively small landmass and the sheer number of choices can be overwhelming. There are language barriers

I’ve been quiet on social media this week for one of my very favorite reasons — we’re planning a trip and I’m currently in full-on planning mode. Derrick is the new guy at work, so we had to wait and see which vacation days he was assigned. We were thrilled to finally get them…and galvanized by the fact that we leave in a month! We don’t know where we’re going yet, but we’re having fun figuring it out. We have a million different windows open on the computer at any given mome