Growing up in St. Louis, we often drove the family truckster to Florida to visit relatives. And whenever we passed through Chattanooga, my dad belted out a few lines: "Pardon me boy ... is this the Chattanooga Choo Choo?" By the time he forgot the rest of the lyrics, Chattanooga was a glimpse in the rearview mirror. And, perhaps a few decades ago, nobody could fault us for it.

Matthew and Christi Zenner started planning their wedding in their home state of Washington, but it didn’t take long for them to call it quits. All of the necessary arrangements — from the venue to the guest list — soon became too overwhelming, Christi Zenner said.

LOS ANGELES - Good news for thrill seekers: Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia and its stomach-churning roller-coaster collection will operate every day of the year, starting Jan. 1. The expansion represents an attempt to transition from a niche regional theme park to a major destination resort like Southern California rivals Universal Studios Hollywood and the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim.

One might be excused for not immediately thinking of Sarasota when planning a Florida getaway. But there are reasons why you should.

Baby boomers are digging into their pockets to see their favorite bands — wherever they may be.

When Grandma turned 70, she didn't want a typical party blowout. She wanted a family white-water pilgrimage to the high desert of Utah on the Colorado River.

You can't take it with you...

Yes, we want clothing options when we travel. But on a long trip, you could be in and out of planes and trains regularly. Who wants to carry more than you need?

As a non-religious person, I never saw the word retreat fitting into my life. It took spending a night at Holy Wisdom Monastery, a Benedictine monastery outside of Madison, Wisconsin, to realize I’d been missing out.

Looking for a place to rent? Now you can stay at Donald Trump's place.

In this snug little store, you can get a license-plate holder that says “Coroner,” which might get you a little grace on your parking-meter time. You can get a pin with the department’s seal, a desktop model of a human torso or a red cooler bag that can give the impression that you might be transporting organs.

In this snug little store, you can get a license-plate holder that says “Coroner,” which might get you a little grace on your parking-meter time. You can get a pin with the department’s seal, a desktop model of a human torso or a red cooler bag that can give the impression that you might be transporting organs.

A survey of airline passengers found that more than 20 percent had knowingly or unknowingly smuggled prohibited items past Transportation Security Administration checkpoints onto the aircraft, including at least 6 percent who boarded the plane while unintentionally carrying prohibited knives or other bladed objects.

If you're looking for a vacation with sights and sounds you won't find elsewhere, Newport, R.I., is hard to beat.

"Cobra King," a hallowed, 38-ton U.S. Army legend that was used during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, was installed at the National Museum of the United States Army Thursday. The museum is set to open in late 2019.

Unlike many island vacation spots, Washington Island — a half-hour ferry ride from Wisconsin's Door County peninsula — takes pride in being quirky.

I have a confession to make. I'm addicted to Disney parks. It’s not weird to be a fan of Disney. Just shy of 18 million people visited Disneyland alone last year, and the tourist franchise it spawned has shaped and reflected American pop culture for more than 60 years. And yet I recognize that my habit of visiting Disneyland multiple times each month could be viewed as odd.

"You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another," wrote Ernest Hemingway in "The Sun Also Rises." For much of his early years, the novelist didn't move much beyond Oak Park, where he was born, and Northern Michigan, where his family had a vacation cottage. Far from getting away from himself, his experiences there figure into his earliest writing.

The latest Florida theme park attraction to open is a remake of an old one: SeaWorld's Kraken roller coaster with a virtual reality plug-in.

Legoland California is probably not on your bucket list. It certainly wasn’t on mine. But after my own overnight in the Ninjago Hotel -- among dozens of fantasy sculptures built out of hundreds of thousands of Lego blocks -- I’ve been enlightened.

Pandora is a bizarre Zen garden of otherworldly waterfalls, alien birdcalls and floating mountains that imparts a minor tranquilizer effect unlike anything I’ve experienced in other patches of Disney.

Instead of cutting two inches of legroom, American Airlines says it will now take away only one inch -- and use a new seat design that it swears will make it feel like there’s more room down there.

From the squiggly, pink handrails outside the entrance to the front hall decorated with scenes from “And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street," the new Amazing World of Dr. Seuss museum says “You’re off to Great Places!”

Florida’s Siesta Beach takes first place -- again! -- in Dr. Beach’s Top 10 in America.

In addition to Orca Encounter, which will educate its audiences on how killer whales communicate, socialize, hunt and contribute to scientific research projects, the San Diego park will unveil a new area, Ocean Explorer, themed around underwater exploration.

Selfies with seal pups are a no-no.

Stepping inside Disney’s latest theme park attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT!, is like being thrust into one of blockbuster films’ pulsating, action-packed trailers.

For all those celebrities and wealthy travelers who don’t want to wade through the morass of paparazzi and regular passengers, a security company is debuting a unique LAX terminal with an exclusive entrance, luxury suites, well-stocked refrigerators, private bathrooms and even daybeds.

Less crowded than New England’s more popular destinations, the southern tip of Rhode Island’s mainland is a bit more affordable and every bit as beautiful.

Remember the days when airlines wooed passengers with glamorous offerings like in-flight dining rooms and onboard pianos? Neither do we. But for every carrier that's skimping on legroom (see American Airlines), another seems to emerge with a swanked-up bar.

With their clean, horizontal lines and open floor plans, many Frank Lloyd Wright buildings still feel modern today -- a testament to the ingenuity and staying power of America’s most famous architect, born 150 years ago June 8.

San Francisco's Magic Bus tour takes guests through the city's hippie history -- and back to that famous, hallucinogenic Summer of Love. All without dropping any (real) acid. They give you peppermint candies for make-believe LSD.

Ian Ford is a family travel expert and CEO of Undercover Tourist, providing attraction tickets and vacation advice for a living. He also has some tips for those planning to visit the parks this summer, including ways to pinch pennies and have the type of idyllic, fun-packed theme park experience every family dreams of.

"Travelers are on the go and don't have time to go online and submit a form or call us," said Jennifer Plozai, acting deputy assistant administrator for public affairs at the TSA. "They need help in real time."

With 88 pinball machines and two dozen arcade games, the Silverball Museum in Delray Beach has been attracting the flipper-obsessed since it opened in 2016.

True love’s formula, per classic Disney princess custom: First, a storybook romance. Next, a lavish castle wedding. Then, a lifetime of “happily ever after.”

Spaniards traveling El Camino Real brought tequila to Santa Fe more than 400 years ago. Fittingly, the city launched the Santa Fe Margarita Trail last year, where custom-created cocktails can be enjoyed along with a wealth of art galleries and museums.

Yes, a company dedicated to weight loss is joining forces with a purveyor of expansive buffets to offer cruising as a viable vacation for those aiming to shed pounds.

The highlights of the city for us were bikes and food. But there was so much we didn’t have time to see.

Norwegian Cruise Line's new Norwegian Joy, a ship the Doral, Fla.-based cruise line is building to sail in China, will be the first ever to feature a racetrack -- from Ferrari, no less.

The first museum devoted to the country’s earliest years opened on the anniversary of the first battles of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord and “the shot heard round the world” on April 19, 1775.

Alexander Hamilton never visited the home of archrival Thomas Jefferson. But the nation’s first Treasury secretary -- and namesake of the hit musical -- rules the house during the new Hamilton Tour Takeover at Monticello.

“The West’s Most Western Town” has a nice cowbell ring to it, doesn’t it? Scottsdale’s motto is fitting: Many of the buildings in the Arizona city are the color of leather chaps and a giant cowboy sign in Old Town greets visitors with a permanent “howdy” on his lips.

LOS ANGELES -- “La La Land” didn’t bring home the best picture Oscar, but the musical filmed in Southern California is expected to bring the region another valuable prize: a bump in big-spending tourists.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have your own, private resort in the midst of “The Happiest Place on Earth”? You do if you’re a member of any branch of the U.S. military.

We got out our wands, ready to face Harry Potter and his wizard friends, and had our cameras ready for Mickey Mouse, Goofy and the gang; we were there to ride lots of rides, cast spells and have dinner with the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast.” Here’s a guide to Disney’s enormous playground.

Four months after the last flames of the wind-whipped, drought-fueled monster wildfire were finally annihilated by firefighters and doused by rain, the phoenix that is Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville is rising from the ashes amid the shadows of the Smokies.

You might have heard, oh, I don’t know, one or two thousand times, that Charleston, S.C., has got it going on. This historic port city has embedded itself at the top of many a “best” list for good reason. Its food, architecture, culture and charm make it an ideal getaway, especially in the spring.

Knott’s Berry Farm is getting in on the latest theme park craze: putting visitors in a virtual world created primarily by software engineers instead of carpenters and welders.

Congratulations! You’re getting married.Part of the fun in planning your big day is also plotting out your honeymoon.

Returning to the Arizona dude ranch of my youth as an adult, it was comforting to see that some things remained the same. The desert landscape was unchanged. The horses still wanted to stop to eat shrubs on the trail. Kids still found equine flatulence hysterical. And the old wranglers were as cranky as ever.

Okemo Mountain Resort offers Alpine and Nordic skiing for all levels (featuring Vermont’s highest drop), snow tubing, fat bike rentals, a hockey rink, snow shoeing and, when your legs have given out, special SnowCat excursions.

Inside Royal Caribbean Cruises’ new Innovation Center called “The Cave,” executives, designers and architects can walk through a virtual cruise ship, granted their 3D goggles are on, of course.

Since Jefferson County crawled out of bankruptcy, Birmingham, Ala., has revitalized several neighborhoods, earned more recognition for its chefs and earned a national-monument designation for its Birmingham Civil Rights District, one of President Barack Obama’s last acts in office.

Chase's Sapphire Reserve sweeps the most categories for benefits to credit card holders who travel. But the answer is highly personal and depends on your individual travel goals.

Fans of Disney theme parks and superheroes, brace yourselves. The Marvel universe is coming, and the impact will not be small.

Like many Gold Rush towns, Groveland has a checkered history, one rich in booms, busts, rogues and miners. Of course, the town's name was not nearly as bucolic back in 1848, when it was part of the Savage Diggins.

Traveling can take a lot of time, whether you're flying or driving. Time-saving tips can help you to save minutes here and there, which add up to more time enjoying your trip. We asked well-traveled agents to provide their best time-saving travel tips:

When I proposed a tour of New Mexico, all my California friends asked, "What's in New Mexico?" The answer: More enchanted places than you can imagine.

"I'm the Administer of Rum," says Key West chef Paul Menta. "When there's a problem, I administer rum ... and there's not a problem anymore."

Here's the thing about this laid-back seaport city nestled in the shadow of Oregon's majestic Mount Hood. To really enjoy it, it's best to go native.

Deep in Canada’s Kootenay Rockies, a helicopter dropped off me and nine other eager skiers on what seemed like the top of the world.

For more than a moment, I found magic in Orlando. As I stood in the glow of Cinderella’s Castle on a crisp November night, fireworks filled the sky and the songs of childhood pealed when Tinker Bell, a human sprite in bright green tights and Day-Glo wings, popped out of a turret and zip-lined toward Tomorrowland like a cartoonish flare.

A new theme park coming to Alabama’s Gulf Coast hopes to fill a void left by Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of Six Flags New Orleans more than a decade ago.

Millionaire Chester Congdon built Glensheen mansion to foster his thriving iron-mining business. The mansion was started in 1905 and finished in 1908. Just a few years ago, the historic Glensheen mansion perched on Lake Superior’s North Shore struggled to lure tourists through the door.

Never heard of wave season? The “calendar phenomenon,” as one cruise industry executive calls it, is that sweet spot when cruise lines announce their best and broadest offers. Free air. Cabin upgrades. Discounted cruise fares. And heads up, cruisers, because it’s happening right now.

The medical community has taken the next step toward finding a jet-lag cure. A protein called REV-ERBa (pronounced ree-verb-AY) may be the key to unlocking a regular, healthy circadian rhythm no matter where (or when) in the world you are.

The proliferation of iPhones, iPads, and Android devices, in tandem with increasingly reliable inflight Wi-Fi, has led to a profound shift by many airlines, which now view entertainment on shorter flights as best delivered wirelessly, without the expense or hassles posed by screens.

There are few things more breathtaking than that first glimpse of the Yosemite Valley and the sheer majesty of El Capitan. But glorious as that is, it's a mere subset of the national park's 1,162 square miles, which hold acres of trails and rugged wilderness -- and a Victorian blast to the past in Wawona.

The two most important features of the new basic economy airfares to note: on some airlines, you're not allowed to place a bag in the overhead bins (your carry-on item must be small enough to fit safely under the seat in front of you); and because you can't choose a seat in advance, you'll be assigned a seat at check-in or at the gate. But there are other restrictions and rules to note, which I've broken down by airline.

Gatlinburg lost 14 lives in recent wildfires. More than 2,400 structures were destroyed or damaged, including the home of the town's mayor. But the town is still intact and welcoming visitors back.

Being at a Super Bowl game is certainly a bucket list item for many. The next best thing, and some will argue that it actually is the best thing, is going to Las Vegas.

The so-called Wave Season is an annual period usually around January to March when cruise lines typically extend some of their best savings, specials, deals, incentives, you name it. But why does it exist at this time at all?

The irony of cycling through the picturesque Keys is that much of the ride isn't particularly scenic ... until it is. Then it's a showstopper.

Women's Ultimate 4 ski lesson was developed in response to research showing that many women on ski vacations avoid the slopes. Vail Resorts, which owns Beaver Creek, wanted to know why and interviewed its female guests to get answers.

VIDEO

A new exhibit called "Patriot Nations: Native Americans in Our Nation’s Armed Forces" opens at the museum on the National Mall on Saturday, Jan. 21.

This year, with new cruise and airline service coming on stream, could be another record-breaker. Cuba is expecting an additional 100,000 visitors to the island in 2017, according to the Ministry of Tourism. That is, unless President-elect Donald Trump throws a monkey wrench into U.S. visits to this new hot market.

Six years on a Navy frigate have left my son, Bing, a bit jaded about visiting crowded cities. So I proposed a visit Sylva, N.C., for two days of rarified alt-country living.

In a political environment where every action generates an equal and opposite reaction, restaurants that want to signal their discomfort with the policies of the incoming Trump administration have to orchestrate their moves carefully during inauguration weekend.

Play the free association game with "Freeport" and you will most likely blurt out "outlets." But the retail topography is changing. Made-in-Maine signs appear in shop windows, and labels on handmade goods proudly hail their place of birth.

A good old-fashioned road trip -- one fueled by roadside diners, stops at oddball attractions and frequent forays into nature -- does the soul good. At least that's what I found when I flew to El Paso, Texas, and joined GeoBetty Tours for a five-day spin through southeastern New Mexico.

Whether you're swooning over Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling or marveling over just how great Los Angeles looks on the silver screen, there's little doubt that the new "La La Land" has put L.A. in the romantic spotlight.

We wound through the narrow streets of Charleston, following our tour guide. Under a canopy of oak trees dripping with Spanish moss, he paused to explain the sultry, laid-back vibe of South Carolina's oldest city.

In just 70 miles on Colorado's San Juan Skyway, I photographed a neon hot spring, cowgirls on horseback, hillsides blazing with Aspen, abandoned mines, sheer cliffs, harrowing drops, mountains rising more than 13,000 feet and the funky former mining town of Silverton with its namesake railroad.

I was, as I kept telling people, "not a cruise person" and "not a Disney person". I was also sometimes a seasick person, but as I settled into my stateroom with my 8- and 5-year-old daughters, I realized I couldn't have been more excited to cast off into the abyss.

It’s a thrill to savor, but not that many travelers these days get to take the classic mule ride at Grand Canyon National Park.

Tule Lake, in a rural community in Northern California just a few minutes shy of the Oregon line, was the biggest and most notorious of the Japanese-American internment camps established by the U.S. government during World War II. Almost 120,000 people (mainly U.S. citizens) were incarcerated here for no other reason than their ancestry.

Jackson Hole has long been known as an Alpine ski destination. Snow King Mountain opened several blocks from Jackson's Town Square in 1939. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort opened across the valley in 1965 and, in 2013, was voted by Ski magazine readers as the best overall ski resort in North America. Jackson Hole has Nordic skiing too, though. Turpin Meadow Ranch, opened on Dec. 31, 2013, is Jackson Hole's first destination Nordic ski resort.

Now, on United Airlines, you won't necessarily get the use of an overhead bin without paying more money.

As thousands of people stream into MGM's new casino at National Harbor for the first time, industry analysts worry that states desperate for tax dollars have over-saturated the East Coast with casinos. And that millennials won't play.

To really appreciate the Grand Canyon, you have to go below the rim and hike to its bottom, at the Colorado River, and explore its side canyons and plateaus.

Artwork on an unconventional canvas -- World War II combat planes -- is the subject of a new exhibit at an aviation museum about 90 miles north of Milwaukee.

If you happen to get stuck at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport over the hectic holiday season, it's tough to complain: You'll be stranded in a haven for locally focused gourmet meals, plus relaxation, arts and entertainment.

Below the guest decks on Royal Caribbean International's new Harmony of the Seas -- away from the eyes of the regular cruise-goer -- crew members move in an almost nonstop bustle of activity.

At the "Festival of Holidays" at Disney California Adventure, guests are treated to a celebration including Christmas, Diwali, the Eastern Festival of Lights, Hanukkah and Kwanza.

A winter visit to the dreamy deep-red caverns and arches that stretch across eastern Utah yields smaller crowds and cheaper airfare and accommodations. With lots of silence and great views.

Crowds of shoppers move past the Mueller stall at Philadelphia's popular Reading Terminal Market. Some stop to point, stare and whisper: "Oh, my goodness, what is that?" Well "that" is a display of kidneys (with candy kidney stones), brains, livers, eyes, hands, feet (with almonds as toenails) and noses -- all edible, all chocolate.

The word "picturesque" might have been invented to describe the village of Stockbridge, Mass.

A unique or unusual place to stay sometimes outshines -- or at least takes equal billing with -- a destination.

If you want to stay in your host's good graces, leave your pet at home, keep the volume on the TV at a reasonable level and make sure to depart on time.

Tips for finding U.S. museums that are a roaring good time for dinosaur fans.

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Every day, a handful of travel companies ferry mostly foreigners to Chernobyl's 19-mile "exclusion zone" to witness the remnants of the former Soviet Union's missile program.

Scotland has more than two dozen official long-distance trails through moors, peat bogs and forests. We chose one of the most popular, the West Highland Way.

Keep the crowds and high prices in the rear-view mirror by renting a motor home or RV and experience Spain’s scenic Mediterranean coast through seaside towns, ancient ruins, bucolic orchards and sprawling badlands.

VIDEO, GALLERY

Bad Duerkheim is famous for two things, and both have to do with wine — not surprising as the town is surrounded by vineyards on the German Wine Road (Weinstrasse).

Our cruise offered a port-intensive itinerary that would more than satisfy our hunger for history.

When you walk down to the end of Chalidon street and burst upon Chania, Crete’s old Venetian port, the first thing you think of is vacation.

I had been to Paris in my early 20s and managed to get in the highlights. For my return more than 10 years later, I wanted to explore a different, more offbeat side of the City of Lights.

ANALYSIS

British Airways' epic meltdown over a busy holiday weekend further fanned public outrage of an industry infamous for its focus on cost cuts over customer service, leaving the U.K. carrier scrambling to explain how a local computer outage could lead to thousands of stranded passengers.

I had savored Jamon Iberico, the luscious cured ham made from those pigs, and I knew I wanted more. That was enough to set me on a three-day journey to discover this unsung corner of Spain.

“Demand is overwhelming,” says Christoph Lieben-Seutter, general director of the Elbphilharmonie, a new concert hall in Hamburg, Germany. Subscriptions for classical concerts have doubled since the hall opened, tour operators are pressuring the organization to make more tickets available, and more than 1.5 million people have visited the public plaza since it opened last November.

If there is any attraction more popular than Kensington Palace, it’s the trio of museums that dominate the landscape on what is described as the “Museum Mile.”

One of the battles fought in World War I was for the St. Mihiel Salient in eastern France. In a bloody fight that lasted four days in August and September of 1918, the U.S. First Army defeated the Germans. The Montsec American Monument commemorates the victory and the Second Army’s operations in the area in November.

Antwerp is a diverse and cosmopolitan port city, one that wouldn’t exist were it not for the sluggish, slate-gray river Scheldt. “All an Antwerper has to do to connect with the rest of the world is simply dip his hand into the Scheldt’s water,” former Antwerp mayor Lode Craeybeckx once said.

This city’s Jet d’Eau (water jet), a fountain in the middle of its namesake lake, is as much a symbol of Geneva as Big Ben is of London, the Eiffel Tower is of Paris and the Colosseum is of Rome. On sunny days, it’s often colored by rainbows.

My Camino experience: 31 days of physical endurance through awe-inspiring landscapes, of contemplation punctuated by deep connections.

This small peninsula rewards the intrepid traveler. In long expanses, it’s little changed from the Iron Age, when fields were squared off by low stone outlines, which you still can make out on green hillsides by the sea. In fact, it’s only the occasional ruined tin mine that interrupts vast mosaics of heather and gorse, stretching from the coast roads to rocky cliffs.

Ferraria de Sao Joao and 26 other rural villages built wholly or partly of schist are now part of the Aldeias do Xisto (Schist Villages), an eco-tourism complex located in a mountainous region of Portugal’s interior that is geologically rich in this metamorphic rock.

In truth, Edinburgh has many faces. You might start your day researching the city’s (sometimes bloody) past, move on to a wind-swept hike of green hills and finish up with a plunge into the lively dining and bar-hopping scene.

Dingle is known for its pubs. Dick Mack’s has a walk of fame outside that lists the celebrities who’ve visited, among them Dolly Parton. Foxy John’s, a beloved spot, houses an old-fashioned hardware store and a bike rental business on the premises along with the classic pub.

Vermeer, the unique jewel in Dutch painting's crown, copied ideas from his contemporaries like every other artist, argues a new major exhibit at the Louvre Museum.

On the 50-minute drive from Iceland’s Keflavik International Airport to downtown Reykjavik, the landscape switched from long, flat stretches of dirt to patches of grass studded with rocks.

Delayed at the airport in Nuremberg, Germany, and thoroughly frazzled, we checked and re-checked our watches as the miles ticked by, with the Danube River and our Scenic River Cruises ship, the Pearl, nowhere to be seen.

San Gimignano is the epitome of a Tuscan hill town. About 25 miles from both Florence and Siena, it’s the region’s glamour girl: Visually striking and perfectly preserved, it gets all the fawning attention from passing tour buses. But despite its tourist-trap feel, it’s still worth slotting into your Italian itinerary — especially if you can sidestep the hordes who descend during the day.

As a seaside metropolis with a lively outdoor vibe and dozens of picturesque islands beckoning nearby, Athens is more often considered a summer tourist destination than a winter escape. But if you’ve got more than beaches on your mind, there’s plenty of upside to a brief, cool visit that avoids the crowds and heat of summer.

A a $2.4 billion plan to construct a two-mile tunnel underneath Stonehenge and widen the nearby highway has the support of English Heritage and UNESCO. But it has infuriated archaeologists who worry that the construction will destroy vital heritage.

Forget the three Rs. I went to Speyside, Scotland’s “single-malt capital of the world,” to brush up on the three Ws: whisky, wool and walking.

2017 in Europe: What’s in it for you? Plenty, according to a survey of travel magazines, tourism board calendars, museums, railways and bargain-flight providers.

Our goal during five nights and six days in Paris was to spend no more than a total $250 per day among the four of us. With our bargain accommodations price fixed at $150 per night, that left $100 per day for food, transportation, attractions and trinkets.

Starting in February, some guests at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen may be a little on the furry side.

The USO is discontinuing its popular express and overnight leisure bus tours in three U.S. military communities in Germany, ending a long-standing operation that shuttled countless servicemembers and their families to popular destinations all over Europe.

PHOTO GALLERY

The Hamburger DOM’s winter edition wears a distinct Christmas coat and can make a welcome contrast from the almost too picture-perfect ambiance of more traditional Christmas markets.

It's the world's oldest nation and one of its tiniest, but San Marino is not on many travelers' bucket lists. It should be.

At The Kennedys museum, visitors can travel back in time to the day when President John F. Kennedy came to Berlin. A film of the speech plays on a continual loop in black-and-white inside a darkened room.

Since moving to the Netherlands two years ago, I’d become smitten with "voetveren," or foot ferries — small boats specifically for foot passengers and cyclists. So we planned a ferry-centric bike trip.

This avenue, stretching from Placa de Catalunya to the Christopher Columbus monument, is a pedestrian paradise squeezed in between the bustling traffic of the city.

The summer sun had barely risen over Venice’s quiet waterways when the voices started up again. Blaring in Mandarin Chinese and French from the loudspeakers of cruising tour boats, they told the centuries-old saga of this fabled, once-mighty city in a few minutes, as passengers sipped spritzes and took selfies in front of the passing palazzos and cathedrals. For the rest of the day, the voices would echo throughout this miracle of a city, known as La Serenissima, or the Most Serene One, about once every half an hour until night fell over St. Mark’s Square and the Doge’s Palace.

This was no walk in the park. Sheep grazing on the green fields cried out and I became awash in self-doubt. I didn’t know where I was, but I continued on my way.

Spending just one day in Barcelona is only enough time to realize that you need to spend more than a day there.

Street art is front and center in the Portuguese capital, which has transformed itself into an open-air museum, proudly awash in eye-catching murals.

The skies were cloudy as I strode across that famous bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, ready for a day of checking off Florentine must-sees.

From the top deck of the cruise ship River Tosca, the fabled Nile River was wide and blue and calm. And I had the deck of the 236-foot ship to myself.

On June 7, Versailles unveiled a large-scale exhibition of Olafur Eliasson’s contemporary art, including a waterfall. Following the likes of Jeff Koons and Anish Kapoor, Eliasson is the latest artist to take over the estate with art installations — a buzz-generating annual event that invites visitors to see the chateau in a new way.

Summer in Paris can be a steamy soup swimming with tourists. So follow the smart Parisians and get out of town. In two hours you can have your feet on the hot sands of a resort called Deauville.

We chose a cruise on AmaWaterways specifically because it offered bicycle excursions on an itinerary that started in Vienna, stopped in Hungary, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, and finished a few miles south of Bucharest, Romania.

I just spent 10 days in England, and before you ask, no, I didn’t get a glimpse of the queen or Buckingham Palace.

TRAVEL

At first glance, Germany’s Reinheitsgebot seems straightforward enough. Known in English as the Beer Purity Law, it limits the ingredients in German beers to water, barley and hops.

Few people were surprised when construction crews working on the future U.S. Navy support site in the farming town of Gricignano in the mid 1990s began uncovering artifacts. Those artifacts are displayed today in the Archeological Museum of Agro Atellano.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wants to end a long-standing and well-recognized tradition: the midafternoon nap.

Our European adventure started in Rota, Spain, where we enjoyed mild winter temperatures, the appealing countryside, friendly people and historical landmarks.

Madrid is an easy city to love. It’s clean, the people are friendly and the climate is mild and sunny. Best of all, this world capital has so many interesting sights that it doesn’t feel crowded.

Spring is just around the corner, which means it’s almost tulip time in Holland. Next Thursday, Keukenhof opens for the 67th time, and about a million flower lovers will descend on the famed gardens on the outskirts of Lisse.

In March 2015, a funny thing happened to the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, an Armed Forces Recreation Center in the Bavarian Alps. The hotel and its grounds suddenly transformed into a 1980s Olympic ski lodge in Canada.

When you sail on a ship like the 208-passenger Star Breeze, a vessel nimble enough to squeeze up to almost any tiny cove or narrow gorge, it’s a good idea to bone up on the ports-of-call in advance.

How many islands dot Ireland’s Clew Bay? As many as days of the year, goes the saying.

After eight days of tastings in London, my suitcase was crammed with more chocolate than clothes.

In Europe, Italy tops the list for most popular destination as listed by the U.S. Tour Operators Association. Here’s a look at the rest of the top spots recommended by the travel industry.

At just 37, Great British Chef Nathan Outlaw has four restaurants in England (three bearing Michelin stars), a chef academy and several books to his name, including “Nathan Outlaw’s British Seafood.” We met him at his flagship eatery in Port Isaac to talk about his favorite subject: All things fish.

Fans of the BBC's epic 18th-century drama “Poldark” have discovered not only the rippled abs of its handsome star, Aidan Turner, but they've also fallen in love with the craggy, windswept landscape of the English county of Cornwall. I recently became a "set-jetter" and watched the cast filming.

The Bastogne War Museum, opened in the spring of 2014, gives the visitor a personal experience of the Battle of the Bulge, as exhibits trace the history of World War II and what led to it.

This region on France’s mid-Atlantic coast is a vacation paradise, with islands, beaches, canals, pleasant cities, incredible seafood — and cognac.

Called “P Street” by Americans at nearby Lask Air Base, Piotrkowska Street in Lodz, Poland, is the city’s main shopping avenue, art district and party zone all in one.

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The Staedel, Frankfurt, Germany’s esteemed art museum, wraps up its 200th anniversary celebrations with an exhibit of masterworks borrowed from some of the world’s most prestigious art museums.

It was my first day out on a walk across Scotland, and I’d stumbled upon one of the most beautiful camping spots I’d ever seen.

A visit to Georgia and its capital Tbilisi reveals that over the centuries it has been on the crossroads of east and west.

Researchers have discovered evidence of standing stones believed to be the remnants of a major prehistoric stone monument near the Stonehenge ruins.

On a recent assignment I spent a couple of nights in Minden, a northern German town on the Weser River.

Lying in the shadows of the Pyrenees, the mountain range that separates Spain from France, La Rioja is split in two regions that have one thing in common. Together, they constitute Spain’s most prolific wine-producing region.

The history and setting of cities like Tallinn and Riga, Latvia, and their tourist-friendly prices, offer ample reason for a visit, especially for U.S. servicemembers stationed in Europe.

Some servicemembers and retirees will no longer be able to use an Armed Forces Recreation Center in Garmisch following a recent review of the center’s reservations policies, the military said Tuesday.

Trier, Germany, sits comfortably in the midst of Western Europe, minutes from Luxembourg and close to France, all European Union members. Sharing the euro, the town’s 105,000 residents share a regional sensibility with their neighbors

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The Overlord Museum and the Omaha Beach Memorial Museum are near each other in Normandy, making a fine pair to visit to deepen your knowledge of WWII's D-Day.

Put the skis away. Time to tune up the bikes and get back in the saddle. I convinced my husband, Bob, who has done little cycling during the past few years, that he needed to get moving again.

Today, with the hip districts in the former East Berlin going upscale fashionable, the west’s Kreuzberg district is again the Bohemian, radical heart of Berlin — as it was before the fall of the Wall.

It is one of Berlin’s most popular tourist attractions. Some come to see democracy in action, but most come to wander up through the lofty glass and metal dome that crowns it.

The German-Russian Museum is housed in the historic building in Berlin-Karlshorst where, shortly after midnight May 9, 1945, the Nazis signed the surrender document ending World War II in Europe.

This summer an international audience will discover what the locals already know: that Utrecht is a vibrant, architecturally distinctive place hidden in the shadow of Amsterdam, its famous neighbor to the north.

Whether viewed from the castle tower or from the streets and walkways that hug the Ljubljanica River below, the capital of Slovenia is a visual treat. A whole day can be spent exploring some of Ljubljana’s 17 bridges.

On a map, Halkidiki looks a bit like an octopus. But instead of eight arms, it has three, which dangle into the Aegean Sea from the main body — a mountainous landscape covered in olive groves, Aleppo pine forests and heather.

Learn from one traveler's mistakes

If you are fortunate enough to travel to the British Isles for a week, do as I say, not as I did.

When I first saw a photo of the East-German made Trabant, I fell in love. When I read that a tour company lets you drive one through East Berlin, I was already imagining myself behind the wheel of one of the adorably boxy little polluters.

In Reims, we take a tour of France's sparkling Champagne region.

Lonely Planet recently named Toulouse — a dynamic university city that is home to Airbus — one of the top 10 cities to visit in 2015. Exploring the tastes of the city is a joy.

Culinary Backstreets was started by Americans five years ago as a food blog, Istanbul Eats, with the goal of sharing authentic, tasty Istanbul restaurants with visitors.

If you go to Mons, Belgium, next year, you’ll discover a host of events to celebrate its status as cultural capital of Europe.

My favorite thing about Speyer, Germany, at Christmastime happens after the Christmas goose is cooked.

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Dovrefjell National Park is popular with Norwegian trekkers, but most foreign tourists don’t make it here, and with its seemingly endless trails, you can go hours without bumping into any living thing that doesn’t have hooves and a bad temper.

Portes du Soleil (“Gateway to the Sun”) ski region with slopes in both Switzerland and France claims to be the largest ski area in the world.

Resting at the foot of the Zugspitze mountain in one of the most scenic parts of Germany, Edelweiss Lodge and Resort has for the past 10 years catered to American military personnel in Europe and their families.

Against a backdrop of stylish cafes, beautiful architecture and a buzzing street scene, it’s easy to forget during a stroll through Lviv that this is a country at war.

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Ironically, Berlin's most popular tourist attraction in large part no longer exists. But there are places where you can see remains of the Berlin Wall and feel the chill that separated not only East and West Germany, but also the world.

The Greek islands have enchanted travelers for thousands of years. Maybe it’s because Greece serves as the backdrop for some of the world’s oldest myths and legends. Stories of Hercules, Achilles and Helen of Troy, like a magnet, pull us to the islands’ rocky shores. Choosing which Greek island to visit can be daunting, however.

The history and setting of cities like Tallinn and Riga, Latvia, and their tourist-friendly prices, offer ample reason for a visit, especially for U.S. servicemembers stationed in Europe.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the artist whose cabaret posters have become synonymous with Paris and Montmartre, the area of Paris famous for its bohemian lifestyle and the haunt of artists, writers and philosophers in the late 1800s.

The “church of the chickens” is only one of the homespun, non-touristy and somewhat otherworldly attractions found along the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, or the Way of St. James — an ancient pilgrim route supposedly traveled by the apostle to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ on the Iberian peninsula.

This Spanish island has a strong cycling pedigree and is an annual training destination for Tour de France riders. For those who haven’t perched on a saddle for years, it's also a great place to get reacquainted with bicycling.

Leukerbad, a spa town high in the Alps, is all about water, mainly thermal water bubbling from 65 springs that fill the town’s 30 pools. But it is also about needing a soak in those waters after high-altitude outdoor sports.

It rises nearly 500 feet out of the water and can be seen from miles away. It is perhaps, with the exception of the Eiffel Tower, France’s most distinct tourist sight. It is the fortified medieval abbey of Mont-St-Michel.

We’ve come to Seville, the capital of Andalusia and Spain’s fourth-largest city, to learn more about the history and character of this region.

Casualties were high in World War II's Operation Cobra. Many Americans who fell here never left France, and 4,408 are buried at Brittany American Cemetery on the outskirts of the small town of St. James.

Independent winemaker Anthony Hammond tends grapes on 5.5 hectares in Germany’s Rheingau region, considered one of Germany’s premiere Riesling areas. Riesling is riding a wave of popularity like never before.

It was a road trip through one of China’s most tightly controlled regions. We were closely monitored. Each time we stopped at an attraction, two to five SUVs full of brooding middle-aged men would park behind us.

Here are nine ways to help make a weekend or so here great — centering on eating and drinking that's not the Cheesecake Factory.

Hanoi's crammed sidewalks will have you tripping over tiny blue chairs waiting for someone to plop down with a bowl of food from one of the myriad street vendors.

If you want to get off the beaten track on Oahu, then get on the beaten track. Railroad track, that is.

An animal protection group wants tourists to know: that elephant you are thinking about riding during your vacation in Thailand is probably a miserable victim of abuse.

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The Pacific Aviation Museum brochure suggests a tour of this expansive throng of aircraft will take an hour, maybe 90 minutes. That’s a highly optimistic — unless, of course, you fly through it.

A calendar of nearby water parks and pools of interest to people living on U.S. facilities in the Pacific.

Ever wondered where salt comes from? You can find out at Nuchi Masu, a factory on Miyagi Island, off Okinawa’s central coast.

See this before it closes July 25

Marvel Comics is giving Tokyo fans an up-close look at iconic heroes like Spider-Man and Captain America during its “Marvel Age of Heroes” exhibition running through July 25.

Long more popular with Japanese than foreign visitors, the well-preserved city of Kanazawa became much more accessible last year with the opening of a new Shinkansen line. The high-speed trains hurtle from Tokyo in less than 2 ½ hours.

On our first visit to Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands, we were lured by the thought of shimmering blue lagoons, gentle breezes, home-town smiles and fewer tourists per year than Florida’s Disney World gets in two days.

For the past 10 weeks, 35 women of all ages — military, dependents and civilians — united on Okinawa to become the 2017 U.S. Navy Women’s Dragon Boat Team.

Waikiki Beach is a flurry of swimming, surfing, sand castle building, tanning and general cavorting. What’s less obvious is the ballet beneath the bay waters — the sea life zigzagging around the reefs within a mile or two of the beach’s edge.

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Servicemembers stationed in Japan can’t get the colorful new Unicorn Frappuccino; however, they will be able to try a sweet, limited-edition Starbucks beverage that might remind them of home.

In December, chefs from Noma and London’s Ledbury built the world’s highest-altitude pop-up restaurant at Mount Everest Base Camp in Nepal.

Green and lush, the landscape unfurls as you round that final bend and Hanalei Bay comes into view. Craggy volcanic ridges descend to the glistening sea, like a dragon coming to rest, and we are spellbound.

“Could this be more perfect?” My family and I couldn’t stop turning to each other and saying that the first evening of our October vacation as we sat around an umbrella table on our rented beach cottage’s wooden deck, 20 feet from the sand.

A Japanese sumo tournament isn’t all about the fighting. The bouts, in which two very large, nearly naked men try to push each other out of a rope circle or onto the ground, are only a small part of a tradition that dates back almost 2,000 years and is marinated in Japanese culture and ceremony.

The Japan Tourism Agency intends to establish a subsidy system that encourages municipalities to update public washrooms with Western-style toilets in tourist areas, to address the recent influx of foreign tourists, sources said.

Recently the Hokutosei sleeper express was revived as a hostel in central Tokyo. Called Train Hostel Hokutosei, the hostel reuses train car equipment and has become a hot topic among railway enthusiasts who consider it a rebirth of their beloved sleeper express.

Yes, Waikiki is highly commercial and a South Seas cliche. But there's a lot to love and plenty to do for all ages. Need convincing? Here are suggestions for things to do for millennials and baby boomers.

The beach town of Lahaina in western Maui was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, a place where kings were born. It later became a key port at the height of the 19th century whaling boom.

If you want deep powder without lift lines for $40 a day, the best sushi and ramen in the world and a naked soak in a 105-degree spring with a view of the volcano that is heating your water, then follow the drifting snowflake to the Land of the Rising Sun.

If there’s a contest for stunning scenery per mile driven, then a round-trip from downtown Honolulu around the North Shore of Oahu is the grand circle.

Located about 45 minutes outside Tasmania’s capital of Hobart, Bonorong is the anti-zoo. There is no train ride, no tinny narration by overly enthusiastic guides. Instead, there are typical Australian fauna and species unique to Tasmania.

Long more popular with Japanese than foreign visitors, the well-preserved city of Kanazawa became much more accessible last year with the opening of a new Shinkansen line. The high-speed trains hurtle from Tokyo in less than 2 ½ hours.

There are a number of cruises on Oahu that will take you face to fin with dolphins in the wild, but among the best is the half-day cruise on the Dolphin Star, a double-deck boat custom built for dolphin watching and snorkeling.

The Indonesian archipelago is a paradise for birders and scuba divers, and we chose Sabah, a province in the Malaysian half of Borneo known for its national parks both on land and in the water.

Sleepy Koyagi Junior High School in southern Nagasaki, Japan, and nearby Mount Sashiki have long held little-known secrets from World War II.

Most people alive today recall the dreadful day of Sept. 11, 2001, when the twin towers fell in New York. Far fewer of us can personally remember Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by the Japanese, killing 2,043 Americans and pulling the U.S. into World War II.

From the gangway leading onto the USS Missouri, the battleship appears as a hulking, armored dinosaur. Its nine massive cannons rise like the spiny blades of a stegosaurus, and its bow stretches far ahead with the neck of a brontosaurus.

"Construction costs had ballooned," Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told reporters, saying she was "astonished" at the 588.4 billion yen ($5.7 billion) price tag of relocating the iconic Tsukiji fish market to a new site.

As a chilly dusk fell on this tiny bay famous for wildlife and Jurassic-era fossilized trees, a white-coated figure waddled gingerly across tide-slicked rocks — me, trying to get out of sight to prevent scaring off yellow-eyed penguins I hoped would come ashore.

A last-minute decision to climb Japan’s highest peak had me scrambling around Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo — from the Outdoor Recreation Center to the base’s Exchange store — preparing for the trip.

Most of our understanding of sharks comes from works of fiction, such as the “Jaws” or “Sharknado” movies. In other words, they’re villains. And then there’s the occasional story of a surfer in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A glitch in Pokemon Go accidentally categorized one South Korean town as being in North America. Suddenly, Pokemon trainers flocked to Sochko to catch the digital critters.

“China through the Lens of John Thomson 1869-1872” offers about 50 photographs from the dawn of the art form’s invention, taken by a pioneer of photojournalism. It’s a look back at China before industrialization, before communism, before tourism.

The weather in Hilo, the driest in a decade, according to news reports, was sunny all day, every day. A good sign. But more important was ensuring that our long-planned family trip would be a sizzler, engaging and entertaining little minds.

China’s largest private property developer, the Wanda Group, opened an entertainment complex on Saturday that it’s positioning as a distinctly homegrown rival to Disney and its $5.5 billion Shanghai theme park opening next month.

We’d floated about 50 yards into the Puerto Princesa Underground River when a bat slapped me on the forehead. It startled me, but I can’t say it was unexpected.

The "Godzilla" series started in 1954. In the middle of the first film, a warning is broadcast as the nation braces for attack by the giant monster: "Godzilla has been detected undersea 15 miles northeast of Kannonzaki cape, moving toward the northwest."

Cherry blossom mania descends on Japan in the spring, fueling a week or two of pink-tinged scenery, crowded picnics and blurry, close-up flower photos on social media websites.

Other than the danger of overextending yourself, hiking New Zealand’s abundance of trails is rarely disappointing. The Kiwis work hard to make hiking attractive.

A shave ice truck on the west side of the island of Hawaii is the talk of the islands. It serves what in local parlance is known as "broke da mouth" icy treats.

Starting this summer, the Japanese government will test a system in which foreign tourists will be able to verify their identities and buy things at stores using only their fingerprints.

With the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen line on March 26, the Japanese islands of Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu have finally been linked by bullet train — 43 years after plans for a national high-speed rail network were first laid out in 1973.

As our pilot maneuvers us through the air, my 15 fellow passengers and I are treated to an impressive but bewildering display of temples on the ground below.

Sapporo, the largest city in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido and fifth-largest in the country, is famous for two things: breweries and snow. Beer is always celebrated here, but snow takes center stage just once a year.

The century-old ruins of a U.S. military base will likely strike a familiar chord for veterans who tour Corregidor island in the Philippines.

We headed to the beautiful atoll of Rangiroa in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia, a one-hour flight northeast of Tahiti, without a single phone or tablet.

Fourteen of Japanese artist Tsuguharu Foujita's WWII works are on display this month alongside art from his Paris days at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.

Cape Kamuimisaki is located on the northwestern edge of the Shakotan Peninsula in Hokkaido, Japan. I walked along a narrow path that looked like a mountain ridge, going as high as about 260 feet above sea level. I proceeded for about 20 minutes amid the ocean wind and then came to the tip of the cape, which overlooks the crystal-blue Sea of Japan. This beautiful color is known as “Shakotan blue.”

The capital of our 50th state is becoming increasingly known for a vibrant culinary scene that can hold its own with any mainland metropolis.

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We’d entered this untamed forest by a path created not by the park service but worn into the ground by the footsteps of those who went in before us — some of whom never came out.

The land of Genghis Khan is a rare destination for American tourists. For lovers of nature and ancient cultures, Mongolia remains a relatively undiscovered gem. It feels like one of the last frontiers in Asia.

Space-Available can be the greatest thing since The Mile-High Club — a chance to travel for free on military flights. Then there are trips like this one, where everything goes wrong and hopes of getting out quickly are dashed with unintentional cruelty.

Kauai is the fourth largest of the seven inhabited Hawaiian islands, more than 500 square miles with dozens and dozens of beaches. Some of the coast’s brick-red cliffs (na pali means “many cliffs”) rise 4,000 feet above the Pacific.

After a cologne that smelled something like a Whopper flamed out, Tokyo-based Burger Kings went back to their original bag of tricks and brought something more colorful to the table. This time around, the burger kings brought out a red-colored burger.

I’m sitting at Godfather’s Bar, a mobster-themed place staffed entirely by young Filipino women in Saipan, when the big question comes up among a smattering of former U.S. mainlanders: Why are you here?

There’s nothing quite so vibrantly, blindingly blue as the lagoon on Tikehau, an hour’s flight from Tahiti, in French Polynesia.

On Baloy Beach in the Philippines, you can feel a gentle sea breeze on your face and warm sand between your toes as you listen to the gentle lapping of waves and the laughter of children at play.

Taking a customized tour of Shanghai was my way of dealing with a predicament: I had just one free day and wanted to see the city’s highlights. But I also wanted to step off the beaten path, maybe meet some residents, sample good local cuisine and get a sense of what it is like to live there.

China's Great Wall is an elevated highway, although sometimes a disintegrating one. Where it crumbles, there is the most freedom for hikers to maneuver freely.

Places in Japan and South Korea to celebrate the bloom.

The cherry blossom, or sakura, has been a cultural hallmark in Japanese art and literature for centuries, and the fun associated with the two weeks of hanami -- flower viewing -- season has become a U.S. custom, too.

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Yokohama houses two unique museums dedicated to the noodle that changed it all: the Shinyokohama Raumen Museum and The Cup Noodle Museum.

Ahead of the band’s 40th anniversary world tour, hot KISS buns hit store shelves at Circle K and Sunkus convenience stores throughout Japan on Feb. 27.

No more than a 10-minute walk from the west side of Shinjuku Station is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, home to not only the Tokyo Metropolitan Government headquarters, but also two of the city’s most popular observation decks.

An exhibit of artifacts and photographs at the East-West Center Gallery in Honolulu offers a glimpse of two minority groups, the Rai and Tamang, who live in the remote mountains of Nepal.

Despite its opulence, Kinkaku-ji is perhaps the greatest symbol of Japanese culture, modest magnificence and beauty.

There’s a place that brings the beautiful ocean off Okinawa indoors: the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium at Ocean Expo Park in Motobu.

Big fish, spectacular scenery and clear waters have made New Zealand, particularly the South Island, a bucket-list destination for diehard trout anglers.

Although Tasmania is better associated with a spinning cartoon character, it’s also prime whiskey-making territory, well worthy of a sipping trip.

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During WWII, hundreds of Japanese-Americans — most of them second-generation immigrants — served in the U.S. Military Intelligence Service, acting as translators, interrogators and spies.

The islands of Vanuatu offer unspoiled tropical landscapes, friendly locals and a heritage that draws upon ancient Melanesian culture, colonial France and famed British explorer James Cook.

Japan’s whisky expertise gives U.S. servicemembers in the country an opportunity to try the whiskies at a fraction of what they cost as imports.

It’s true that Europe’s vast ski and snowboard options get the most publicity. But on the other side of the world, it’s not as if powder hounds in Japan and Korea are missing out on snow sports.

"We're on Fiji time here," said Manasa Ragigia, Yasawa's resident elder and the "Spokesman" at Bukama, the neighboring Fijian village. "You want to fish all day? Fish," he told us, mixing drinks at the sunset cocktail party. "You want to kayak or snorkel? Whatever you like, it's your choice."

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The Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters was the scene of extreme violence, where 5,000 sailors from the Former Imperial Japanese Navy under the command of Rear Adm. Minoru Ota made their last stand during the Battle of Okinawa at the tail end of World War II, many armed with only rudimentary spears.

Hanoi, Vietnam, is a study in contrasts, a bustling but laid-back city that has worked hard to become a tourist attraction based on French colonial influences that fuse with Southeast Asian tastes and traditions.

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For a glimpse of what Honolulu looked like 100 years ago, head to Chinatown, a roughly five-block square neighborhood in the heart of the city’s downtown.

South Korea’s hyper-efficient capital doesn’t immediately spring to mind when you think of exotic Asian destinations. But this mega-city offers much to tempt travelers.

Our quest was emblazoned on the T-shirts we were given before we left for Alaska: “8 men, 4 highways, 5 days, 865 miles.” On motorcycles.

After about four days of lying on the soothing sands of Hawaii’s Waikiki Beach, you might feel a yearning to get up and stretch your legs. If so, look to your left and in the distance soars the wall of the Diamond Head volcanic crater. In about an hour, you could be standing atop its crest looking down on all of Honolulu.

The State Department is advising caution for all U.S. citizens in Thailand, following the declaration of martial law throughout the country Tuesday.

On the North Shore of Kauai, the earth writhes like a topographer’s fever dream — 3,000-foot cliffs, plunging waterfalls, tangled green valleys and sharp, serrated ridgelines.

A history gallery in Okinawa City connects visitors with American servicemembers who once lived on the island and underwent the difficult times of post-World War II and the Vietnam War.

The beaches along the Gulf of Thailand have a renowned trio in Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. Each has its own charms and attractions, and regular boat service makes it easy to travel among them.

My trip to the tiny Chinese gambling mecca of Macau, at the height of the Lunar New Year holiday on Feb. 3, was decidedly less glamorous than that of superspy James Bond in the movie "Skyfall."

There is nothing quite like the beauty of cherry blossom trees in bloom. Here's where to see them -- and experience the many festivals celebrating the bloom.

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The icy thud of booted footsteps buffalo through flurries of snow and ember as a group of torch-wielding men make their way toward a towering beech wood shrine.

The Space Available seats on the flight to Yokota were all gone, and several disappointed people were wheeling their luggage out of the Hickam terminal when the loudspeaker announced the check-in process was starting for the next plane departing the Hawaii base.

Nearly 300 pieces of artwork — produced by local senior citizens — were unveiled Jan. 8, 2014, at the Okinawa Prefectural Fine Art Museum as part of the annual Kariyushi Art Exhibit.

The fizzy lager that Americans, Japanese and most people outside of Europe long thought of as the catch-all definition of “beer” is a bit like insisting that plain chicken breast is the only suitable definition of “meat.”

A full account of ski areas that can be reached for a day or weekend trip from Tokyo would fill a large book. However, here are a few worth pondering.

Tucked inside a hangar behind one of this country’s best aviation museums is a sight few people get to see: The first aircraft to fly above Japan.

The 2013 Tokyo Motor Show is notable for what you’re less likely to find under several automakers’ brightest lights — a car running just on unleaded gasoline.

What would Okinawa be without the habu? The island’s indigenous pit vipers stalk sugarcane fields and tombs, wriggle into folklore and even flavor the local liquor. So, it might not come as a surprise the snakes also play a starring role at a theme park here.

From its air-conditioned mega malls to its colorful Hindu temples and the trinket-packed alleys of Chinatown, Singapore offers an almost dizzying breadth of sights and activities.

The Tokyo metropolitan area has about 36 million people, 160,000 restaurants, and at least 100 rail lines.