The Traveler's Journal

Centuries of development have given us wonderful ways of finding our place on the planet, but to really know where you are it still helps to have a good sense of direction.

The Okavango Delta in the African nation of Botswana is one of the best places on the planet for a walk on the wild side. But always remember, while it's possible to stare down a lion, never, ever look a leopard in the eye.

In the decades since apartheid's end, many millions of foreign travelers have arrived to explore the vast realm of South Africa.  Relatively few find their way to the Dragon Mountains, where the Lord of the Rings was Conceived.

Relatively few Americans find their way to Tunisia, but Europeans come in droves, attracted to its Mediterranean climate, sparkling beach resorts, and fine dining.

Elusive and haunting, Fado is the musical expression of Portuguese "saudade," the soul, heart's break and heart's longing. And Lisbon's old city is the place to find it.

Situated in the Wasatch Mountains 30 miles southeast of Salt Lake, Park City, Utah has certainly seen its ups and downs.  It'll be really up in two weeks, when the 2019 Sundance Film Festival gets started.

Just south of where the Moselle River meets the Rhine at Koblenz is the mouth of another beautiful, but lesser known German river, the Lahn.

One capital of kingdom of Lao, the city of Chiang Mai has become a destination of choice for travelers to Thailand.  But getting out into the mountainous countryside that surrounds it also has its own rewards.

Montreal is often compared to Paris, sort of all things French but with not quite as much attitude.  There are similarities, but Montreal has an ambiance that is all its own.

Though it has been part of Italy for a century, the once international city of Trieste has both a confused past and an idyllic setting.

The Adriatic Sea's northeast coast is among Europe's most beguilingly complex and historically bewildering corners.  Consider the peninsula of Istria.

The Internet can provide access to a myriad of websites offering information about places around the globe.  Here's one way to focus on a useful, reliable few.  Check the newspapers.

Modern equipment makes taking photos easier than ever, but great images that capture the essence of a place in a single image still require something that sparks the viewer's imagination.

In the fall of 1810, a massive royal wedding party was held on a swath of fields on Munich's southwest corner, and the whole city was invited.  The annual tradition continues, but now the whole world comes.

Maastrict, the venerable Dutch city on the banks of the river Meuse, is a hearty dollop of Holland squeezed between Belgium and Germany.

Rather than broad, sweeping vistas, Amsterdam unveils its charms on a more intimate, human scale.  Its easy, down-to-earth ambiance has a way of making complete strangers feel at home.

Few travelers really know their rights when scheduled flights are delayed, diverted, or canceled.  The sad truth is that in most cases, the airline is free to do what it wants.

In the waning days of the Middle-Ages, a tiny piece of Portugal took root on the shores of the Indian Ocean, several hundred miles south of the city of Mumbai. Goa remains an Indian place unto itself.

British Columbia's central coast ranks among earth's most spectacular landscapes.  Cetaceans cruise its ocean inlets, and ghostly ursines paw deep woodland streams for salmon.

When congress set it aside in 1906, Mesa Verde was America's first national park established to preserve the relics of prehistoric peoples.  That was a wise and fortuitous decision.