If I wanted to understand why the Eyjafjallajokull volcano is still interrupting air travel, I probably wouldn’t ask Judy Grimes, the hilarious travel expert played by Kristen Wiig on Saturday Night Live. But if I wanted to learn how to speak very quickly without ever taking a breath with plenty of “just kidding” sprinkled in, […]

I like Super Bowl Sunday but I must confess that watching the game is my least favorite part. I'm more about hanging out with friends and watching the commercials. This year I thought that the clear commercial winner was HomeAway.com, a vacation rental service. (I'm a big fan of their subsidiary, VRBO.com, which I even […]

When I was in Northern California in April, I simply couldn't get enough of seals/sea lions. Any time I was by the coastline, I was hoping to hear barking and see some blubbery seals sunning themselves. I'm not quite sure how my obsession got started (most likely from frequent trips to the Central Park Zoo […]

(photos by Ivan) I've long wanted to visit Iceland. And when I learned yesterday that it was getting rid of all three of its McDonald's locations, I wanted to visit it even more. Even though I know the closure of McDonald's is more of a reflection of the continued economic decline than of culinary tastes, […]

I'm a big fan of the 36 Hours column in the New York Times Sunday Travel section. Usually I like to read it to learn what there is to do, hour-by-hour, in cities that I'm interested in visiting. But I also enjoy reading the column when it covers a city that I know well because […]

If I needed travel advice, I wouldn’t want to ask Judy Grimes, the hilarious travel expert played by Kristen Wiig on Saturday Night Live. But if I wanted to learn how to speak very quickly and softly without ever taking a breath with plenty of “just kidding” sprinkled in, then she’d be my go-to gal.

If you're looking for a laugh then you have to watch the "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video." This short video includes some of Cleveland's lesser known attractions including a pay phone that people actually use. Diehard Cleveland fans may not find this video as funny, but it's pretty hard not to see a little humor […]

Today was a gorgeous day here in New York City — is spring finally here? — but I still felt a few pangs of wanderlust. Luckily, I came across Philip Newman’s blog about New Zealand, Newman Fresh Daily. Born and raised in NZ, Philip lives in the city of Manukau (which is close to Auckland) […]

Whenever I’ve told people that I’m considering a vacation in Nova Scotia, they always say something like “oh, my parents really loved it” or “my grandparents had the best time there.” OK, Atlantic Canada may not be the hippest destination. But its natural beauty more than makes up for that — at least I think […]

I don’t think the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce is going to be a big fan of Saturday Night Live‘s sketch about two disgruntled employees (guest host Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson” and cast member Fred Armisen) who are not in the mood to be entertaining tourists in a restaurant on Kauai. The Rock dances in a […]