Per CNN, the U.S. Senate is introducing a bill into the Senate to lift the 47 year-old ban on travel to Cuba. Given the Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, many see this latest effort to ban the ban to be the most viable in years. Per Senator Lugar (interestingly enough, a Republican [...]

Almost as anticipated in the art and travel worlds as the Forbes 100 Richest list is in the financial world, the Top Five Most Visited Museums list was released today, with the Louvre topping the list with over 8.5 million visitors who descended beneath the world’s most famous pyramid (okay, most famous outside of Egypt) [...]

In our latest (and first) installment of Frommer Watch™, Arthur Frommer is throwing the gauntlet down on user-generated travel review sites. Citing his own ill-advised foray into user-generated advice during the pre-internet days of yore, Frommer recounts how his own guides once contained a “Readers’ Selections” section. That was, until he began to realize that [...]

The secret’s out: if you really want to enjoy Barbados, skip the pricey resorts and leathery tourists on the west coast of the island and Go East Young Surfer! to the real Barbados. As Danielle Pergament explains in her piece in this Sunday’s NYT (remember her? we blogged about her appearance — with video — [...]

A taste of true Brazilian culture is waiting for you just a short trip from Rio in Minas Gerais. By Lindsey Witthaus When most people picture Brazil they usually conjure up images of Rio de Janeiro and its many postcard-worthy locations such as Sugar Loaf Mountain and the famous Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. But let’s [...]

One person’s authentic Irish pub may be someone else’s Olive Garden. It seems that with the onset of globalization and the increase of culture exportation, the traditional Irish Pub is the latest to be recreated and commoditized around the world. This article at World Hum discusses the new book, A Pint of Pain, one man’s [...]

Nestled against the eastern coastline of South Africa is Phinda Resource Reserve, a 57,000-acre reserve boasting the Big Five, 380 bird species and a coastline teeming with marine life. The Independent Online has a great story of one woman’s trek into the bush to track down and catch a peek of one of the 50 [...]

I feel like I used to get e-cards all the time back when the internet was a young lad, now the only e-cards I get are from Putumayo — not that there’s anything wrong with that. Especially since their e-cards play good music (I feel like I remember a large proportion of e-cards I used [...]

“Free” and “cheap” seem to be the theme of the site this week, which is probably a reflection of the pitiful state of my bank account (do airlines really need to charge for their tickets?). There are plenty of options for cheap travel, from hostels, street food and just plain mooching, but there are also [...]

One doesn’t normally think of Hawaii in late-spring/summer, but one thinks about it a little more when one sees flights there for under $300 (San Fran), $449 (New York/Boson/D.C.) and $533 (Chicago). Chicagoans rejoice, Costa Rica’s a mere $290 away, way better than nearby Minnesota. I like this deal. Iceland’s been all over the news [...]