Travel

My flight arrived in Athens late on a Friday night. I took a car straight to the New Hotel and went to bed. The next day we set out to explore the city, walking over to the National Archaeological Museum, which boasts one of the most impressive collections of artifacts in the world. Among the many highlights is the Artemision Bronze, a statue of either Zeus or Poseidon that was fished out of the Mediterranean after a shipwreck.

Once the capital of Russian Alaska, Sitka is now a gorgeous town nestled among the islands of the Inside Passage. Surrounded by green hills, then larger mountains and icecaps to the east, and the ocean and smaller islands to the west, Sitka is usually listed among the prettiest towns in Alaska, and often among the prettiest in America. I was supposed to visit on my last trip to Alaska, but bad weather delayed our flights, and we had to skip the town altogether.

Few cities can rival Berlin for dramatic twentieth-century history. Largely destroyed by Allied bombs in World War II, Berlin was rebuilt, then quickly became the epicenter of the Cold War. Divided by a wall and terrorized by a brutal secret police, the city and country were emotionally reunified at the end of the century. Today Berlin isn’t the most beatiful city in Europe, but its gritty charm, fantastic restaurants, and incredible museums make it one of the most fun and interesting.

The summer of 2022 was a rough one for travel, but American Airlines led the way in flight cancellations. We ran into the buzzsaw of American’s incompetence on our way to Peru: we were supposed to depart San Francisco on a Saturday morning and, after a brief layover in Dallas, arrive in Lima shortly after midnight local time. Thanks to American’s inability to properly weight the plane, our connecting flight to Lima was delayed 15 hours, forcing us to spend the night in Dallas and lose the first day of our vacation.

A red-eye from Los Angeles brought us to San Jose, Costa Rica early on a Friday morning. A driver picked us up at the airport and took us west toward the Pacific Coast. We stopped at a restaurant for gallo pinto, a traditional Costa Rican breakfast of eggs, rice, black beans, and tortillas. Then we pushed on to Crocodile Bridge, spanning the River Tarcoles at a popular hangout for crocodiles. We also stopped at an overlook above Playa Hermosa where saw several scarlet macaws alighting in the trees.

Landing late at night at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport, we caught an Uber to our lodgings, a charming apartment in Lisbon’s Baixa neighborhood. Despite the jet lag, it was late enough that we had no trouble sleeping. In the morning, we strolled over to Padaria do Barrio, a tasty bakery. Then we ascended a series of hills, stairs, and elevators to Castelo de Sao Jorge. The hill on which the castle stands shows signs of human occupation dating to at least the 8th century BCE and has been the site of Phoenecian, Carthaginian, Roman, and Moorish fortifications.

I’ve spent two summers in Alaska, and a week on the Inside Passage, but I still jump at any opportunity to return to the state. The early summer of 2021 was an unusual time to visit, as much of the state had reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, but the cruise ships that bring most of the state’s tourists still weren’t permitted to sail. We arrived in Ketchikan on a Wednesday evening and checked into the Black Bear Inn.

Hawaii is an incredibly special place. Those lucky enough to visit are overwhelmed with far too many excellent options, but one of the best is Kona, also known as Hawai’i or the “Big Island.” Its combination of volcanoes and beaches is unmatched. I visited with my family in the winter of 2020. One of the early highlights of our trip was the hike out to Kīholo Bay. The walk takes you past the Queen’s Bath, a freshwater pool bored dramatically into the volcanic rock.

I’ve always been curious about Maine, but I’d never had an opportunity to visit. I’d planned a trip to Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic for the fall of 2020, but then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Americans weren’t allowed to travel to Europe, and our vacation fell through. Maine seemed like a good alternative: the state required that visitors be tested before arrival, and it had implemented safety policies at hotels, restaurants, and bars.

Contents Idaho Bend and Sunriver Oregon Coast Olympic Peninsula Orcas Island Idaho Landing at the small airport in the town of Hailey on an overcast Friday evening, I was reminded of just how beautiful Idaho’s mountains and valleys are. I hadn’t visited the state since a backpacking trip in 2004. That trip had been further north, in a much more remote region. This time I visited the charming town of Ketchum, near Sun Valley Resort.