Yesterday I was sucked in by one of those slideshow stories SmarterTravel.com put out meant to make you click through a dozen pages so they can pump up their visitor numbers. Fine, lots of other media companies pull the same tricks, but it was the content that was so far off the mark. In a …

I published this interview with a tout in Morocco a long time ago in a print-only publication. Recently a Twitter follower saw an old interview I did and asked if this piece could be accessed somewhere. It can’t, so I’m reprinting an abbreviated version of it here.  We occasionally like dealing with touts, but most …

By its very nature, family travel is more expensive than a single person or a couple hitting the road. This is especially true if you need to fly, which you pretty much always need to do if you’re leaving your own continent. It doesn’t have to be as expensive as many parents believe, however. You …

There was a time when people rode trains all over Ecuador, from the capital of Quito to Otovalo, Cuenca, and the coastal port of Guayaquil. More than 60 trains a day departed from the main station in southern Quito. Then came the age of the automobile, which killed off the trains in a lot of …

Where do you go in Vietnam to see all the tribes in one place? The somewhat inconveniently located (but worth the trip) Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi. Some cities you visit because of the wealth of cultural attractions and interesting sites. Few people would put Hanoi in that category. It’s a great place to …