Latest Hits
GoWorld Travel
There's a Butler in my Stateroom
My wife and I cruised the Caribbean by way of MSC Cruises' Yacht Club, a ship-within-a-ship experience where you have, among other things, your own butler. As the other guests told me: You sail the Yacht Club once, you never go back. If you can afford it.
Virginia Living
The Fare of the Fjords Comes to the Blue Ridge
A slick Scandinavian restaurant, improbably located in the Appalachian foothills, is part of an ingenious set of three interlocking businesses in Roanoke, Virginia. The food is spectacular.
GoWorld Travel
1 Hotels: Indulging in Sustainability
The 1 Hotels formula is to provide a luxurious experience filled with gentle nudges of environmental sustainability. Or maybe it's a sustainable experience filled with gentle nudges of luxury. I'm fine either way.
Fodor's Travel
Still Going Sideways
Following the Pinot-spattered footsteps of Miles and Jack, the heroes of the iconic wine-country buddy film Sideways, on the 20th anniversary of the movie's release. As you might expect, much has changed, and much has stayed the same. The wine? Quite good. And plentiful.
Wine Traveler
A Taste of Edna Valley and San Luis Obispo
Obscure Edna Valley, in the shadow of only-slightly-less-obscure Paso Robles, may be the next big thing in California wine. Or not. Either way, it's a great place to visit for wine touring, thanks partly to its location so close to fun and frisky San Luis Obispo.
Food, Wine & Travel Magazine
How three cases of $10 Verdejo wound up in my basement
It all started at an Improbably high-end Master Class in Spanish wine.
Read it at Food, Wine & Travel Magazine
Food, Wine & Travel Magazine
Roanoke: A Re-Rising Star
A former railroad town, long beaten down like so many Appalachian locales, is making a comeback as a great place to visit. Don't miss the Scandinavian restaurant. Yes, I said Scandinavian.
Afar
3 AI Travel Planners that Actually Work
I tested nine AI tools that promise to create personalized travel itineraries in seconds. Three of them are actually pretty good.
Eat the World
15 Minutes with Vincent Van Gogh
I spent 15 minutes at the Guggenheim looking at a single painting. It was unlike any museum experience I've had before.
GoWorld Travel
Exploring Barbados' Wild East Coast
A new all-inclusive resort provides high-end accommodations on the little-visited, wilder, quieter East Coast of Barbados.
Everett Potter's Travel Report
I Ate Barbados
The highlight was eating pig tails. No, that's not a metaphor for something braided. It refers to the curlique things that stick out from a pig's butt. They were quite tasty.
Food, Wine & Travel Magazine
In Barbados, I got some Africa in My Eye
Sahara winds bring desert sands across the Atlantic, where they cloud the skies of otherwise sunny Barbados.
Eat the World
Seven Things I Learned by Drinking a Lot of WhistlePig Rye
Besides that it's really expensive, I mean. It drinks hot, it's wildly inventive, and really expensive. Oh, I already said that.
Read it on Eat the World
Food, Wine & Travel Magazine
At D.C.'s Death & Co., the Drinks Tell Stories
I had my best drink ever at the new D.C. outpost of the famed East Village craft cocktail bar Death & Co. The bartenders tell stories. So do the drinks.
Read it at Food, Wine & Travel Magazine
Frommer's
Are Hotel Room Safes Safe?
The surprising truth behind online fear-mongering.
Frommer's
How E-Bikes are Changing the World of Travel
E-bikes -- conventional bikes powered by a small, nearly silent electric motor that provides a gentle assist -- are changing travel. You can take no-sweat guided e-bike tours in destinations around the globe and rent e-bikes practically anywhere and wheel around on your own. The beauty part: No spandex or clunky shoes required.
Food, Wine & Travel Magazine
A Michelin-starred Italian chef learns to speak Spanish
At Del Mar in Washington, D.C., a chef much awarded for his Italian restaurants explores modern Spanish cuisine. Spoiler alert: It's spectacular.
Everett Potter's Travel Report
The Day of the Dead -- and Blind
The story of a San Antonio press trip that went beautifully right, and then terribly wrong. The good news is, the scars healed.
Travel Awaits
Five Obscure Museums in Washington, D.C.
Visiting D.C. can feel like a long civics class. I've lived in the Washington area for over 30 years, and here are five places I send people for relief.
Garden & Gun
The Beautiful, Terrible Power of President Lincoln's Cottage
This obscure presidential site in Washington, D.C., where the Emancipation Proclamation was composed, tells the story of intractable grief -- not only of Abraham and Mary Lincoln, but of all parents who have lost children.
Travel Awaits
Cruise Travel Trends 2024
The tl;dr: Ships are full; the cruise industry's going green, and passengers barely care; expedition cruises are prowling beyond the poles; some destinations are limiting cruise dockings; and one cruise ship with a lot of drinking on board also has a tattoo parlor. What can possibly go wrong?
Savory Traveler
Review: Kafe Leopold, Washington, D.C.
My review of my absolute favorite modern Austrian bistro, Kafe Leopold in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. To be fair, my list of modern Austrian bistros is quite short, but still. I love this place. Schnitzel. Gruner Veltliner. Cool bathrooms.
Fodor's Travel
How Phil Collins Remembers the Alamo
Arena rock god Phil Collins has cultivated an odd fixation with the Alamo since he was five. His $42 million collection is now on display at the Alamo. Hint: You've got to go looking for it.
Travel Awaits
Travel Forecast 2024
I button-holed nearly 20 travel experts from all corners of the travel world to suss out what's likely to happen with travel in 2024 for Travel Awaits. The story veers from pricing trends to e-bikes, from sustainable travel to influencers behaving badly. Oh, and pickleball.
GoWorld Travel
Forget the Alamo: For Real San Antonio History, Jump on an E-bike
I took in San Antonio's four Spanish colonial missions -- which together comprise a UNESCO World Heritage Site -- in one afternoon by zipping between them on an e-bike. My bonus: Being able to duck into neighborhoods you won't find in the guidebooks.
Food, Wine & Travel Magazine
At Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen, a Gustatory Purgatory
While I realize this erodes my serious foodie credibility, I'm a fourth-degree Gordon Ramsay fanboy. I went to his new Hell's Kitchen restaurant in Washington, D.C. While not a kitchen nightmare, it was the kind of experience that might have sent Gordon himself into a mad rant.
Savory Traveler
Patty O's: World-class Culinary DNA at a Price That Won't Gut Your Wallet
Patrick O'Connell, maestro of the three-Michelin-star Inn at Little Washington, has opened an affordable bakery and cafe across from the legendary inn at Little Washington, Virginia. It's spectacular -- the food, the setting, the service, the small imaginative touches. The creamer is a little porcelain cow.
Food, Wine & Travel Magazine
Two Words: Snapper Throats
I didn't know the throats of red snapper -- or of anything, really -- were a culinary thing. I ate them in San Antonio. They were amazing. You eat the fins.
GoWorld Travel
George Washington Took a Bath Here
In Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, America's first spa, you can take the same waters as the big dog of American history. There's also a really cool new restaurant.
Travel Awaits
I'm Not Seasick Anymore
It's regarded worldwide as the most effective way to prevent motion sickness. It doesn't make you drowsy. It's sold over the counter in many countries. For some reason the FDA won't allow it to to be sold in the U.S. I ordered it by mail from Canada. It changed my life.
Travel Awaits
No, Seriously: Cleveland Rocks
Once the "mistake on the lake," the hometown I fled has become a hip place to visit, with great restaurants, more culture than you can take in over a week, and an authentic Mid-Western vibe. Oh, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.