Hello from Limerick! We spent our last week in Ireland exploring the western coast, including its famous Greenway, museums and castles. We’ve been here a while. Which brings us to this week’s question: Have you ever visited a place where you’ve overstayed your welcome? Please share your experience in the comments. This is one of the abandoned and bricked-up railway stations along the Greenway, a rails-to-trail project near Limerick. Other stations have been turned into coffee shops. Details...

Hello again from Ireland. We’ve spent the last few days exploring Northern Ireland — a place we never expected to visit. And we’re glad we did! Which brings us to this week’s question: Have you ever visited a place you had sworn off — and either loved it or hated it? Please share your experiences in the comments. A wall commemorating those lost during the sinking of the Titanic. The museum really immerses you in early 20th century Belfast and the events that led up to the Titanic’s...

Hello again from Dublin! This week, we discovered an old Irish castle turned into a golf resort and Ireland’s national pastime: complaining about the weather. (The full story is in the podcast.) Speaking of weather, here’s this week’s question: Tell us about the most unpredictable weather you’ve experienced in your travels. We’d love to hear your story in the comments. This is Kilkea Castle near Athy. It’s about an hour's drive southwest of Dublin. If you love to golf, but don’t mind a little...

Dia duit from Dublin! We’ve landed in the Irish capital, and oh boy, do we ever have stories to tell. We live right across the street from one of the most famous pubs in the city. Before I show you, let’s do this week’s question: What’s the loudest experience you’ve ever had in your travels? I’d love to hear your tales of noisy parties and high-decibel attractions. So here’s the source of our noise — it’s the bar to Aren’s left in Dublin’s Temple Bar district. Our rental is directly across...

Hello from Helsinki. It’s a rainy day here in the capital and we are at the end of a two-week whirlwind adventure through Finland. This week’s question: Tell us about your last airline luggage disaster! I’d love to hear your tales of surprise luggage fees, emergency repacking, and evading the luggage police. We’ll share our tips for avoiding luggage fees in the podcast. The distinctive architecture of Turku Castle in Turku, Finland. Many Americans miss this coastal city and the archipelago,...

Hello from Stockholm! It’s great to be back in Minnesota — I mean, uh, Sweden — and we’ve covered a lot of ground in the last two weeks. We’ll have all the details in this week’s podcast. Before we get to the pictures, here’s this week’s question: Tell us about your most recent visit to a “hidden gem” — a place that no one knows about but where you had a great experience. We’ll read your comments in our next episode. Stockholm is a series of connected islands with a famous maritime culture....

Hallo from Leipzig, Germany! We just wrapped up an ambitious tour of eastern Germany, which included Magdeburg, Halle and Leipzig. It’s almost too much to fit into a single podcast — but we’ll try! Before we get to it, here’s this week’s question: What is the worst destination dupe you’ve ever visited? Have you ever been to a place that was billed as being “just like” a famous destination, but wasn’t? (For example, Helen, Georgia, is supposed to be a Bavarian town, but it’s not really.) We’d...

Hi from Berlin! We’ve been exploring the German capital and we also made a side trip to Hamburg. We can’t wait to tell you all about it in this podcast. But before we do, here’s this week’s question: What’s the best walking city you’ve ever visited? And what’s the worst? (Also, please tell us why.) We’re asking because Berlin is easily one of the best cities to walk in — it has wide sidewalks and is easy to navigate. Berlin is one of our top destinations for 2024. There’s so much to do, and...

Hello from Berlin. This week’s podcast is all about Switzerland — our rail tour and our adventures in Grindelwald. Before we go there, here’s this week’s question: What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten in your travels? I ask because we’ve just finished a tour of Berlin’s urban gardens. And they grow and eat some things you would not expect (details in the next podcast). Here’s Aren on the Glacier Express with some friends he met along the way. You get eight hours of really stunning scenery...

Gruezi from Zürich, Switzerland! It’s been a few weeks since our last podcast, so we have a lot of catching up to do. Our adventure has taken us from Tampa to the Swiss financial capital, to Liechtenstein and Germany. That’s a lot of ground to cover. Before we get to our pictures, here’s this week’s question: Since Zürich has a reputation for being one of the most expensive cities in the world, we thought we’d ask: What’s the most expensive place you’ve ever visited? And was it worth it? The...

Hello from Anguilla. This is the final podcast in our nine-week odyssey through the Caribbean. Anguilla is a popular alternative to St. Martin, which you can see from the southern end of the island. Which brings us to this week’s question: Have you ever visited an “alternate” destination? For example, instead of going to Miami, seeing the Florida Keys. Or checking out the East Bay instead of San Francisco? We’d love to hear about your favorite alternates today. Anguilla is filled with almost...

Hello from Antigua! If you like romantic islands with warm blue waters and lots of all-inclusive resorts, you’re going to love this place. But it’s also a seismically active area. This week, we experienced a small earthquake. Which brings me to our question: Have you ever been through a natural disaster in your travels? Tell us about it in the comments. We took a long walk while we were staying at Keyonna Beach Antigua Resort and saw things we’ve never seen. Enormous conch, laughing gulls,...

Hello from Barbados! This is a fascinating island and there’s a lot going on here. Before I get to the details, here’s this week’s question: Tell me about the newest skill you’ve learned in your travels. We’re asking because Aren is trying to learn how to dive, and it hasn’t been easy. We’ll talk about it in the podcast. Barbados has the best sunsets. Here’s what we saw on our first evening on the island. I remember my editor’s stories of seeing the Green Flash here. Alas, no flash on the...

Hello from Grenada, a small Caribbean island just north of Trinidad and Tobago. Grenada is called the spice island because they grow everything here — allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace. When they burn wood, you feel like it’s the holidays because you smell all the spices. All of which brings us to this week’s question: What’s the spiciest meal you’ve ever had during your travels? (In the podcast, I’ll share my story of thermonuclear Mexican food in Santa Fe.) That’s a cinnamon tree. You...

Greetings from Curaçao! Today, I have something completely different: I strapped on some dive gear and accompanied lionfish huntress Lisette Keus on an expedition. Keus runs an organization called Lionfish Caribbean that turns these invasive creatures into bracelets, earrings and keychains. It’s all part of the island’s sustainability efforts. Here’s this week’s question: What’s the greenest hotel you’ve ever stayed in? I’m talking about a property that went way beyond the “recycle your...

Bon dia from Aruba! People here refer to it as “one happy island” without irony, so we will try to refrain from irony in this podcast. I’m here to write about Arbua’s sustainability efforts, so we are not doing the usual touristy activities, like lying on the beach, snorkeling and making donuts in ATVs. (OK, to be honest, we wouldn’t do that, anyway.) Speaking of happy islands, our question of the week is about destination slogans that don’t live up to their promise. We’d love to hear about...

Bon dia from Bonaire! We’re in the Dutch Caribbean right off the coast of Venezuela — and boy, what an interesting place! Reminds me a lot of my old home in the Florida Keys. Speaking of which, here’s this week’s question: What’s your favorite doppelganger destination? I’m talking about a place you visited that reminded you of another place. (I can’t stop thinking of the Keys while I’m here.) We spent a few days at Buddy Dive Resort, checking out their Reef Renewal program. The shop is part...

Ola from Panamá City. We’re in Casco Viejo, a historic part of the city known for its colonial architecture, presidential palace — and boatloads of tourists. Oh yeah, and there’s a canal here, too. All of which brings us to this week’s question: What’s the most impressive public works project you’ve ever visited? The Hoover Dam, the Panama Canal, and the Three Gorges Dam top our list. How about yours? In the Panama Canal, you can get really close to the container ships. These behemoths of...

Olá one last time from Rio! This week, we experienced everything — a heatwave, monsoon rains and a double dose of Brazilian culture. One of the highlights was a visit to the Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, a modernist church based on the Mayan pyramids. It’s one of the most awe-inspiring cathedrals I’ve ever seen. (I’ll share a picture in a minute.) And that brings us to this week’s question: What’s the most impressive religious monument you’ve ever visited in your...

Hello from Rio! Today’s episode is unapologetically touristy. We’re hitting all the highlights, from Cristo Redentor to the Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. One is an underrated national treasure, the other is an overrated attraction with next-level crowds. Speaking of crowds, here’s this week’s question: What is the worst crowd you’ve ever experienced while traveling? I’m talking Tokyo Subway, New Year’s in Manhattan-level crowds. Please share your comments, and we’ll read them in the next...

Hello again from São Paulo, where the big party is well underway. I’m happy to report that we’ve survived the chaos of Carnaval so far. Details are in this week’s podcast. Here’s this week’s question: The State Department has issued warnings for several popular spring destinations. Are there any places that are on your “DO NOT VISIT” list for 2024? Please share your place in the comments. In the podcast, we talk about how tight security is at Carnaval. They got Aren and frisked him. He...

Olá from São Paulo! It’s our second week in South America’s biggest city, and we’re starting to find our way around this fasinating place. Carnaval is only a few days away and you can feel the anticipation building. Here’s this week’s question: Have you ever been in town for the “main” event (like Carnaval in Rio or Oktoberfest in Munich)? I’d love to hear your story in the comments. We’ll ready our comments in our next podcast, as always. Brazil has some of the best passionfruit in the...

Oi from São Paulo! We survived our first few days in Brazil’s biggest city. You were probably wondering if we would after last week’s podcast. Before I tell you what happened, here’s our question of the week: If you didn’t have the passport you did, which one would you want? Please leave your answer in the comments. We wandered into all kinds of neighborhoods in the city before finding our way back to our apartment yesterday. Some of them were not so safe. I’ll explain what happened (and how...