Tag Archives: travel tips

How You Can Prepare for the Laptop Travel Ban

UPDATED 5/14/2017:

Very soon, the Department of Homeland Security is expected to expand the laptop ban to include flights coming into the U.S. from Europe. Less than two months after the first ban required that fliers arriving from several Middle East countries pack their laptops, tablets, game consoles, digital cameras, and other devices in their checked lugged, there’s now news that planes arriving from the European Union will be subject to similar rules. As Skift pointed out, this extension “would affect trans-Atlantic routes that carry as many as 65 million people a year on over 400 daily flights”—and we know that includes many of our own readers, who are planning trips to Europe right now.

Unfortunately, any ban on carrying laptops and tablets into the passenger cabin impacts not only business travelers like me, whose work productivity will be affected, but also professional photographers like my husband; families with children who use tablets, game devices, or laptops as part of their long-haul-flight toolkit; and countless other fliers who rely on their tech devices in various ways.

Apart from being inconvenient, the current ban—which affects flights from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey—is confusing, and a lot has been left undefined. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s wording is that nothing “larger than a smartphone” can be carried onboard, but the agency is vague about what that exact size is. A FAQ on its website says, “Smartphones are commonly available around the world and their size is well understood by most passengers who fly internationally. Please check with your airline if you are not sure whether your smartphone is impacted.”

So far, it seems that the ban is being implemented inconsistently in foreign airports. When my husband flew home from Morocco with our two boys, one son’s Nintendo DS game console was confiscate out of his backpack, while the other son got to keep his. As expected, though, in the weeks after the first ban was implemented, a few of the affected airlines started to test out solutions: Qatar is providing complimentary laptops to premium-class passengers, Emirates introduced a laptop-handling service, and Etihad is offering free Wi-Fi (which you can access with your phone).

So in the interest of helping all travelers prepare (not just those flying from airports or on airlines listed in the original ban, and not just those planning trips to Europe), we’ll keep updating this FAQ as we learn more about how airlines and airports will be handling the changes. In the meantime, here are some answers and solutions.

What devices have to be checked now?

While it’s safe to expect that laptops, tablets, game units, and digital cameras must be packed in checked luggage, it seems that you could easily be at the whim of an individual security officer or your airline’s interpretation of what devices are acceptable for carry-on. The DHS FAQ says only: “Generally, passengers will be instructed to place large electronic devices in their checked bags when traveling from one of the last point of departure airports. We provided guidance to the airlines who will determine how to implement and inform their passengers.” How the airlines are choosing to implement and inform is inconsistent. “The manner of a Security Directive/Emergency Amendment is to tell an airline the end result required (no electronic devices larger than a cell phone allowed in the cabin) and allow them the flexibility to implement within their business model.”

What airports does the ban affect?

If you are flying through or from any of the following airports, the current ban applies to you: Queen Alia International Airport (AMM), Cairo International Airport (CAI), Ataturk International Airport (IST), King Abdul-Aziz International Airport (JED), King Khalid International Airport (RUH), Kuwait International Airport (KWI), Mohammed V Airport (CMN), Hamad International Airport (DOH), Dubai International Airport (DXB), and Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH). The specifics of a European-flight ban are still being worked out.

Am I exempt if I’m part of a trusted traveler program?

No. Membership in Global Entry, TSA Precheck, Clear, or any trusted traveler program does not exempt you from the ban. You still have to comply with the new luggage rules.

What can I do to prepare for the inconveniences of the ban?

•Turn your smartphone into a laptop.
Most of us think of portable keyboards as accessories for tablets, but they can be used with smartphones too. The screen may be smaller than you’d like, but at least it’ll let you get through some emails while you’re in the air. (If you’re accustomed to using more than one electronic device in-flight, you might consider getting a second phone. After all, airlines are not limiting the number of smartphones you can bring onboard. You could use one phone as a tablet or computer while you’re listening to music on the other. Get a cheap burner phone that you need not activate with a mobile carrier; you can just use it with Wi-Fi.)

•Read offline.
E-readers are part of the ban, so if that leaves you without something to peruse on the plane, you still have options. Add the Kindle app to your phone and do your reading there; the app will maintain your library, with bookmarks and notes, across all your devices. If you’re a periodicals reader, check out an app such as Instapaper, which lets you save any article or video from the web and read it later offline. And of course, you could always go back to old-school books. Now that there aren’t any tech devices in your carry-on, you may have room for the latest bestsellers.

•Travel with an inexpensive “travel laptop.”
If you’re like me, you cannot possibly travel without your laptop, and you’re loath to check it. After all, even with TSA locks, most checked luggage is easy to open and subject to sticky fingers. That’s why I plan to buy a cheap laptop for trips on which my flights will be affected. I’ll probably buy a ChromeBook, which costs as little as $165. I’ll copy the files I need from my “real laptop” onto USB drives and carry these in my carry-on, and I’ll relegate the ChromeBook to my checked bag when necessary, leaving my “real laptop” safely at home. Should the ChromeBook get lost or stolen, it won’t be a big deal.

•Insure your checked luggage.
If you’re willing to entrust your laptop to your checked luggage, know that airlines reimburse very little if your baggage is lost, stolen, or damaged; and they don’t cover valuables (such as laptops) in checked luggage. A few credit cards do provide loss and damage coverage for valuables in checked bags. The American Express Platinum Card provides up to $2,000 for checked-bag losses, although it caps electronics at $250. Travel insurance company TravelGuard reimburses up to $500 for electronic devices in lost luggage.

•Take the time to install anti-theft software and features on your devices.
In case you’re forced to check your laptop, install or activate theft-protection apps on it. Apps such as Prey or Find My Mac allow you not only to track where your laptop is, but also to lock it and erase it completely—and, depending on the software, even enable you to take a photo of the thief.

For an additional bit of tracking service, consider attaching a Tile to your various devices. These little squares use Bluetooth to keep tabs on keys, wallets, anything you can think of; use a Tile (or your phone) to set off a sounding beacon on your lost item. This isn’t so helpful if your laptop, camera, or game unit is thousands of miles away, but the app has a cool secondary feature: Activate the “Notify when found” option, and if anyone who has a Tile comes within range of your tiled item, you’ll get a notification of its location.

Stay tuned because we expect to see a burgeoning industry of travel-specific anti-theft gadgets to fill this heightened need. For example, the new PetaPixel is a remote shutter button for digital cameras that comes with the added bonus of geotagging for theft protection.

•Choose your airlines carefully.
Some of the impacted airlines are innovating to make life easier for premium-class passengers. Qatar Airways has begun offering first- and business-class passengers a complimentary laptop loan service; passengers can download their work onto a USB before stepping onboard and collecting their loaner laptop. Etihad Airways is lending premium-class passengers iPads and free Wi-Fi. Some airlines are offering a service at its gates where they say they will collect and securely pack passengers’ electronic items, for pick-up at the destination airport.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

This article was originally published April 3, 2017. It has been updated with new information.

This Beach Resort Figured Out How to Connect with Local Culture

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The beach is only a small slice of the experience at Anantara Peace Haven Resort in Tangalle, Sri Lanka.

fishing boat at Anantara Peace Haven Resort in Tangalle, Sri Lanka

Local fishermen deliver fresh-caught fish to the beach daily. Hotel guests help pull in the boat.

Anantara Peace Haven Resort in Tangalle, Sri Lanka

The hotel has a “coconut guru” whose job is to climb to the tops of 100-foot-tall swaying palms, prune them, and cut the coconuts down. It’s like watching a circus act. He does it daily. He’s the most physically fit 57-year-old I’ve ever seen.

The “coconut guru” brings his haul to the pool, where the coconuts are chopped open and served with straws as poolside drinks.

The zoo comes to you. Monkeys roam freely—and they’re very entertaining. One night we left our balcony door open while we were out, and a monkey broke in and filched the bananas from our fruit basket. (The other fruit was left strewn all over the floor.)

The hotel has a fleet of tuk-tuks for taking guests wherever they want to go in and around Tangalle.

One of the resort’s chefs took us to the pier in Tangalle to show us the fish market where he shops for seafood.

The boats here are extremely heavy. My sons were drafted into helping the fishermen at the pier haul their boat ashore.

On the roads it’s not unusual to encounter a herd of water buffalo, or a flock of ducks, or sleeping dogs, or an entire family on a motorcycle.

The chef took us to rice paddies and vegetable markets so we could pick up supplies for a cooking class. He picked fruit off roadside trees so I could taste it and try to guess what it was. This was tamarind (which I never would have guessed). It was pretty tart.

Back at the hotel, with the ingredients we’d bought at the markets, we had our cooking class and learned how to whip up lunch Sri Lankan-style. The number of spices they use in each dish is impressive.

Coconuts are a big part of Sri Lankan cuisine, and this is how you grind one.

We loved Kanishka, our resort’s resident “experience guru.” He’s thoughtful, caring, and very proud of his country. He knows everyone in the area, so he was able to introduce us to the variety of people we asked to meet.

Kanishka took us to temples so Doug could get info for a school project on Buddhism that was due about a week after our trip.

This is how you get to the 3rd-century temple that sits atop a 670-foot-tall rock.

Atop the sacred rock temple, Doug received a blessing.

In one village, Kanishka introduced us to a family who invited us into their home so we could see how they live. We left them with a few dollars (enough, it turns out, for rice for their family for a month) and a couple of Luci Lights—inflatable, solar-powered, re-usable lights that last a long time and never need batteries.

Bath time at the lake.

When we were curious to see how the local ceramic pots are made, Kanishka took us to visit a family of pottery makers. These women demonstrated how to throw a pot and showed us their kiln. We asked to buy this pot with a broken lid. They begged us to take one with a perfect lid, but we preferred this one with character.

There were a lot of kids in the pottery makers’ family compound. Charlie brought smiles when he picked up their hula hoop.

After long days of adventuring, it was nice to come back to our hotel beach for things like this private candlelit dinner.

All too often, big beach resorts wall travelers off from their country’s culture. That’s why many of us opt for small inns and guest houses, assuming they’ll make it easier to dive into the local scene.

When I was headed to Sri Lanka, though, small inns were not going to cut it. Not with teens in tow and Wi-Fi for work a necessity. We needed a pool, a beach, easy food options, and other conveniences and facilities that are hard to find in a developing country—unless you’re at a big luxury resort. At the same time, we refused to be trapped in a bubble; we planned to spend most of each day adventuring around Sri Lanka and immersing ourselves in the culture.

Luckily, we ended up with the best of both worlds—on Sri Lanka’s southern coast, at the Anantara Peace Haven Resort, built on a former coconut plantation in Tangalle. It was such an unusual blend of comfort and authenticity, in fact, that I’m writing this article in hopes that other beach resorts will take note and get inspired.

Opened in December 2015, the Anantara in Tangalle is one of the first big beach hotels ever to be built in Sri Lanka, a still-unspoiled tropical-island nation that has suddenly become hot and, consequently, suddenly has plans for a wave of hotel construction over the next few years. That’s why I wanted to go now—before the country gets overbuilt. Our goal was to see lush landscapes, taste exotic flavors, get close to wildlife, visit villages and temples, and meet as many interesting people as possible—all during my children’s one-week school break.

Anantara made all of this happen and more—because it’s on a mission to serve as a gateway to the local culture. To see how, click through the slide show above and on the videos below. And if you’re thinking about a trip to Sri Lanka yourself and looking for advice, click to Ask Wendy.

Every morning local fishermen arrive on the beach at the Anantara Peace Haven Resort to deliver their catch. Guests help pull in the boat and choose the fish they’d like the chef to prepare for them later that day.

Since the kids love wildlife, the resort arranged an excursion to an elephant orphanage and to Udawalawa National Park. Check out this elephant who gave himself a bath mere feet from us.

This colorful vegetable market sits on the road between Tangalle and Udawalawa National Park. Note the absence of other tourists—something we experienced a lot in Sri Lanka. I’m glad we went when we did!

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter @wendyperrin, and Instagram @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

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A Primer on Stress-Free Family Travel

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Thanks to years of traveling with her husband and two sons—on all kinds of trips, from affordable East Coast road trips to unconventional far-away spring breaks—Wendy has developed some worthwhile sanity-saving advice. Browse through her best tips below, along with some from her kids, and bookmark what you need for your next family vacation.

Decide on a destination

Wendy Perrin at the Eiffel Tower, france

Wendy has taken her boys all over the world.

Wendy and staff writer Brook Wilkinson, mom to a 5-year-old, wrote some of these stories after returning from specific holidays, but the ideas are applicable to many times of the year. Don’t forget that most destinations can be family-friendly if you work with the right travel planner to make it work for your specific group. So get someone to bring you a mimosa and spend some time dreaming your way through The WOW List for more ideas. If you’re torn between destinations, Ask Wendy.

How to Make Sophisticated Travel Destinations Fun for the Whole Family

Wendy’s Trip Photos from Morocco: An Unusual Spring Break Idea

Unexpected Spring Break Vacation Ideas

Unexpected Holiday Travel Ideas For Christmas and New Year’s

Rent A Villa In Italy For the Whole Family

Avoiding Crowds in National Parks—Even at the Busiest Times

Summer Vacation at a Ski Resort? Yes, and Here’s Why

This Beach Resort Figured Out How to Connect with Local Culture

Adventurous, Exotic Travel with Young Kids: It Is Possible

How to Find the Perfect Vacation Rental: Tips for Your First Time, or any Time

Five Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do with Kids in Vietnam

Uzbekistan Is the Family Vacation Idea You’ve Been Missing

5 European Cities that are Surprisingly Kid-Friendly

Best Activities for Children in Costa Rica

We Had the Best Family Trip in Whistler and We Never Put on Skis

Italy Vacation Ideas for Every Age

How to Transform a Disney Trip from Average to Extraordinary

4 Great Ideas for Graduation Trips

Remove the stress factors

Flying with the kids, especially small ones, doesn’t have to be torture. Photo: Brook Wilkinson

It’s true that every family is different, but it’s also true that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you plan a family vacation. The following advice will see you through some of the most challenging travel moments.

Watch: How to Make Family Trips Fun

10 Keys to a Peaceful Family Vacation

10 Easy Ways to Prevent Travel Headaches Just by Snapping Photos

What to Know Before Booking Your Family Cruise

How to Get Your Child to Try New Foods When Traveling

How to Save Time and Tantrums in Amusement Parks

How to Keep Your Kids Happy on a Cruise

Why You Should Sleep In a Museum

How to Have a Kid-Friendly River Cruise

Why My Most Relaxing Vacation Was a Disney Cruise

8 Secrets to a Stress-Free Flight With Toddlers

How to Ace Long-Haul Flights with Young Kids

How to Get the Best Private Guide For a Trip With Kids

What if it’s a road trip?

Nothing says summer vacation like a road trip. Photo: Unsplash/Pixabay

We’ve got a series of tips for how to minimize the backseat spats and maximize the fun:

The Keys to Planning the Perfect Road Trip

10 Apps That Will Improve Any Road Trip

Family Road Trips: How to Eliminate Stress and Bickering

Don’t Take a Road Trip Without Packing These

Three Things You Should Always Stop For

Be prepared

red case with red cross photo by peggy marco pixabay

When you prepare for a trip, it’s smart to prepare for an emergency too. Photo: Peggy Marco/Pixabay

Don’t let fear (of anything) stop you from getting the vacation you deserve. Wendy has written extensively about the importance of traveling at all ages, and how to arm yourself with the information and resources you need, whether you’re concerned about Zika, terrorism, health emergencies, or just losing your luggage. And don’t forget: the most essential tools you can have in your prep kit are a good travel planner who knows the terrain and an insurance plan. All of the Trusted Travel Experts on The WOW List have extensive networks on the ground and reliable staff watching out for you throughout your trip.

How to Buy Travel Insurance: What It Covers, When You Need It

How to Be Prepared for an Emergency When You Travel: 15 Simple Steps

The Real Things You Should Be Wary Of When Traveling Abroad (Hint: It’s Not Terrorism)

Watch: This Is How to Interpret Travel Warnings

7 Keys to Traveling Without Fear Despite Terrorist Attacks

Watch: How to Protect Yourself From Zika Virus and Mosquito Bites

How to Avoid Food Poisoning When You Travel

This Is the Day in Bali You’ll Never Forget: A WOW Experience

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The small rural village of Pacut is about an hour and a half outside Ubud.

The drive into Pacut, the hometown of my guide Agung.

The central pavilion, or bale gede, of the traditional home where I spent the first part of the tour. It's surrounding by small enclosed buildings, including a kitchen and bedrooms.

Bright floral temple offerings are placed on sidewalks and in front of businesses and homes all over Bali. Now I got to make my own.

Ta da!

Lunch is served on a beautiful bamboo pedestal…

…and looks even more beautiful inside.

My own custom bamboo sunhat!

Agung goofing around with my hat on. That double basket he's carrying is incredibly heavy. I couldn't lift it at all!

You'll see these stepped rice fields all over Bali—and the view never gets old.

This is the real daily work for the farmers who live in Pacut, and I got to see it up close.

Guests are welcome to wade into the paddy and help push the oxen.

On the porch of his home, Agung plays the rindik for me.

Then I tried my hand with the village's gamelan orchestra.

The village's town hall/community center is also an outdoor pavilion. This one is called a bale banjar and it's where the orchestra performs.

The cymbals were the instrument I excelled at…because I only had to clang them together when my percussion team members nodded at me. The rindik was a lot more difficult.

These multitalented men played flute-like instruments for some songs, and then switched to percussion on others. They were my cymbal buddies.

We travelers are always looking for that holy grail of an “authentic” experience. We want to feel like we’re really connecting with a place we visit, not just looking through the glass at it. We want to experience those spark-filled moments when our eyes widen and we realize the person we’re talking to (or smiling and gesticulating wildly at) has just made that magical transformation from stranger to friend. Most of the time, those moments are random, impromptu; they can’t be planned or orchestrated. But the truth is, they can be nudged. That’s where the right travel planner comes in. Moreso than their connections at hotels, restaurants, and special events, it’s their connections to people that will end up making your trip memorable. And in Bali, where there’s no lack of natural beauty to gawk at and cultural activities to experience, seasoned travelers want to find a way beneath the surface, to get out of the lovely-but-touristy towns and connect to whatever it is that makes Bali so special. Spoiler: It’s the people. And Diane Embree’s village day tour is how you meet them.

In this series of articles on “WOW Experiences,” we spotlight the special-access opportunities you can look forward to when you book a trip via a WOW List expert. If you’ve taken a trip arranged by Diane, please add your review to help other travelers.

The What:

A personalized and personal-feeling day in a Balinese village, meeting the residents, learning about the culture, and trying your hand at the crafts, work, and traditions that fill their daily lives. If you’re interested, Diane can also arrange for a charitable opportunity like a visit to a school. “I never pressure people to donate,” she says, “but the information is on my website if people are interested.”

The Where and When:

The small rural village of Pacut, about an hour and a half outside Ubud. This experience is available any time of year, except during some holidays when the villagers will be busy with preparations.

The WOW:

Diane has cultivated an exclusive arrangement with the village of Pacut, which, she told me, “is so small it’s not even on the maps of Bali. I can guarantee that no other tourists will be in the village on the day you go there.” What makes it even more special is that Diane has a personal connection to Pacut. “My longtime colleague who runs the ground operation in Bali is originally from the village and still has very strong ties there. In fact, he is currently the head of the village (an elected position),” she says. “In addition, one of the guides [Agung] and all the drivers that I use are from the village.”

Throughout the day you’ll meet several of the town’s residents, who prepare you a homemade lunch of typical Balinese foods and give you hands-on lessons in two Balinese crafts: constructing the ubiquitous flower-filled temple offerings that are strewn on sidewalks all over Bali every day, and weaving a bamboo-leaf hat. You’ll appreciate the headgear even more later when you’re in the sun-drenched rice fields and have the chance to meet a local farmer and pull his oxen through a paddy. (Interestingly, on our walk through the rice field, I was surprised and delighted to see a man biking down the road wearing a bamboo hat like the one I’d just made. His was browned and worn with age, so I got the feeling he hadn’t made it that morning for my benefit.)

Lunch and crafts take place in the courtyard of one of Pacut’s traditional Balinese homes, which are not the single houses that we’re used to in the west but rather compounds of small buildings and outdoor pavilions called bale. Sitting in the shade of the central bale gede, you start to understand the shape and rhythms of real Balinese lives, without a tourist in sight. While the flower-offering and hat-making craft sessions are cute fun—and probably even better for families traveling with kids—the real highlights come after lunch.

First, since Pacut is where my guide Agung grew up and still lives, he personally knows everyone you’ll meet—and he’ll also invite you into his own home. I was welcomed like an old friend and got to sit with him and his wife as they showed me pictures of their teenage daughter, toured me around their home, offered some first-hand insight into the increasingly complex issues surrounding Balinese land ownership and farming, and then relaxed with me on the porch as Agung gave us an informal concert on his rindik, a kind of xylophone made from bamboo. Sitting on his porch, listening to his music, and talking about our different lives, I had one of those moments when you know you’re experiencing something incredibly special. This was the quote-unquote authentic experience we travelers are always searching for, and the reason it happens is because Diane and her colleagues have built friendships and working partnerships with real people who live in the real Bali.

Second, I got to sit in with the band. During your drive to Pacut and throughout the day, you’ll learn a ton about the way communities are set up in Bali, and their family and village traditions. For instance, some communities have a gamelan orchestra, which is called upon to provide the soundtrack to all kinds of community events: weddings, holidays…and in this case, a visit by one of Diane’s guests. The Pacut orchestra has an unusual backstory: Years ago, one of the locals found a discarded instrument. As Diane tells it in a blog post she wrote, “No one in the village—not even the oldest resident (who was in his 80s)—could remember the instrument ever being played, or even how it got there.” But determined to start their own orchestra, the men scraped together the money to fix it and to take lessons after they finished their workdays in the fields. Over the years, Diane has helped support the band, and your visit includes a donation so that the players can maintain their instruments and continue with their lessons.

Unbeknownst to me, while I’d been out in the fields, this amazing group of musicians had gathered at the al fresco town hall (called the bale banjar) with all their instruments and prepared to give me a private concert. The music is beautiful, rhythmic, and surprisingly easy to pick up. I know that for a fact because I was invited (as you will be) to try my hand at a few of the instruments: drums, a rindik, gongs, and cymbals. With the help of smiling musicians and the encouragement of other parents and children who’ll be drawn to the show, you will feel like part of the band in no time. Fair warning, you’ll probably be invited to dance too. Just go with it, though—this is exactly what you came to Bali for.

How to Make it Happen:

This experience can be tailored to your specific interests and is available through Diane Embree, our Trusted Travel Expert for Bali and Indonesia. See Diane’s Insider’s Guide to Bali and read reviews of Diane to understand the caliber of trips she arranges. To be marked as a WendyPerrin.com VIP traveler and get priority attention and special benefits, request your trip here.

The Ultimate Walking Guide to New York City

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Justin Davidson has X-ray vision. As the architecture critic for New York magazine, he is trained to examine and evaluate the design of the city’s ever-changing skyline. But it’s his interest in the stories inside those buildings that makes his work so compelling: who lived there, what kind of lives did they lead, and what ripple effect did those lives have on the city around them? These are the details that bring a place to life for Justin, and when he started sharing them in informal walking tours for the parents of children at his son’s school (as part of a benefit auction), he found that others were fascinated too. After a guest on one of those walks turned out to be a book publisher, an idea emerged to transform his strolls into a book. Hitting bookshelves this week, Magnetic City: A Walking Companion to New York is a collection of narrative walking tours that uncover exciting new views about the city and the secrets its architecture holds.

“I didn’t think of it as a tour book,” Justin told us over the phone. “I thought of it as a composite portrait of New York through the things that interest me: walking, history, art, and architecture. And I’ve spent a lot of time looking at its architecture. For me, the architecture is always so enmeshed with other aspects of the city.”

Justin himself is an interesting story: Born and raised in Rome, he moved to New York (where his parents were from) in 1988 to earn his doctorate in musical composition at Columbia, then went on to have a Pulitzer Prize-winning career as a cultural critic, covering both architecture and classical music.

We talked to Justin in advance of Magnetic City’s release this week, to learn more about how an architect sees beyond exteriors and structure—and how that perspective can help travelers get more out of their next trip to the Big Apple. He ended up not only giving us insight into the way his book stands apart from typical do-this-look-at-that guidebooks, but also revealing some of the hidden stories told by the architecture of NYC.

Are you a big fan of walking tours yourself?

I love walking tours, and when I visit a city I try to find the best books that offer them. The best to me are the kind that say something you wouldn’t have otherwise noticed.

There are a lot of walking-tour books out there. What is different about Magnetic City?

For one thing, the book is light on the big sights and monuments. There are a lot of things I don’t hit because you can get those easily in other places. What I try to do is give people a sense of how the past and the present of the city are constantly intertwined, how wherever you’re standing you have a sense of everything that came before you and how it’s changing. Looking back and looking forward is such an intrinsic aspect of living in New York, and I wanted the book to get that across. It’s a partial biography of the city.

How did you decide what areas to include?

I picked neighborhoods where I felt I could tell the richest stories and where they had a fairly long chronological arc. That meant neighborhoods that have developed over time; I felt myself less interested in neighborhoods that popped up all at once because they were built by developers. But I wanted each one to say something about each part of the city.

What do you hope travelers get out of Magnetic City?

All I can offer is my way of understanding it and my way of presenting it and to do it with some depth. The tours are long—they take a while to do—and hopefully at the end of them you have a richer sense of why the city is the way it is in all its beauty and ugliness and excitement.

Four ways to see NYC in a new light

The Story of the Eccentric Upper West Side Intellectuals

I start the chapter about the Upper West Side at the corner of 89th Street and Riverside Drive. It’s a place you almost don’t notice, up stairs and behind trees, but to me it’s a tremendously evocative place in what it says about the Upper West Side in that moment in history and New York. It was built in 1905 and it’s one of the last surviving mansions on Riverside Drive; most were demolished and turned into apartment buildings. This one was built and lived in by Julia and Isaac Rice, who were an affluent Jewish couple. He had made money in various ventures including defense contracts and railroads. She had a medical degree. They were hyper-educated, cultivated, affluent, and had this unusual outlook on life. She was sensitive to what was then a tremendously noisy neighborhood from all the river traffic, so she founded the Society for the Suppression of Unnecessary Noises, which sounds like a crank’s weekend project but which was actually fairly influential on what we would today call noise pollution. As a medical professional she felt noise had an ill effect on convalescing; she related that to the mental health of patients. He was really into chess. So he built himself a private chess room in the basement and retreated there. He became a chess celebrity and sponsored a competition to use the Rice Gambit, an opening gambit he invented. They lived in that house for several years before it became too expensive and they sold it and moved to the Ansonia [on Broadway and 73rd Street]. They had six kids and one of the daughters was an aviatrix and one sailed around the world. To me that house represents a number of different things: one is the Jewish bourgeoisie on the Upper West Side, which was developed as a largely Jewish neighborhood. The other is that they took this education and used their own interests to change the world in their own idiosyncratic ways. The third is their idiosyncratic approach to parenting and their kids’ education. That’s how much you can get out of one house, just walking by.

Joyce Kilmer Park on the Grand Concourse in the South Bronx, New York. Photo: Kate Glicksberg/NYC & Company

The Story of Two Neighborhoods with the Same Dream

New York is a place where different groups of people have hitched their dreams to different places in the city. I linked Sugar Hill [in Manhattan’s Harlem] to the South Bronx because the High Bridge had just opened when I started to work on the book. You never think those neighborhoods are close, but you can now walk from one to the other. Each of those neighborhoods, for different groups of people, was an area that embodies their collective aspirations. For Sugar Hill, it was the apex of the Harlem Renaissance and it was this vision of African-Americans being able to truly fulfill their potential in wider American society and achieve social justice through talent. Right across the Harlem River on the Grand Concourse [in the South Bronx], that’s where Jews from the Lower East Side went to become truly American, truly middle class. Both of those dreams kind of died but there’s something moving about those neighborhoods.

The New York Public Library.

A Very Different 42nd Street Story

One of the other chapters is about 42nd Street, starting at Bryant Park and going east. The theme of the chapter is idealism. It’s about building things that represent some really grand noble theme about how to make the world a better place in all these different spheres: The New York Public Library represents this great monument to literacy. Grand Central Terminal is the apex of the idea of speed and moving and knitting the whole country together and travel from one end to the other. We think of it as a commuter rail now, but it was the end point of a national rail network. The UN is a symbol of healing the world through diplomacy. So there are these institutions representing these high ideals and that’s not how we think of 42nd Street, but it is really the most noble vision of how to root these world problems in the city.

The Story of the Hudson River Waterfront

This is not an itinerary in the book, but if you were to walk, jog, or bike from the Battery up to about 57th Street, or even beyond, you would be going along Hudson River Park and along West Street, which is wide and trafficky and distracting. But if you look at the row of buildings along that whole way, you can basically trace almost the entire history of the city from the 19th century up to the present. There are amazing industrial buildings, new apartment buildings, basic useful buildings, and each step of the way there’s some really dramatic moment in New York. And to think about how cut off from that most New Yorkers were for so many years—because walking along the water was not something people could do. It was a dead zone. It’s now something people gravitate to, and they are richly rewarded. Think about what you see as you go up from Battery Park City: the World Trade Center, the Richard Meier glass-façade buildings at Charles and Perry Streets, the Superior Ink set of apartment buildings by Robert AM Stern [on West Street], the Spring Street Salt Shed for the Department of Sanitation, Frank Gehry’s IAC Building at 19th Street, the ventilation structure for the Lincoln Tunnel, right up to the new pyramidal building by Bjarke Ingels at West 57th Street.

A Pro Photographer’s Solutions to the Airline Electronics Ban

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Travel bans of any kind never come at a good time. But this latest one is coming at a particularly bad time for me. As a photojournalist, it’s my very job description to carry my cameras with me. Sure, iPhone cameras are fine for snapshots, but I make my living using professional-grade cameras that I am now forced to place in checked luggage if I’m flying to the U.S. or U.K. from certain airports. So this ban is going to hurt. I have an assignment in Morocco next week and another in Dubai this summer, and I’ll be flying through and from airports that are on the new watch list.

I always arrive at the security gate well before scheduled departure so that my gear can be scrutinized. In fact, I fly with so much gear, electronics, and cords that I get very suspicious if the security agency doesn’t check my bag with a fine-tooth comb. But this ban will seriously change how I work.

My biggest complaint with the ban is the vagaries of it. Okay, I understand laptops won’t be allowed, or iPads, or my kids’ DS. But what about battery chargers or the cell-phone-sized hard drives I use to back up all the photos I shoot on assignment? What are you supposed to do with a key piece of equipment you thought was okay to carry onboard when a security guard says you can’t take that onboard because…well…he says so. Your checked bags are already down the chute. Now what?

My other concern is theft. You might as well put a “Steal Me” sticker on the outside of a bag with your camera in it. Security staff and luggage handlers X-ray bags well out of sight from the public, so the theft rate could increase exponentially. I remember going through Heathrow years ago when a similar ban was in effect. I had placed my underwater video camera in a checked bag (because my carry-on was already maxed out with other— more important—equipment), and they brought it to the gate where I was waiting, and I had to show the security agents what it was and prove that it was operational. That was the last time I saw it. Those little TSA-approved travel locks? Sure. Why not? But they and your ballistic-material luggage can be breached in mere seconds. Or just stolen completely, little locks and all.

So what am I going to do about it?

I live in fear of a camera getting lost or stolen on a trip, but now I will be changing how I work.

•For starters, I will leave my top-of-the-line camera bodies (the part of the camera minus the lens) at home. Instead, I will use cameras that are a few years or models old. Though not the latest and greatest, they are still usable and more expendable than my best—which I will need back at home.

•I will never put more than one camera body into each piece of checked luggage. That will give me a better chance of arriving at my destination with at least one of them.

•I will carry more media cards on which to store the photos I shoot. Let me explain: Until now I’ve always carried my laptop on my trips, downloaded each day’s photos to it each night, and backed them up on a portable hard drive (if not two). This is so as not to lose the images I’ve shot during the trip. The system allowed me to reuse media cards once I’d transferred the images to my laptop. Since I’ll now be leaving the laptop at home (since I won’t entrust my laptop to checked baggage), I’ll buy more media cards on which to store my photos. I’ll simply save the photos on the cards and wait till I’m home to download them to my laptop. SD cards are actually cheap enough now to do this, but keep in mind that they are small, notoriously slippery, and easy to lose!

•On some trips I might bring an older laptop (from which I’ve erased my personal data) to use as storage and for transferring photos to a portable, cell-phone-size hard drive. Will I be allowed to carry the hard drive into airline cabins? I don’t know.

•I will probably invest in a product such as Western Digital’s My Passport Wireless Pro. You can plug your SD cards right into it (its USB slot handles other format card readers) and copy photos or data right to a 2 or 3 TB drive.

•If you place your cameras in checked baggage, make sure to remove the media cards from the cameras. My video camera was stolen at Heathrow, but at least I had the sense to take the tape out and hand-carry it.

You will also have to remove the batteries from your camera, as most cameras use lithium batteries. However, the FAA specifically says that lithium batteries can’t be in checked bags, so we’ll just have to wait and see how that catch-22 gets solved.

•So what about chargers? I’m going to have to carry extra spare batteries in addition to what I carry now, in case my battery chargers are banned from carry-on luggage and get stolen. I’ll get a second charger too—so I can put each into two separate checked bags, again hoping that both of my bags won’t be taken or violated.

•With the camera bodies in the belly of the plane, that will leave more room in my carry-on for lenses. But this worries me too. A security agent once probed his finger into my telephoto lens and not only made it unusable but did several hundred dollars’ worth of damage to it.

On a personal level, one of my favorite things to do is to take photos while I’m flying. That’s gone now. I will miss shooting sights from a 33,000+-foot vantage point.

I’ve lived with previous bans and increases in airport security since the days of D.B. Cooper and almost daily hijackings to Cuba. And I’ve dealt with higher-speed films being ruined by third-world x-ray machines. So this ban is nothing new. I just wish it weren’t so vague. I’m looking forward to hard-and-fast rules.

Stay tuned.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

The Real Things You Should Be Wary Of When Traveling Abroad (Hint: It’s Not Terrorism)

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Don’t spend so much time focusing on avoiding risks that are highly unlikely—such as a terror attack—that you neglect to take sufficient steps to avoid those risks that are far more likely to ruin a trip abroad—such as a traffic accident, theft, or food poisoning. The following do’s and don’ts that I shared with U.S. News & World Report will take care of most potential problems. A reliable (and reachable) travel planner will take care of the rest.

Drive carefully on your way to the airport.
Renting a car? Remember that motor vehicle accidents are the most common cause of death of Americans overseas.

Traffic rules are different in other countries, and car accidents kill more tourists than terrorist attacks. Be careful crossing the street. Photo: Timothy Baker

Look both ways before crossing the street.
Motor vehicle “rules” in many countries are not what you’re used to back home.

Leave valuables at home.
Most of us have learned to leave fancy jewelry at home, but we now bring all manner of fancy electronics. Consider leaving your larger and more expensive electronics at home. Whatever devices you do pack, be sure that the information in them is password-protected and that you have a copy of that information somewhere safe.

Use your in-room safe.
Store your passport in it. Leave the Do Not Disturb sign on your hotel room door when you’re not in the room.

Use trustworthy Wi-Fi.
I carry my own portable Wi-Fi hotspot rather than logging into free Wi-Fi on the street.

Watch out for scam artists.
In big cities, pickpockets may prey on tourists, especially in crowded transportation hubs. Clothing with internal zippered pockets, or a neck pouch, are a good way to keep cash and credit cards safe as you walk around and sightsee. If you’ll be carrying a handbag, use a cross-body one. A few examples of scam artists:

I was walking in Buenos Aires once—in a good neighborhood, in broad daylight—when suddenly some inky, foul-smelling liquid landed on me and my husband. Two young women sympathetically showed us an outdoor faucet where we could clean it off. Suspicious, we opted to remain a mess and started to walk away—at which point the duo offered Kleenex. They seemed a little too eager to help, so we quickly left the area. Back at our hotel, the concierge immediately guessed which street corner we’d been standing on and confirmed that we had nearly fallen for a common con: Had we put down our bags to clean up, they would have made off with them.

Other traditional scams in certain countries include the handbag snatch (you’re sitting at an outdoor café, you place your handbag on the ground or hang it on your chair, and somebody grabs it and runs off), the fake street fight (boys pretend to beat each other up, one approaches you in tears, pleading for money so he can get home to safety, you pull out your wallet and the kids grab it and race off), the crowded subway car (a group of women and children waltz into your subway car in a distracting whirl of colorful scarves and skirts, remove your wallet from inside your pocket, and exit before the doors close), and even the baby toss (a woman tries to hurriedly hand you an infant—some actually toss you a doll, in hopes that you will instantly drop your bags to catch it. An accomplice then swipes your belongings).

Dress smart.
I wear jackets with internal zippered pockets that nobody else’s hands can reach. Rather than keeping my wallet in a handbag that could be stolen, I keep small bills and credit cards in various pockets, so that I never have to take out my whole wallet. If you must carry your wallet in your outside pants pocket, wrapping rubber bands around it makes it more difficult for a pickpocket to extract it. Don’t wear brand new white sneakers. They’re a dead giveaway that you’re a tourist.

Don’t pull out a map and scrutinize it in a public place.
Step inside a restaurant or shop if you want to check your map.

Think before you photograph someone.
Don’t photograph policemen or anyone who does not want his/her photo taken. Here are some more tips on photo etiquette when you travel.

Program local emergency numbers into your cell phone.
I ask my hotel concierge for those numbers.

Carry your hotel’s business card in the local language.
Have at least one of these so you can show it to non-English-speaking locals (e.g., a taxi driver) and get back to your hotel quickly in an emergency.

Carry a mini-flashlight (so you’re never caught in the dark).
I once made the mistake of not packing one and learned my lesson the hard way. You can read all about my best travel mistake here.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Vacation Idea: Travel to the Happiest Countries on Earth

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Norway is the happiest place on earth, according to this year’s World Happiness Report by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The report is shared annually to mark World Happiness Day on March 20. It determines “life satisfaction” among 155 nations by using Gallup poll data to rank, as its overview explains, “the factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance.”

We’d add that happy locals create a welcoming environment for visitors, too, so one idea for your next vacation is to get to know the residents in one of the world’s happiest countries. Norway tops the list, jumping up from the number four spot last year. It’s followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, and Finland; the U.S. is number 14. Here are the top 20. For insider info on planning your trip to many of these cheery destinations, click through to our Insider’s Guides or Ask Wendy.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

What Not to Do in the Caribbean

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Making the most of your Caribbean vacation means knowing where to find the hidden gems. It also means knowing what to skip and why. So we asked the Caribbean travel specialists on Wendy’s WOW List to share their tips for avoiding mistakes—what’s overrated, overpriced, or just not a smart move—in the Caribbean.

Hitting the beach? Don’t choose the wrong islands.

If beach bliss is your No. 1 goal, steer clear of Dominica, Saba, and Montserrat. They have plenty of charms, but are not known for their beaches.

Instead: While you can find inviting stretches of sand just about anywhere, the islands most famous for their beaches are what some call the coral islands: the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas (Eleuthera, Harbour Island, and the Exumas are among the favorites), and Anguilla. These are all basically flat and scrubby with the quintessential powdery white sand and crystal-clear water that the Caribbean is famed for.

Read our Insider’s Guide to the Finding the Perfect Caribbean Island Resort, and reach out to Wendy to be marked as a VIP and get the best possible trip.

Planning to scuba dive? Don’t get stuck with the cruise crowds.

Cozumel and Grand Cayman can get overrun with passengers from the giant cruise ships that call there. The only way to avoid the cruise crowds is to dive at off-peak times or to go with a dive operator who knows the secret spots.

Instead: In Cozumel, Palancar Reef is about an hour’s boat ride from town, each way. If you stay at the Iberostar Cozumel you will be able to sleep in, then have a cup of coffee while others are “commuting,” saving you two hours per two tank! — Meg Austin, Wendy’s Trusted Travel Expert for Scuba Diving in the Caribbean

Read our Insider’s Guide to Scuba Diving in the Caribbean and the Bahamas, and reach out to Wendy to find the right travel planner for your next trip.

Renting on St. Barts? Don’t book a cook.

St. Barts has some of the best rental villas in the Caribbean, as well as some of the best restaurants. So don’t spend your money on a private chef the way you might if you’re renting on, say, Jamaica or Barbados.

Instead: Splurge on an in-villa massage. A number of villas have rooms or nooks designated specifically for spa treatments. In the late afternoon, getting a rubdown in a shady poolside cabana is the ultimate indulgence. —Peg Walsh, Wendy’s Trusted Travel Expert for St. Barts Villas

Read Peg’s Insider’s Guide to St. Barts Villa Vacations, and reach out to her through our site to be marked as a VIP and get the best possible trip.

Shopping in Bermuda? Don’t waste time in Hamilton’s generic shops.

Shopping in Hamilton, once a highlight, is no more. Although the storefronts nicely reflect the architecture of Bermuda, their merchandise decidedly does not; most is what you’ll find in the United States.

Instead: One exception is the Island Shop, with its colorfully hand-painted housewares. Owner Barbara Finsness has even brought back the “Bermuda bag”—a small purse with wooden handles that’s a relic of the past.

Read our Insider’s Guide to Bermuda, and reach out to Wendy to find the right travel planner for your next trip.

Looking to experience the best of the Riviera Maya? Skip the famous Xel-Ha.

Xel-Ha bills itself as a “natural aquarium” for ecotourists to swim and snorkel in, but it has nothing to do with the appreciation of nature. All of the coral in the lagoon is dead, and there are virtually no fish; it’s basically now a giant swimming pool stuffed with tourists and surrounded by tacky gift shops, restaurants, and bars.

Instead: Take the ferry to Cozumel on a day when no cruise ships are in port (have your concierge call the “Capitania de Puerto” to check: 52-987-872-2409). The boat trip—about $15 for adults, $10 for kids—gives you incredible views of the coast, the Caribbean, and the reefs around Cozumel. Once ashore, head to Pescadería San Carlos for some tasty ceviche. —Zach Rabinor, Wendy’s Trusted Travel Expert for Mexico

Read Zach’s Insider’s Guide to the Riviera Maya, and reach out to him through our site to be marked as a VIP and get the best possible trip.

Planning to do activities on a Sunday? Don’t be surprised when things are closed.

Many Caribbean islands are deeply rooted in the Christian faith, which means Sunday sees closures of attractions, shops, and even restaurants.

Instead: Pack your own pool float (because while some resorts might have a couple of floats for the pool, most don’t supply them for the ocean) and hit the beach. Depending on the island, consider venturing from your resort to a public beach to hang with the locals: On St. Barts, for instance, the public beaches (especially Gouverneur and Saline Beach) are postcard-perfect.

Read our Insider’s Guide to the Best and Worst of the Caribbean, and reach out to Wendy to be marked as a VIP and get the best possible trip.

Don’t forget to take your passport—and check it

Check the expiration date on your passport—it gets risky when you get to the six-month mark. Most countries now require you to have a passport that will be valid for at least three to six months from the time you travel or they won’t admit you—not a nice surprise at the check-in counter!

What are some of your own Caribbean travel don’ts? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Traveling in an Uncertain World: Essential Tips for Smart Travelers

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Some Americans tell me they’re nervous about traveling right now. Given the recent ban blocking travel to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries, and whatever unpredictable new rules might suddenly get implemented tomorrow, they’re worried that if they leave the U.S., they could have trouble getting back in. Some people are concerned about possible hassles with immigration officials in foreign airports. And, given the new administration’s “America First” attitude, some people fear anti-American sentiment at their destination.

I don’t. That’s because I’ve traveled in many countries at times when the U.S. government was disliked—and, time after time, I’ve found that, as long as you don’t behave like an “ugly American,” people don’t judge you based on your government. That’s because they don’t want you to judge them based on their government. Many people are accustomed to living under a regime that curtails their freedom and the press. If you’re sensitive and sympathetic, and as intrigued by them as they are by you, what you get is not hostility but a bonding experience.

Even in the Middle East during the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War, I never encountered any hostility from the locals I met. In fact, I always got a warm welcome because people were so intrigued and curious to talk to an American. In the Middle East, I’ve always found people to be astonishingly friendly, warm, and hospitable. As just one example, I remember a policeman in Damascus, Syria, approaching me with a look of concern and an outreached arm, only to pick up my suitcase like a true gentleman and carry it across the street for me.

It’s my firm belief that, right now, travel is more important than ever. That’s not just because travel is fatal to ignorance about other cultures and peoples. It’s because we frequent travelers can help rectify misperceptions that the world may have right now about the United States. It’s important that other countries see that Americans are open to different cultures. It’s important that they meet Americans who don’t necessarily subscribe to the motto “America First” but are, instead, global citizens first.

Here are a few things travelers can do to convey this message and avoid the “ugly American” stereotype. These are easy ways to blend in, avoid offense, bond with locals, and stay safe. These rules of etiquette have long been the case; they’re not new to this or any presidential administration.

Avoid logos and labels.
Don’t wear T-shirts, hats, or anything with words or symbols on them. Don’t wave a U.S. flag. Don’t wear religious jewelry (no Christian cross or Star of David.) Don’t wear a red baseball cap that says “USA” or “Make America Great Again.”

Wear simple, plain, neutral clothing.
Forgo bold colors in favor of earth tones. Wear old black or brown shoes, not shiny new white sneakers (they scream “tourist”). Instead of shopping for new clothes before a trip, leave space in your suitcase to buy clothes once you arrive. That way, you gain the experience of shopping like a local, you blend in, and you come away with great souvenirs.

Speak softly and respectfully.
“Ugly Americans” speak loudly and draw attention to themselves. Remember that, when you travel, you’re like a guest in someone else’s house. Speak to the people of your host country with respect.

Steer clear of crowds.
This is not just for your safety but because crowds usually make both travelers and locals cranky, and crowds in different countries have different etiquette. Bypass political demonstrations and rallies. When practical, avoid rush hour on public transportation. Go against the normal flow of tourist traffic.

If there’s someone you’d like to photograph, establish a rapport first.
Here’s Photo Etiquette: How to Take Pictures of People When You Travel. Remember that it’s often against the law to photograph government buildings, military installations, policemen, guards, and parts of airports and train stations.

Know the country’s rules and customs.
Here are 25 Fascinating Rules of Etiquette From Around the World.

Ask questions that show that you care and can relate.
Good conversation topics—to ask locals you meet—include: How has technology changed your life? (Has it made it better? How has it impacted your work and your family? Do you feel more connected to the world at large?) What are your biggest stresses and challenges? (The cost of medical care? housing? schooling?) What happens when there’s a new baby in the family? If the mother works, how is this dealt with in the workplace? (Different cultures have very different maternity customs and laws.) How do you care for the oldest members of your family? (Many countries worldwide have more and more elderly people and not enough young people to care for them.) If you were to plan a trip to America, where would you go? What are the things you would most like to see? Such questions will establish similarities, as well as interesting differences, between your life and that of the people you meet.

Hire a stellar local guide.
A private English-speaking guide, arranged via your hotel concierge or a reputable tour company, can keep you out of trouble and introduce you to receptive local people. Remember, it’s in a guide’s best interest to keep you safe and happy. When a trip is arranged by one of my Trusted Travel Experts, you automatically tap into a network of guides and insiders at your destination who will watch out for you and can arrange for you to exchange ideas with the right local people without fear. These TTEs have their ears to the ground and know how to keep you safe and solve any problem that arises.

Get a new passport if that will give you peace of mind.
If your current passport has a stamp from Iran or another country that’s named in a ban, consider getting a new one, to avoid potential hassles coming and going.

Stay calm and relaxed, knowing you have a safety net.
Being on edge won’t win you any friends. A MedjetAssist Horizon membership can take the edge off because it provides help in an emergency, should a crisis—a political threat, a terrorist attack, violent crime, or the like—strike. It gives you access to a 24/7 Crisis Response Center, a veteran security expert to advise you, and response services to come to the rescue if necessary. Even if no major security incident has been declared yet and you’re just feeling uncomfortable and want to get out of a place, MedjetAssist will help. Full disclosure: Medjet is a sponsor of this site—but they’re a sponsor specifically because I believe in and use their service. Here are 15 other simple steps you can take to be prepared for an emergency when you travel.

Do you have tips to add? Share your thoughts below.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

What We Learned from our Global Travel Summit

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The WendyPerrin.com team is just back from our second annual Global Travel Summit, where we spent the weekend picking the brains of the Trusted Travel Experts on Wendy’s WOW List and, equally important, letting them swap information about how best to serve you.

We know that WendyPerrin.com travelers are not just any travelers: You’re sophisticated, smart, and thoughtful about the way you see the world, you’ve likely already seen a large part of it, and you define value differently than most people—as true, authentic, eye-opening experiences, not just as dollars and run-of-the-mill tourist photo ops. With all that in mind, we mined our collected group of trip designers and journalists for travel trends, travel business trends, and news about various destinations around the world. Here’s a short list of what we learned this past weekend, with much more to come over the next few months as we dig deeper into the most useful information you’ll need to make 2017 a year of extraordinary travel.

There’s a new trend in cruising, and small-ship company Windstar Cruises is leading the way on it: small-group, highly customized shore excursions. New president John Delaney, who came over to the company earlier this year from Seabourn, tells us that his personal main focus in 2017 will be to create bespoke shore excursions not seen elsewhere in the cruise industry. Stay tuned to learn more about what that means.

If you want to see Turkey this year, Trusted Travel Expert Karen Fedorko Sefer says gulets are the way do it. These traditional two-masted wooden sailboats allow exclusive touring of the Aegean Coast’s most beautiful spots. “Imagine sailing into beautiful, empty coves,” she says. “It’s a private, exclusive, and peaceful experience.”

New low-cost airlines are going to make nonstop travel over the Atlantic cheaper and easier this year, says Brett Snyder, president and self-titled Chief Airline Dork of Cranky Concierge, an airline assistance company that provides booking, flight monitoring, award-travel help, and emergency assistance if your flight gets canceled or rerouted.

Joe Yudin standing at the Wendy Perrin Global Travel Summit

Joe Yudin shares ideas based on his own experience running Touring Israel. Photo: Tim Baker

Our Trusted Travel Experts have been busy creating new experiences for travelers. We’ll be covering more of these throughout the year, but here are a few as an appetizer:
- Joe Yudin recently launched a program that lets adventurous types test their mental and physical strength during a survival-training challenge in the desert, led by former Israeli military types. “It’s like a Bear Grylls experience,” Joe says with a laugh. “It’s not easy, but people are loving it.”
- Julie Byrd is turning travelers on to Baja California’s less-frequented spots, such as La Paz, where she now offers Zodiac tours to nearby small islands for private snorkeling, diving, and overnight camping.
- Some TTEs start immersing you in another culture even before you leave home—for example, Jill Curran creates playlists for her clients so they can get to know Newfoundland before they step foot on the plane.

Apart from their ability to deliver extraordinary experiences, our TTEs earn a spot on The WOW List only when they’ve proven their customer-service skills (based on reviews from real travelers). So we enjoyed hearing from them about new methods they’re using to stay personally connected to their travelers:
- Maita Barrenechea visits guests in their hotel before they leave, to say a friendly good-bye.
- Andrea Ross calls every client after their trip to get feedback first-hand.
- Cherri Briggs is making sure her travelers have (and know how to use) a variety of digital tools, such as WhatsApp, so that they can stay in touch more easily if they need anything while they are on the road.

Andrea Ross helped launch a campaign to eliminate the millions of plastic water bottles that wind up in Siem Reap landfills each year. Instead, her coalition’s goal is to provide travelers with reusable aluminum bottles that can be refilled at clean-water stations (hotels, restaurants, cafes, and other spots) across the city, all of which are helpfully listed right on the bottles. She estimates these efforts will remove one million bottles from landfills in Cambodia this year.

andrea ross speaks at wendy perrin global travel summit

Andrea Ross, a WOW List travel specialist for Cambodia, talks about her organization’s work on reducing plastic bottle waste.

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

The 2017 WOW List Is Here: The Best Travel Planners in the World

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We’re thrilled to announce the 2017 WOW List of Wendy Perrin’s Trusted Travel Experts. This list of the world’s top trip designers, compiled annually by Wendy based on real travelers’ experiences and her own stringent review process, is the pinnacle—and the original. You may find similar designations in other magazines, but it was Wendy who created the first list of this kind 17 years ago, and it’s still used as the source of those other directories. The list is informed by Wendy’s long career as a travel journalist, and no one can schmooze or pay their way onto it—in fact, the running joke is that it’s easier to get into Harvard than onto Wendy’s WOW List.

More important, her roundup of the best travel agents, tour operators, and travel-planning firms is the first stop for thousands of sophisticated travelers. And based on reviews they submit after their trips, we know that they’re satisfied:

“Joe Yudin was excellent. He and his team tailor-made our itinerary going back and forth to meet our specific needs.”

“China is a fabulous destination on its own, but we have little doubt our trip was greatly enhanced by the detailed, personal service rendered by Mei and her team.”

“Cherri Briggs was fantastic. We would use her again in a heartbeat and highly recommend her to anyone (and we have, to our friends) considering such a trip.”

Not only does Wendy recommend these Trusted Travel Experts, she stands by her recommendations—through a unique Trip Support System. That means that when travelers contact one of her Trusted Travel Experts through WendyPerrin.com, she stays in touch with both the traveler and the TTE to make sure the process, and the results, live up to everyone’s expectations. She also organizes the annual Wendy Perrin Global Travel Summit so that she can connect—face-to-face—with the Trusted Travel Experts on her WOW List, in order to reinforce the high standards of quality our readers expect from them.

This year’s list is bigger and better than ever, featuring 86 trip designers whose areas of expertise range from safaris to sun-soaked islands, from expedition sailings to family cruises, and from once-in-a-lifetime splurges to affordable family vacations.

Before you start planning your next big trip, browse Wendy’s WOW List and reach out to the appropriate Trusted Travel Expert. If you can’t find the person you need on the list, contact Wendy directly at Ask Wendy. She’s continually testing new candidates for up-and-coming destinations as well as those who have niche insight on a classic. So stay tuned and stay in touch.

Wendy revealed travel trends and predictions, along with her WOW List of Trusted Travel Experts, at the first Wendy Perrin Global Travel Summit, held at the Dream Downtown hotel in New York, in 2016. Photo: Tim Baker

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Why Xenophobia Makes Me Want to Travel More

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Did you see that Dictionary.com named “xenophobia” its 2016 Word of the Year? Defined as “fear or hatred of foreigners, people from different cultures, or strangers,” xenophobia has been resonating deeply in the cultural consciousness lately.

How sad. As you can imagine, I’m a strong believer in the enlightenment that comes from traveling to foreign countries, meeting different peoples, and learning first-hand about their culture. I also believe xenophobia can be more harmful than the people it makes you afraid of. There’s danger in not leaving your comfort zone. To quote Paulo Coelho, “If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine—it’s lethal.” And you can argue that certain risks are greater where we live: I’m more afraid of people wielding guns at home than in the places I travel to (the U.S. has more guns per capita than any other nation).

So this Word-of-the-Year news had me down…until I realized there’s a silver lining: If xenophobia actually leads to a wider reluctance to travel, it will be the stereotypical “ugly Americans” who stay home. And that’s not so bad for us diehard travelers. It’s always been my experience that the fewer tourists in a destination, the more welcoming the locals are, the easier it is to talk to them, and the more goodwill they show you. I’m more than happy to travel without running into crowds of Americans in fanny packs and shiny white sneakers. I’m thrilled to have iconic sights to myself and not have my photos marred by busloads of cruisegoers from megaships. And the fewer Americans filling flights and hotels, the better the deals for the rest of us.

When I’m in remote locales, I don’t want to hear Americans saying how much better something is at home. I don’t want to hear, “I had to haggle with a guy to buy this” (do the math, and you’ll see that you were bargaining in increments less than a dollar). I don’t want to hear complaints that there’s not enough ice or air conditioning or whatever drink you’re used to at home. I remember once when I was in Egypt—on the terrace of the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan overlooking the Nile—my husband ordered a Coke and I ordered a Diet Coke. The waiter brought a 16-ounce Coke for my husband and an 8-ounce Coke for me. It took us a minute to understand the logic, but we’ve been laughing about it ever since. That was a beautiful travel moment.

So, my dear xenophobes, if you prefer to stay in your bubble, I’m more than happy to do your traveling for you and serve as an ambassador for our country. I’m happy to drink tea in a bedouin tent while my children play soccer with the local kids. I’m happy to travel to rural Asia armed with pencils and postcards from home. Give a child a postcard of the place where you live and, before you know it, his mom is inviting you inside the place where they live—no fear of strangers involved.

The number of truly different places to travel to in this world is shrinking. The influences of global commerce, Hollywood, and the Internet are quickly making foreign countries more similar to ours than some of us want to admit. That’s why I think it’s important to see these places soon. I’m thrilled that countries still exist where we can say—to quote John Cleese as he sat behind his Monty Python news anchor desk—“And now for something completely different.”

So that’s how I came to terms with xenophobia. Now I just need to get past “post-truth.” That’s another 2016 Word of the Year—the one chosen by Oxford English Dictionaries. I’m a journalist who has always stood for truth (first as a columnist at Condé Nast Traveler, where “Truth in Travel” was our credo, and now at WendyPerrin.com, where I continue that mantra). So imagine how concerned I am that murky facts and fake news have grown so prevalent that a word had to be invented to describe them. We may be living in a post-truth era, but I, for one, feel more obligated than ever to share accurate portrayals of the world we travel in and bring truth home to our fellow citizens. How about you?

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Where to Travel in 2017, Before the Rest of the World Catches On

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Deciding where to travel can be overwhelming: There are so many amazing places—and so many factors to consider: the best timing for your trip, the optimal moment to book it, the stress of finding the right expert to plan it so you maximize your precious vacation time…. That’s where we come in: Our goal is to eliminate these uncertainties and cut to the chase about where to travel, why, and how to get the best experience for your dollar. We’ve already shared the most popular destinations of 2017—the places that our readers have submitted the most trip requests for. Now, we’re offering a list of places that might not be on your radar but should be.

Canada: British Columbia, Alberta, Newfoundland, the Arctic

Newfoundland scenery. Photo credit: Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism

This is the year when U.S. travelers will take a closer look at our neighbor to the north—and not just because there are no Canada travel alerts or Zika virus and the exchange rate is great. 2017 is also the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation—a reminder that this sweeping nation was once a lot more difficult to traverse than it is now. A solid train system and the possibility of low-cost domestic airlines finally joining the competition should make it even easier to hop around in the coming year. Not that you need to. Pick a spot, any spot—British Columbia for adventure activities, Alberta for the Rocky Mountains, Montreal for all that delicious food, Newfoundland for its dramatic coastline and unique lodges, the Artic region for polar bears and northern lights, or any of the country’s famous national parks (all free to visit this year).

If you’re seeking the right travel specialist to design the best Canada trip possible, Ask Wendy for her recommendation. Also read our Insider’s Guides to British Columbia, Newfoundland, and the Arctic.

China: Jiuzhaigou National Park

turquoise lake in China's Jiuzhaigou national park

China’s Jiuzhaigou national park has earned its stripes as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its serene, crystalline turquoise pools. Photo: WildChina

After nearly 30 years on the brink of extinction, panda will be released back into the wild in China’s Jiuzhaigou national park and nature reserve next year. The chance to see these much-loved bears in their natural habitat is only half the draw, though. “Apart from panda tracking, Jiuzhaigou is by far one of the most beautiful landscapes in all of China,” says China travel specialist Mei Zhang. “Mandarin for ‘Nine Villages Valley,’ Jiuzhaigou has earned its stripes as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its serene, crystalline turquoise pools surrounded by hills of crisp yellow flowers.” Hike primeval forests to the brilliant blue-and-green Five-Color Pond, then check in to the new Ritz-Carlton, propped right up against the mountains so that you won’t miss any views even when you’re inside.

Read Mei Zhang’s Insider’s Guides to China’s Big Cities and Small Villages, Yunnan Province, and Beijing, and reach out to her to plan the best possible trip.

Colombia: Bogotá

Historic colorful buildings in Bogota, Colombia

Historic colorful buildings in Bogotá, Colombia. Photo: Four Seasons/Thinkstock

This South American capital city has a lot going for it these days. Already cool in the books of culinary and cultural travelers for its thriving Nuevo Colombiana food scene, vibrant street art, and impressive art and architecture, Bogotá is adding big-name luxury hotels to its tourism offerings. At the end of 2015, Four Seasons took over the historic Hotel Casa Medina Bogotá, improving on the notable building’s old-world charm; and this year it unveiled a second property, the more modern Four Seasons Hotel Bogotá in Zona T, an area known for shopping and nightlife. Both boast destination restaurants (Spanish in the former, Japanese in the latter) and are likely to catch the eyes of trend-watching travelers. What’s more, thanks to its high altitude, Bogotá is not a friendly environment for Zika-carrying mosquitoes. Visit now before everyone else does.

Reach out to Eric Sheets to plan the best possible trip to Colombia, and read his Insider’s Guide to Cartagena for other ideas.

England’s Cotswolds

Buckland Manor, Cotswolds, England. Photo: Jonathan Epstein/Celebrated Experiences

“For years the English countryside fell off many travelers’ radar screens, as it was not good value compared to other destinations,” says United Kingdom travel specialist Jonathan Epstein. Then along came Brexit. Now, “the British pound is the weakest it has been since the early ’80s” says Jonathan. “Hotels in the Cotswolds that were $500 per night five years ago can be had for 25% to 35% less.” What’s particularly interesting is that while country manor hotels are improving, they still attract a mostly British audience, so you’re not likely to find yourself running into a ton of Americans. Add to that the lure of gardens, castles, charming villages, woodland walks, and award-winning cuisine, and the Cotswolds get even more attractive.

Read Jonathan Epstein’s Insider’s Guide to The Cotswolds, and reach out to him to plan the best possible trip.

Japan’s Cuisine and Off-the-Beaten-Path Culture

Tsukiji market, Tokyo. Photo: Context Travel

Japan has grown increasingly popular with our readers over the past two years. Maybe it’s the cuisine: Japan has the second-highest number of Michelin stars in the world (second only to France). Maybe it’s the atmospheric ryokans, or the hiking routes, or both: Aman recently opened its Amanemu resort, inside Ise-Shima National Park on the Kii Peninsula, where guests can cap off a walking trip along the famed Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Trail. Maybe it’s the diverse landscapes: the coastal scenery of the Noto Peninsula, the spiritual Buddhist mountain region of Koyasan, the fun art islands of the Seto Inland Sea, the hot-spring-rich areas and pottery villages of Kyushu, Matsumoto, and Takayama in the Japanese Alps. Whatever it is, go now while the number of flights to Tokyo are increasing and new hotels are going up (like 2016’s Four Seasons Kyoto) in preparation for the Summer Olympics of 2020.

Read Scott Gilman’s Insider’s Guides to Classic Japan and Off-the-Beaten-Path Japan, and reach out to him to plan the best possible trip.

Mexico: Mexico City, Merida, Loreto

Traditional dancers in Merida, Mexico. Photo: Jouney Mexico

Mexico City (The New York Times’ choice of #1 destination to visit in 2016), Merida (the capital of Yucatan state), and Loreto (on the Baja peninsula) are each having a moment. What makes Mexico City special is the sheer diversity of culture you can experience there—world-class museums, cutting-edge architecture, emerging fashion designers, up-and-coming artists, plus all that delicious food (from taco stands to Pujol)—and the juxtaposition of ancient and modern: You can sleep in buzzy new hotels designed by world-class architects and in the morning go hot-air ballooning over the pre-Columbian city of Teotihuacan. (Plus Mexico City sits at an altitude too high for mosquitoes, so it’s Zika-free.)

A similar old-new combo can be found in the charming city of Merida. “The narrow streets and shady plazas create a feeling of the old world, as horses traverse the cobblestone streets lined with centuries-old mansions,” says Zach Rabinor, one of Wendy’s recommended Mexico experts. Many of those old buildings have been turned into boutique hotels and gourmet restaurants, so travelers seeking luxury and culture will easily be able to find both. In fact, Merida has been designated the American Capital of Culture for 2017, which means lots of events and celebrations throughout the year.

As for Loreto, it’s the counterpoint to Baja’s bustling Cabo region. The laid-back, old-world charm and coastal location attract adventure seekers, history buffs, sun seekers, and golf aficionados. Next fall the 7,400-yard Danzante Bay Golf Course will open, and Alaska Airlines is set to increase flights to Loreto to six days per week from LAX. “While there are breathtaking new resorts in Loreto, the vibe is refreshingly relaxed,” says Baja travel specialist Julie Byrd. “It’s still so untouched.” (If you’re concerned about Zika virus, know that fewer cases of Zika have been reported in the state of Baja California Sur than in Florida.)

Read Zach Rabinor’s Insider’s Guides to Mexico City and the Riviera Maya, and reach out to him to plan the best possible trip.

For Cabo, read Julie Byrd’s Insider’s Guides to Los Cabos Beach Vacations and Los Cabos Villa Vacations, and reach out to her to plan the best possible trip.

Mongolia

Horse riders in Mongolia. Photo: Nomadic Expeditions

The 2015 opening of a Shangri-La hotel in Ulaanbaatar put Mongolia’s fascinating capital into the travel spotlight—and it’s still there. This year, a new airport will expand the country’s tourism infrastructure, making trips from a number of international cities easier than ever before. “The city is a place where modern high-rises are lined up next to traditional nomadic gers,” says Mongolia travel specialist Jalsa Urubshurow. “Don’t let the bustling energy of UB fool you, though, since Mongolia remains largely untouched—a place where a horse-based nomadic culture continues to thrive.” That culture got a little bit of the spotlight itself recently, Hollywood style, when Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley narrated the film The Eagle Huntress, about a young Kazakh girl living in western Mongolia’s Altai Mountains who wins the Golden Eagle Festival, a prize historically awarded to men. ((The festival was actually created by Jalsa in 1999; you can read more about it here.) Now is the time to explore this country’s deep traditions, diverse landscapes, and burgeoning modernization, before the rest of the travel world catches on.

Read Jalsa Urubshurow’s Insider’s Guide to Mongolia, and reach out to him to plan the best possible trip.

Myanmar: Yangon, Rakhine, and More

Mt. Popa, Myanmar. Photo: Antonia Neubauer.

This jewel of Southeast Asia is expecting an influx of visitors in 2017 and thus is investing in infrastructure development under the government of Aung San Suu Kyi. In the capital city of Yangon, a new airport is being built and, by 2018, the capital city will even have a Peninsula hotel. For more intrepid travelers, Suu Kyi has pushed to open routes in Rakhine, Shan, Chin, and other tribal states, including areas where no foreign travelers were ever allowed in the past.

If you’re seeking the right travel specialist to design the best Myanmar trip possible, Ask Wendy for her recommendation. Also read our Insider’s Guide to Myanmar.

Nepal

A young monk in Nepal. Photo: Toni Neubauer

Tourism is still down after Nepal’s devastating earthquake in 2015, but that’s why Nepal travel specialist Toni Neubauer feels it’s so important for travelers to show their support for this magical country. “Without doubt, if you want to see a still-beautiful, less-touristed Nepal; appreciate the resilience of a people recovering from a disaster with little government aid; and appreciate some of the huge changes in the country, now is the time to go,” she says. For instance, roads that were previously only accessible to trekkers are now much more accessible to all travelers, and more comfortable resorts are opening such as the luxury-level Barahi Jungle Resort in the Chitwan. While it’s true that fewer tourists translates to better deals and more availability at top hotels and restaurants, the real reason to visit now is that it’s a boon to the locals and their economy—and gives travelers an insider’s glimpse into how its homes, monuments, and centuries-old art are being restored.

Read Toni Neubauer’s Insider’s Guide to Nepal, and reach out to her to plan the best possible trip.

New Zealand: Before It’s Overrun

Mount Nicholas Station, Queenstown, New Zealand

New Zealand has been a popular adventure spot for years, but we’re including it on our 2017 must-visit list for two reasons. First, it has grown so popular, and many of its most atmospheric inns and lodges are so intimate, that you’d be smart to book a year in advance, so if you’re thinking about it at all, start planning asap. Second, the busy season used to be limited to December 15 through January 15, but now it stretches all the way from November to March. “The country is literally full,” says New Zealand travel specialist Jean-Michel Jefferson. “Even locals are having trouble finding hotel rooms.” That’s not to say you should cross New Zealand off your list—rather, you should go as soon as possible, before it gets thoroughly overrun. A savvy and well-connected travel specialist like Jean-Michel, who is based in New Zealand, can ensure that you don’t get caught in the crowds and that you uncover unique experiences such as spending a day with a top orca researcher, helicoptering into undiscovered southern Fiordland, meeting a Maori chief, and dining on freshly caught wild seafood on the beach.

Read Jean-Michel Jefferson’s Insider’s Guides to New Zealand and Queenstown, and reach out to him to plan the best possible trip.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s Cinnamon Country. Photo: Sri Lanka In Style

If it seems like everyone is talking about Sri Lanka, it’s because they are. It’s one of the buzziest destinations of 2017—which is why Wendy’s headed there herself later this month. With its civil-war troubles behind it, Sri Lanka can now show off its 2,000-year-old history and eight UNESCO heritage sites, its national parks (packed with wildlife including leopards, elephants, and sloth bears), and its hotel boom that includes several new exquisite coastal resorts. “While this sharp rise in tourism may signal an end for the simple untouched beauty of the country,” says Sri Lanka travel specialist Miguel Cunat, who has lived there for more than a decade, “there are still plenty of off-the-beaten-track places to explore and myriad opportunities to experience authentic Lankan culture. The previously off-limits North and East Coast are now safe and open to travelers, and the Southern Coast has been benefiting from the opening of many new charming hotels and restaurants.” What’s more, 2017 is the 150th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s tea industry, and the celebrations will include an expo, seminars, workshops, and a convention.

Read Miguel Cunat’s Insider’s Guide to Sri Lanka, and reach out to him to plan the best possible trip.

Zambia

Amanzi Camp on the Zambezi River, Zambia. Photo: Amanzi Camp

If all you know about Zambia is Victoria Falls, you’re missing out. The country’s wildlife-viewing opportunities are top-notch: elephant, hippo, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, lions, leopards…. Zambia offers remote luxe camps in off-the-beaten-path parks often overlooked by mainstream travelers. The exclusive Amanzi Camp opened in the Lower Zambezi in 2016, and another high-end property is slated for 2017: The five-star Mambeti Camp will make Zambia’s Liuwa Plains more accessible (and more comfortable) for safari lovers eager to spot the area famed for its lions, the second largest wildebeest migration in Africa (in November), a recovering cheetah population, and more.

Read Cherri Briggs’s Insider’s Guide to Zambia, and reach out to her to plan the best possible trip.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Airfare Deals to Europe Are Excellent Right Now

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If you’re even toying with the idea of traveling to Europe next year, talk to your family or travel companions this holiday weekend and purchase your plane tickets right away. Airfare to Europe is currently at a remarkable low; cheap flights and airfare sales are popping up left and right.

“We are seeing some epic airfare sales to Europe,” says George Hobica, president and founder of Airfarewatchdog.com. “[Flights are] 66% or less than usual, and many were good for summer travel, which is highly unusual.”

Joe Brancatelli of Joe Sent Me agrees. “These are the lowest fares I’ve seen in a generation, since about 1985, give or take for inflation,” he says. “Even when you factor in seat charges and other ancillaries, the coach fares are insanely low. I mean, under $400 on major airlines to Europe. That is serious stuff. Record-breaking low stuff.”

George is seeing great deals to Paris, London, Italy, Germany, Brussels, and more, while Joe adds that Spain and Portugal are among the best deals right now. “Some of that is due to the fact that TAP Air Portugal has charged back into the market,” Joe says. “Some of it is that all three U.S. carriers serve Lisbon, Madrid, and Barcelona, and Spain itself has two carriers (Iberia and Air Europa).” Joe suggests keeping an eye out for super-cheap prices to Iceland (thanks to low-cost carrier WOW), and for business travelers, specialty carriers such as LaCompagnie for France and Emirates for Milan are making the New York–Paris and New York–Milan routes a great deal.

What’s the catch?

Well, according to Joe, who’s been covering the airline industry and consumer travel for decades, there isn’t one. “The dollar is very strong in Europe and is nearing parity with the euro—something we haven’t seen since the euro was introduced in 2002. The dollar is also at 30-year highs against the British pound. You also want to watch for cheaper room rates in specific countries (France, Belgium, Turkey) because of the terrorist incidents.”

In fact, the negatives he cited don’t actually have to do with airfare. Joe cautions travelers to watch out for “credit cards that still impose a currency-exchange fee and airport ATMs operated by currency traders (because they offer lousy rates, just like their cash booths).” And, of course, the weather. “So that means watch out for snow storms in your U.S. departure cities that can mess with your schedule. And watch the weather because some European destinations (looking at you, Paris and London) get messed up if they get snow. I mean, an inch of snow at Heathrow creates nightmares.”

If you do find yourself stranded or snowed in, Wendy recommends contacting Brett Snyder of Cranky Concierge. He and his team specialize in emergency air travel solutions, and if anyone can find a way to get you where you need to be, it’s Brett.

How to find the deals:

To find the deals, you can sign up for fare alerts at Airfarewatchdog.com or use the site’s helpful “fares from a city” feature. Just type in your departure city, and it’ll spit back great deals to locations all over the world. Two other useful tools are Google Flights (type in your departure city and it’ll show you several low-price options; shift the date to see more) and Kayak.com (when you click on the calendar icon in your initial search, small green dots below certain dates indicate days when airfare is cheaper).

So what are you waiting for? As Joe put it, “Honestly, this is one of the greatest times for Europe travel I have ever seen. Cheap fares. Cheaper hotel rates. Fabulous currency exchange rates. And because it is winter, the culture of Europe is in full swing—you’ll not only get good theater, you’ll actually meet locals in their own cities and towns. That doesn’t happen when Americans go in August!”

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Why You Should Go to Moscow in Winter

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We all learned this lesson from our parents: Just because everyone else does something doesn’t mean you should do it too. When it comes to travel, that’s especially true. Who wants to follow the masses and be herded like sheep through the most popular tourist attractions at the most popular times of the year? No one—because in travel, the converse of that old lesson is true as well: Just because most people dismiss a destination at a certain time of year, that doesn’t mean you should dismiss it too. Places you wouldn’t think about visiting in their off-seasons are sometimes the exact places you should be exploring—offering better deals and a more authentic experience.

Moscow in winter is that kind of place. “The city is hip and happening, with a vibrant food scene,” says Greg Tepper, our Trusted Travel Expert for Russia—“and you won’t be nearly as cold as you think.” As for safety, “There are no security issues—that is, beyond the pickpockets you find in other major European cities such as Paris and London,” says Greg. “The days of gang violence in Moscow are long over (1990s) and there hasn’t been a terrorist incident in Moscow in many years. There simply is no anti-American feeling on the streets of Moscow, and visitors from the U.S. are treated just as any other travelers are.”

Greg is a big fan of visiting Moscow in the winter—so much so that he’s offering a complimentary special enticement for WendyPerrin.com readers: If you reach out to Greg via his WP trip-request form for a trip to Moscow (or St. Petersburg), you get your choice of a room upgrade at one of his recommended hotels, a half-day private expert guide, or a world-class theater performance.*

Here, Greg shares his top five reasons for visiting the Russian capital during the cold season.

The value doubles

“The Russian ruble is down more than 50 percent against the U.S. dollar. In the winter and on the weekends, the hotels offer their lowest rates of the year. That compounds the savings to make Moscow more affordable than it has been in more than 20 years. Top Moscow hotels cost less than $370 a night, including 18 percent VAT and full breakfast!”

Theater is at its best

“Travelers go to Russia for world-class opera, ballet and symphony. These are all at their best in the winter, which was always the ‘social season’ there. A wonderful bonus is that Russian operas are sung in Russian with English supertitles in the theater, making them so easy for English speakers to follow. (Italian and other foreign-language operas have Russian supertitles.)”

Sites are less crowded—by far

“The summer crowds are gone by November, and Moscow’s world-class museums are empty.”

The Dr. Zhivago effect

“Honestly, who doesn’t dream about snowy sleigh rides with a mink blanket, vodka, and mittens to keep you warm? No one ever forgets an evening stroll through Red Square with snowflakes drifting atop St. Basil’s Cathedral.”

Russian hospitality means really warm buildings!

“You can stop worrying about being cold in Moscow in the winter. In fact, if you wear long underwear indoors, you’ll likely find yourself uncomfortably warm and start looking for a window to open to let in more cool air! Russians like it this way, so bring a big, warm coat (preferably fur, which is very much in fashion and not taboo there) and be prepared to take it off and check it at the coat-check the moment you walk indoors.”

What other destinations do you think are worth visiting in their off-season?

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

*Offer valid for travel between October 1–March 31, 2017. Suites are not included in the hotel upgrade offer.

Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

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Why Xenophobia Makes Me Want to Travel More

Where to Travel in 2017, Before the Rest of the World Catches On

Airfare Deals to Europe Are Excellent Right Now

Why You Should Go to Moscow in Winter

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