Experiences Not Stuff

Portugal has a way of stealing your heart long before you unpack your bags. We’ve have spent countless hours wandering down cobblestone alleys and tracking secret coastal paths to find the soul of this incredible country. Far beyond the standard tourist hotspots lies a landscape woven with medieval mysticism, dramatic Atlantic coastlines and ancient wine regions waiting to be explored. Here are our top recommendations that go beyond the usual stops in Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve.

We have hauled tripods through blizzards, argued with hotel concierges about rooftop access and missed more than one dinner waiting for the “right” light, all in the name of getting a shot worth keeping. Along the way we have booked our share of guided photography experiences, some forgettable and a few that changed how we travel entirely.

Ask ten people what Miami Beach smells like and eight will say sunscreen and salt air, which is fair but incomplete. Spend a morning walking from Mid-Beach down toward Ocean Drive and you will also catch espresso, wet marble in an air-conditioned lobby and, somewhere past a courtyard bar, the sweet edge of a garden cocktail being muddled before noon. This is a city that performs, and the right hotel does not flatten that performance into one glossy postcard.

Pro recommendation: quick book If you only book one thing before you land in Jasper, make it the Columbia Icefield Adventure with Glacier Skywalk. It bundles the Ice Explorer ride onto the Athabasca Glacier with the glass floored Skywalk in a single ticket, which saves you from juggling two separate reservations during peak season when both sell out fast.

I have been on a lot of bus tours over the years, and most of them blend together after a while. This one did not. The Boeing Factory Tour from downtown Seattle put me inside the largest building on earth by volume, standing on a balcony above a factory floor where a 777X was taking shape, and the whole thing happened without me having to drive, park or figure out a single bit of logistics myself. That last part matters more than it sounds like it should.

Not to be confused with its famous British namesake, London, Ontario, offers visitors a unique blend of Canadian history, natural beauty and cultural experiences. This southwestern Ontario city surprises travellers with its rich heritage sites, outdoor adventures, and vibrant local scene. Whether you’re planning a weekend getaway or exploring Ontario’s hidden treasures, London provides an authentic Canadian experience that’s both educational and entertaining.

There is a Venn diagram between travellers and aviation geeks and we sit right in the middle of where those two interests intersect. That’s probably why we keep ending up in aviation museums, the best of which let you stand directly underneath the machines that changed how far and how fast the world could move.

Ask ten people what Seattle smells like and eight will say rain and coffee, which is fair but incomplete. Spend a morning walking from Pike Place down toward the waterfront and you will also catch salt air, cedar, wet pavement and, if the wind cooperates, a whiff of hops from one of the breweries tucked into a converted warehouse nearby. This is a city built in layers, and the right hotel does not try to smooth them into one tidy postcard.

We have stood in line for two hours under a blazing sun only to realize we were queued for the wrong entrance. We have booked a “guided tour” that turned out to be a self-guided map and a shrug. Those early missteps are exactly why we now build our travel days around locally led experiences instead of guesswork. Viator just released its list of top booked tours and we have personally tested these five to understand why they keep climbing the charts.

Ask the average person to list some ancient astronomy sites and most people draw a blank after Stonehenge. As spectacular as those ancient stones are, they are only the beginning. From a Bronze Age mountaintop in North Macedonia to a passage tomb older than Egypt’s pyramids, the ancient astronomy sites we’ve collected below will teach you how people have been tracking the sky with startling precision for thousands of years.