When it comes to Christmas in Berlin, there are dozens of Christmas markets – so many that it can be difficult to choose the best Christmas markets in Berlin. Here are our top picks to experience among the best Berlin Christmas markets.
HI Travel Tales
Begin a journey of discovery and wonder
Adventure in Eiger’s shadow: Eiger Express to Jungfraujoch and the Eiger Trail
The Eiger is an iconic mountain to climbers, artists, writers, musicians, and hikers. The Eiger Express, Jungfraujoch, and the Eiger Trail each provide travelers a unique way to experience the Eiger from many sides without having to be an alpinist.
Way cool Raleigh: Why you should plan to visit Raleigh now
Consistently ranked as a top place to live and work, Raleigh exudes a Southern charm topped with a cool factor and infused with culture, arts, diversity, and openness. When it comes to Southern cities, you should visit Raleigh now.
Historic Hotel Rochat in Basel Switzerland caters to the modern traveler
Built in 1899, Hotel Rochat in Basel manages to maintain its historic charm while catering to the needs of a modern traveler with air conditioning and supremely comfortable rooms all walkable to so many Basel sights.
Love and passports
We’re Michael and Therese, and we want to inspire your travel dreams with our experience, curiosity, and award-winning photos and stories. Our travel includes all seven continents, 48 countries (and counting) and all 50 states in the United States. We love guiding you to off-the-beaten-path destinations and offering useful travel tips along the way.
If you’re seeking more immersive and meaningful travel, and hidden gems or local secrets, even at popular travel destinations, you’ll find them here.
Travel Tips & Resources
Best vacation travel tips: Stay healthy, stress-free and safe
Traveling by airplane, train, car, or bus can be stressful, especially if plans must shift or change due to cancellations, delays, or illness. Our vacation travel tips will help you minimize the stress!
Packing for a safari: What not to forget on a safari packing list
Putting together a packing list for a safari in Africa starts months in advance. Here are a few expert tips to help you begin packing for a safari in Africa.
Packing tips for sustainable travel – be an eco-conscious traveler
For the sustainable traveler, being eco-conscious is a lifestyle that drives all day-to-day choices. And packing for a vacation is no exception. Here are some suggestions for what to pack, and what not to pack, to ensure that you’re traveling with environmental and cultural sensitivity top of mind.
Photo Safari Tips: Make the most of your African photo safari
10 essential photo safari tips to ensure you get great photos on your African photo safari. It’s less about the camera than you may think.
Travel safe: 10 things you should NEVER do while traveling!
Travel is fun … until it’s not. Like when someone breaks into your home because they knew you were away or robs you at your hotel because they knew you were coming. Know the 10 things you should never do while traveling to ensure your safety and protect your valuables.
Best travel underwear – bras, briefs, boxers and socks
What makes the best travel underwear? Yeah, we’re talking skivvies, such as bras, briefs, panties, boxers and socks — the foundation for any comfy travel outfit. Don’t let your undies get in a bunch. Let us help you choose the best travel underwear for any adventure.
Tips & Resources
Photographing the “Big Five” while on an African photo safari
For travelers heading to Kenya on a photo safari, getting a glimpse of the “Big Five” animals tops many photography bucket lists. Being able to photograph the Big Five – elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, and leopard – requires skill, timing and patience.
Our top photos from Instagram: best of Instagram 2021
These are our top photos from Instagram – voted on by our followers with their likes, shares, and comments. We hope our best of Instagram 2021 travel photos will help you dream of destinations near and far, and inspire you to start your travel bucket list for 2022.
How to pack for a photo safari: tips for carrying camera gear
How to pack for a photo safari becomes a big question when preparing for your African safari. It’s not really as difficult as you think to travel with your photography gear and then carry it once in Africa. Our photo safari packing tips for camera gear will explain how.
A gift guide for buying the perfect gifts for any photographer
Photographers can be a difficult bunch to buy for but we’re here to make choosing the perfect gift for any photographer a lot easier. This list contains perfect photography gifts, big or small, from photo gear we use and love.
Travel Journals
Iditarod dog sledding adventure – Nome Alaska goes to the dogs
Experience the lighter side of the Iditarod. Humor writer Michael Hodgson generates laughs during the Iditarod, an 1000-mile epic sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome. Even the dogs were laughing at him.
Top 10 stories of 2020 – Readers keep dreaming of travel
It has been a very long 2020 but through it all we found our readers still wanted to dream of travel, to think about travel, and to plan for travel. This was made clear with our Top 10 Stories of 2020 as selected by our readers and what they viewed. Local and regional U.S. stories, stories that highlighted adventures closer to home and ideas for road trips, sprinkled with a few topics drawn from our archives allowed us and our readers to keep dreaming of travel in 2021.
A love for travel began with my mum
My love for travel and adventure began with my mum. I still take time on her birthday, on Mother’s Day and on International Women’s Day to honor her and thank her for all the gifts she gave me. Gifts that have made me a better traveler, journalist, photographer and, I hope, a better man.
Remembering Little Charlie: My buddy Charles Baty the blues musician
Little Charlie wasn’t only a musician to me. He was a buddy, somebody with whom I had shared a passion for languages and travel. Most knew Charles Baty as an internationally renowned blues and jazz musician. He passed away on March 6, 2020. I will miss my buddy Charlie forever.
Travel Journals
Goodbye Berlin – Hello to a world forever changed
In two short weeks, we went from happy travelers to anxious escapees. Therese and I held hands and stared out the airplane window. It was goodbye Berlin. Hello to a world forever changed. From Tegel airport to London Heathrow to Los Angeles and then home, each airport provided a glimpse of a world turned upside down because of COVID-19.
A tearful goodbye to Berlin as COVID changes the world
The coronavirus upended the entire travel world seemingly in days. Hurrying out of Berlin, I felt like an evacuee – not that I really know what that feels like – but here I was being forced to leave somewhere I didn’t want to. I felt like Pac-Man scurrying away from the hungry ghost called COVID-19.
Fear of COVID-19 – traveling in the age of coronavirus
Should we be traveling in the age of coronavirus? We make our living as travel writers and photographers. For us, it’s either travel, or find another line of work. But the fear of COVID-19 is real. How do we travel and still stay safe from coronavirus? Read our personal essay on learning to stay calm and travel despite a fear of cornonavirus.
Food & Wine
Yolo County wines: casual California wine country secret
Yolo County wines are an insider secret, hidden in plain view just west of Sacramento in the California wine country. Discover a rural atmosphere and tasty, award-winning wines with a howdy kind of welcome.
News & Updates
HI Travel Tales takes home four global photography awards
In the first photo competition by the International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association, Therese Iknoian and Michael Hodgson garnered four awards, including a Best of Show.
Food & Wine
Yolo County wines: casual California wine country secret
Yolo County wines are an insider secret, hidden in plain view just west of Sacramento in the California wine country. Discover a rural atmosphere and tasty, award-winning wines with a howdy kind of welcome.
News & Updates
HI Travel Tales takes home four global photography awards
In the first photo competition by the International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association, Therese Iknoian and Michael Hodgson garnered four awards, including a Best of Show.
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