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Travel

The Ginger Ninjas on the move in Guadalajara, Mexico. Where buses and airplanes would provide the horsepower for other touring bands, the Ginger Ninjas go by bicycle.

Rock, Pedal and Roll: Band Tours the World by Bicycle

“I believe the bicycle is one of the best, if not the coolest, machines ever invented,” says the frontman of the Ginger Ninjas

The Hawaiian islands, from left to right, Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui and the Big Island.

Paul Theroux’s Quest to Define Hawaii

For this renowned travel writer, no place has proved harder to decipher than his home for the past 22 years

Poet Mark Strand

There is No Wind in Oslo by Mark Strand

Read the new poem by the American poet and professor

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Going Places

Travel pushes us. Home pulls

U2 was here—and so were thousands of fans who managed to find the remote Mojave Desert location of the very Joshua tree depicted in the photo series accompanying U2's 1987 album. The tree has died and now lies in brittle bits and pieces.

From the Joshua Tree to The Slaughtered Lamb: Destinations of Story and Song

Should you go to Cephalonia, bring a copy of the Odyssey—perhaps the truest guidebook to this Greek island

A view from the train on the way to Tibet

All Aboard the Beijing-Lhasa Express

The writer casts aside concerns about comfort and political correctness to take the rail trip of a lifetime

King Juan Carlos, at right, stands with his guide from Rann Safaris as his dead Botswanan elephant lies propped against a tree.

World Wildlife Hunt

It takes $6,000 to shoot a leopard in Botswana. For $1,200, you can shoot a crocodile. Short on cash? There’s always baboons, which go for $200 a pop

Gig Harbor was named one of the 20 best small towns in America

Long Live America’s Small Towns

The author of our May article about the country’s best small towns was pleased to find that lots of small towns are thriving

David Baggett, famed among noodlers, explodes from the water with a giant catfish in his hands.

Hand-Fishing for Swamp Monsters

“It’s the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done,” says filmmaker Bradley Beesley, whose documentaries have popularized the ancient art of noodling

Gone but not forgotten, the French franc

Plus Ça Change in France

The nation says au revoir to the franc and to “mademoiselle” and bonjourto a proposed new theme park—Napoleonland

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Likely, British Columbia, Canada

A tiny town named after an early miner

Blacksburg, Virginia

Blacksburg, Virginia

Standing out in an American town

Participants in a MovNat course carry logs and perform other backwoods workout drills with the goal of retraining their bodies to a level of fitness that our species forgot long ago.

Backwoods Workouts With the World’s Fittest Man

Erwan Le Corre can climb a tree as quickly as cat. He can also carrying logs, hoisting rocks, scaling cliffs, slogging through mud pits and wrestling

These Northern California abalone divers have bagged their limits and are out of the water again safely. On some "ab" dives, tragic accidents happen.

The Most Dangerous Game: Chasing a Sea Snail?

Abalone divers die of exhaustion, heart attacks, or becoming entangled in kelp. The fear of being eaten by a great white shark is persistent and haunting

A pre-flood view of Vernazza

Springtime Comes to the Flood-Damaged Cinque Terre

The future is looking brighter for the cliffside Italian villages ravaged by last fall’s rains

A farmer in the Congo harvests jackfruit, the largest tree fruit in the world.

More Fruits Worth a Voyage Around the World

Pawpaws are scarcely cultivated and even more rarely sold in markets, so pack a machete and a fruit bowl and get thee to the backwoods of Kentucky

Starchy staple of the tropics, the breadfruit is often fried or baked and eaten like potatoes.

Exotic Fruits to Eat Locally When Traveling Globally

The crimson fruits occur by the millions, and fishermen, tequila-sipping cowboys, and even a few tourists take to the desert to pursue the pitahaya

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Sicilian Easter Sweets

On the Italian island, marzipan figures—pears, plums, Paschal lambs—are a favorite holiday treat

A margarita at Margaritaville in Key West

A World of Cocktails

Unmixed feelings about mixed drinks, from the Singapore Sling to the Spritz con Aperol, courtesy of a thirsty traveler

In northern Spain, pouring apple cider from bottle to glass is a sport requiring dexterity and skill, as demonstrated by this barman in La Calzada, Asturias.

More Brews and Booze from Around the Globe

Ignore everyone and beware of liquid that looks like water—because it’s probably chacha, and in the Republic of Georgia, locals will make you drink it

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