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Travel

Andrew Bland, brother of the author, shivers and shakes after a frigid abalone, or paua, dive in Akaroa Harbour.

Into New Zealand’s Strange Waters and Prehistoric Forests

The absence of native mammals, aside from bats and pinnipeds, gives the impression that New Zealand is still in the age of dinosaurs

Churros can be both delicious and dangerous.

Law and Order: Four Food Crimes

After stealing $1,500 worth of cooking oil from a Burger King, two men were apprehended siphoning off oil from a Golden Corral

Milford Sound, in Fiordland National Park, offers some of New Zealand's most thrilling scenery.

Journey to the Bottom of the Earth – Almost

Anyone would be a fool to visit the South Island and not see the cliffs and marine scenery of Milford Sound

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in The Trip

Goofing Around in England’s Lake District

Now out on DVD, The Trip, with comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, takes the road movie into the storied English countryside

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Going Places

Whether as a tourist, an outcast or a pilgrim, traveling is discovering

The mountain lion is one of the most common large cats but also one of the hardest to see.

Best Bets to See a Big Predator

Get your grizzlies, polar bears, big cats, wolves and crocs here

Climbers are now using Twitter from the slopes and summit of Mount Everest. Does that seem wrong?

Climbing Mount Everest in the Internet Age

Are people playing games while climbing the world’s tallest mountain? That’s hard to say, but they’re definitely texting

A "pooping log"

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Pooping Log, and Other World Christmas Traditions

Santa can’t do it all. Many places have their own traditions about who—or what—is responsible for bringing Christmas candies and toys

Pitcairn Island provided the mutineers of the Bounty a haven from the world in the 18th century. Today, it offers much the same—along with a general store, a cafe and 50 permanent residents.

Seven Islands to Visit in 2012

Pitcairn Island is populated by 50 people, has a handful of hostels, a general store and a café and, frankly, could really use a few visitors

Christmas pudding

The Wonderful English Pudding

Pour flaming brandy over the hot pudding - the blue flames dance and sparkle around the traditional sprig of holly stuck into the top of the pudding

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Why Did Jewish Communities Take to Chinese Food?

The historical and sociological reasons why the Jewish community and Chinese restaurants pair so well on Christmas

Lamps at the Chiang Mai market

Christmas Shopping Around the World

There are valuable discoveries, but at a German Christmas market all I could find was Third World junk that only looks good if you drink a lot of gluhwein

Don’t be caught drinking until this Georgian man is done toasting.

Faux Pas: Mortifying Missteps of the Innocent Abroad

It was only weeks later that I learned what a klutz I’d been. It’s a miracle I wasn’t thrown to the bears

A game of chess on a fold-up travel board can break the ice between strangers in strange lands.

Holiday Gift Ideas for the Adventure Traveler

A chess set, soccer ball, bear spray and other items, even dog food, make the list of gifts to give your favorite hardened traveler

Consider food—and food-themed gifts—this holiday season.

Last Minute Food-Themed Gift Ideas

Food, jewelry, toys and books for those hard-to-shop-for people on your gift list

Sites like Brussels' Place du Jeu de Balle are featured in the new Tintin movie.

Tintin is Everywhere in Brussels

The famed comic book character, now a Steven Spielberg-Peter Jackson film, is a nifty way to know the Belgian capital

In Nepal, the Lambrecht family of Sebastopol, California is loving life and local transport.

Have Kids, Will Travel

“We were travelers. It was in our blood, and the idea that we would ever stop traveling just because we had kids never sat well with us”

Felicity Aston, shown here in Iceland, is currently attempting cross Antarctica alone.

Farthest South: News from a Solo Antarctic Adventurer

Aston is in no-man’s land, where schedules and responsibility carry little relevance, but she is bound by one logistic: “I can’t miss the last plane out”

Gingerbread men

The Gingerbread Man and Other Runaway Foods

The tale of the gingerbread man is part of a genre of folklore about goodies gone wild, specifically “The Fleeing Pancake” stories

Arezzo, Italy

Five Hundred Years of Giorgio Vasari in Arezzo, Italy

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