#travel

#travel

Long layovers have a reputation for being the ultimate travel buzzkill-the fluorescent purgatory between where you've been and where you're headed. But if anyone knows how to turn that in-between stretch into something restorative, it's a flight attendant. After 18 years in the air, Aura E. Martinez has learned that those hours don't have to feel wasted. "I've had my share of long layovers," she says. "And with the right mindset and essentials, they can actually become some of the most restorative and productive parts of the trip."

For the nine years we've been a couple, my husband and I have taken countless flights together. We've visited family in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Montana, and Maryland. We've wandered around the Duomo in Florence, enjoyed tacos and tequila in Mexico City, and explored the breathtaking Normandy coastline. Now that we live in London, travel has ramped up. We're in our late 20s and early 30s, and wedding season has us flying back to the US on a near-monthly basis for our friends' nuptials ... in addition to other scheduled trips.

Today, it still retains this reputation of being a bite-sized, chic destination to spend a few days - think sun-soaked beaches, generations-old family restaurants and sleek yachts bobbing in the bay. It's easy to access - located on Tuscany's Monte Argentario peninsula, you can drive to this coastal village in under two hours from Rome, or take a one and a half hour train journey into Orbetello.

Farmers markets in particular are a way of understanding the people who live in any given place. Not only the produce or products that are sold, but how fresh are they, and where are those products from? Are the majority locally sourced or imported? What are the vendors like that are selling them? Who is shopping there?

It's been 20 years since Twilight first graced bookstores across the country-17 since the first film-but the vampire series's fame has yet to wane, and many curl up with the story annually in the fall and winter months. Famously set in Forks, Washington, a small town in the Olympic Peninsula with an average rainfall of 10-12 feet a year, the beauty of the Pacific Northwest is well depicted in the pages and on screen.

I don't really do the hostel route now, but I recommend the hostel route at least once in your life. I always had a great time,

Italy is one of the most popular travel destinations worldwide, offering a unique blend of history, culture, beauty, and atmosphere that appeals to nearly every kind of traveler. History buffs can see ancient Roman ruins, while art enthusiasts can revel in Renaissance masterpieces. If nature and scenery are more your style, there are plenty of charming seaside villages and rolling Tuscan hills. Italy feels like stepping into a living museum enriched with breathtaking landscapes.

For years and years, I only would go to the location of a movie set or a speaking engagement, and I never took time to look around these incredible cities I had been sent to for work,

I am lucky to have taken some incredible trips, including a recent one to "the end of the earth": the island of Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost point of South America. In a week, we traveled by boat and drove over 20 hours, seeing glaciers, beavers, a spotted seal, and passed two vehicles and two fishing boats. We saw more penguins than people.

"Different explanations exist, with the most powerful one leaning toward ecological factors. Blue is liked because it is reminiscent of clear water and blue sky, all very positive natural phenomena," Domicele Jonauskaite, an experimental color psychologist at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, said in a statement shared with Travel + Leisure. "Other experiences are more personal. For instance, in cultures where red carries celebratory significance or where lavender fields dominate the landscape, these associations might weigh more strongly in shaping preferences."

When I booked a last-minute trip to Boston and Martha's Vineyard, I didn't give much thought to my packing list until the night before our flight. But then I remembered how much walking would be involved, and I knew I didn't want to wake up every day and ask myself, "Should I wear my cute shoes or my walking shoes?"

Before I was an editor at Travel + Leisure, I spent five years working as an international travel consultant in New York City. I helped all sorts of travelers plan their dream trips, including guided tours, cruises, honeymoons, destination weddings, bachelorette parties, family vacations, holiday getaways, and last-minute excursions. I booked any and every type of experience you can think of-from flights to hotel stays to all-inclusive resort packages complete with daily activities.

I was settling into one of those airport activity tables with high stools and electric outlets at my flight's gate, waiting for the agent to announce boarding, when I felt a gathering storm at the apex of my butt cheeks. This was my last flight after being away from home on a book tour in May. For the past two weeks, I hadn't left my chair much, due to all the posting, podcasting, writing, and tense, nervous scrolling that releasing a book involves.

I genuinely think I've been more at airports than I have in my own bed.

The James Bond movies are the longest running film franchise in cinema history. It is estimated that over half the world's population have seen 007 in action in one of his 25 adventures. The series is known for its jet-setting format and with the trend of visiting iconic screen destinations showing no sign of slowing down, Culture Trip caught up with authors (and fans) Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury to pick out their favourite locations

Get out and walk! I mean, maybe not through the outback, but if you're in any of the cities, walk. I do that wherever I go. And I love to just go off and explore without knowing where I'm going, without a map or any preconceived ideas. I think it's the best way to discover a place, and it has the great virtue that if you turn a corner say in Sydney and there's suddenly the Harbour Bridge, you feel as if you've discovered it.

We're back, baby! And we're kicking off our ninth season of Normal Gossip by gabbing it up with Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai! In this episode, Rachelle and Malala dig into such questions as whether it's a good idea to let your college roommate plan a "dirt cheap" trip to Europe for you, whether hitchhiking is an important life experience, and whether comparing hand sizes always means you want to bone.

After cruising across Asia, my sister and I thought we were heading back to the United States - until our flight home was unexpectedly canceled. After hours of sitting on the runway, maintenance issues forced our plane to return to the gate. We had wasted our entire day at the airport, so tensions were high as we deplaned and re-immigrated into Japan.

Black Friday is still a few weeks away, but Amazon has already kicked off early deals ahead of the big shopping event. If you meant to pick yourself up a portable charger, you haven't missed your chance just yet. Amazon now has the Anker laptop power bank on sale for 32% off. Usually this portable charger is priced at $135, but the deal has it down under a hundred at just $92. This 32% discount ends up saving you $43 for a limited time.

I've been a single mom for just over five years. My daughter's dad and I separated when she was six months old, and since then, I've dedicated my life completely to her. I haven't dated, traveled, or done pretty much anything "for me." Despite having joint custody, our daughter refused to sleep over at her dad's place, and they only saw each other once a week, during the day.

There is nowhere in the world quite like Istanbul. Spread across two continents, Europe and Asia, it's a city of layers and contrasts, of ancient empires and modern energy. With historical sights like the Hagia Sophia and Topkapı Palace brushing up against buzzing bars and lively cafes, Ottoman-era mosques a short walk from contemporary art museums, and traditional carpet shops around the corner from trendy boutiques, Istanbul is a place where old and new coexist. And it never stops moving.

As a shy, introverted kid, I never had big dreams of adventures in faraway places. In fact, I didn't even own a passport until my family relocated from the US to Ireland for my dad's job when I was 16. Now, things couldn't be more different. Living abroad opened my eyes to the world, and I was bitten by the travel bug.

"I was quite nervous to start, cautious with strokes and colours and afraid I'd ruin a page. It didn't have the energy of my digital work, but it had something new and I wanted to get to know it. The notebook starts off light, sparse and disjointed," says Harriet.

I was traveling with my family to scatter Mom's ashes at her childhood home and favorite places. We rented a car that had to be exchanged on the second day for one without iffy brakes. We were a four-hour drive away when I stopped in my tracks and asked my sister if she had gotten Mom's miniature travel urn out of the cup holder at my seat.

He was transferred to London, and I went to visit him when I was about 18-it was eye-opening. I had never been to a big city like that, where there are trains, subways, and double-decker buses. I was new to it all, and it changed me. It was interesting to see how different people live, eat, and even move their bodies.