In fact, the reason there are so many religious festivals in the Philippines is because creating festivals was part of the Spanish strategy for conquest: Instead of a prolonged bloody war, the Spaniards realized the locals loved festivals; so by creating more festivals more and more locals salivated to participate in the merriment and this resulted in fewer unrest.

Muir's dream came true: Mount Rainier National Park was designated in 1899 as the fourth national park in the United States, (369.3 sq mi); including all of Mount Rainier. The mountain rises abruptly from the surrounding land with elevations in the park ranging from 1,600 feet to over 14,000 feet.

By Fyllis Hockman – I was delighted when my husband and I received Betty’s invitation to join her for a picnic at the Sunset at the Palms Resort in Negril, Jamaica. The setting was lush, the food and wine enticing. Conversation, though, was a tad strained. But then her recent history was a bit dicey. Recently married at the time, …

The application required a lot of personal information and a weird session where you put your cell phone on the passport so the information on the chip in the passport can be loaded into the ETA application and in reverse, the application and approval is loaded back into your passport. Spooky, but it worked.

Courtesy: Iceland Saga Tours For many of us, traditional images come to mind at the mention of an exotic island destination: swaying palm trees, crystal clear waters and pristine golden sands. A place where time stands still and all troubles seem to be caressed away by gently blowing tropical trade winds. I recently asked my brother, James, to name his …

Most travelers have heard of the U.S. Virgin Islands; some of the British Virgin Islands. Those familiar with the BVI usually know Tortola; maybe even Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda. Almost no one has ever heard of Anegada. Which is a shame because it has so much to recommend it. For starters, it has multiple beautiful beaches with soft …

There are three hotels that really impressed me during my recent stay in Mallorca. Each has a distinctive vibe quite different from the others, but all have a warmth and enveloping comfort that invited me to stay. Two are located in the dramatic interior of the island and are very high-end.

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I arrived in Tokyo, Japan in 1976 as a fresh-faced United States Navy Journalist. And literally, the first site you see from Japan's capital city is the iconic, Mount Fuji. Fuji-san is the tallest mountain on the island of Honshu and it stands prominently just 60 miles southwest of metropolitan Tokyo.

OerYw’rGwr (Nos Galan); translated into English as Soon The Hoar Old Year Will Leave Us for New Year’s Eve, is now a traditional Christmas carol, based on a Welsh melody, dating back to the sixteenth century. The repeated “fa la la” also goes back to the earlier Welsh and may originate from medieval ballads. The old Welsh air, was first found in a musical manuscript by Welsh harpist John Parry dating back to the 1700s. The tune soon spread widely, with Mozart allegedly using it in his 18th violin sonata (1778) and later arranged by Haydn with the original Welsh title, Nos Galan (1803).