I don't remember much from last night...

Just a pleasure visiting the wayback, remembering my daughter’s first far-flung travel. And a chance to reprise it for Christmas and New Years wishes from the original Santa Claus. Many lay claim to the origins of the Santa legend, but St. Nicholas, of the ancient city of Myra in Turkey, is the real deal. Trace them back, most other countries’ Santa legends are spinoffs.

I am a hiker. But at home, no one uses a machete to blaze the trail prior to walking on it as Souza, our Amazon guide, did, creating a path in the overgrown rainforest step by step. Slicing, swatting, swooping, chopping, no branch, bush, vine or twig was safe.

“Shoppers are flooded with holiday promotions,” said Harding Bush, associate manager of operations at Global Rescue. “But the Global Rescue Holiday Gift Guide for Travelers is the only one compiled through the recommendations of our members and staff... “Bologna dances for the festive season” from dances in the streets to fine-art videomapping on historical buildings.

Bored of eggnog? Sick of cider? Here are nine scrumptious end-of-year beverages to sip on from across the globe.

"What do you want for Christmas?" "Something for my mother, please," replied Emily sweetly.

To cineastes, Chaplin is more than the man who created the iconic Little Tramp, but one of the greatest filmmakers of all-time. Legendary film critic and father of American auteurism, Andrew Sarris, places Chaplin in his pantheon of the 14 most influential American film directors in his still ground breaking book, "The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968."

There’s a word in the heavy metal music lexicon, shredding, which denotes exceptional mastery of a musical instrument. The decks of a Royal Caribbean ship are alive with the sounds of shredding on this warm February afternoon as I make my way around the 70000 Tons of Metal theme cruise that’s in full swing.

Like savoring caviar and vodka, one cannot come to Mother Russia without attending a ballet, and this is why the Palladian Traveler files his ninth dispatch from inside the ornate Hermitage Theatre as the lights dim and the curtain goes up on Swan Lake.

Tanel Toom directed the brilliant “Truth And Justice,” Estonia’s entry for the Best International Feature Film Oscar. Shot for under three million dollars, Rein Kotov’s cinematography gave a mega-million dollar look to the film.