We put together a selection of our readers' responses to our earlier poll of Favorite Domestic Destinations. Here's to safe and fun-filled tours as travel to domestic destinations is slowly opening up.
The T-Boy Society of Film & Music’s first poll for 2021 is dedicated to favorite domestic destinations: Cities, Towns and Sites. We felt this would be an appropriate theme as traveling to domestic destinations is slowly opening up.
London, Paris, Berlin and Udine. Yes, Udine. And let’s not forget about Grado, Salice and Trieste, most definitely Trieste. This is Friuli Venezia Gulia region of Italy, spread across the far northeastern corner of the nation. I first read about this stunning region of diverse landscapes, languages and cultures over 15 years ago and swore that someday I would see it for myself. This June I finally did.
Nothing against the plains or oceans, but if you want to hypnotize a kid with nature, go for three-dimensional spaces with high vertical, try the Bugs – Canada’s Bugaboos – one of the continent’s premiere hiking and climbing arenas.
I’m a travel writer. Words are what I do. My stories may not always sing but I usually can put one word in front of another succinctly enough to craft a quasi-well-written article. But when I heard about the newly opened Planet Word in Washington, D.C., I was so excited, I had no words.
Spanish colonizers christened it Isla del Fuego (Island of Fire) for the glow given off by swarms of fireflies at night. In the past century however, the island province of Siquijor in the Philippines has gained a reputation for its folk healers. More notoriously, stories about sorcery, witchcraft and spirit beings have added to its mystique.
Since ancient times, new beginnings – that’s carnival. It’s our craving to shuck memories of the slings and arrows that paralyze us. New Year’s resolutions disappear in the first head wind, but carnival has been serious about new beginnings since the Greeks partied to praise Dionysus and the Romans thanked Bacchus for wine and flora, fertility heavy on their minds.
If you are looking for a beautiful and relaxing outdoor getaway for the day, the new Chinese Gardens at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens are a spectacular sight to behold. Reopened to the public this summer, the Liu Fang Yuan, or Garden of Flowing Fragrance, is one of the largest classical-style Chinese gardens in the world.
Are you mourning this year’s lack of Carnival’s spiritual cleanse, its satirical sorting of society’s woes to give us perspective? I am. And so I retreat now to past frolics. It’s hard to overstate how rotten the past year has been, in so many ways, or the dim prospects it left us, as we await whatever next escapes Pandora’s Box.
The Manor House, which is still in use today, was built in 1653 by the Knights of Malta. The sugar mill, constructed in 1733, now serves as a venue for weddings. Former slave quarters dating back 250 years provide lodging.