Travel

If you're planning a trip to Europe this year, you're not alone: Industry mavens are projecting a big year for transatlantic travel. For the most part, traveling to and within Europe is easy, but you need to know a bit before you leave.

Heinz Insu Fenkl’s autobiographical novel “Skull Water” (Spiegel & Grau, $28) was 25 years in the making. Born in South Korea and raised there, as well as Germany and the United States, the author said that being a biracial child made him stick out wherever he was. In the 1970s, his family took a cross-country road trip from Washington State to New Jersey to catch a [Military Airlift Command] flight to Germany. “We weren’t allowed to enter diners in the South because we were taken for Native American,” said Fenkl, who’s a professor of English at the State University of New York at New Paltz. “It made my father furious that we would all have to sit in the station wagon to eat. It was also very hard for us to find motels that would allow a white man with a Korean wife and four mixed-race children to stay. So we spent some nights all sleeping in the car.” The author resides with his family in New York’s Hudson Valley. Readers may pre-order copies of “Skull Water" at https://www.spiegelandgrau.com/skullwater.

I remember a bleak time in Poland when the economy was so maddeningly out of touch with the needs of its people that anyone lucky enough to own a car would remove their windshield wipers at night and take them inside. In their command economy – oblivious to the laws of supply and demand – some official forgot to order wipers and consequently, they weren’t for sale anywhere. Inspired by a hungry black market, thieves would work late into the night snapping them up.

Thailand and Vietnam. Maybe Japan and the lure of its ski slopes. Maybe a bike trip in Spain, scuba diving…

The Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, a Hyatt resort on 15 beachfront acres in Hawaii, is far more than a place to sleep. There are multiple pools, including a lagoon and three infinity pools. As part of the resort fee, you can also take a stand-up paddleboarding course, use the resort’s snorkel equipment and GoPro...

A passport from the United Arab Emirates will get you into far more destinations than one from Afghanistan. Gaps like this have big implications for people’s ability to travel, reside and work.

Everybody loves a discount. And almost everybody can get a discount on hotels, car rentals, and other travel services. Yes, they're small, but even a small discount beats full price. Those small discounts are easily available to members of two giant organizations, popular with millions of consumers, with very low membership costs: AAA and AARP.

When Lexi Hensler created HUGZ (https://givehugz.co/), it was with the intent to provide comfort for those suffering from depression. As someone who was bullied as a child, she knew how difficult it could be to feel alone. A portion of her line of weighted stuffed animals benefits nonprofit organizations that concentrate on mental health initiatives. Now 25, the Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and content creator has made it her mission to live each day to the fullest. She chronicles her life and adventures on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/lexihensler/).

While many big cities are notoriously cold and unfriendly, Ireland’s capital is an urban playground where people really consider strangers just “friends who’ve yet to meet.” And Dublin offers the best (and many would say only) urban thrills in the Republic of Ireland. Here are a few of my favorite things to do in Ireland’s capital.

Unless you’ve been offline for the last week, you’ve probably heard about the Federal Aviation Administration’s temporary shutdown of all air traffic. As a West Coast-based flyer with plans for an in-state trip, I awoke last Wednesday morning to news of widespread flight cancellations and delays. My departure flight was going to leave an hour...

Of course, staying connected with high-speed satellite internet won’t be included with your base fare.