#travel

#travel

The Holiday Happiness Index study, which was conducted in collaboration with Natalie Dattilo-Ryan, a Harvard-affiliated clinical psychologist and holistic happiness expert, looked at 50 destinations throughout the world and ranked them across five "feel good" factors, including sunlight, quality sleep, a healthy diet, time in nature, and physical exercise. To determine which are the sunniest, the study also took into account each place's total hours of sunlight per year.

The self-inflating Therm-a-Rest lumbar pillow that takes up almost no space in your carry-on and saves you from an achey, sore back after spending hours up in the air. One pilot called it a "lifesaver" for long-haul flights, while other frequent fliers claim to use theirs every single day, regardless of their travel plans-and you can buy their favorite travel hack on Amazon for under $50.

Flight attendants are, by nature, fountains of knowledge when it comes to traveling-especially on the topic of the products needed to make long-haul flights, travel days, and even hotel stays as comfortable and safe as possible. They've tried countless neck pillows, carry-on luggage options, and even supportive shoes for taking in the sights during their layovers, and lucky for us, many of their top picks are available at Amazon.

Lake Lucerne offers some of Switzerland's most fantastic views. The glittering lake stretches for 44 square miles with sweet villages and the city of Lucerne on its shores. You can spend your trip hiking around the deep, famously blue water, experiencing the lake on a cruise, or staying at any number of fantastic hotels to take in the scenery. Whether you're an outdoorsy type or would rather sit lakeside with a cup of tea, Lake Lucerne is a good choice for first-timers in Switzerland.

I've always been fascinated by India. It's my mum's favourite country and the house we share is full of treasures from her travels there, from peacock fans and silk scarves, to jewellery boxes carved from mango wood. I grew up hearing spellbinding tales of painted elephants and mirrored palaces, and India soon occupied a special place in my imagination. Having got to 42 without making it to the promised land,

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

I've spent years filling up my passport with stamps from all around the world, from Australia to Latin America to Asia. I was even the first in my family to travel internationally - the only vacations we'd been on were road trips in our home country, Germany. By the end of 2021, I'd travelled full-time for seven and a half years, visited more than 40 countries, and lived in several of them.

The team here at Condé Nast Traveler has the privilege of traveling to some of the most faraway, unusual, and esoteric destinations around the world for work-all while checking into beautiful hotels that become so beloved they immediately feel like old friends. (See: CNT's Gold List 2026, hot off the digital press.) For example, have you ever seen the prehistoric rock islets of Palau? Or gazed upon the dark skies hanging above Aotea? (That's in New Zealand.)

The current obsession with traveling is one of the most unattractive - and frankly, red flag worthy - traits in dating, especially in women. When 'loves to travel' dominates someone's personality, it often signals escapism and a lack of long-term stability. Sure, vacations and cultural exploration can be enriching, but when travel becomes their defining feature, it raises questions about their ability to commit to a person, a place or even a purpose.

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.

As someone who takes holiday gifting very seriously (and has Amazon's Holiday Shop bookmarked like it's a personality trait), I firmly believe stocking stuffers are the unsung heroes of the season - especially when they're travel essentials your favorite jet-setter will actually use. There's something extra special about slipping a compact yet practical gift into a stocking and knowing it'll save someone from chaotic airport mornings, tangled chargers, or surprise luggage fees.

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,

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,

In early November, we stayed at the 200-year-old Stone Ridge Farm Inn in Bucks County, Pennsylvania for a family wedding weekend. It was rustic, charming, and quiet-even with a six month old baby.

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.

Now, let's lay down some facts: my mother has never watched our children for an extended period, either alone or with her new husband. She lives more than five hours away from us and still works, so when we visit during the summer or for the holidays, my whole family often stays for a week to try to maximize our time with her.