Viator Travel Blog

Editor’s Note: Loyal readers will have fond memories of the last family vacation taken by Jeff Gates, the New Media Lead Producer for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Managing Editor for its blog, Eye Level. Catch up on posts from Jeff’s last vacation and then enjoy his posts from this year’s family outing to [...]

I think for most of my life I have been suffering from some horrible prejudice induced by seedy waterfront film noir movies because, until my last trip there (trip #10ish), I didn’t think of New York City as a great place to get out on the water. The East River is for people wearing cement shoes, and the Hudson has who knows what lurking beneath its murky surface. That’s why there’s so many nice bridges in New York City, so you can get over the polluted, kraken infested water that is lapping dangerously near Manhattan’s shores. And the poor Statue of Liberty, stuck out there, she must be lonely.

When people ask me if I’ve seen the Parrot Movie, I say yes. And when I ask people if they’ve walked San Francisco‘s Telegraph Hill, the answer, surprisingly, is almost always no.

To which I always say, Fer cryin’ out loud. Don’t just see the movie.

Sometime ago I lived opposite two of Australia’s best surfing breaks, I won’t tell you where because I wouldn’t want the poor beleaguered local folk to be overwhelmed with people wanting to know what Jack’s really like. Suffice to say I spent my share of time out in the surf, spurning all offers of boogie [...]

Las Vegas wedding – the classy version Las Vegas is known for many things – gambling, neon, mega-resorts and, of course, the infamous “quickie wedding.” Obviously not all weddings in Vegas are last-minute drunken and debauched events! In fact, almost 50% of weddings that are booked in Las Vegas are carefully planned in advance, right [...]

Editor’s Note: John Chilson blogs about mid-century Portland history and lost Oregon hotels and eateries at Lost Oregon. His previous post was about finding a decent donut in Portland. The last time I stepped into any sort of boat with paddles was about 20 years ago at some private lake in San Diego that had [...]

Quebec City looks really good for just having turned 400 on July 3rd. If I had to guess I would say the city is not a day over 250. In celebration Quebec City has plans all summer and fall to make year 400 a memorable one, so even though the official day has past, there’s still plenty of party left (including a concert by Quebec’s own Celine Dion and a special show by Cirque du Soliel).

Editor’s Note: Recently we’ve been hearing a lot about ‘staycations’. So we asked Viator’s founder (Rod) and one of Viator’s most travel-loving staffers (Kelly) to ponder the following resolution. Resolved: That staycations are the new hot trend in travel. In true Lincoln-Douglas debate style Kelly argues the affirmative, Rod argues the negative. (What, you didn’t [...]

I had dinner in New York with a mate of mine last week. He told me he’d been to New York lots of times, but it turned out he’d never been below 34th Street or thereabouts. Frankly, I’d be happy enough if I never went above 34th Street; in any event, it made me realise how big the city is, and how little of it most visitors see; even people who’ve visited a few times. With that in mind, here’s a couple of tour suggestions that focus on downtown and Brooklyn, each from a different angle, and each well worth the effort.

One of America’s oldest cities, Baltimore is often in the shadow of its more flamboyant neighbors: Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City. But Baltimore hasn’t been nicknamed Charm City without reason – “Bawlmore” as the locals call it is known for its many attractions, its rich ethnic and maritime heritage and its quirky, off-beat [...]