John Oseid

Your 65th birthday has arrived. In many places and in many careers, you get to call it quits. Or you must. It all depends on how you view retirement, of course, but you’ve certainly earned kudos either way.
But not everyone slows down. And that holds just as true for hotels and resorts as humans. Outside of Montego Bay, the historic Half Moon resort just celebrated its 65th birthday and there's no sign of the property, nor its long-time human handlers, even thinking of slowing down.
In fact, ...

More than 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, where the North Atlantic Current keeps things warmer than you'd image, lies Kvaløya. Dominated by 3,300-foot-high mountains, the island is Norway's fifth largest.
Behind that huge island and tucked between two straits lies the modest-sized island of Tromsøya. Inhabited back in the Ice Age, today it is home to the small city of Tromsø. In other words, when you visit alluring Tromsø you're nestled inside a geographic matryoshka doll up here in Nor...

If ever a name perfectly fit a hotel, it is that of the Singular Patagonia. As it approaches its first decade, the property that serves as a gateway to the wild lands of southern Chile remains unlike any other in the world.
What a surprise it can be then to discover that there are actually now in recent years two hotels going under the Singular name. With Santiago’s newer Singular Santiago making for a prime locale for exploring Chile's capital city, that's a paradox you can happily live with...

The largest of Spain's Canary Islands, Tenerife with its massive Teide volcanic peak is a nature lover's utopia. It's also famously one of the top resort destinations for Europeans who flock to its big beach properties lining the southern coast.
However, those looking for alternatives, specifically a discreet luxury experience or a small historic hotel, have plenty of choices around the island. The same holds true for sampling Canarian cuisine such as the signature papas arrugadas, or wrinkle...

It rises 12,200 feet high and its caldera measures ten miles in diameter. The UNESCO World Heritage volcano of Teide which dominants the Canary Island of Tenerife is, after those on Hawaii, the Earth’s highest volcano as measured from the sea bed.
Yet, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of Teide, unless perhaps you recognize it as the backdrop to "One Million Years B.C.," starring Raquel Welch’s fur bikini.
A mere 62 miles from the coast of Morocco, Spain’s seven Canary Islands—thought ...

From John Singleton Copley and John Singer Sargent to Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper, it's a stunning collection. No, you are not in New York’s Met, but rather in the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. Were the Alabama capital’s excellent arts museum located in a small country, it might well be the prime attraction.
That Montgomery's cultural affairs are a rich offering is no surprise to many. And certainly, the opening to great acclaim last year of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice h...

Chatting softly in Spanish, Marilys massaged my scalp and fed me mango slices — and for this refined lady’s hour of service, I paid a mere 10 bucks. Marilys worked her magic in a hair salon in the colonial center of San José, Costa Rica’s capital. As she blow-dried the last clippings off my cape, it hit me that I had developed a wacky — and cheap — travel obsession.
Adventure seekers can circle the world for the perfect piste, whitewater, or wave. Tchotchke lovers can hunt for trophies. Foodi...

We live in a new age of memorials. Many finely rendered monuments and grand museums have gone up nationwide in recent years to honor—often belatedly—past heroes and events; all the while, anachronistic statues routinely come down these days as we reevaluate the parameters of memory and honor.
In the Alabama capital of Montgomery, considered the birthplace of the modern Civil Rights movement, the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice is as starkly powerful a creation as any, both elegant...

You know Utah's former mining town of Park City best for its Sundance Film Festival and for the XIX Olympic Winter Games (Salt Lake 2002). You likely didn’t know that its Park City Mountain Resort, with 348 trails and 41 lifts over eleven-square-miles, is of late the largest ski resort in the United States.
Which means that there is always something new developing here at this Vail Resorts property just a half-hour from Salt Lake City. Most recently, Vail Resorts added to its RockResorts port...

Having just finished fishing, some are surfing into shore, while others are busy applying their feathers with waterproof preen oil that they gather from a gland near their tail.
To watch a colony of Magellanic penguins go about their business up close is a fascinating and entertaining look into a gorgeous species that lives in a fragile state. The new Ventus Australis ship that plies the waters of Tierra del Fuego provides you the rare chance to do just that and much more.
Credit: Ventus Aust...

Nicely appointed with a small metal sculpture of a ship hull sitting on the coffee table, the intimate Yámana Lounge was designed as a quiet space. With ample-sized windows and 180-degree-views, the aft lounge—named for an indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego—is just the place to take in the Strait of Magellan and the Beagle Channel's spectacular Glacier Alley as you sail along on the brand new Ventus Australis.
The aptly named Ventus—"Southern Wind” in Latin— joins its sister ship Stella to...

If South Beach is one of the premier bustling oceanfront districts belonging to any city in the world, its South of Fifth section at the barrier island's southern tip is the ultimate turf for those seeking serenity with their sun. When you pull into the porte-cochère at the Stanton South Beach, you'll be treated there to days of tranquility along a quieter portion of the celebrated and most-unquiet Ocean Drive.
A complete renovation of the Stanton rooms in 2013 was followed up last year with ...

From sweeping porches and a grand staircase to delicate Tiffany glass panels, all have been restored to their original glory, along with a heart pine floor upon which sits a grand player piano.
With the ribbon cutting last December in Belleair, Florida, a paean to the Gilded Age lives on as the Belleview Inn. Lining one side wall in the lobby, vintage photos of the likes of celebrities such as Babe Ruth relaxing over a round of golf and early-century bicycle racing enthusiasts attest to the r...

The white sand beaches of Clearwater make Florida's Gulf Coast city a perennial number one in resort rankings. There, at the Sandpearl Resort you can enjoy the property's 700-foot-long stretch of pristine beach and wander well beyond. Or, you might just doze in a beach lounger or opt for a cabana by the lagoon pool. Either way, all are just the sorts of activities that you’d expect to experience at a premier beach resort.
But look more closely during your stay, specifically in a lobby nook ne...