John Oseid

The world is full of things that at first blush don’t go together at all. Peanut butter and chocolate, anyone? And in the world of art, no less so. This week, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) brought together the illustrious late-19th-century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and the major contemporary British multimedia artist David Hockney. Didn’t see that coming, did you?
These are trying times for Texans and Houstonians, of course, as they recover from the whims of nature and human hu...

In the best of days, armchair travel can consume a good chunk of any devoted world wanderer’s time, whether for destination research or destination daydreaming. In these uncertain times when we might not be sure just when we’ll ever get up again from our loungers, armchair travel devotees just got a stunning new boost for their pastime with the release of Steve McCurry’s In Search of Elsewhere: Unseen Images.
In his latest book, famed photographer McCurry chronicles more than forty years of w...

As you walk the hallway to your room at the Fasano Salvador, it’s not hard to imagine the sound of dozens of reporters and editors clacking away at their typewriters as they did decades ago. The property in Brazil’s Bahia state capital of Salvador takes up a fine old 1930s landmark building whose original newspaper occupant’s name of A Tarde still stands above the portal. Opened in late 2018 after three years of restoration, the hotel is the Fasano Group’s seventh property.
Overlooking Salvad...

A writer for Australian food and travel magazines who recently completed a television series about Balinese home cooking, Maya Kerthyasa grew up absorbing cooking and life lessons from her grandmother who comes from an Ubud royal family.
And some of those lessons soon can all be yours too when chefs and culinary experts such as Maya will be on board the brand new Silver Moon, Silversea Cruise line’s first ship to incorporate their equally brand new S.A.L.T., or Sea and Land Taste, culinary pr...

In time to celebrate Silversea Cruises’ 25th anniversary, the line’s new ship Silver Moon touched water in late summer of 2019 at the Fincantieri shipyard in Ancona, Italy. For longtime fans and newcomers to the line, now is the time to book a suite on Silver Moon’s May 4 maiden voyage from Athens (Piraeus), a seven-day, round trip which makes calls at Mykonos, Kusadasi, Rhodes, Santorini and Nafplion.
The ninth ship in the Silversea fleet, the 40,700-ton Silver Moon is one of five luxury shi...

As authorities have wisely suspended next month's Carnival in Salvador, Brazil, the following chronicle provides tips for visiting the city when the exciting event returns in 2022, or at any appropriately safe time that comes before.
After Rio, Brazil’s most famous Carnival takes place in Salvador, Bahia and by many accounts it is the country’s most authentic. But anytime of year, visitors of late to this Atlantic coast city now find some thirty-five miles of beaches turned more user-friendly...

As authorities have wisely suspended next month's Carnival in Salvador, Brazil, the following chronicle provides tips for visiting the city when the exciting event returns in 2022, or at any appropriately safe time that comes before.
With one of the largest and finest natural bays in the world, the Brazilian state of Bahia was logically named for the Portuguese word that means bay. At the eastern entrance of the Baía de Todos-os-Santos—or All Saints Bay—the city of Salvador has grown over fiv...

As authorities have wisely suspended next month's Carnival in Salvador, Brazil, the following chronicle anticipates the exciting event's return in 2022.
The Brazilian city of Salvador earned its UNESCO World Heritage designation for many reasons, not least of which is that this capital of Bahia is the cradle of much of the nation’s culture, from food and Afro-Brazilian roots to music and its ultra-authentic Carnival.
Not as famous internationally as Rio’s Carnival, Salvador’s is gaining ever ...

Famous for its vast and stunning state and national parks and monuments, Utah, with the exception of its world-class skiing, is not thought of by many as a winter destination. But should you head in the winter to magnificent and largely empty parks such as Arches and Canyonlands (recent Forbes story here), you may find to your surprise and delight that you could get snowed in before you even set out from Salt Lake City.
And therein lies your chance to slow down before you hit the highway and ...

It’s a blessing that Americans cherish their magnificent national parks and a curse that in summer the park roads and hiking trails can be as backed up as lines in a theme park. Lucky are those who cruise in winter into the southeastern Utah town of Moab and discover that nearby Arches National Park is utterly crowd-free.
Instead of competing with many of the more than 1.5 million annual visitors who scrabble to take in more than 2,000 spectacular natural arches, you’ll think that with so few...

There are handfuls of designated wine routes around the world that wine lovers and the curious can follow for hours by car. And then there are some that are out of this world. The drive from Salta to the wine town of Cafayate in northwest Argentina takes more than two hours on a single lane highway and you wish it wouldn’t stop as you meander through the stunning red, purple and pastel cliffs of the Quebrada de las Conchas, or, the Gorge of Shells, within the Calchaquí Valleys. Herewith is wh...

These days, Mendoza is a known commodity world-wide for its fine wines and dramatic setting facing the Andes. As visitors journey to the Argentine city and province of the same name, they will find that the 700-square-mile Uco Valley to the southwest of the city is now overflowing with many of the region’s most dynamic and mod wineries and lodges.
Particularly with many professional and newly-minted hobby vintners arriving from abroad in recent years, the Uco Valley scene is still changing ra...