Editor’s note: this concludes TRT writer Sam Spector’s amazing look into Uzbekistan. To read the rest, click on the links in the first paragraph below, or click here to visit his index page. When visiting Uzbekistan, most people visit the three main Silk Road cities: Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva, with maybe a day to fly…
I’ve done this trip twice, once on each of my journeys to Japan. And both times, it has been among the highlights of my entire time in the country. After all, combining one of the coolest temples in a country full of cool temples with a chance to feed the sacred deer is a day…
Editor’s note: I’m going to take a moment to gush. Regular readers of The Royal Tour will by now be incredibly familiar with the writing of Rabbi Sam Spector, easily the most prolific guest writer this outlet has ever had. In fact, many of our subscribers eagerly await his bi-weekly articles even more than my…
Sometimes in travel, plans don’t quite manifest the way we would like. An attraction is unexpectedly closed. Weather doesn’t hold. A place is much different - in a worse way - than its photo. For anyone who has spent any significant time traveling, these things will be part of their experiences; there’s no way to…
Not to be confused with Cartagena, Spain (though it is named after the Spanish city) Cartagena, Colombia is a vibrant large city on the Caribbean coast of South America. For many Americans, it is a cruise stop, either before or after a Panama Canal sailing. But in recent years, with the stability of Colombia as…
During the height of Covid, I spent long hours searching for things reasonably local to Los Angeles to do and to write about, focusing on outdoor activities. One such thing was my visit to a date farm in Palm Springs, which you can read about here. Little did I know that A would become the…
I’ve spent the past several hours writing and re-writing this article, and yet here I am starting over. I pride myself on finding deeper meaning in the things I do, in seeking out those little nuggets of history or a cultural gem, things that bring learning to something that most don’t associate with it. But…
With just a small motion of my arms, I sink another quarter inch into the warm mud. And actual lateral movement requires kicking off one of the walls, and even then “swimming” through spectacularly thick and sticky mud to one of the two ladders is a rough go. It is uncomfortable, bobbing almost weightless in…
When I was a teen, I decided one day that I was going to read the encyclopedia from start to finish. My family had a World Book set (this dates me, I know), and I picked up the A volume and sat down to begin. As you might imagine, I didn’t get very far, and…
For most Americans, Brussels is not a top-tier European destination. Heck, Belgium as a whole often gets completely skipped over. But while Brussels does not have the volume of sights as a city like London, Rome, or Paris, or the allure of Barcelona or Amsterdam, it is a truly incredible city. Consider, for instance, that…