Guatemala is a small country, but one with a mighty culinary footprint. However, despite the terrific cuisine here, few Americans know much - if anything - about Guatemalan food, rather confusing it with regional Mexican dishes. Part of this is understandable. Guatemalan food has a degree of overlap with Mexican cuisine. There are grilled meats…
Aldous Huxley once said, “Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlan is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing.” Sitting on a bench overlooking the lake in the town of Panajachel, I take a sip of water…
Editor’s note: It gives me so much pleasure to introduce you all to our newest writer here at The Royal Tour! I’ve known Shauna Kanel since university. She is well-traveled, thoughtful, and brilliant, and her love of cultural immersion plays really well with the sorts of stories we like to tell here. In her first…
Editor’s note: I was in Bangkok for a day as part of a Southeast Asia cruise. While I found the sights to be incredible, the heat, humidity, and crowds got to me. It is a place I’d love to return to, but at a more leisurely pace so as to mitigate some of that. Sam’s…
The view of the infinite Pacific Ocean is a bit blocked from here at Port Hueneme Beach Park, with the shadowy outlines of Anacapa and Santa Barbara Islands, part of Channel Islands National Park, impeding the horizon in two places. But those hilly outcrops also add some texture to the oranges and greens of the…
Walking past the Gate of Harmonious Interest along Fisgard Street in Victoria, British Columbia, the city’s tiny - but mighty - Chinatown opens before me. Shops, restaurants, lanterns… it might only go a block or so, but the effect is outsized. And indeed, that is the biggest takeaway from a visit here to what is…
Editor’s note: one of my canceled trips due to COVID (one of thirteen such cancelations) was to Taipei. Unlike some of the others, I have yet to reschedule this one, though Sam’s beautiful descriptions of the sights and the food make me want to do so as soon as possible. For more of Sam Spector’s…
Lunch at Heraklion’s A Little Wine, A Little Sea on my first day here on the Greek island of Crete. It’s a cute restaurant facing the city’s Venetian harbor and fortress, serving up seafood and some Greek staples. After a fried fish platter for one that could easily have fed three, piled high with fried…
Exploring cuisine while traveling is, if not the absolute best part, at least in the top few reasons I love my travel life. I always maintain that if one eats what the locals eat, food is good everywhere, even if it isn’t what one is particularly used to. And I stand by that. Greek food…
Editor’s note: in a way, this is what I love about travel and about having different voices and perspectives here on The Royal Tour. I really enjoyed Seoul when I visited several years ago. Sam seems to have had a decent, but underwhelming experience. It is a reminder that love for travel destinations is totally…