“Gringo go home.” The writing across the sidewalk of Calle Loiza sort of smacks me in the face as I walk from the grocery store back to my rented apartment in San Juan. This isn’t my first encounter with that sentiment; a rally even took place in Old San Juan while I was staying here…
“Why are you going to Texas?” The question came at me from nearly every quarter when I announced my intention to spend a few days visiting the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Austin perhaps would be understandable. After all, Austin seems to be populated largely by liberal west coast expats. But Dallas? Dallas is “real” Texas. To…
Driving down CA 118, the Ronald Reagan Freeway, across the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, doubt creeps into my mind. Why am I doing this? I am certainly not a fan of Ronald Reagan’s presidency, for a myriad of reasons that don’t have any bearing on this article. Furthermore, I have always sort of…
Let not woes of old enslave you anew.Nydia Ecury, Aruban-Dutch writer The quotation stands in stark contrast to its surroundings, inscribed on a wall in front of what was once a post meant to chain slaves for public whipping. Smiling docents are likewise a contradiction, escorting tourists through Willemstad’s Kura Hulanda Museum, a series of…
Editor’s note: for those who think the national parks are just about majestic scenery, our resident parks expert Christian is here to disavow that with a look at one of a huge portion of park sites: national historical parks. For more of his amazing writing, click here to visit his index page. I live in…
As the old song says, Istanbul was Constantinople. (It was also Byzantium, but our story begins a couple centuries after this first - and less famous - name change.) Few remnants remain in Turkey's largest city from this earlier period. There are ancient cisterns that helped sustain the city through numerous sieges, and some wall…
I've resisted writing this article for a long time. There is really no way to talk about this issue without pissing off someone, or even pissing off nearly everyone. It is one of the most contentious political issues facing our world - and even us as travelers. And yet, only last week, Michael Che of…
Editor's note: this was a hard piece for me to edit. I've never been to Auschwitz, but have visited a concentration camp in southern France. It was a haunting experience for me as a person and as a Jew, and I can only imagine what a journey to this place would be for me. I…
This isn't the article I wanted to publish today. Today was supposed to feature an incredible look into Serbia by Sam Spector. But the events of the last twenty-four hours a) need to be responded to, even by a small travel community, and b) leave me in no mood for a normal day. I warn…
Editor's note: it is impossible to capture the magnitude of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a huge book, let alone in an article about visiting Bethlehem. Some aspects of the conflict are necessary to explain as they affect the day-to-day experiences a traveler, like our Sam Spector, would have. We at The Royal Tour recognize that…