Chicago. The Windy City. One of my personal favorite cities in the country, if not the world. For a little over a year, my former life in the nonprofit world had me in Chicago for a week every month, and I never dreaded those trips. It is a beautiful city of largely wonderful people, and…
Blue waters. Big trees. Stunning vistas. Cute towns. California’s northern coast is not as popular as other portions of the state - or as well known - but it delivers on every point a traveler could want. In this guide, we will attempt to distill this huge region down into a manageable format, giving you…
Page, Arizona sits at the northern border of the state, just a couple miles south of Utah, where Glen Canyon Dam (and bridge) allows passage over the Colorado River. To the east lies Lake Powell. To the west is a mysterious area called the Arizona Strip, the northwest corner of the state that is separated…
San Diego is called "America's Finest City" for good reason. Warm, moderate weather, a plethora of cultural activities, stunning beaches, and good food are just some of the reasons to visit what is, in my opinion, the gem of the West Coast. I lived in San Diego from 1999 to 2003 when I was a…
When I moved to Phoenix in 2004, I had fairly low expectations. It's just a place you drive through to get somewhere better, I thought. I was wrong. I would spend two years living in the desert sprawl, time I thoroughly enjoyed, and over the last decade plus, Phoenix has only gotten better as a…
Barcelona is the most popular destination in Spain for American tourists, and one of the most popular in all of Europe. After only a day or two there, it will be easy to see why. The city offers great weather, incredible food, access to beaches and mountains, fascinating architecture and cultural gems, and some of…
Editor's note: I find myself, to no surprise, so envious of the travels of others when they are to exotic locations I haven't yet had the chance to see. Here is another amazing story from Sam Spector. To read the rest of his stories here on The Royal Tour, visit his page here. Often when…
Kazakhstan doesn’t seem to have found a place on the invisible, unspoken “must visit” list for a lot of Americans. Our association with Kazakhstan is usually limited to what we learned from Borat, namely: nothing about the actual culture or people. My only additional knowledge of the country came from living in a Russian dorm…
For Americans visiting Spain, Barcelona and Madrid seem the focal points. Both are amazing destinations, but seeing only those two cities misses my personal favorite city in Spain: Seville. The capital of Andalusia is one of the cultural highlights of all of Europe, a mid-sized city, easy to explore and with more to do than…
Portugal's capital has beckoned me for years. Called by the sea, the hills, the food, and the sounds of the language, it has been at or near the top of my travel wish list for as long as I've had one. Now, after spending a month living and exploring Lisbon, I am able to share…