A couple of weeks ago I offered signed copies of my two books as a holiday gift option; today I want to share a few other gift ideas. Each year publishers and gear companies send me far more books and equipment than I can review here -- but a lot of what I get turns...

This month marks the release of Ayun Halliday 's Zinester's Guide to NYC , a travelers' guidebook to the quirkier corners of New York City. As I note in my back-cover blurb of the book, it's the travel equivalent of an old-school mix-tape -- useful and full of surprises for vagabonders. The book also boasts...

The Finger Lakes Trail is deceptively simple. Looking at the map above, you might think, "What's there to see?" It doesn't trace a rugged coast, doesn't piggyback on the spine of a mountain range, and barely even interlaces with the Finger Lakes. Neither elevation nor landscape varies much -- it's mostly rolling hills. Consequently, the...

Yesterday I found a travel piece about my hometown (ok, about the fancy town next to my hometown) in the Guardian. I've been out of the area for five years, but it was still a challenge to accept the premise of the article: That, after crossing an entire ocean, a commuter town in suburban New...