"When I started traveling professionally, I was surprised and delighted to find that I could still make emotional connections to places. I discovered this for the first time in Portugal, where -- after having schlepped around Spain -- I met a young Dutch woman who introduced me to a her friend, a colorful poet, who...

"On the highway to Toledo [Spain] we passed several tour buses full of what looked like Americans, digital cameras already in hand, and as we drew past them I expressed infinite disdain, which I could easily do with my eyebrows, for every tourist whose gaze I met. My look accused them of supporting the war,...

A 1972 Monty Python sketch called " Travel Agent " contains a classic scene where the Eric Idle character goes on an over-the-top rant about package tourism, at the expense of Michael Palin's travel-agent character. Many of the references are dated now -- and the whole scene is drenched in hyperbole -- but many of...

Want to spend a week in Madrid with all accommodation, meals, and wine provided free for 7 days? That’s what they are promising over at Pueblo Inglés . All they ask in exchange is that you be a native English speaker, and that you come prepared to help animate a crash course in English immersion....

First, decide you're going to go. The untraveled route is the route you haven't taken yet. Or maybe it's your old route with new eyes . Go on foot. Bike. Horse. Rollerblade, skateboard, pogo stick. Start climbing from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port or descending from Roncesvalles -- it really doesn't matter. Avoid the debate and start in Pamplona...

You might have heard that 2010 is a Jubilee Year on the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage route that filters into Spain from all over Europe . The number of walking pilgrims is expected to double to 200,000, all because St. James ' Day falls on a Sunday. Demand won't only be running high for...