- 30 April 2012
- 2:16am
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news
Are Americans safer in Mexico than at home?
Robert Reid Lonely Planet author
Every week or so I get asked, ‘Is it safe to go to Mexico?’ I had always said, if you’re thoughtful about where you go, yes. But after my most recent trip there, I’m changing my answer… to a question: Do you think it’s safe to go to Texas? To be clear, violence in Mexico…
Continue reading 'Are Americans safer in Mexico than at home?' Comments (17)- 27 April 2012
- 5:41am
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news
When should you use a travel agent?
Robert Reid Lonely Planet author
That tiresome argument between what makes a ‘traveler’ different from a ‘tourist’ is sometimes split along the lines that the latter used a travel agent. A tourist goes where he or she’s led by an agent or package tour, the traveler does it all on your own. Yeah, well… While the number of travel agents…
Continue reading 'When should you use a travel agent?' (0) commentsIf Amsterdam’s hash bars closed, would you still go?
Robert Reid Lonely Planet author
Think quick: Amsterdam! What’s the first thing you think? Don’t lie. It’s the hash bars. The Netherlands’ infamously lax policy regarding small amounts of cannabis is so legendary that the whole national economy would fall flat without it (or at least it wouldn’t have attracted John Travolta’s character from Pulp Fiction, or prompted articles like…
Continue reading 'If Amsterdam’s hash bars closed, would you still go?' Comments (3)- 19 January 2012
- 6:46am
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Other
Top 5 most suggestive US state tourism slogans
Robert Reid Lonely Planet author
The USA’s least-visited state, North Dakota raised eyebrows recently, with a ‘flirty’ tourism ad ‘aimed at Canadians’ that suggested Fargo nightlife could lead to ‘legendary’ status in amorous matters del noche. The shot, one of 10 new ads, showed three women stopping on a Fargo sidewalk to chat with two guys — drinking beer! —…
Continue reading 'Top 5 most suggestive US state tourism slogans' Comments (4)- 17 January 2012
- 5:04am
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Other
Get happy! 5 rules for travel happiness
Robert Reid Lonely Planet author
A couple years ago, before attending a powerhouse travel conference – complete with PowerPoint, flowcharts, the whole deal – I made a t-shirt. A plain blue tee, with white block letters that read ‘TRAVEL IS FUN.’ I wore it as a gentle reminder. Yes, travel may transform and educate and benefit places we go (and…
Continue reading 'Get happy! 5 rules for travel happiness' Comments (4)- 31 December 2011
- 6:27am
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8 travel challenges for 2012
Robert Reid Lonely Planet author
So it begins! Some say, a nutty few anyway, that doomsday is coming December 21, 2012, when the Mayan Long Count calendar clicks to a close. Well, look on the bright side: that gives us about 12 more months of travel. We better make them count. So, to help prioritize how to make a big…
Continue reading '8 travel challenges for 2012' Comments (9)- 27 December 2011
- 6:00am
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Competition: win your dream trip
Robert Reid Lonely Planet author
If you had the chance to see and experience anything you wanted, where would you go? It’s the kind of question that friends like to ask each other around the campfire…or on Facebook. And it’s a question Lonely Planet wants to ask you – for the chance to actually make it come true. Lonely Planet…
Continue reading 'Competition: win your dream trip' Comments (5)- 7 December 2011
- 10:22am
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Impossible destinations: Amelia Earhart’s final destination
Robert Reid Lonely Planet author
It’s interesting that Amelia Earhart’s final destination – or intended one – is virtually impossible to visit seven decades later. In 1937, the aviator was bound for Howland Island on the second-to-last leg of her landmark global flight. She never made it. Today Howland Island is an uninhabited, bean-shaped, flat, arid 648-acre island midway between…
Continue reading 'Impossible destinations: Amelia Earhart’s final destination' Comments (1)- 5 November 2011
- 4:35am
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Full-immersion travel: 6 ways to transform yourself
Robert Reid Lonely Planet author
Everyone’s talking about ‘local travel.’ Staying in apartment rentals, making meals from local produce from farmer’s markets, sticking with neighborhood parks and shops and leaving the big-time museums and chain hotels behind. Question: what comes after that? Full immersion. Travel to become something – or someone – else. Recently I got to spend a couple…
Continue reading 'Full-immersion travel: 6 ways to transform yourself' Comments (1)Travel Q&A: Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson
Robert Reid Lonely Planet author
What do you do in your spare time when you front the world’s greatest heavy metal band? Well, if you’re Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, you get another job – or two. For the past decade Dickinson has flown jet planes for British charter Astraeus, written a couple books and placed seventh in fencing in…
Continue reading 'Travel Q&A: Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson' Comments (1)
