Five vine values in the Napa Valley

No doubt about it, the Napa Valley can be expensive. Hundred- dollar bottle of wine? They’ve got it. Thousand-a-night hotel suite? Right this way. But there are vine values to be found if you know where to look. Want to glide up a mountain by gondola? See avant-garde art in a garden setting? Sip sparkling [...]

Au pair reunion is good excuse for family trip

There’s nothing like having someone live with you for a year to forge a lifelong friendship. But you can’t just drop by for coffee when that person lives across the Atlantic Ocean. My husband and I hosted German au pairs for seven years to care for our three children. And from the moment we quit [...]

These apps will help you conquer a fear of flying

As family, friends and that woman who sat next to me on my last flight all know, I’m a nervous flyer. My anxiety has gotten better over the years — I don’t weep openly anymore — but I still get sweaty palms and a racing heartbeat upon takeoff. When the engine noise changes, I go [...]

Age has been unkind to Glacier National Park

Glacier National park turns 100, but age has not been kind. The gorgeous million-acre park in northwestern Montana celebrated its 100th birthday on Tuesday. But many of its glaciers have melted, and scientists predict the rest may not last another decade. The forests are drier and disease-ridden, leading to bigger wildfires. Climate change is forcing [...]

Tips to ensure vacation rentals don’t disappoint

Here are a few tips from the Better Business Bureau, travel experts and seasoned renters to make sure you don’t get burned when you rent a home for your vacation. • Get a written agreement spelling out terms and conditions. Never wire money or write a personal check. Plastic is the way to go because [...]

Which is more useful, a guidebook or a travel app?

A comprehensive travel guidebook can feel like a brick in your luggage. Yet smart phone travel guides are not always a good alternative. They can overwhelm users with potentially unreliable user-generated content or underwhelm them with a flashy interface and little true substance. But two wildly different brands — Lonely Planet and Wallpaper — offer [...]

London Jewish Museum reopens after major facelift

They are icons of Britain: a Victorian-era statesman, a World War I soldier-poet, fish and chips. They’re also Jewish — evidence of the 1,000-year history of Jews in Britain, whose story is told in a museum reopening this week after a 10 million pound ($15 million) expansion. “Fish and chips, which everyone thinks of as [...]