Some destinations are so special that they universally find their place on every traveler’s must-visit list. Iceland holds that place…and not only because it is such an extraordinary country filled with remarkable natural wonders. Beyond the dramatic volcanoes, winding glacial rivers, cascading waterfalls, and valleys carved over thousands of years, there lies an adventure that requires nothing more than a curious palate.
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When David Beckham unveiled the logo for Inter Miami CF, I thought it was two flamingos with their legs intertwined to make the letter M. An easy assumption to make when the colors are black and pink. I also didn’t dwell too long on it. After moving across the country (again), I was transitioning my loyalties from LA Galaxy to Atlanta United. It wasn’t that hard because it was the same year ATL won the MLS Championship with star player Josef Martínez and iconic manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino.
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Taking a Cuban on a tour of DC’s recognizable monuments and memorials? Pump up their ego by taking them to the Cuban American Friendship Urn. You’ll find it in Parking Lot A, under the overpass of 395, a mere blocks away from the Jefferson Memorial. Don’t worry, a real Cuban will not be deflated by its location, but may ask you to crop out the line of parked cars in the background.
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Last fall, the second season of the HBO hit series The White Lotus had me hooked with Portia’s fashion choices, Harper’s toxic spiral, and everything Tanya did and said.
Oh, but the setting. *Chef kisses*
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While I’ve never been a fan of the tourist phrasebook — perhaps because I have yet to find myself at a stranger’s dinner party where inquisitive locals want to know how many siblings I have — I do believe that learning key phrases enhances your travel experience.
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Scandinavia continues to be the world’s happiest region, with Finland, Iceland and Denmark firmly holding on to the top three spots in the World Happiness Report of 2020 – despite the uncertainty of the pandemic. That same year, the Finnish sauna was added to UNESCO’s Cultural Heritage list, a sign of how integral the sauna is to almost every Finn’s household.
Is there a correlation between happiness and warmth? Perhaps.
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Apologies for the pun.
As a long-time fan of the television show, Golden Girls, Sicily was at the top of my travel list even before I officially formulated a travel list. From a young age, my favorite way to start a story was, “Picture it, Sicily, 1922…” the same way the acerbic matriarch Sophia prefaced hers.
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From cunning seafarers to merciless warriors, the myths and legends of Vikings have captured the imagination for generations. It is documented that they reached faraway shores from Newfoundland to Constantinople, yet nowhere else in the world can you truly get a sense for their fascinating way of life than in Norway.
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“We’ve come too far, we’ve made too much progress and we’re not going back. We are going forward.” – Congressman John Lewis, August 22, 2018 at the renaming ceremony of Freedom Parkway as the John Lewis Freedom Parkway.
Most of my belongings were still in boxes and I was using Google Maps to find the Publix Supermarket that was only three blocks away when I read they were renaming Freedom Parkway. How could I find my way around this town if the names of streets keep changing? But a few sentences later I learned it was to honor John Lewis and then it seemed too small of a gesture. Only the parkway? Mayor Bottoms should have renamed the whole dang city Lewislanta. Imagine the perseverance of this man to skirt death on Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge fighting for the right to vote, to then be elected to the House of Representatives two decades later.
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I spent the Christmas holidays strolling through SoHo, hailing cabs on Broadway and taking in the elaborate window displays down 5th Avenue. It was the eve of the New Year and the new decade, and I was feeling hopeful about what 2020 would bring. I was also feeling particularly proud of myself for having cleverly paired my New York trip with a quick jaunt to Bermuda. Culminating my vacation with my feet covered in pink sand was the gift I was most eager to unwrap.
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As a rum enthusiast, the Caribbean is my favorite destination to indulge in that amber elixir. Brugal in the Dominican Republic, Appleton Estate in Jamaica, Bacardí in Puerto Rico, and, the most illustrious, Mount Gay in Barbados.
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The world’s great masters are not exclusive to Europe. From Brazil we have Tunga, best known for his fascinating sculptures about the human body. From Chile, Roberto Matta is a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art. From Colombia we have beloved Fernando Botero who created his own exaggerated style of Boterismo, and from Mexico the foremost muralist Diego Rivera. These are only a few of the influential and brilliant artists that hail from across Latin America. This region is also home to artistic movements grounded in heritage, history and tradition—and deserve to be exalted.
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a little cuban goes a long way 