Columns

Many Americans board a plane for an overseas destination without fully realizing that they are flying into a completely different culture. Some experience culture shock: a psychological disorientation caused by immersion in a place where people do things — and see things — differently.

Most cultural groups develop separately, with their own logical (as far as they’re concerned) answers to life’s basic needs. While every culture is ethnocentric, thinking ‘We do it right,’ it’s important for travelers to understand that most solutions to life...

A port city on the Baltic Coast of Poland, Gdansk is truly amazing -- and amazingly historic. From its medieval Golden Age to the headlines of our own generation, big things have happened here.

Gdansk is the place where World War II began, and as any proud resident of the city will explain, it is the home of Solidarity, the workers' movement that brought about the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

Many people imagine this hardworking city to be a wasteland of rusted, smoke-belching shipyards -- but there's so much more to see here. Gdansk is second...

In early June 2015 I had the opportunity to realize one of my long-held travel fantasies: traveling by barge on the timeless Canal du Midi in southwestern France. The journey was inspired by the experience of an adventurous British couple portrayed in the 2005 book “Narrow Dog to Carcassonne” by Terry Darlington.

On a partially hosted cruise aboard European Waterways’ oldest and best-known barge, the 8-passenger Anjodi, my wife, Gail, and I lived a life of luxury for seven days and six nights. We were joined by four other passengers from Britain and Australia. Our...