Erik Trinidad

Botswana is The Elephant Capital of the World, with an estimated 130,000 of the giant creatures. Any fan of The Lion King surely knows there’s drama to be had in the animal kingdom. And anyone who’s been on safari knows the excitement of seeing that play out. After all, wildlife is best experienced not through screens, not behind bars, but in real life...

A Central American variety gives Black Ivory and Kopi Luwak a run for their money.
If you do a search for the world’s most expensive coffee, you might find Black Ivory coffee, which has been partially digested by elephants in Thailand...

It’s autumn again, that time of year when the annual demise of deciduous trees can actually be so beautiful that people flock from dozens, even hundreds of miles away just to get the best look at them. “Leaf peeping” season has arrived, and you yourself may be yearning to take in the magnificent autumnal colors of bright red, yellow ochre, alizarin crimson, and other hues found on Bob Ross’s paint palette—in real life.

Visit the quirky festival in a desert far, far away.
An imposing shadow lurks over the roofs of residential houses in Reno, Nevada, in the shape of a sort of round body with appendages, a tail, and—is that a cowboy hat? Looking up reveals it’s a gigantic blue armadillo, dressed as a sheriff, in the form of a hot air balloon—and he’s not alone...

The state of Maine may conjure up images of steamy red lobsters, lush green forests, pink boulder cliffs, and lighthouses rising up from a rugged coastline along the deep blue sea. Those colorful, mental postcards become a reality with an actual visit to America’s most northeast state—and all come to a climax in Acadia National Park...

When Karl the Fog has his gloomy summer residency in San Francisco, the place to be is just across the Bay Bridge in Oakland, where it’s often sunnier and 5–10º warmer. But better weather isn't the only reason to visit “The Town” as it's nicknamed (SF being “The City”)...

For many people, a big Caribbean cruise means a multi-day party on the open seas. Food, so much food. Cocktails, ditto. “Exotic” port-of-call excursions that amount to a booty call with a new country. On the flip side, for crew members a cruise can be a grueling ordeal. Long, arduous hours on your feet, no access to land, and lots of cleaning up after passengers whose idea of a vacation is piling up empty buffet plates...

The process of choosing just 19 places to visit in 2019 was long, arduous, fraught with infighting -- nah, just kidding, we had a great time. But by necessity, a list so limited overlooks some truly remarkable corners of this big ‘ole world of ours. As we Sophie’s Choice’d one destination after another, we kept coming across cities in our own backyard that made surprisingly compelling cases for a visit...

You fantasize about a island vacations for the same reason everyone else does: Earth gave us hundreds of thousands of islands to choose from, so whatever your perfect dream trip entails, an island somewhere will fit it perfectly. Maybe you're cool flomped on a sandy stretch of strangers' skin, nodding at the fittest among them and listening to some dude blasting “Turn Down for What” on a football-sized Blu-Ray speaker. Or maybe you're inclined to find a vacant, balmy postcard sanctuary...

Ugh, people, amiright? Always inviting you on trips, asking you to come out into the world with them, to try new things, see new countries, make new memories. “Hell is other people,” as Jean-Paul Sartre would say, but it’s also other places -- places out of your comfort zone, place...