Mountain City's Travel Blog

Three cheers to the yachting lifestyle!  Emerald Cruises’ yachts are warm-weather cruising on a whole different scale: small! With only 100 guests, you feel like you’re aboard your own private yacht – that’s designed to make you feel immediately at home as you spend lazy days chasing the sun… and relaxing with something cold in your hand that reminds you:...

Beginning January 8, 2025, American and Canadian travelers to the United Kingdom will be required to apply - in advance of your trip - for the UK’s new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA). The digital application process opens November 27, 2024 for anyone planning to arrive in Britain from January 8, 2025 and onwards. The British government has been introducing the new...

The Britannic Explorer, A Belmond Train, is a new way to indulge in slow travel in the lap of luxury. Debuting in the summer of 2025, it’s the first modern luxury sleeper train to allow you to discover some of the UK’s most spectacular natural landscapes and hidden gems on its three inaugural, three-day routes. Timeless Routes Through the English CountrysideDeparting...

Rosewood Exuma opens in 2028, bringing Rosewood’s elevated experiential travel and authenticity to the Exumas. The pristine archipelago of 365 islands in the Bahamas is the destination of the latest addition to Rosewood’s Caribbean portfolio. The private island resort offers next-generation luxury while honoring the character of the Exumas. Rosewood Exuma Within the Exumas, there’s a 124-acre private island called East Sampson...

The holidays are just around the corner, and nothing gets you into the spirit of the season like a pre-Christmas trip to Europe, where so many of our favorite festive traditions originated. Europe’s Christmas markets, many of which have been around since the Middle Ages, are magical places to embrace the holiday spirit and celebrate in the month leading up to...

The Riverside Mozart is the ultimate floating luxury boutique hotel on the river – as you can see in the video, it’s about double the size of almost all other river cruise ships in Europe, but there aren’t double the guests. That’s a game-changer!  To me, it felt more like sailing on a luxury, small ocean ship that just happened to...

Is Antarctica on your travel bucket list? The White Continent is the ultimate expedition cruising destination: literally at the end of the earth, and able to be reached only by ship, with its epic scenery of glaciers, icebergs, and surprisingly rich wildlife, including several varieties of penguins, elephant seals, whales and more, Antarctica has remained just a dream destination for...

If the world seems noisier and more chaotic than ever to you – you’re not alone. As life gets more stressful, online searches for ‘quiet travel’ have shot up like your blood pressure. One of the first places savvy travelers look to disconnect and rediscover tranquillity in nature is Costa Rica. The Central American country’s famous way of living, called ‘Pura...

On safari in Africa, it’s the ‘Big 5’ signature species. But on the other side of the world, in another extraordinary landscape, the can’t miss, iconic wildlife is summed up on the ‘Big 15’ list. Many are found nowhere else on earth other than in the Galapagos islands. Their unparalleled biodiversity famously inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution. No wonder these remote...

Sun Princess has arrived in Ft. Lauderdale for her first winter season after the 4300-guest ship’s inaugural Mediterranean season. The latest “Love Boat” to join the Princess Cruises fleet has arrived in her new homeport, to begin sailing a series of seven-day Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises, roundtrip through early April 2025. Guests are already raving about Sun Princess’ innovative design,...

There’s the North Pole… and there’s the “North Pole of Inaccessibility.” Ponant’s Le Commandant Charcot has done something no ship of any kind has ever done before. In the 21st century, it’s hard to imagine there’s a place on earth humans have never been, but close to the end of the 2024 Arctic cruise/ sailing season, the polar expedition cruise...

That was fast. Just a month after a wave of media stories about arriving travelers being dinged with hundreds of dollars in duties for their devices, Mexican authorities say they have eliminated the controversial – and dated - rules. As you likely read here in September 2024, Mexican customs regulations stipulated that anyone arriving in the country was allowed one ‘portable...

It begins as a dream, swimming around in your head.It can apply to a weekend, several weeks of your life, even months. The vision takes place in an unknown land.Then it becomes official. You commit yourself; you are booked. The dream shifts into high-definition technicolor.  You’re enjoying the first third of “A Third. A Third. A Third.” It’s the bits and...

It begins as a dream, swimming around in your head.It can apply to a weekend, several weeks of your life, even months. The vision takes place in an unknown land.Then it becomes official. You commit yourself; you are booked. The dream shifts into high-definition technicolor.  You’re enjoying the first third of “A Third. A Third. A Third.” It’s the bits and...

If you thought sailing to small islands and boutique harbors in idyllic tropical places was just for billionaires in their private yachts, think again. Even you can feel like a billionaire on one of Emerald Cruises’ two new mega-yachts. We sailed aboard the Emerald Sakara on a ‘yachtsman’s itinerary’ from San Juan, Puerto Rico, weaving through the U.S. and British Virgin...

New digital border processing and hall at SXM airport mean arriving for your next trip to the Caribbean’s famous twin-nation island will be faster, easier, and better than ever before. But you do have to get online and fill out the new forms before you check in to your flight to St. Maarten.Mandatory Digital Forms for Travel to St. MaartenSt....

Silversea is taking a groundbreaking approach to ultra-luxury Antarctic expedition cruising – literally! The cruise line has broken ground on a hotel in Puerto Williams, Chile, to create a seamlessly deluxe experience for its guests on their voyages to the White Continent.Silversea is the only cruise line that homeports from Puerto Williams during the Antarctic season. And the new, 150-room...

Following the recent inauguration of its pioneering coastal China cruises, Viking has announced six new itineraries in Asia that will expand exclusive access for its guests to Japan and China, with Tibet in 2025. The new voyages will explore iconic destinations in China, such as Shanghai, Beijing, Xi’an and Lhasa in Tibet (Xizang), as well as Osaka, Japan. Each voyage...

The first and only luxury hotel company to take to the sea has welcomed Ilma, its second newbuild, ultra-luxury ‘superyacht’. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s latest small ship is host to fewer than 500 guests in its 224 ‘airy and intuitive’ suites, all with private terraces providing direct access to the sea. The Ilma also offers guests world-class dining curated by MICHELIN-starred...

Stop and think before you nonchalantly pack all your digital devices on your next trip to Mexico. A growing number of reports warn tourists that Mexican border officials are increasingly enforcing old laws about entering the country with electronic items – and it’s costing unsuspecting travelers hundreds of dollars in import duties. In our increasingly digital world, the number of devices...