The green shadows of the Amazon hide many treasures. From the gold and riches that played a role in the plundering of the world’s largest rainforest, to the ones I’m after — living treasures. One river, the Napo, plays a central role in both types. The Napo River is part of the story of the mythical city of El Dorado, and it also is home to one of the most beautiful hummingbirds of the Amazon: the Fiery Topaz (Topaza pyra).

Recently, I was having a discussion with a friend about which Nikon camera he should get. He asked me point-blank what I thought Nikon’s greatest camera is, and my gut reaction was to say the Z9 – after all, it has the most advanced specs of any Nikon camera today (with the possible exception of the Z8). But with some further thought, I realized that the answer wasn’t so simple. Who am I to ignore 7+ decades of Nikon’s history and reflexively say that their current flagship is their greatest camera? There are so many other cameras with claims to the throne. Film, DSLR, mirrorless, point-and-shoot, you name it… what a dilemma!

Ever smiled and said “hello” in a new country, only to feel something was wrong? That’s where cultural fluency comes in. It’s more than learning words. It means understanding how people think, speak, and connect. Many travelers feel confused or uncomfortable at first. That’s called culture shock. It often happens when we don’t understand local […]

Ever been told you are moving too fast through Europe? These travel pros are taking it to the extreme. On July 20th at 12:01 AM, two teams of seasoned travel industry leaders will set off from Eijsden, a Dutch town bordering Belgium, in an audacious attempt to attempt to break the Guinness World Record the most countries via overland – in a continuous Easterly directly by a car convoy.

Travelling by car, with passports and pure navigational grit, they aim to go on a mind-bending 17-country road starting in the Netherlands, through Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia and ending somewhere between Poland and the Czech Republic — if their caffeine and customs timing hold out.