By Everett Potter Australia has no shortage of memorable sights. That’s especially true in Queensland, which counts The Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree Rainforest, and the beaches of The Gold Coast among its natural treasures. But there’s another discovery in Queensland that’s been hiding in plain sight for years: The

By Brian E. Clark In 1857, wealthy builder Alexander McDonnell asked architect and German emigrant August Kutzboch to design him “the best house money could buy.” The ostentatious McDonnell chose a wooded lot for his home on a promontory called Bug Hill on the isthmus between lakes Mendota and Monona

By Everett Potter There was a time decades ago when overnight trains crisscrossed the European continent. Those were the glamourous days of rail travel, celebrated in thrillers like Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Graham Greene’s Stamboul Train. Alas, those night trains gradually fell out of favor as low-cost airlines like

By Everett Potter Lodging on the coast of Maine has been undergoing a transformation during the past few years, an ongoing story that I’ve been covering here at Forbes. Vintage hotels like The Claremont in Southwest Harbor have been reborn as upscale properties. At the same time, former mom-and-pop cottage compounds

By Ruth J. Katz Botox is on my mind. I imbibed the “magical” waters at the celebrated Ponce de Leon Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. But, sadly, I did not get the “as-advertised” (OK, to be honest, the “as-hoped-for”) miraculous facial transformation that I thought this elixir was guaranteed to

By Brian E. Clark Artist, photographer and filmmaker Christian Spencer grew up in Australia. But it wasn’t until he moved to South America 22 years ago – after marrying a Brazilian – that he fell in love with hummingbirds, which he says “live in another time and space.” The result

By Everett Potter The Newbury opened as the country’s first Ritz-Carlton in 1927 and has what is arguably Boston’s best hotel location, across the street from the manicured Public Garden. It’s at the corner of Arlington Street and Newbury Street, the city’s upscale shopping boulevard.     Check your expectations

By Catherine Sabino Lying close to Venice and prime wine-producing regions, Verona offers a robust food and wine culture, splendid art and architecture dating from ancient times and world-class cultural offerings. It’s a place where the past becomes the present, in both headline-making and everyday ways. The city’s extraordinary Roman-era amphitheater