Lisa and I went to an all-day seminar on Monday with Tourism Norway to meet with a dozen travel reps from all over this Scandinavian country. I’ll probably write a longer piece on Norway for the newsletter, but I wanted to report on all the exciting new developments at Norway’s signature cruise line, Hurtigruten. They will debut a new hybrid vessel, the
MS Roald Amundsen, this coming July. Not only will it cut fuel by 20 percent, but they can turn off the engines off when coasting within the fjords and you’ll won’t hear a sound. The interior was designed by Rolls Royce so expect the finest details. The ship will be heading along
the Norwegian coast late May 2019 on a glorious 15-day cruise that starts and ends in Hamburg, Germany. We just booked it today for two of our clients. Already sold out in 2019 is the
14-day Northwest Passage cruise that starts in Greenland before crossing the Davis Strait and venturing into the Canadian Arctic Archipelago of Nunavut. If interested,
ActiveTravels will be happy to look into the 2020 voyage. Lastly, Hurtigruten cruises run year-round in Norway and they mentioned that one of the best times to see the fjords is in the October/November months, when the mountains are snowcapped and you have a good chance of viewing the Northern Lights. In fact, Hurtigruten will
guarantee you see the Northern Lights on one of their 12-day itineraries from October 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019 or receive another weeklong cruise for free!
For authentic Mexican fare at an affordable price, it’s hard to top the restaurants in 
I always equate Steve Cohen with his namesake, Sasha Baron Cohen. His irreverent musings as a travel writer have appeared in countless publications, including Outside, the Islands of yore (my favorite travel publication in the 90s), and The Washington Post. His mishaps as ordinary Joe caught up in some ridiculous travel circumstance always lead to uproarious results. That’s why I’m giddy with excitement to read his first novel, 
Having now traveled with 
A 3-hour drive north of San Francisco past Santa Rosa and Healdsburg, you reach the Mendocino Coast, home to the fifth-generation owned Little River Inn. The oceanfront property perched on the hillside overlooking the Pacific, feels nestled in its own world, far away from the lights of a city. Indeed, it’s the perfect locale to see the stars on a crystal-clear night. Even better now that the property is offering the 
Vermont’s best whitewater run can be a zoo during the two days a year (the end of April and September) when the Army Corp of Engineers release the waters of the Ball Mountain Dam. The rest of the year, it can get a little dry, but it’s still a scenic run though the Green Mountain with far less congestion. The river used to host national kayaking championship races. The upper reaches are runnable only by experienced paddlers with solid Class III skills, yet the stream widens and slows down as you head towards the Connecticut River, allowing novice kayakers to do their thing. Good swimming holes and fishing are found at various points all along the West, including Jamaica State Park, about 2.5 miles down the river from the dam.