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When is the last time you wrote something just for you? Something tangible, on an actual piece of paper, for your eyes only? Something that required critical thought and self-exploration? In a world of constant texting, tweeting, emailing, and digitally "engaging," there's a good chance the answer is "a really long time ago." But doing so can serve you well — study after study after study suggests many benefits of self-expressive writing in a journal. The practice can help reduce intrusive ideas that bring you down, help you ditch toxic habits, relieve stress and anxiety, and help you cultivate the life you want to live. Read the full story.

This adventure started out surfing with the setting sun before the ocean swallowed it, or me, each night. Camping along craggy cliffs, cooking up curries under star-swathed skies. Waking up to laughing kookaburras. Spending my barefoot and bikini-clad days plucking my ukulele on the banks of red tea tree lakes, roving through rainforests, stripping naked in waterfalls and journaling about my epic solo expedition across Australia in the converted beater I call home. It was a lifelong dream, until it devolved into the stuff of nightmares… When I bought my 1991 Mazda E2000 van off a backpacker in Byron Bay — Australia’s hippie haven — I’d anticipated some hiccups. For one, burgeoning bushfires were wreaking havoc across the country, and most of the land I’d wanted to explore was, well, on freaking fire. Roads were closed, and much of the notoriously deadly wildlife that lures us vagabonds here was… dead. The country was in crisis. Read the full story.

We broke for a soothing masala chai straight from some stranger’s kettle and, moments thereafter, plummeted into pulverizing rapids—somehow, neither the most jarring nor disconcerting of dichotomies that day. No, merrily whitewater rafting down one of the world’s most befouled rivers takes the cake or, rather, the Indian gulab jamun. Of course, if I’d known then what I know now, Delhi Belly wouldn’t have been the only reason I spent so much of my time in India puking buckets into battered squat toilets. But, alas, there I was. Adrift in a raft. Surrounded by strangers. Somewhere along the gravely polluted Ganges river. In the middle of the Himalayas near Rishikesh, India. I was just a few months into my backpacking journey through South Asia—a six-month escapade when I’d promised myself I’d say “yes” to everything, if only for the story. Including this afternoon of whitewater rafting. Hindsight is 20/20. Read the full story here.

Some stranger suggested it—swore by it. He seemed like a credible source. And so I didn’t bother to google it. Instead I blindly bought a bus ticket and hopped aboard for one rickety 10-hour journey from Arambol, Goa, in the south of India to Hampi, Karnataka, just about 200 miles east. Eventually, I felt the overnight bus roll to a stop and I reluctantly peeled open my heavy eyes. Every time we’d pulled over throughout the night, a man would hop on touting a steaming canteen of chai or stale peanuts or warm fruit flecked with flies. Their shouting voices had woken me up from my sorry semblance of sleep one too many times along the way. This time, however, I woke up to pleasantly surprising sherbet skies. My jaw, agape in a yawn, dropped further to the floor congested with the scattered bodies of somnolent bus riders who didn’t get seats. I’d made it to Hampi, and I was stunned. Read the full story.

Now, more than ever, remote work is on the rise as professionals are increasingly working within the confines of their homes due to the COVID-19 crisis. With the flexibility to work remotely, it makes sense that digital nomadism is an increasingly enticing lifestyle — and the burgeoning trend is changing the travel industry and compelling travel advisors to shift their focus. By 2025, 36.2 million Americans will be working remotely — an 87% increase from pre-pandemic numbers — according to Upwork’s “Future Workforce Pulse Report.” In fact, managers believe that 26.7% of the workforce will still be fully remote in 2021. Remote job board Remote.co suggests that, while most remote jobs require people to live in specific geographic areas, work-from-anywhere jobs are cropping up for everyone from developers and designers to customer support professionals and marketing managers. Read the full story.

By 2025, surveys suggest that some 35.7 million Americans will be working remotely. In fact, digital nomads have been on the rise for years as technology has revolutionized the workforce — but the closing of company doors amidst the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed even more people out of offices and into alternative lifestyles. And fueling this movement are countries around the world, which are welcoming digital nomads with novel visas for remote professionals. In particular, the following seven destinations cater to professionals on the go. Read the full story.

'Twas a white winter in Washington, circa 2008. Mount Baker was blanketed with packed powder, but only up near the resort’s 5,089-foot peak — a surprising discovery for Brian Paupaw, an East Coast snowboarder who hadn’t yet experienced such heights. But his mind had already been expanded. Hitchhiking to the mountain along Highway 542, he’d found catching a ride with his thumb to be easier than hailing taxis in Times Square as a Black man. “That was so cool — to be a person of color and have people treat me [with open arms] because of snowboarding,” he says. The cofounder of Hoods to Woods, a nonprofit that introduces inner-city kids to the sport, grew up in Brooklyn in the ’80s. He recalls park parties and breakdancing amid the birth of hip-hop. He also recalls a crack epidemic sweeping the streets, leaving bodies in its wake. Read the full story.

Perhaps you find yourself in a sprawling oasis teeming with rolling rice fields. To your partner, your families and over a hundred species of birds, you read your vows. Or rather, you walk down the weathered stone aisle of an enchanting historic castle—your guests await both your first kiss and dinner fresh from the ground’s garden. Of course, flying your family and friends across the world for your destination wedding takes a toll on the environment. On average, one air mile produces 53.3 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to Blue Sky Model, an open-source estimate of carbon dioxide emissions. But as an eco-conscious couple, you can rest assured that the dollars you spend on your wedding venue are contributing to social and environmental causes. These 10 wedding venues prioritize the local people and planet. Read the full story.

Are your clients dreaming of vacationing in a festive European winter wonderland? Fortunately, plenty of places in Europe are unlocking their doors to tourism this holiday season. We’ve rounded up five of the best winter destinations in Europe to help your clients make the most of the festivities. Read the full story.

Your clients are lost in reverie — their minds brimming with warm musings of a frosty respite from the dark days of winter. They’re tucked into glittering snow-blanketed, blustery mountains somewhere in Europe, vacationing where the cold somehow bites gentler, the wine tastes better, and the unparalleled snowboarding and skiing satiates the soul. But they’re spoiled for choice of where, exactly, to bring those dreams to fruition. From the fondue-filled French Pyrenees and the stunning Swiss Alps to the depths of the Dolomites in Italy’s north, here are three European resorts you should be sending your clients skiing, snowboarding and soaking up the apres-ski life this winter. Read the full story.

It’s been said before that the future is female, and statistics back up this prediction within the travel world, as well. So, as the travel industry re-emerges and recovers from the pandemic, travel advisors would be wise to attract and retain female clientele. Women around the world were responsible for an estimated $31.8 trillion in consumer spending in the year leading up to the COVID-19 crisis, according to the World Data Lab. They also tend to spend much more in travel dollars than men. In fact, research suggests that women make at least 80% of all travel decisions, which equates to hundreds of billions of the industry’s purchasing power. Read the full story.

Emerging industry intel suggests that more Americans are interested in exploring the outdoors this year. And, in recent years, research has purported that travelers are growing more caring and conscious about the footprints they leave after their journeys. The following five outdoor tour operators will not only take clients on experiential and insightful tours in new environments, but also help protect the local communities and natural environments in which they operate. Read the full story.