Northeast Travel - Courant.com

The Great Gunks: World Class Rock Climbing On The East Coast

By ERIK OFGANG, Special To The Courant — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Follow CT Lifestyle & Entertainment News On The Courant's Features Buzz Facebook Page

I'm hanging onto the side of a towering 200-foot cliff wall and a professional climbing instructor is urging me to do something that every muscle in my body is resisting – let go.

Portland, Maine: The San Francisco Of The East

By Josh Noel , Tribune Newspapers — Tue, 1 May 2012 20:14:00 EDT

Portland has grit, soul and salty docks

PORTLAND, Maine — I was in Portland all of 10 minutes when its soul rolled by on two wheels: a gentleman pedaling through downtown on one of those ridiculously tall bicycles with an oversize front wheel and tiny back wheel.

Hawaii's Garden Isle: Unspoiled Kauai

By Peter von Buol, Special to Tribune Newspapers — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:00:00 EDT

POIPU, Hawaii — The problem with loving a laid-back place so much is that you want to tell everybody about it, yet you don't want to tell anybody about it, lest it be spoiled.

'Lobster Shacks' Compiles Best Of New England

By LINDA GIUCA, Special to The Courant — Tue, 1 May 2012 09:31:00 EDT

Old Saybrook Travel Writer's Book Includes Several In Lobster Joints In Connecticut Follow CT Lifestyle & Entertainment News On The Courant's Features Buzz Facebook Page

Give Mike Urban a chance to dream — or better yet talk — about his favorite shore dinner, and watch him smile.

Victoria: The 'England' Up North

By Jay Jones, Special to Tribune Newspapers — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:01:00 EDT

Canada's Victoria a very British city

VICTORIA, British Columbia — The flags of the United Kingdom and British Columbia flapped in the breeze atop Government House, Britain's official outpost in this westernmost Canadian province, as the Honourable Steven Point sat down to write birthday greetings to his boss, Queen Elizabeth II.

East London Is Game For Olympics

By Henry Wismayer, Special to Tribune Newspapers — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:10:00 EDT

Olympics just part of the new vibrancy

For two weeks this August, the eyes of the world will turn to London, but not the London you know from postcards. Centering on the boroughs of Newham, Hackney and Greenwich, this summer's Olympic Games are largely an East London affair, intended not only to showcase but also to reinvigorate the city's often overlooked East End.

New York's New Croton Dam An Engineering Wonder

By ERIK OFGANG, Special To The Courant — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 10:18:00 EST

Follow CT Lifestyle & Entertainment News On The Courant's Features Buzz Facebook Page

The New Croton Dam might be one of the coolest places you've never been.

2 hostels in NYC, Boston not dirty, just dirt cheap

Margaret Sheridan, Special to Tribune Newspapers — Tue, 8 Nov 2011 16:40:00 EST

Savoring the cost-saving benefits of staying in hostels has nothing to do with age. A whirlwind weekend of being a first-time hostel guest at Hostelling International locations in Boston and New York City proved that skills honed decades ago in college dorms can be resuscitated.

Cook Islands: The glorious middle of nowhere

By Jason George, Special to Tribune Newspapers — Fri, 9 Dec 2011 13:27:00 EST

AITUTAKI, Cook Islands — "Where is that?"

Brawny Comfort, Light Delight In NYC

By Christopher Borrelli , Tribune Newspapers — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:23:00 EDT

NEW YORK — It's easy to imagine many a sea captain sprawled out on the charred oaken floors of the Breslin, knocked cold after a brawl. The smell of smoking pig's feet wafts across black, wood tables. A bowl of onion soup floats past, oily with bone marrow. Animal skulls hang from walls that flicker with the bronze glow of hot stoves. The Breslin reminds me of a 17th-century whaling frigate, albeit smelling of fried head cheese and hipster. No, wait: Perhaps I'm thinking upscale pirate ship. Or early 20th-century saloon, circa Grover Cleveland, but with an afternoon pudding menu. Whatever it aspires to, or reminds you of, the Breslin Bar & Dining Room, tucked into the Ace Hotel, never reminds me I am at 29th and Broadway, a neighborhood so choked with beauty-supply stores and nondescript delis even nickname-happy Manhattan real estate mavens haven't come up with anything better than NoMad (aka North of Madison Square Park).