Some of the most useful travel writing we have ever come across was a few paragraphs from someone who had just come back from somewhere we were thinking about going. Not a top ten list or a ranking, just an honest account of what they found. That is what we try to write here. We have been to nearly 70 countries, and every destination in this section is somewhere we would send a good friend. We cover accessibility throughout because it is personal to us. These are our experiences, take what is useful to you.
Singapore
Singapore is the city we send first-time Asia travelers to, not because it is the most exciting stop on the continent, but because it removes every reason to be nervous about the leap. Glenn and Judy Tudor on six visits to Singapore, why it works as a soft landing, and where it earns a longer stay on its own.
Vienna, Austria
Vienna wears its history lightly, the kind of city where the roof tiles date to the 1100s and nobody looks up on the way to buy groceries. Glenn and Judy Tudor on Stephansdom, the Lipizzaner stallions training on an ordinary Tuesday, and why in Vienna the grandeur is the backdrop, not the attraction.
Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul moves around fifteen centuries of history without breaking stride, sultans and commuters walking the same street outside Topkapi Palace. Glenn and Judy Tudor on Hagia Sophia's baptismal font, grilled fish by the water in Kadıköy, and why in this city the distance between ancient history and an ordinary Tuesday is nearly nothing.
Madrid, Spain
An exchange student's family taught us something Spain never had: when someone from a place shows you that place, you see an entirely different version of it. Glenn and Judy Tudor on Madrid's late dinner schedule, the 500-year-old stone cave under Mesón Rincón de la Cava, and churros at Madrid 1883 that bore no resemblance to anything we had eaten before.
Maui, Hawaii
Our return to Maui was a homecoming to the place where we first started exploring the world together. Glenn and Judy Tudor on a community that met Lahaina's aftermath with something quieter than resilience, the Kaanapali boardwalk at the Westin Nanea, and why here aloha is not a greeting but how people actually live.
Bangkok, Thailand
Half a dozen visits and one two-week stretch in, Bangkok has never stopped surprising us, which is the most honest thing we can say about a city we once thought we had figured out. Glenn and Judy Tudor on Yaowarat at midnight, mango season food, and why tradition and the hyper-modern share the same block here.
Athens, Greece
Athens has grown into itself, carrying 2,500 years of history without being defined by it. Glenn and Judy Tudor on the new Acropolis elevator, Philoxenia at the Hotel Grande Bretagne and the Four Seasons Astir Palace, and why Athens stopped being a stopover long before the rest of the world noticed.