When youre surrounded by hundreds of exhibits at the Biennale, its easy to give up and go for an aperitivo. Self-professed art brat and Fathom contributor Geren Lockhart gives us the ins and outs of the 55th annual art festival, which closes in November, and hammers out a list of must-see exhibits and best places to recharge.VENICE – Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to experience two very important life firsts: my first trip

Fathom is collaborating with Lincoln Motor Company on Hello Again, a series about interesting hotels around the world. El Cosmico in West Texas redefines the trailer park as a creative hotel and community art project where time stands still.MARFA, Texas – If Texas considers itself the boldest state in the Union (its not a state, its a state of mind), and Marfa is the most unusual town in Texas, then it stands to reason that El Cosmico

We love stories that bring us beyond the politcal headlines and closer to the countrys people. A reader story.YANGON, Burma – Late in the tropical evening torpor of Yangon, we strolled along Strand Road, named for the venerable Victorian hotel built in 1901 by the brothers Sarkies, who also built Raffles in Singapore.Wed been drinking Pegu Clubs at The Strand bar, playing billiards with a cast of louche characters who mightve escaped

Occupation: Editor, Mr & Mrs Smith, The Americas.Favorite destinations: Japan, Italy, Maine, northern Wisconsin.Dying to visit: Iceland (I know, get in line), Fogo Island, India, Argentina.Bizarre travel rituals: My need to completely unpack upon arrival (even for a one-night stay) points to some latent OCD tendencies I didn’t know existed.In-flight relaxation regime: More strange talent than regime, but I usually f

Once she escaped to the islands of Tahiti, Fathom contributor Marguerite Richards took in the sites, the stories, and the sway of the palm trees.FRENCH POLYNESIA – Women birthing lizards and falling in love with eels, coconuts traveling underground, men launching lassos to distant islands: This is the stuff of Polynesian legends.Tahitians are metaphoric when it comes to describing the emotions and events in their lives. Storytell

Theres a new category of travel: travel for the family, or specifically, for the family tree. Lisa Parrish headed to a remote village outside Ulm, Germany with her family, a rental car, and minimal German language skills in search of her ancestors. This is how it unfolded.ULM, Germany – I have always thought travel was for either business or pleasure. But the popularity of websites like ancestry.com and TV shows like Who Do you Think You Ar

Matt Vega and Dan Vukelich are Fathom readers who wrote to tell us about Roving, a video series about young Americans living around the world. Theyre currently fundraising for the project on Kickstarter. We asked them to tell us about it.On a recent trip to around Europe, we found ourselves in Berlin, scrambling to catch a train at 7 a.m. to make a flight to Paris. Now this may sound like a run-of-the-mill late train scenario, but

MIAMI – In this weeks roundup of our favorite Instagram photos, were taking you to Art Basel Miami Beach. Heres a taste of the exhibits, parties, and beautiful people.

INSTAGRAM – This weekend, the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks are in Fathoms neck of the woods, New York City, for Super Bowl XLVIII. We decided to turn our weekend Instagram spotlight on their home towns. And may the best linebacker win.

When Cyrena Lee visits Taiwan, her priority is the food. But she always makes time to pop into a local temple to get her fortune from Buddha. Heres an experts how-to.TAIWAN – If you go into most Buddhist temples in Taiwan, youll notice — through all the incense smoke — people throwing two crescent-shaped wood blocks on the floor. Theyre asking the divine spirits for advice, and there is a particular set of rules one m

Porter Fox is the editor of Nowhere Magazine (one of our 24 Best Travel Blogs and Websites 2014), a quarterly publication known for beautifully written, deeply immersive travel stories. In the Q&A below, Fox shares his literary adventures, Nowhere know-how, and his current reading list.Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you did before you launched Nowhere.I wrote about travel, literature, anarchic communities, a

Until we read Classe Touristes story about How to Get into North Korea, we had never even heard of the massive Mass Games. The photos are amazing. (Theres a reason Classe Touriste is one of Fathoms Best Travel Blogs of 2014.)PYONGYANG, North Korea – More than 100,000 participants train for months to perform weekly from August to September for their compatriots and their leader. The Arirang Festival, or Mass Games, is a performance so grand,

We continue our exploration of the worlds forbidden places with Fathom founder Pavia Rosatis remembrance of Syria.When people find out I run a travel website, the first question Im asked is, whats the best place youve ever been? The real answer is Syria, but its not a response Im always comfortable giving.The country that amazed me was already problematic when I saw it in June 2009. Today, the country is a disaster. Two men were crucif

Fathom continues its coverage of the worlds forbidden places with an on-the-ground correspondent: British-born Simon Cockerell, who has led more than 130 trips to North Korea with Beijing-based tour operator Koryo Tours. He has taken over Fathoms Instagram for the week. Follow along to get a sense of what youd see on an official visit to the DPRK.MORE ON FATHOMHow to Get into North KoreaPHOTOS: The Mass GamesNorth Korea: Get Involved a

Team Fathom went to Cuba to have a look around. Here are first impressions from their first trip to the Caribbean island trapped in time.CUBA – Like many Americans, we have always been curious about the forbidden neighbor to the south. From the glamorous rum runners of Prohibition-era Havana to todays Caribbean island trapped in time, Cuba has always been a fascinating and mysterious place.The Obama administration has eased a number o

Nigerian-American Adaora Udoji is horrified by the recent schoolgirls kidnapping in Nigeria. She recalls an entirely different Nigeria that she grew up in.NIGERIA – I was sitting quietly in my office doing some work and a question suddenly gripped me: What would it be like if someone at this exact moment stormed in, kidnapped me, burned down my house, and threatened to sell me into slavery? This for the so-called crime of being a fema

Petra Dokken has been visiting Bhutan for decades, which gives her a rare insight into this mystical land thats frozen in time. BHUTAN – His name is Pema. Under thick blankets in a village in the middle of nowhere in the Himalayas, his scarred body warms mine in the night. He lifts the mattress from the unused bed on small wooden legs and puts it on the floor. This is how I am used to sleeping.Until recently, few people had even heard

Hometown: Los Angeles.Occupation: Owner of Travelers Bookcase.Favorite destinations: Paris, Zimbabwe, Iceland, New Orleans, Colombia, and anywhere I just came back from.Dying to visit: Anywhere I havent been.Bizarre travel rituals: Complaining about packing and then complaining about packing while packing.In-flight relaxation regime: I always take off my shoes and put on soft socks, massage pulse point oil on my temples, drink a glass of wi

What brought Brooklyn-based textile designer Summer Moore to a small stone house in lunar Cappadocia? In short: an artist residency. In detail: The urge to break the comfort barrier and learn from a new culture. She went to Turkey in search of design ideas  for her handwoven jewelry line, LESH, and found inspiration along the way. Leave it to a textile creative to weave together work, play, and personal philosophy. TURKEY – Adventure l

Hometown: San Francisco Bay Area (yep, all of it).Occupation: Writer, editor, media producer.Favorite destinations: Paris, Turkey, Cuba, Spain.Dying to visit: Morocco, Burma/Myanmar, Vietnam, Sweden, Iran.Bizarre travel rituals: Im a nervous flyer, so I have a little mantra I repeat to myself before takeoff, but Id bet thats not quite as bizarre as I think it is. I also definitely OD on candy on flights — something I ne