CUSCO, PERU – Over the past year, I have been looking for ways to contribute. To do something more than my usual work designing residences and galleries in New York. I closed my office for the Christmas/New Years holiday and promised myself it would be an opportunity to try something new, to look beyond my own small world and volunteer my time.Starting with a simple web search of volunteer + vacation, I came across many organizations t

MARRAKECH – Shopping in Marrakech made me feel like a contestant on the The Price is Right. I was just guessing prices in the hopes that Bob Barker, or, in this case, a bearded businessman in a djellaba with a Bluetooth in his ear, would affirm my bid with a Come on down!Nothing in the labyrinthine souks has a set price. Everything must be bargained for in a many-stepped ceremony akin to a line dance. The experience is weird, the

Inspired by Kurt Andersens story for VSL, we dug a little deeper into The Travelers Vade Mecum, a witty and accommodating book to aid in sending short messages via telegraph or post. Its resemblance to modern-day Twitter and text-messaging is uncanny, considering it was written in 1853. We can only imagine what might lie ahead for instant communication methods when traveling abroad. Sure, theres Skype and email, but who

Hometown: LondonOccupation: JournalistFavorite destinations: Forte dei Marmi in Italy, for the nostalgia, as its where I spent chunks of my childhood. And anything in India, from the flashy, Miami-esque Bombay to lush louchness in Kerala.Dying to visit: Brazil. Its the only one of the BRIC block I havent yet seen firsthand.Bizarre travel rituals: Ive trained myself to sleep anywhere with two simple triggers: a plush eye mask and an episode

THE BERKSHIRES – We over-work and over-schedule, and sometimes we forget to breathe. The lack of air is more pronounced these days, as my husband and I are first-time parents.The Berkshires region of Western Massachusetts, which cuts a rolling swath through the Appalachian Mountains, has plenty of fresh, piney air for the gulping. Its only a few hours drive from our Brooklyn home, making it possible to escape on short notice with a 1-y

No, really, what follows is a joke. A friends mother sent it to us in email. Its no doubt been forwarded 1,000 times, but that doesnt make it any less funny. A young New York woman was so depressed that she decided to end her life by throwing herself into the ocean, but just before she could throw herself from the docks, a handsome young man stopped her. You have so much to live for, said the man. I

When a fellow filmmaker, Bobby, asked me to document life in an IDP Camp in Uganda with him, I said the craziest thing I could: Yes. I had never been to Africa, and had never spent time in anything like an IDP camp. In fact, I barely understood what an IDP Camp (Internally Displaced People Camp) was.Bobby rolled with it. Great, he said. Were going in two weeks. Before I could reconsider, an itinerary was in my inbox with phrases like: Destination: Kampala, and, Total

AMAGANSETT, The Hamptons – Sometimes, there is neither room nor time for half measures. Id promised my teenage daughter a brief (two-day, one-night) getaway in the interregnum between the end of her school year and the beginning of her tour of duty at summer camp. No airplane travel would be in the offing, for logistical and financial reasons; the destination would have to be driving distance from New York City. I had this oddly speci

Name: Farah MalikHometown: New York Occupation: Co-Founder/CEO/Designer — A Peace Treaty. Favorite destinations: Beirut, Lebanon; Barcelona, Spain; Istanbul and Turquoise Coast, Turkey; Aeolian Islands (Sicily), Italy.Dying to visit: Borneo Forest, Malaysia, Kenya, Zanzibar, Ivory Coast, Senegal.Bizarre travel rituals: I do not know how to travel light. I have a true FOB (fresh off the boat) suitcase that coul

Stephanie March deconstructs the Global Entry program. Never again will she wait on line at U.S. immigration again.A computer-generated email from my credit card company caught my eye and captured my imagination. Mind you, this is not my usual reaction to emails from American Express. Did you know there is a way to sail through immigration and customs – without being a foreign dignitary or soccer star? Its called Global Entry, its han

Hometown: Washington, D.C., by way of Ann Arbor, Chicago, Seattle, and Buffalo.Occupation: Founder of Blueprint for Style, an image consulting, personal styling, and branding company; stylist; style blogger.Favorite destinations: Paris (over and over again), Tokyo, Barbados, Cape Town, Rome, Barcelona.Dying to visit: The (entire) Italian countryside, Argentina, Tanzania, Kenya, Thailand, Bora Bora, Cuba, any place with a bevy of v

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis is one of the most recognizably Greek books of all time. The novel, along with the corresponding 1964 film, created the vision of Crete that travelers picture in their minds. The intellectually ridiculous Zorba is the epitome of a true Greek, and readers are left with the spirit of the islands history and culture. Night was falling. The sky to the west was beautifully serene. Small, fleecy red

James Joyces numerous works have long acquainted the world with Irish culture and landscape through use of historical references and descriptive language. As the most celebrated Irish novelist of all time, Joyce has a truthful tone that puts us in the thick of city life in Dubliners.Jimmy set out to translate into days work that lordly car in which he sat. How smoothly it ran. In what style they had come careering along the country roads! T

And now for a new feature: In the Magazines, wherein your helpful friends at FATHOM give the rundown of the best in this months travel glossies: Travel + Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler, and Wallpaper. TRAVEL + LEISUREOn the cover: Annual Worlds Best Awards covers the best of the worlds cities, islands, cruise lines, transportation, and hotels. Bangkok, Florence, Rome, New York City, and Istan

bi•ki•ni n. A two-piece swimsuit of immoderate proportions; the more immoderate, the better. The summer of 1946 brought two new things to the beach: one, atomic testing in the South Pacific; two, scandalously scanty swimwear. With joyous liberation in the air and Europeans hitting the plages and spiagge for something other than military operations, a couple of French designers had it in

chap•el n. A place to get hitched. Martin was a Roman army brat. Born in present-day Hungary, he got stationed in Gaul when he himself joined the legions as a teenager. One wintry morning at the gates of Amiens, Martin came across a shivering, half-clothed beggar. Unsheathing his sword, the young soldier sliced his cloak in half and gave one part to the grateful stranger. Martin went on to have a saint-worthy care

fez n. 1. A pillbox-like hat, but taller and tapering; often made of red felt, often with a tassel. 2. A late, lamented New York bar. The fez, though now purely quaint, has been a symbol of both modernism and backwardness. Although the shape of the hat is ancient, the fez proper dates to an 1826 law by Ottoman emperor Mahmud II that mandated its use among his male subjects. The emperors hope was that the fez would suppl

lim•er•ick n. A kind of poem, never serious, usu. obscene. If toponymity has a favored style of poetry, it is not the lyric but the limerick, which, beyond being named for a county in Ireland, usually has a toponym at the end of the first line to be rhymingly riffed off of. The master of the limerick form was Edward Lear, a superb zoological draftsman and ethereal painter of Eastern landscapes who is, ironic

mo•gul n. A magnate or tycoon, esp. of the media. Between the Portuguese landing of 1498 and the rise of British rule in the eighteenth century, the Indian subcontinent was dominated by a very different kind of foreign invader. While the Europeans pecked at the coasts, a devastating Turkic-speaking Muslim army devoured India from the north, a process begun by the first Great Moghul, Babar. A descendant of Tamurlan

Hometown: Grew up outside of Boston, went to school in Boston, worked in New York, and now I live in Paris!Occupation: Writer and editor.Favorite destinations: NYC, Israel, Southeast Asia.Dying to visit: India, West Africa, any of the French overseas departments, Tokyo.Bizarre travel rituals: I go to Bikram before leaving so I dont get stiff sitting on planes.In-flight relaxation regime: Watch movies or read a book