Norpeo happily allows me to slather her with handful after handful of silky-smooth river mud. And she doesn't mind when I follow her into the crystal-clear waters of the River Kwai to splash and scrub the mud off with a big kitchen broom. Maybe she's such a trusting friend because earlier I hand fed her watermelons and bananas as she winked at me a...

Yoga, the full moon and mangrove cycling anchor a new-agey vacay. Tulum is a town on the Caribbean coastline of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. It's known for its beaches and well-preserved ruins of an ancient Mayan port city. The main building is a large stone structure called El Castillo (castle), perched on a rocky cliff above the white sand beach a...

The highway of many bridges connects the southernmost islands in the US. It's as if we're weightless. As we glide along the Overseas Highway in a rented cherry-red Mustang convertible the rest of the world melts away and we are truly living in the moment. All we can see on either side is endless blue-green water and wispy horizon. Gazing forward an...

The island of fire and ice is chock full of natural wonders. You can sense it. There's something supernatural at play as we snorkel the Silfra fissure between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates in Iceland's Thingvellir National Park. "Sure, it has some special energy," says our guide Gretar Thorlaks with a laugh. "How can it not? You'r...

I'm Irish. What's your superpower? Normally, I never accept rides from strangers. Yet, here I am in the passenger seat of Tracy's car, a woman who I met only a few moments ago. My wife, Kerry, is in the back seat. "Honestly, it's no trouble, no trouble at all. I'm happy to do it," says Tracy in her Irish brogue. You see, we'd stopped Tracy on a Dub...

Is Hydra famous for its donkeys? Or are the donkeys famous because they live on Hydra? Essentially, the answer is moot, as this Greek island (pronounced: EE-dra) has notoriously never succumbed to motorized vehicles. So, the only ways to get around this 64-square-kilometre paradise in the Aegean Sea is on your own two feet or the back of a donkey, ...