Camping in the Pyrenees Mountains. Backpacking in the Pyrenees Mountains. This image transports you there. It shows you what it's like to tuck yourself and your tent into a valley and to wake up there in the mist in the morning. It's beautiful.
The Pyrenees Mountain ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Andorra
Photo of the day: Pyrenees camping
Camping in the Pyrenees Mountains. Backpacking in the Pyrenees Mountains. This image transports you there. It shows you what it's like to tuck yourself and your tent into a valley and to wake up there in the mist in the morning. It's beautiful.
The Pyrenees Mountain ...Top 20 countries for life expectancy
"Old people" - we all hope to live long enough to earn this distinction. In some countries, the probability of living well into your eighties is much better than in others. The worldwide average for life expectancy is just a smidge over 67, with the highest and lowest ...Schengen and the disappearance of European passport stamps
Creative new use for border crossing posts at German/Austrian border.
In the late 1980s, an American spending a summer traveling across Europe with a Eurailpass would see his or her passport stamped possibly dozens of times. With a few exceptions, every time a border ...Why Luxembourg matters
Europe has lots of tiny countries. The rest of the world reminds itself of this fact periodically, almost as a running joke. How Vatican City is the smallest "independent" state, but (come on people), is it really a country? Andorra sounds charming, too, until you go there ...Trade Mocked
You were a cheerleader, you dated a cheerleader, or you hated the cheerleaders. As I recall, that's how high school worked.
Thanks to travel PR, that same primeval paradigm lives on long after graduation. That miniskirts-shouting-slogans thing still works, whether you're ...Photo of the Day (9.4.09)
Flickr user localsurfer took this spectacular shot from the Incles Valley in Andorra, the tiny 181-square-mile country located in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France. Because I don't know a damn thing about Andorra, and this photo has convinced me that I ...Europe's Wee Nations
You know all the big ones by heart, the ones who loom in your remembrances of Western Civilization class and, well, perhaps many a vacation or period living abroad. The names are so familiar: France, Britain, Italy and so on. But what about the little ones? The wee nations ...Minicountry Skiing. Hello, Andorra!
Some people say that Spain is the California of Europe: you can beach it in the morning and ski in the afternoon. Not that Spaniards would ever try to attempt such a packed schedule...
While you can ski in the Spanish Pyrenees, some people say that skiing is better in ...Chad's Quest for More Manly Name
Tired of the ridicule and mockery member nations say they face on a daily basis, the Committee for the Advancement of Poorly Named Countries is petitioning the United Nations for approval to change the official names of their respective homelands. "I mean, come on, my ...Perspectives on Travel Writing
I wanted to point out two satirical pieces I read this week centered in some way around the wonderful world of travel writing. The first is a short blog post over at Words without Borders: A good travel guide beats reality. The musings of Arnon Grunberg made me chuckle, ...One for the Road: Ski Snowboard Europe
I was reading Tripso's 11 Perfect Gifts For Travelers and agreed with author Charles Leocha's suggestion that niche guidebooks which focus on particular interests of travelers are indeed super gift ideas. Of course, Leocha used this gift idea list as an opportunity to ...
