michelle gross

There are few experiences that beat staying in a great five-star hotel. Sure, a once in a lifetime luxury cruise to Antarctica or watching the sunrise over Ankor Wat in Cambodia are pretty tough to beat. But when a hotel goes above and beyond, it can be unforgettable. And when the hotel is doing something so impactful it’s actively making the world a better place, well, that’s pretty great too.
There’s no doubt that we still have a way to go when it comes to traveling sustainably...

Imagine a world where one day every month was a national holiday dedicated to making your neighborhood a cleaner place. In Rwanda, on the last Saturday of each month, they do just that. During Umuganda—the Kinyarwanda word for “coming together in common purpose”—people from around the country of a thousand hills pick up trash, repair roads, and generally help each other to make the world sparkly and just a little more beautiful.
While that’s just one example of a community actually caring a...

Making the conscious decision to travel sustainably has never been more important. In honor of Earth Day, we’ve hand-picked six boutique hotels completely immersed in nature and designed with sustainability to boot.
starsstarsstarsstars | Website | flight Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport
hotel 7 | location_city Outdoor swimming pool, Spa, Garden | restaurant_menu 1
visibility Miravalles Volcano, Rio Celeste Waterfall
In the jungles of Costa Rica, ORIGINS Lodge consists of six sustai...

For centuries, the Sonoran Desert has been considered a place to get your spiritual healing on. This desert is bigger than the entire state of Oregon at more than 100,000 square miles. In fact, the Sonoran spans almost the entire southern half of Arizona from Scottsdale and Sedona right down to Mexico and into parts of southern California.
Driving through the windswept sands and looming mountain ranges peppered in a sea of towering saguar...

On a cross-country road trip, I went to White Limozeen, a Dolly Parton-themed restaurant in Nashville. I chose it in lieu of a stop at Dollywood, which was closed due to COVID-19 during my visit. Dolly fans shouldn't miss the pink patio and Champagne Jell-O shots that honor the queen of country music. In the immortal words of Dolly, "Everybody has their own journey, their own way of doing things. Who am I to judge," and it's a saying I've always admired.

In the exclusive world of luxury wellness retreats, no place has captured Hollywood’s collective consciousness quite like the Ranch Malibu.
Rebel, Selma, Mandy and Connie, among many others, have paid their dues here over the last 11 years. Located on 200 cell phone-free acres in Malibu, the place is best known for its signature “no options” boot-camp regimen and singular approach to healthy cuisine that includes nothing more than a 1,400 calorie-per-day diet—sans caffeine, dairy, soy and glu...

From the rooftop patio of Bar Julian, cargo ships, some the length of The Empire State Building, slowly chug their way along the Savannah River, where from the looks of things, they’ll be staying for the long haul.

Arguably one of the Savannah’s hippest, if not most scenic locales to be seen sipping on Georgia juleps these days, cargo isn’t the only thing calling on the port city’s shores these days.

Twelve stories below, on the contemporary ground floor of the recently opened Tho...

Driving cross-country is an ambitious journey that always sounded a bit more romantic to me in theory than in practice. But when my partner convinced me to expand my horizons, we started planning with the Ralph Waldo Emerson adage "it's not the destination, it's the journey," as our guiding principle. I figured we might as well see as many cool and quirky things along the way as possible.

Here are the places we stopped that I would go to again and the places I would skip next time.

Traveling to far-flung destinations is the name of the game for professional athletes, and tennis Hall-of-Famer John McEnroe is no exception. But this winter, the legendary player—as well as his brother, Davis Cup champion and ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe—are taking tennis to where it’s never gone before.
From February 22 to March 5, 2022, the McEnroe brothers will host the exclusive Antarctica Open voyage aboard the luxurious Atlas World Navigator. The 140 guests aboard the special chart...

Après-ski — whose literal translation from French means after-ski — has long been as a time-honored tradition in ski destinations around the world. Believed to have originated in the French Alps circa the 1950’s — today, to après (as those in the know are inclined to call it) is to indulge in a cultural pastime that’s as much an exper...

On a cross-country trip, I stopped in Fort Worth to see the world's only twice-daily cattle drive.
The Texas town also has a year-round rodeo, a cowboy hall of fame, and historic stockyards.
Fort Worth's slogan is 'where the West begins.' I thought it felt like being in an old Western movie.
A subgenre of classical Westerns, I first learned about spaghetti Westerns in film school.
Broadly defined as low-budget and romanticized versions of the American southwest, these films were popular aroun...

Copenhagen has long been hailed as a model for modern urbanism and its feats in New Nordic and sustainable cuisine, and starting in January, travelers to the Danish capital will be treated to yet another incredible culinary experience when one of the world’s top-rated restaurants moves to a completely meatless menu.

Even in idyllic Southern California, where the average temperature rarely dips below a “brisk” 65 degrees, it’s nice to get a change of scenery every once in a while. Enter: Julian, a tiny town about an hour east of San Diego that, come autumn, will make you wonder if you've been accidentally transported to a fall foliage-ridden town in New England.
Nestled in the foothills of the Cuyamaca Mountains, much of Julian’s rustic charm has to do with the fact that it’s preserved its roots as a West...

Haunted hotels, boneyard beaches, and—obviously—sweet tea.
Dating back to 1711, Beaufort is South Carolina’s second-oldest city. Situated roughly between Charleston and Savannah, its Lowcountry landscapes—think wide-open marshlands and swaying oak trees dripped in Spanish moss—hold stories that span generations. (They also appear as the backdrop for cultural touchstones like Forrest Gump and The Big Chill.)
To truly understand this seaside town, you have to delve into its history. Remnants of...

Here are 50 of the best honeymoon destinations in the United States and the world, from Europe to South America and beyond.
The best part of wedding planning isn't dress shopping, venue scouting, or cake tasting (though, that's up there). It's planning the honeymoon. And whether you're honeymooning two days, two weeks, or two years after your actual wedding, there is no better way to celebrate your marriage than with the trip of a lifetime. Deciding where to honeymoon is all about taking both...