The Gate with Brian Cohen
My Visit to N Seoul Tower in South Korea
The sun shone strongly on me from an intensely azure sky on that warm autumn day as I trudged up the wooded hill known as Namsan Mountain from the bus stop to visit the observation deck of the N Seoul Tower, which is part of the YTN Seoul Tower complex...
Traveling For Miles
Review: ITA Airways Airbus A220-100 Economy Class
Having never before flown on an Airbus A220, a very good Economy Class fare for travel between London City Airport and Milan's Linate Airport finally gave me the opportunity to see what this (relatively) new aircraft is like and to review an ITA Airways flight for the first time. The post...
View from the Wing
American Airlines Flagship First Class Is Ending—My Flights Reveal How Bad It’s Gotten
American Airlines is eliminating Flagship First Class in favor of more business and premium economy seats on its fleet of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The end of first class on the last U.S. carrier to offer it internationally is sad to me, but the project has been pushed back. As...
You Are Travel
Trip Report Introduction: A Two for One in Latin America – Adventures in Costa Rica and Panama
Tl;dr – A trip report recounting some fun travels to two of Latin America’s most vibrant countries.  Greetings!…
The Gate with Brian Cohen
Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica: My Visit
Even though the sun was shining, the air was rather steamy; and despite my wearing a T-shirt and jeans, I was sweating because I had been walking much of the day — including along the fortress walls of Intramuros — ever since the flight on which I was a passenger...
Altitude Yes
Tokyo Trains: How Packed Are They During Rush Hour?
Visitors to the city are unlikely to encounter ultra-packed trains unless they choose to venture out into the suburbs during peak periods. The post Tokyo Trains: How Packed Are They During Rush Hour? first appeared on Altitude Yes.
Travel With Grant
My 2025 Travel Predictions Midyear Review: Hits, Misses & Lots of Wild Guesses
Explore my midyear review of 2025 travel predictions where I assess which forecasts for airlines, hotels, and credit cards were hits or misses. Discover the unexpected outcomes and intriguing developments that have unfolded so far. The post My 2025 Travel Predictions Midyear Review: Hits, Misses & Lots of Wild Guesses first...
The Gate with Brian Cohen
Where Life Began? Matsieng Footprints in Botswana
Matsieng is one of the well-known “Creation Sites” in southern Africa — another one is the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa, which I also visited and will document in a future article — where followers of folklore believe that life began when Matsieng emerged from a hole in the...
The Gate with Brian Cohen
Mauthausen Ljubelj Nazi Extermination Camp in Slovenia
We had just crossed the border from Austria into Slovenia through the Karawanks Tunnel — named for the Karawanks mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps through which cars can pass through — and as the sun was setting while we were winding our way down the curving mountain road...
Traveling For Miles
Review: British Airways Embraer E190 Club Europe (Business Class)
On my last trip to Ireland, I flew to Dublin out of London City Airport in Club Europe (what British Airways calls its short-haul Business Class) on a British Airways E190 aircraft, and as TFM rarely seems to feature some of the smaller aircraft that we fly, this seems like...
Dots, Lines, & Destinations
DLD 539: Picking up the pieces
Another rough week in aviation, so we aimed for more respectful snark in this week's episode.
You Are Travel
Trip Report: Wine Tasting in the Canada’s Okanagan Valley: Underrated, Beautiful and I’m Not Talking about the Icewine
Tl;dr – A recap of wine-tasting in the oft-overlooked Okanagan Valley. Accessible, beautiful with excellent wines – you need…
Traveling For Miles
Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill (Regency Suite) review – Updated for 2025
The Churchill is one of three Hyatt Regency Properties in central London and for some considerable time it stood out as the best Hyatt option in the city. The addition of the Great Scotland Yard hotel to Hyatt's portfolio in 2019 made the title of 'best Hyatt in London' a lot...
The Gate with Brian Cohen
Johnston Canyon in Canada: An Introduction
After visiting Gap Lake, I returned to Trans-Canada Highway 1; passed the town of Banff; and exited at the Johnston Canyon and Castle Mountain exit to drive leisurely down Alberta Provincial Highway 1A west — which becomes Bow Valley Parkway at that point — towards Johnston Canyon, which is 56.8...
The Gate with Brian Cohen
Gap Lake. A Good Starting Point in Canada.
After I rented a car and checked out of the hotel near Calgary International Airport, I drove west on Trans-Canada Highway 1 — watching the Rocky Mountains looming in the distance and creeping closer with every kilometer — to Exit 114, where I took Alberta Provincial Highway 1X north to...