सूपरनॅचुरल bloopers!

Three days into a trek across the volcanic highlands of southwest Iceland, it occurs to me: This is Tolkien's Middle-earth. With its obsidian lava fields and steaming hot springs, its moss-covered foothills and treeless valleys, Iceland is Mordor one मिनट and the Shire the next. It has a magical quality to it, this Land of आग and Ice—as if it has been plucked from the imagination and placed here, somewhere between युरोप and North America, to be a playground for the adventurous traveler.

A thousand years ago, Iceland's Viking settlers sent criminals to the island's inhospitable interior,...

There's a लोकप्रिय misconception in American hiking circles that the only "real" mountains in the U.S. are found out west. I've been guilty of it myself, looking to the Sierras and the Rockies for adventure and ignoring—here in my column, anyway—the joys and challenges of the Northeast. That's an oversight I'll put behind me this month.

Peter Potterfield, who writes about New Hampshire's White Mountains in his excellent book, Classic Hikes of the World, says that these peaks have "been the comeuppance of many an arrogant hiker from outside New England." He's right. They've humbled quite a few...

"In the forest आप must first use your ears, then your eyes," says Harris McDonald, my rainforest guide here on the tiny Caribbean island of Tobago. He silences me with a finger to his mouth. "Listen." I do, and then I hear it: a loud, yawning groan like something straight out of Jurassic Park. I back up a step and stumble over the gnarled roots of the खच्चर path we've been following for the past hour.

McDonald follows that with a smile roughly the same size as the machete at his side. He's known as the "Jungle Man," and he's been leading casual दिन hikers and tourists into Tobago's rainforest—the...

On the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe (Beitbridge), just south of the Limpopo one can find the picturesque town of Louis Trichart in the mountainous area of the Soutpansberg. On a हाल का trip back from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe we visited this area as well as the Njelele valley (close to Toyandou town) in the neighbouring Venda. This geographical area is blessed with a rich historical background full of legends and myths and is one of a few remaining unspoilt areas of South Africa. Today, the history is still evident in the names of the two major towns in the area namely Louis Trichard...

Probably the single greatest asset which anyone can ever have in conversations is the ability to make other people laugh.

Whether आप are asking your boss for a raise, talking to someone who आप like, या just trying to be the लोकप्रिय person who everyone wants to be around, आप will get light years ahead if only आप can make them laugh.

An interesting, but little known fact is that laughter is a response which is a subconscious way of saying to someone else "I want to bond with you". Is it any wonder that countless surveys have shown that the number one desired characteristic in the opposite sex,...