Hawaiian place names have meanings that are as poetic as their pronunciations are lyrical. “Makalawena” for instance, the name of a beach near the middle of Kekaha Kai State Park,... Read more >>

You leave for your vacation with a bag full of clean clothes, a guide book and your favorite buddy in tow. But how can you be sure your friendship will survive long days, missed flights and strange... Read more >>

For today’s generation of twenty- to thirty-somethings, backpacking in Europe for a few weeks in the summer is almost like a rite of passage into adulthood. Sleeping on overnight trains, hanging... Read more >>

My brothers—all five of them—thought I needed to get my head examined. My close friends, though tactful, were just as unsupportive and critical. Their reactions ranged from “Why... Read more >>