Travel Features - AP

VIENNA, Austria - Overheard recently from a tourist in one of Vienna's grand cafes: "Waiter, I'll try a slice of your soccer tort."

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. - It had been at least 24 hours since we had seen other humans, and the trail seemed to be ours alone — gleaming granite slabs, scrabbly switchbacks, glorious glimpses of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River, and jagged Sierra spires under cloudless skies.

HOLMDEL, N.J. - If you've never vacationed in a recreational vehicle, your first reaction might be "I can't afford to rent an RV" or "They're too large to maneuver."

CHICAGO - The boat glides under the Michigan Avenue bridge and heads into the heart of the city, as the shimmering white Wrigley Building and neo-Gothic Tribune Tower rise to the north.

VICTORIA, British Columbia - My vacation itineraries are usually determined by the fact that I am a lone woman traveling with three guys: my husband and two sons. If I want their company, then cooking classes, spas and quilt shows are out.

NEWPORT, Ore. - Oregon's coast is still wild enough to be a windy wonder, tame enough for the squeamish, surprisingly affordable and uncrowded - yet diverse enough to please at least someone in the car most of the time.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Some cities are hard for the casual visitor to handle. Traffic, confusing maps, far-flung attractions, and too many chain stores can make the tourist's quest for a hassle-free yet authentic connection to the local vibe all but impossible.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Acupuncture is not just for people. It's also for cities — if the city is Portland.

HOOD RIVER, Ore. - It was a good thing nobody warned me about all those hills and the cars zooming by.

BRANSON, Mo. - "Stick to what you know" could be the motto for Branson this year as the Ozark resort town focuses on its wholesome country, pop music and family entertainment roots, plus recent upgrades in shopping and hotels, to ride out the national economic downturn.

CHICAGO - It was a remarkable, if short-lived, 19th century blue-collar utopia.

RICHMOND, Va. - Bustling textile and furniture factories that used to churn out blankets and beds have moved out of southwest Virginia, taking jobs overseas.

BUDVA, Montenegro - "Experience Wild Beauty" is Montenegro's newest tourist slogan.

NEW YORK - Gil Rivera picked me up in his red lady magnet with a lightning bolt decal by some basketball courts downtown. "Let's go to Miami!" I shouted. But Gil, sporting Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses and a black cap, had places to be in Philly, and so did I.

HELENA, Mont. - The National Folk Festival comes to Montana this summer, bringing the event's mix of "music, dance and tradition from across America" to historic Butte in Big Sky country.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. - When Steve Meissner of Berlin bought a 1956 butter yellow Cadillac online, he could have simply had it shipped from Arizona to Germany.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. - At a time when tourists visited the Grand Canyon in stagecoaches, they did their souvenir shopping at a tent set up by a man named John George Verkamp.

ON THE RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN BORDER - Tears welled in my eyes twice while hiking some of the most beautiful landscapes on the planet - once in mid-wretch gag and once in awe-struck wonder.

KIEV, Ukraine - Shining with Orthodox golden domes that rise from forested hilltops, crisscrossed by narrow cobblestone streets, and speckled by quiet, leafy parks, Kiev draws visitors with an Eastern European charm.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The site of the new Gangster Museum of America has a history as sordid as its subjects.

GULF ISLANDS NATIONAL SEASHORE, Miss. - It's like something out of a movie: A boat filled with tourists — drinking and happy, delighting in the exploits of the passing dolphins — washes up to a rugged island whose exotic name conjures the mystique surrounding this place.

NEW YORK - Girlfriends' getaways - where women travel with other women and leave the menfolk home - are booming. And the phenomenon is not just about bachelorette parties or 20-somethings on spring break.

LIMA, Peru - With four-digit inflation and violent Maoist guerrillas, Peru for many years was hardly the place for a seaweed wrap in a swank hotel.

PHILADELPHIA - In the eyes of the law, the worshippers were criminals. But to the rabbi who served them, they were simply Jewish men in search of faith and spiritual guidance.

JACKSON, N.J. - With crazed laughter ringing in their ears, Gotham's first visitors gathered on a vandalized subway platform to board a runaway car.

NEW YORK - High fuel prices are prompting many Americans to reconsider their Memorial Day travel plans, AAA says.

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. - A video may have shown that Mindy Jordan was alone just before she fell from the balcony of a cruise ship. But her mother says she still wants authorities to continue looking into what happened.

NEW YORK - Silverjet PLC, while planning to cautiously expand from its London base, is in talks to replicate its all-business class model in other markets through franchise deals, the high-end airline's CEO said Thursday.