Travel and Adventure

An aimless night in Louisville turns into a booze-fueled expedition, filled with new friends, a bar with 1,600 beers, and a cat that’s not to be fucked with.

Bourbon is booming, but only decades ago, it was on a path toward failure. This was most evident in the 1980s, at the height of vodka and big hair, when distilleries in the Bluegrass State were shuttering their doors.

Freddie Wilkinson makes his home in the White Mountains, where he climbs and guides most of the year between putting up alpine first ascents on expeditions to Alaska, Nepal, Patagonia, India and Antarctica.

The scenery is just one of the things that’s made L’Eroica one of the greatest organized rides in the world since Giancarlo Brocci founded it 30 years ago to help preserve the strada bianche, or white sand and gravel roads of Tuscany.

In 2014 bike parlance, L’Eroica is the ultimate gravel grinder, a 38-204 kilometer ride along the strade bianche (“white roads”) of Tuscany, Italy, with ascents steep as 23 percent grade and sketchy, sandy downhills as a reward for the hard work. Unlike the Dirty Kanza, though, you won’t find riders toeing the line in Gaiole in Chianti with carbon bikes, electronic shifting and hydraulic disc brakes.

Mike McParland, now 67, has been working at Webers Burgers since he was 16.

Iceland is perhaps the most exotic place on Earth. And it’s only a five-hour flight from Manhattan.

In the past decade, the Volvo Ocean Race has seen boats dismasted and sunk, sailors break bones and lose teeth — and in one tragedy, a Dutch crew member washed overboard and was killed. It’s no wonder the race is called the “Everest of sailing”.

The North Cascades aren’t exactly user friendly. There are no drive-up views for the minivan crowd.

Denver isn’t just good breakfast and a gateway to good pow — or America’s favorite city with legalized marijuana. It’s also a hotbed of killer dining, host to a booming culture scene, and a new destination for startups and venture capital.

Traveling too much of Africa is intimidating. Years of headlines, let alone the complications of getting there, are foreboding enough.

The Rolex Big Boat Series is known by participants as the “Break Boat Series” for the toll it takes on boats and crews over four days of racing. GP’s Jason Heaton braved San Francisco Bay’s gusty winds and waves for a firsthand account.

Nearly 200 miles north of Guatemala City, in the rainforest, lie the remains of the ancient city Tikal, the capital of one of the most powerful kingdoms of the Maya civilization.

Boats, kayaks and canoes are large and unwieldy, but these five will fit in your apartment.

Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous paved road in the United States, stretching from Estes Park to Grand Lake, Colorado.

Bolivia’s 424,164 square miles make it the 28th largest country in the world. Those square miles are also some of the most biodiverse in the world, with ecologies ranging from tropical rainforests to dry valleys to stepped savannas.

If a visit to London is European Vacation 101, and Paris is 201, Lisbon is a seminar-level adventure.

The vibrant Portuguese capital is experiencing a cultural renaissance, fueled by a creative society motivated to lead the city out of economic decay.

GP contributor Chris Burkard and friends explore the canyons of Zion National Park’s Birch Hollow, Orderville Canyon and the Narrows on a day-long microadventure.

Inspired by mid-20th century Paris, with nothing twee or precious about it, The NoMad is one of the best hotels in New York.