Jaime Cunningham

Some of my favorite vacations have been in tropical locations where I can relax on the beach but also enjoy adventures in the water. For my money, the best aquatic activity of all is snorkeling, which combines a front-seat view of wildlife with swimming.

Saudi Arabia wants to go nuclear. Like many developing nations, the kingdom has seen its electricity demand soar in recent years—more than 8 percent annually—and is actively searching for alternatives to fossil fuels.

In some of the world's most remote—and stunning—national parks, it's just you and the wildlife.

Among the many fine sights to be seen while traveling by train, few are as pleasantly surprising as the terminals one passes through. Madrid's Atocha Station, a large building with wrought-iron design built in 1892, boasts a large tropical garden complete with palm trees and terrapins.

If your sweet tooth is acting up again and you're tired of Swiss chocolate, there are always cookies. ENTERPRISE has found exotic confections that should impress even the most hardened sugar addicts.Try indulging in Parisian macarons, which are milk-based snacks containing almonds and other nuts, and are available in 13 flavors, including apricot, almond, coffee and raspberry ($72 for 48 cookies; lepicerie.com).For wedding favors, consider adding a magical twist by writing personalized fortunes...

For travelers looking to sip the best martini in town or pamper themselves at the chicest spa, Luxe City Guides provide an insider's access to the good life.

If your sweet tooth is acting up again and you're tired of boring old Swiss chocolates that cost their weight in gold, there's always cookies. THE GOOD LIFE has found some exotic confections that will impress even the most hardened sugar addicts (especially with the price tag).Indulge in Parisian Macarons, milk-based snacks containing nuts and almonds, and available in 13 different flavors, including apricot, almond, coffee and raspberry.

The typical butler is no longer a tuxedo-clad gentleman who does everything from answer the door to assist with personal grooming. These days, butlers are becoming more specialized, as top hotels hire them to provide such niche services as drawing baths, serving frozen snacks and supplying technological support.At the El Dorado Maroma in Riviera Maya, Mexico, beach butlers supply guests with tanning products, reading material, water vaporizers and towels (karismahotels .com; $677 per night).The...

Just because a hotel is luxurious doesn't mean it has to compromise the environment. Some topnotch resorts are experimenting with innovative ecological programs that aim to keep the planet's—and their own—best interests at heart.

Just because a hotel is luxurious doesn't mean it has to compromise the environment. Some top-notch resorts are experimenting with innovative ecological programs that aim to keep the planet's—and their own—best interests at heart.

Ever had such a hectic travel schedule that when you call back to your office you find you have 15 voicemail messages and can't find a pen to write it all down?

Sharp teeth notwithstanding, interacting with exotic animals in their natural habitats can be a great way to commune with nature and step out of the daily grind.

For anyone fantasizing about buying real estate but unable to settle on a location, there's an ideal new solution: invest in a condo on a luxury cruise ship.

Have a few minutes before your flight? If you're in Atlanta's Hartsfield international airport, you can pick up an iPod Mini from a Zoom Shop while you're waiting to board.

Have a few minutes to kill before your flight? If you're in Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport, you can pick up an iPod Mini from a Zoom Shop while you're waiting to board.

Want to stay in a luxury vacation home without making a lifelong commitment? You're not alone. A growing number of vacationers are choosing to spend their time off in rented villas.

With Oct. 31 looming, it's time to start planning your fearful festivities. Enterprise has a few suggestions from around the world:NEW YORK: The infamous Greenwich Village Halloween Parade is celebrating its 31st anniversary this year.

TRAVELSunny Little SecretsBy Sana ButlerMore than 60 percent of tourists to the Caribbean visit only three countries: the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

Back in December, as northern weather was getting cold and runny noses were once again becoming the norm, health officials braced for a return of SARS. It didn't come until last week--and not the way it was supposed to.

If you thought your grandmother's main function in life was to bake you brownies, think again. Scientists have long puzzled over whether there's any reason, evolutionarily speaking, for women to live long past menopause, when they can no longer bear children.

STYLEThink Outside The BriefcaseBy Jaime CunninghamYoungjoon Park, an attorney at a Manhattan law firm, just wanted a decent-size bag where he could carry his cell phone, personal organizer and a book. "I didn't have enough space to carry my knickknacks, and if you stick everything in your coat pockets, it bulges," he says.

TECHNOLOGY LANGUAGE ON THE GOTosiyuki Nakamura speaks fluent Portuguese and Japanese. Recently, the 50-year-old So Paolo-based accountant began traveling more to the United States and decided to learn English, as well.

Frilly, Feminine FrocksLars Nilsson: Putting the Nina Ricci label back on trackFounded in 1932, Nina Ricci became renowned for its charming lady-like silhouette.

Now is prime time for wildlife viewing, as critters head to warmer climes, fatten up for winter and look for mates. Tip Sheet recommends some of the best autumn destinations in the Northern Hemisphere: travel to Germany's Muritz National Park to observe cranes congregating at Spukloch (a lake called Spook's Hole) before they fly to southern Europe.

The most pampered of guinea pigs, raised on the finest pet food, might, with a bit of luck, grow to more than a kilogram. That makes even more remarkable the massive proportions of Goya, a prehistoric guinea-pig cousin whose skeleton was recently uncovered in South America by paleontologists from the University of Tubingen in Germany, the Francisco de Miranda National Experimental University in Venezuela and UCLA.

Once reserved for adrenaline junkies, skydiving is luring more and more regular folks. Should you decide to take the plunge, why not fall toward some of the world's finest scenery?

Vacationers around the world have always cherished their national parks for fresh air, natural beauty and abundant wildlife. But during the heavy summer-travel months, popular destinations as far-flung as Yosemite in California, Germany's Black Forest and South Africa's Kruger Park feel more like parking lots than nature preserves.

In 35 years of skiing, Halsted Morris had never seen anything like the slopes of Baffin Island. Located in the Arctic Ocean, off the coast of Nunavut in northern Canada, the island is made up of ice-cream-cone-shaped summits, 100-foot glaciers and walls of sheer rock. "Here you are, out in the wilderness, hundreds of miles from anyone else," he says. "You're putting your signature down on the snow.