Traveling Gansu Province along the ancient Silk Road, our columnist gets by with a little help from her friends.

Airport hotels don’t have to be purely functional and only places to sleep before or after a long flight. Increasingly, they can be fun and in some cases, even glamorous.

Three days of concentrated instruction at Alta, near Salt Lake City, provided lessons in skiing the steeps, and a glimpse into why so many women seem to be flocking to these camps.

Seeking snow during an uncertain winter, a skier and his son head to Quebec, where gastronomic exploration (seal tartare, anyone?) ends up being part of their journey.