After just three weeks of basking in its designation as World's Best Hotel by Forbes Traveler, Italy's Villa d'Este has a rival for the title, thanks to the recently released annual World's Best Hotel 2009 rankings from Travel + Leisure.

1. Baku, Azerbaijan (pictured) 2. Dhaka, Bangladesh 3. Antananarivo, Madagascar 4. Port au Prince, Haiti 5. Mexico City, Mexico 6. Addis Abada, Ethiopia 7. Mumbai, India 8. Baghdad, Iraq 9. Almaty, Kazakhstan 10. Brazzaville, Congo 11. Ndjamena, Chad 12. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 13. Bangui, Central African Republic 14. Moscow, Russia 15. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso 16. Read more »

If you're going to be in New York this weekend and you love travel, consider checking out the New York Times Travel Show, a veritable smorgasbord of travel information from resorts, hotels, spas, cruise lines, tour operators, tourist agencies and adventure travel companies from around the world. Along with vendor booths and live entertainment performances representing a vast array of cultures, the show features a Taste of the World Pavilion filled with international cuisine and cooking demonstrations, a Spa Pavilion offering sample treatments and discounted packages at spa resorts, travel author appearances and special travel deals offered to folks brave enough to book their next vacation on the spot. Read more »

To this day, every place I go I find the time to exercise. The ultimate eyebrow raiser is on the South African Airways flight back from Johannesburg to the United States. This endless trip is enough to drive anyone crazy. My solution is to go into the restroom halfway through the flight and change into workout clothes. I then do a full hour of calisthenics, crunches, push-ups and lunges in the aisle of the plane. I’ll ask the stewards for a lot of those steamy washcloths, and then retreat to the restroom for a sponge bath. I’ll sleep like a baby for the rest of the flight.