A trip to the Seattle area often includes attractions along that city’s Elliott Bay waterfront like the ferry port or Ferris wheel. But visitors who want to work their way east into the Cascade Range for mountain adventure might want to start the trip in Kirkland. The city’s scenic location on the east side of Lake Washington is a good way to bypass the congestion in Seattle along the west side of the lake. Kirkland is about a 30-minute drive on I-405 from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, meaning you can get there nearly as fast as a trip to downtown Seattle. Once there, the Kirkland area has beautiful lakefront hotels and other lodging that makes the most of this suburb’s charms.

Close to LAX, filled with classic LA scenes, and, best of all, right on the sparkling beaches of the Pacific Ocean, Venice Beach is a natural choice as a place to stay for someone visiting Southern California who wants to experience the LA lifestyle to the fullest. The community can serve as a jumping-off point for visits to other sights in the area, from Hollywood to Newport Beach. And Venice Beach offers quite a bit of variety from the typical chain hotels you’ll find in other parts of the LA area. 

For many people, the name “Kirkland” conjures visions of a trip to Costco. And well it should. The shopping club picked “Kirkland Signature” as its house brand to honor this city that once housed its headquarters. But Kirkland, Washington is much more that a retail namesake. Founded about 150 years ago by English settlers on what was once Duwamish tribal land, Kirkland began as a lakeside trade center to connect the iron mining and steel production to its east to an easy freshwater passage to the sea on its west.

It’s the picture many people have of Southern California: oiled-up muscle men flex on the sand while bikini-clad roller skaters zip by licking an ice cream cone. Almost anywhere in Los Angeles locals will laugh at that image—except in Venice Beach. This slice of sun and beaches is where that LA stereotype got its start. Come for the people watching, but stay to see a much richer piece of Southern California culture.

The name “Palm Springs” conjures images of beautiful people lounging by the pool with Tiki drinks in their hands. Whether driving in from nearby parts of California or flying across the country, the allure of this destination in the sun reaches far and wide. Here are six mistakes to avoid when you make Palm Springs your next destination.

After living and working in an adorable Midwestern college town for more than 30 years, my wife and I faced a dilemma. We were approaching retirement and trying to decide where to live once we were no longer working. The quality of life in our city was great and we could stay there near friends and familiar places. But years earlier, both our children had moved after college to Los Angeles to begin what would become successful careers in the entertainment industry. The draw to be closer to them was strong—not to mention the chance to enjoy California winters—so we started looking for a place in the Golden State to enjoy our golden years.

Nestled alongside popular Joshua Tree National Park, a massive swath of land stretching from just east of Palm Springs in the Coachella Valley nearly all the way to the Arizona border is under study to become America’s newest national monument. A coalition of environmental groups hopes the designation will protect native species, indigenous heritage sites and the raw beauty of this desert landscapes for generations to come. If successful, the Chuckwalla National Monument will become a place visitors to the California desert will have on their list of must-see sights.

It’s one of those airport codes we all know off the top of our heads: LAX. Los Angeles International Airport is a California landmark in its own right, with the iconic arched legs of its Theme Building right up there with Hollywood Sign and the Santa Monica Pier. But look beyond the Tinseltown façade and what lies beneath is an airport the travel company Frommer’s calls the third worst in America—behind only Newark Liberty Airport and New York LaGuardia. Travelers bemoan LAX’s brutal traffic, long security lines, disjointed terminal structure and general shabbiness. Luckily, Southern California boasts five major airports, giving flyers the chance to skip LAX. John Wayne (SNA), Hollywood-Burbank (BUR) and Ontario (ONT) often top the list of LAX alternatives. But Long Beach (LGB) is quietly rising as one of the best options for an LA-area arrival.

Visitors to Atlanta have all the main attractions on their to-do list—the Georgia Aquarium, the Martin Luther King, Jr National Historical Park, World of Coca-Cola or CNN Center. After the long lines and crush of visitors at those prime sites, a relaxing pub walk down an innovative urban trail may be just the thing to end your day. Atlanta provides just that with its popular BeltLine. Hatched from a 1999 master’s thesis of a Georgia Tech student, the BeltLine started as a project to expand transportation alternatives in Atlanta, linking park spaces and turning unused rail lines into walking and biking trails.

Croatians joke that Americans always say they want to visit Croatia — but then confess they don’t know where it is. Formerly a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later Yugoslavia, Croatia emerged as a modern, independent nation in 1991, enduring a bitter civil war between the Croats and Serbs that lasted until 1995. While many Americans didn’t consider vacationing in Yugoslavia or in the war-torn country that first emerged from it, modern Croatia soon became a cheap alternative to nearby Italy. Now, three decades into its independence, Croatia is a destination all its own with many reasons for you to visit while in Europe.

Car rentals are a necessary part of vacation for most of us. We usually approach the rental lot with the idea we’ll get a white sedan with a few dings and dents — in other words, something boring. But with only about 1 percent of the U.S. population owning all-electric vehicles, that next vacation car rental could be a chance to drive electric and see what the buzz is all about.

With rental car rates and gas prices skyrocketing, a lot of us are looking at whether we need a car on vacation. The compact nature of Palm Springs offers an easy car-free getaway. But if you want to sample some of the excellent mountain hiking in the Coachella Valley, you can catch a ride to some spectacular trails for just a buck or so. Your low-cost path to desert hiking is the local SunLine Transit Agency, which operates buses for the bulk of the Coachella Valley. One line in particular, Route 1, can take you from your downtown Palm Springs hotel to six trails in just minutes. Buses on this route run every 20 minutes or so, are clean and safe, have professional drivers, and perhaps best of all, are generously air-conditioned.

Travelers who dream of a trip to Croatia picture the rocky Adriatic beaches, the fabulous walled city of Dubrovnik, or the palm-laden islands along the coast. What they don’t often think about is the wide variety of foods found across the country, some of which is pretty dreamy in its own right. The locals will tell you it’s hard to find a truly Croatian dish anywhere in the country because what they eat has been so influenced by the country’s neighbors.

You may actually smell the Salton Sea before you see it. A briny, slightly fishy smell that’s more earthy than unpleasant wafts away from its salty shores, beckoning visitors to look — but not touch. Settled into one of the lowest places on earth, the waters of the sea stretch from its desert shores, reflecting the rugged mountains that surround it. This accidental expanse of blue lies less than an hour’s drive from Palm Springs and tells a tale of boom and bust in the California desert.

The London Underground subway system — lovingly known as “the Tube” to those who ride it daily — is an indispensable mode of travel for visitors to the UK capital. Tourists have climbed the steps from deep underground up to Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, and Westminster for decades to see the city’s most famous sights. But some out-of-the-way stops on London’s Underground and connected lines offer some attractions most tourists never get a chance to see.