About Jen Rose Smith / Jen Rose Smith

Vermont writer Jen Rose Smith covers adventure and wild places from a home base in the Green Mountains. Her travel writing has appeared in the Washington Post, National Geographic Travel, CNN Travel, American Way, Nexos, Condé Nast Traveler, Backpacker, AFAR, Rolling Stone, USA Today, and Outside Online. Jen is also the author of six travel guidebooks to Vermont and New England, including the award-winning New England Road Trips.

For CNN, Jen reports on issues of health, education, and childcare.

Washington Post • 7th October 2021

You’re a different person when you travel. Here’s why, and how to transform yourself at home.

When I leave familiar things behind, I look at the world with fresh eyes. Strange foods become new favorites. Curiosity surges. I am a different person when I travel.

Washington Post • 29th September 2021

At 82, legendary travel writer Colin Thubron shows no signs of slowing down

The author's most recent book takes readers 3,000 miles down the remote Amur River through Mongolia, China, and Russia.

Washington Post • 9th September 2021

Don’t call it relaxation. On this Maine island, vacation is for rusticating.

What is rusticating? It’s the 19th-century version of going country. Think: picnics by rowboat, plein-air painting or day-long hikes along mountain trails.

Washington Post • 19th August 2021

In Iceland, a geothermal soak is the ultimate cure-all

Even the tiniest towns have their own public pools in this windblown, almost-Arctic island country, haunts for everyone from school kids to retirees. Deep in the countryside, roadside signs point to natural hot springs burbling straight from the earth.

National Geographic • 8th August 2021

The Middle East may be the next great hiking destination

The Red Sea Mountain Trail is mainland Egypt’s first long-distance trail, opening to outsiders an area that few travelers have explored in recent decades.

Washington Post • 29th July 2021

Iceland’s new driving route explores the remote north

I like remote and wild places, and I don’t wish to see their edges buffed away. Between theatrical weather and shy foxes, the Westfjords did not disappoint.

BBC Travel • 12th April 2021

The US' lost, ancient megacity

A thousand years ago, the Mississippian settlement – on a site near the modern US city of St Louis, Missouri – was renowned for bashes that went on for days.

Washington Post • 5th August 2021

Tucson’s new tourist attractions range from Aztec art to space rocks

In Tucson, a fresh-air destination beloved for winter sun, old-school is news again: Birding is big, hiking is trending and parks are filled with nature-seeking tourists. And at the Tucson Museum of Art, ancient artifacts are getting a glow up.

National Geographic Travel • 22nd February 2021

‘It really is like flying.’ Explore wild skating on nature’s ice

A taste of freedom amid an ongoing pandemic, this outdoor adventure has become a hot trend in cold regions of the United States.

Washington Post • 28th July 2021

L.A. bounces back with breezy new stays, superheroes and movie magic

As travelers return this summer and fall, they’ll find fresh attractions steeped in old-school Hollywood magic. Welcome back to the land of superheroes and silver-screen glamour.

Washington Post • 12th February 2021

Aromas can evoke beloved journeys — or voyages not yet taken

For travelers like me circumscribed by the pandemic, aromas offer the chance to revisit cherished journeys. That can be as simple as savoring the bouquet of a favorite wine, making a homemade amaro, or lighting a scented candle.

National Geographic Travel • 22nd December 2020

Is joy the same in every language?

Learning unfamiliar words can take us on epic journeys even when we can’t travel.

EatingWell • 25th February 2020

Cyprus Is an Island Divided

Cyprus is a land of contrasts: jaw dropping beauty next to the rough reality of territorial disputes. But no matter whether Turkish or Greek, food traditions are a vital part of family, identity and pride.

Washington Post • 21st July 2021

A comeback for the Big Easy with music, art and energy

“In New Orleans, everything is a good idea,” wrote Bob Dylan, offering the city’s architectural quirks as evidence. It’s still true, and a flurry of new hotels there blend whimsy, eclectic grandeur and funky design to charming effect.

Virtuoso Life Magazine • 27th August 2020

For Heaven's Sake

Worshiping the stars on Spain's volcanic Canary Islands

Washington Post • 7th January 2021

Will psychedelic mushroom vacations come to the U. S.?

Retreats step into the void between the swelling interest in psychedelic therapy and the tightly controlled trials carried out at the new research centers. And those retreats run a remarkable gamut.

Washington Post • 23rd January 2021

Take a culinary journey with these new travel-inspired cookbooks

As my unused passport gathers ever more dust, food’s power to summon faraway places to my Vermont kitchen has only grown.

Washington Post • 14th July 2021

Forget 2020. Chicago invites travelers to make the most of 2021.

Chicago, like many of us, wants a 2020 do-over.

CNN • 18th June 2021

How to go backpacking (and why it's worth the effort)

In recent years, new backpacking routes have opened up some of the most scenic places on Earth to hikers.

Washington Post • 17th June 2021

Ready for a city trip? Miami has a bumper crop of newly opened attractions.

As U.S. travelers — increasingly vaccinated — eye upcoming vacations, some are heading south to Miami. The city combines urban verve with the breezy appeal of a beach trip: well-suited, perhaps, to a late-pandemic rush toward fresh air and fresh surroundings.

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