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3 weeks ago | 
bostonglobe.com | Michael J. Bailey
It was nothing so dramatic as a scorpion in my sleeping bag (as happened to a hiking acquaintance a few years back), or hurling up everything from my tonsils to my intestines in the throes of heat exhaustion (that was me, near Four Corners, in 2022), or, just more generally, suffering through a near-(you know what) experience. Nothing even approaching those. There was more disappointment than blood in my sweat. For years the refrain was consistent: “You’ve got to get to Death Valley National Park.
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2 months ago | 
bostonglobe.com | Michael J. Bailey
ST. JOHN, USVI — The day here begins with ever-rippling treetops below you and the sun splaying riotous colors across the eastern heavens before it breaches the horizon. As light fills the sky, one of the great hiking destinations of the Caribbean emerges into view: Ram Head, a peninsula splitting the sea, with raucous waves pummeling the rocks along Drunk Bay to the east and the still waters of Salt Pond Bay to the west.
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2 months ago | 
bostonglobe.com | Michael J. Bailey
ST. JOHN, US Virgin Islands — What’s your solution if you render, through intent or mishap, your electronic lifeline to the world into little more than a lump of coal in your pocket? When you’re at the most remote reaches of St. John, the best course of inaction is tossing that smartphone into the deepest recesses of your luggage.
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2 months ago | 
bostonglobe.com | Michael J. Bailey
St. John is the smallest of the three major US Virgin Islands. Plan on a full day to get here: a direct flight from Boston to St. Thomas, an SUV/jeep rental at the airport, a 45-minute drive to ferry dock, a 30-minute car ferry to Cruz Bay, St. John, a 45-minute drive to the island’s east end and Coral Bay (you can get a rental in Cruz Bay, but only if you reserve far in advance.
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Feb 21, 2025 | 
bostonglobe.com | Michael J. Bailey
Getting there: There are several airlines to choose from, including United, Lufthansa, and Brussels, each with one stop. A rental car is not necessary; Uber and Bolt are available and rail service is comprehensive. Currency: Poland is part of the European Union but keeps its own currency, the zloty. Most places in the center of Krakow take credit cards, but it’s good to have a couple hundred dollars worth of zlotys.
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Feb 21, 2025 | 
bostonglobe.com | Michael J. Bailey
According to a tale that took hold a century ago, the trumpeter’s call — made in person at the top of each hour, 24 times a day — is a reminder of the warning made in the 13th century to the guards below to shut the gates of the village as a marauding band of Mongols approached. Krakow was saved by the trumpeter’s alertness, although with a cost (teaser alert). A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
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Jul 4, 2024 | 
bostonglobe.com | Michael J. Bailey
Island Creek holds two-hour tours four times a day (11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m.; $110 per person) on Wednesdays through Sundays, until the end of September. The first hour of the tour encompasses the hatchery; the second hour has you out on the bay in their skiff. Bring your own drinks and your appetite (the oysters are all-you-can-eat).
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Jul 3, 2024 | 
bostonglobe.com | Michael J. Bailey
A female version of the critter in mating season can release 40 million eggs within 20 minutes. Not to be outdone, males being males, one will produce so many sperm that the two can’t be kept in the same small pool. The billion-plus sperm would crush the eggs. Finally, that old suspicion is proven to be true: Oysters are indeed an aphrodisiac — to each other. And next mating season? She might become a he, and vice versa.
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Jul 3, 2024 | 
bostonglobe.com | Michael J. Bailey
A female version of the critter in mating season can release 40 million eggs within 20 minutes. Not to be outdone, males being males, one will produce so many sperm that the two can’t be kept in the same small pool. The billion-plus sperm would crush the eggs. Finally, that old suspicion is proven to be true: Oysters are indeed an aphrodisiac — to each other. And next mating season? She might become a he, and vice versa.
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Apr 5, 2024 | 
bostonglobe.com | Michael J. Bailey
GIRONA, Spain — The bells from the famed Cathedral of St. Mary toll seven times. Still, a sense of timelessness surrounds a predawn walk atop the ancient walls that once sought to protect this city in the Catalan plains of Spain. As you ascend from a labyrinth of darkened stone-mosiac alleys behind the cathedral, toward the brightening heavens, the silence between the bells is filled with bird songs and the calls of roosters.
