It’s been a big year for travel. In the middle of the jampacked travel year, By The Way launched on June 18, becoming a hub of travel news, advice and City Guides written by journalists who actually live in those cities. Since then, we’ve covered space travel, commiserated over our best (and worst) old vacation photos, debunked industry rumors and showed you a way to see Los Angeles without mentioning the Chinese Theatre.
We rounded up our most-read, most helpful and most-loved stories of 2019, in case you missed them.
Most-read stories
‘At a certain point, you just lose it’: Passengers revolt aboard Norwegian Spirit cruise ship
Cruise passengers are often disappointed when something goes awry — a skipped port, an unexpected itinerary shuffle, an unsatisfying meal. Most of the time, those issues are just hiccups in an otherwise good trip. But for passengers aboard the Norwegian Spirit in October, the letdowns piled up for days until they saw no choice but to protest.
Airline helpfully tweets advice on where on a plane you are least likely to die in a crash
Sometimes a helpful hint doesn’t quite hit the mark. When a regional Twitter account in India for Dutch airline KLM tweeted a “Tuesday Trivia” fact about which seats on a plane have the highest fatality rate, followers were flummoxed. After an inquiry from The Washington Post, the tweet was quickly taken down. An apology followed, as did a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration that called the “fact” into question.
The demise of formal nights on cruises: How dress codes are tearing passengers apart
It’s a dividing issue of our times: On nights that cruise lines set aside for more formal attire, how dressed-up should passengers have to get? Online message boards and Facebook pages are full of high emotion about the subject, and sometimes that agita spills over into real life. We dove into the dress code changes that cruise lines have been making, and how passengers have adjusted.
Best feel-good reads
Passengers were in for a long flight delay. Then one of them stepped up to fly the plane.
Michael Bradley just wanted to get his vacation off the ground. And if that meant putting in a little extra work on the way, so be it. The EasyJet pilot was off-duty when his flight was supposed to go from Manchester, England, to Alicante, Spain. But to avoid a two-hour delay, he offered to hop in the cockpit himself.
New mom Audrey Gelman was traveling away from her infant son for the first time when she popped into a private Mamava pod to pump. What she saw inside — encouraging Post-it notes everywhere — gave her exactly the boost she didn’t even know she needed. The company says the phenomenon started at least a year and a half ago, and a spokeswoman estimated that people have since left thousands of notes at airports and train stations.
Violet Allison was just getting settled into her economy seat on an overnight Virgin Atlantic flight from New York to London when another passenger, Jack Littlejohn, walked up to her row and asked her whether she’d like his business-class ticket. And just like that, the pair became an overnight viral sensation.
Most-used guides
Villa Farnesina in Rome is one of the representative buildings of early-16th-century Renaissance architecture. Today, it is home to the National Academy of Lincei. (Ginevra Sammartino for The Washington Post)
In Rome, local expert Erica Firpo introduced readers to the proclaimed King of Carbonara and told them where to go for the best version of the traditional Roman dish, as well as some lesser-known museums and parks outside the typical sights.
Violet Davidson, 4, runs through Eastern Market, the longest continuously operating market in D.C., on Capitol Hill. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
To know Washington is to peel back its suit: The briefcases and blazers the rest of the world sees are just covers for a vibrant, creative community. D.C. local Austin Graff showed us there’s kayaking, urban hiking, rare-book hunting, brunching and rich history beyond the white buildings.
Parisian native Jennifer Padjemi taught us that far away from the Eiffel Tower, life vibrates from little cafes and restaurants (from fancy to quirky), public art, and a wide diversity found in few European cities.
Most popular tips
Do you know how to tip in America? Take this quiz to test your knowledge.
We’ve been tipping forever, yet it can still be confusing and uncomfortable. To help travelers make sense of the well-worn, still-misunderstood practice, we put together a quiz based on advice from etiquette experts about tipping basics for little moments of a vacation (when the bellhop takes your bag to your hotel room, or a complimentary shuttle drops you off at the airport).
Pssst. Mobile Passport is the best-kept secret in air travel.
It’s the opposite of a warm welcome: You land home after an international flight only to find yourself stuck at the back of a seemingly endless line of cranky travelers waiting to pass through customs and immigration. For in-the-know travelers, the answer to this problem is Mobile Passport, a line-cutting app that’s free to use. Although not currently in every major airport in the United States, the application is a godsend when it is available.
The completely correct guide to getting off a plane
Not everyone agrees on the right way to deplane. The evidence of this fact presents itself every time a plane lands, and passengers burst out of their seats like bats out of hell. Where are they going? What good will this do? In this guide, we break down exactly how to deplane, starting with a tip to tackle before you even take your seat for takeoff.
Editor favorites
More people are flying more than ever, but should they? You can rent a stranger’s house; is that a good thing? We looked at these questions and more in an examination of how travel changed in the twenty-tens, including the rise of the share economy, the birth of Instagram, the end of guilt-free travel and the power of digital public shaming.
How to survive 12 hours in an airport
A fight breaks out at a McDonald’s over breakfast. A nap is taken on a floor under florescent lights. A crab claw ruins a Bloody Mary. There are many worthy distractions to take the edge off a 12-hour stint at an airport. In this story, one reporter experiences the best and the worst of those distractions.
We’re in the age of the overtourist. You can avoid being one of them.
We know that overtourism is a problem in many destinations. But what hadn’t been explored much was how travelers could try to avoid being part of the problem. So we talked to experts in responsible travel about the best ways for tourists to avoid crowds and tread lightly on vacation, making the experience better both for themselves and the places they visit.
7 things I learned while traveling solo
No matter how hard you try to fit in, you’re going to stand out. Vending machines are easier to navigate than restaurant servers. Embrace language barriers. Traveling alone gets easier if you have a few rules to fall back on. Our reporter went to Tokyo to figure out exactly what those rules are.
Best videos
Are those carry-on cocktail kits actually worth it? We tested 6 to find out.
They’re cute and trendy (and pricey), but do they really make a good cocktail? We had six cocktail lovers assemble their go-to drinks from The Cocktail Box’s kits.
A Lisbon restaurant’s No. 1 dish reflects its owner’s extraordinary life
Chef Isabel Jacinto was rescued from wartime as a child. Now, her background inspires the Portuguese-African cuisine offered at her restaurant in Lisbon.
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