In the month of June, the sun hardly sets on Iceland, and summer can unfurl to longer than 20 daylight hours. Marked by intense geological activity, Iceland’s name confounds. The Nordic island country is the land of fire and ice, shaped by gorges, fjords, waterfalls, hot springs, and smoldering volcanoes—including a famous one that erupted twice in two years, after which the world got a primer in how to pronounce Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.

It sounds rough, but rugged is more like it. And if nosing up to nature is what you’re after in this country—and you should be—go by horseback. There will literally be nothing between you and the gorges.

Icelandic law prevents horses from being imported into the country, so they’re a breed unto themselves: pure, sure-footed, compact, hardy, and have a unique gait that makes for a smooth ride while traversing the unpaved terrains of Iceland’s highlands and beaches. Going by horseback is also the truly Viking way.

If you think your rent is high, consider summer rentals in the Hamptons.

Brokers say there are now at least a half dozen homes and estates in the Hamptons that are renting for around $1 million—just for the summer. That works out to $9,803 per day, or $408 an hour. And the $1 million lease doesn't include utility bills or other charges, which can run in the tens of thousands.

Brokers say the number of million-dollar rentals marks a new record.

You’ve heard of Los Cabos, right? While it's the official name of the southern corner of Baja California, it's most famous for its popular resort town Cabo San Lucas, Mexico’s premiere spring-break destination. The birthplace of Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo, with its trademark Cabo Wabo Tequila. Home to pricey condo complexes and over a dozen golf courses. And, of course, a frequent cruise-ship stop and coed party spot.

It’s the perfect place for an all-American vacation, that is. But if you want to avoid the crowds, go off the grid, and have a more authentic experience, but still be on the beach, consider other alternatives. First, keep driving on the (mostly) four-lane Highway 19, past the desolate mountains, dazzlingly beautiful beaches, and tiny and remote taco stands, until it turns into a dirt road with a few stop lights (seriously, watch out for those stoplights—they come out of nowhere). Welcome to Todos Santos, population just over 5,000.

It’s one of only 30 communities in Mexico to receive the honor of a “Pueblo Magico,” or “Magical Town,” a designation awarded for retaining its authentic historic and artistic charm. There are at least 20 art galleries on these dusty streets, such as the Galeria Logan, Gabo, and the Faces of Mexico Ethnic Art Gallery, which features some of the area’s traditional masks.

A surfers’ haven, there’s still plenty of places to have a drink—in a more relaxed fashion than the crazed nightlife up the road in Cabo. Take the Hotel California (no relation to the popular song, despite what so many tourists believe) located on the main drag, Calle Juarez. The hotel is home to two restaurants, La Coronela and Santo Vino Bistro, and even makes its own Hotel California Tequila. Founded in 1947 by a Chinese immigrant named Mr. Wong, “El Chino” brought ice from nearby La Paz to serve the only cold beer to Todos Santos. Along with the lobby and the restaurants, the hotel’s 11 rooms are decked out floor-to-ceiling with artwork, representing the true feel of the town.

There’s something for music lovers too—in 2012, Peter Buck of REM started the Todos Santos Music Festival with the Hotel California to benefit the Palapa Society, a nonprofit that benefits local children and their families. The 2013 festival, which ran for three weeks in January, included the Minus 5, the Posies, the Baseball Project, the Elected, Jon Langford, Joseph Arthur, and Alejandro Escovedo and the Sensitive Boys.

Stick around for February, and there’s the Todos Santos Art Festival, five days of folk dancing, music, and theater performances. There are also workshops teaching local music and folk dancing, and guest speakers on everything from turtle conservation to domestic-violence prevention.

In Far Rockaway, Queens, the beloved Rockaway Taco is open again, peddling $3 fish tacos and fresh watermelon juice. Some 75 miles south, in Belmar, New Jersey, a new 1.3 mile boardwalk sports a fresh coat of “spiced rum” colored paint, courtesy of Captain Morgan. And in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, the rickety Jet Star rollercoaster, dramatically submerged in the ocean after Superstorm Sandy, has been demolished to make room for swimming and surfing.

It’s the official kickoff of summer, and up and down the East Coast, tourism-dependent towns devastated by Sandy are declaring themselves back in business. But while a great deal of money and time has been spent to make the beaches appear normal again, from enormous new lifeguard towers tugged in by barges to food carts set up where storefronts remain shuttered—some things will be noticeably different. In Rockaway, for example, only the concrete supports remain from its once-busy boardwalk. Elsewhere—and you might not notice this at first—the sand itself could look a little off.

That’s because Sandy washed away not just homes and boardwalks, but entire beaches. Dunes were leveled and millions of tons of sand were plowed inland. The shore from Bay Head to Sandy Hook eroded more than 100 feet and lost about seven feet of elevation.

It’s summer tourism season and there’s some bad news.

Flying this summer is going to be more of a hassle than it has been in recent years. Why? Airlines have gotten smarter and the economy has improved.

After years of losses and ruinous competition, airlines in recent years have gotten religion about controlling costs and managing assets. They’ve merged, shut down unprofitable routes, and used information technology to get a better handle on everything from luggage to filling seats. Good for them.

For several decades, starting in the early 1970s, I traveled regularly from London, where I lived as a resident alien, to Boston, where I grew up, and each time it was like a tumble through the Looking Glass. Boston was so mild, so confident, still the joyous and even innocent city of my youth. The noteworthy Boston tragedies, vividly recalled by my father—the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 (21 killed), the Cocoanut Grove nightclub inferno of 1942 (492 killed)—were over, and such infernalities seemed unrepeatable.

Arriving in Boston was like landing upon the bosom of serenity from the derangement of a war zone. Britain at that time was in the grip of a bombing campaign by well-funded and feuding nationalists in Ulster, who were driven by spite, folklorism, and religious bigotry and were tribalistic in their antique grudges, absurd in their speechifying.

London was weary and anxious, and by the mid-1970s there had been a number of bomb outrages: the Old Bailey bomb of 1973 (1 death, 200 injured, shattered buildings), the Guildford bombing of 1974 (5 killed, 65 wounded), the pub bombings in Birmingham (21 killed, 182 injured), the Regent’s Park nail bomb of 1982 (the deaths of 7 musicians playing selections from Oliver! and many injuries), the Chelsea Barracks cluster bomb on the same day (11 deaths, many dismemberments, seven dead horses), the bombing at Harrods department store at Christmas 1983 (six people killed); and 5 people dead and many injured in an attempt on Margaret Thatcher in Brighton in 1984.

Imagine jet-setting around the world like a VIP, with guaranteed access to premier nightclubs and exclusive cultural events, deals at five-star hotels and luxury spas, and a group of well-traveled, glamorous people eager to befriend you at the farthest corners of the earth.

That’s the premise of ASmallWorld (ASW), an invitation-only social network that relaunched Monday as a subscription-based travel and lifestyle club. Long known as a Facebook for the rich and famous, ASW is slashing its membership size from 850,000 to 250,000 and operating on an annual member fee of €80, or $105, instead of relying on advertising.

All members will have access to deals and discounts from hundreds of global travel, lifestyle, and fashion partners including Cathay Pacific Airlines, Mandarin Oriental Hotels, David Barton Gym, Uber car service, and Derek Lam.