Posts from ‘Destinations’
I should begin by saying that I usually advocate discovering new places on your own. I’m someone who loves taking ownership of a new city by exploring it solo, on my own terms, making my own mistakes. I think that’s the best way to truly internalize the places I visit. However, on my recent trip to Bangkok, I found myself feeling differently.
Bangkok is one of the world’s busiest travel hubs, with over 18 million passengers coming through Suvarnabhumi Airport every year. AirTreks books hundreds of tickets every month that include at least one night in Bangkok. Bangkok is a great jumping off point for other places in Southeast Asia, and for whatever reason a lot of travelers don’t stay in the city for very long. On my recent first trip to Thailand, I only had 24 hours in Bangkok so I decided to try to make the most of that time by hiring someone to show me the town.
Here are some of the best reasons to consider shelling out some cash for a private guide:
Four years ago Eat, Pray, Love hit the bookshelves and it’s fair to say that since then the novel has become quite a sensation, over the past few weeks hitting fever pitch due to the arrival of the much loved Julia Roberts. She plays the traveler/author Elizabeth Gilbert as she makes her way to three of the world’s amazing destinations and yes, her life is dramatically altered by chance encounters and oh so persuasive life-affirmations.
I have to disclose that I haven’t read Eat, Pray, Love (though I probably will at some point) but still consider it an important book, and movie, because it extols the virtues of around the world travel, a pastime we here at AirTreks have banked our entire existence upon. Hence, we adore the arrival of the Eat, Pray, Love movie with every fiber of our being. To us long term travel is as important to a healthy existence as breathing fresh Indonesian air, and the more people that know it the better.
The Taj Mahal has been on the list since 1983
The number of Unesco World Heritage Sites is on the rise again, which is a good thing since we as travelers like to have a good destination, and because the dart-to-map method is just a horrible way to go, the Unesco World Heritage Committee is around to make our decision uncompromising. If you like natural, cultural or historic relevance you simply must visit their website, look for the places with coolest sounding names and go there.
I’m a huge fan of the Unesco sites list since it represents what’s best about the world we live in, be it natural, man-made or a combination of the two, without being condescending or overly showy about it.
Yesterday the committee wrapped up a busy weekend making all kinds of changes to their sites list. It conducted its 34th session in Brasilia, Brazil and among its yield were 21 new sites added to its already prodigious list, 4 sites added to its World Heritage in Danger list and the approval to expand 7 existing sites. New sites are added every year and with the additions come a measure of prestige for the hosting country, who also get funding for their upkeep and management.
Here is the entire list of their additions, but to showcase them I’ve listed several of the more interesting spots recognized by the committee. Take a look and love them for what they are: the depth and scope of the beauty of your world.
Buenos Aires ranks high on travelers’ to do list while traveling through South America. It’s not hard to see why: a favorable exchange rate, great food, and 24 hour nightlife attracts visitors of all ages, and with the city emerging as an art and cultural hub of the continent, here are some travel tips to one of the most interesting cities in the world.
There are a thousand routes around the world. Ask a different traveler and you’ll get a different answer about which route is the best, which region is the most beautiful and which curry will most quickly light your mouth on fire.
But even with these voices, you still need a little objective advice to help make your decision the best one when planning a route of your own, the opinion of someone who has seen what travelers do and why. To help dampen the noise of popular opinion, I’ve assembled a helpful list of 5 different routes that make sense in getting you around the world.
The following trips are compiled with a few things in mind: price (overall cost-effectiveness), efficiency (fewer hours in the air), value (getting more for your money) and overall amazingness of the destinations (based on common perceptions of what’s cool in the world to visit).
These are in no particular order and arbitrarily go in an easterly direction, even though prices are typically similar regardless of which direction you travel. They all start in New York, for lack of a better starting point. Yours can start from wherever you happen to be.
Here we go!
Paris is an incredible city, one that absolutely lives up to its reputation, be it wonderful, dramatic or embittered.
For anyone going, recently returned or have relentless memories of the fair City of Light, here’s an adorable little poem written around 1911 by American poet Sara Teasdale.
I officially have World Cup fever. While watching that heart-stopping match this morning between USA and Algeria, I got to thinking. The new stadiums of South Africa are stunning to say the least, massive, modern and worth seeing in person, without a doubt.
So what if I wanted to visit all the World Cup host nations around the world? Because I have a keen propensity to dream, I’ve put together a round-the-world ticket that goes to each host country to visit their beautiful cathedrals to soccer.
In the traveler’s world of gray concrete, black asphalt and dull steel-silver it’s important to step into another color every once in awhile – in this case green. Those smart enough to traverse the Croatian countryside to the Plitvice Jezera region will be treated to what may be the most pleasant hiking experience they’ll ever have. Over slatted boardwalks, landscaped trails and stone steps through some of the most stunning terrain anywhere, the lakes of Plitvice National Park will bring you suddenly into the Garden of Eden.
For me, the world is only as big as what’s between my ears. In other words, I only know what I see and read. So what I got from the sleepy seaside town on the Croatian Istrian Peninsula called Rovinj (pronounced Roh-VEEN) was – and not to undersell it – it is as it always was.
Extending out into the Adriatic like a red-tiled thumb, Rovinj and its old town sits on a rock at the most northwesterly corner of Croatia’s sickle-shaped map, tempting Continue Reading
The Logo of the Zadar Centre ©UNESCO
Croatia is coming into people’s traveling consciousness more and more. With a favorable exchange rate (you get over 5 Kuna on the dollar), a stunning historical landscape and a friendly and welcoming population it’s not hard to see why. And even though Europeans have known about the country’s draw for some time, Americans have been slow to discover it, likely still being hung up on the residual stigmas of a war now 15 years past. What this means is you’re not likely to run into many uncouth American accents during your visit.
That being said, yours truly shall be visiting Croatia later this month. Check back mid-June for a more 1st person account (with more photos) of this pretty land.
If you need to know where to start in planning a trek through the heart of the country, here are the 6 UNESCO World Heritage Sites appointed in Croatia to get you on your way:
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