Unseen Cities that you Must See

With everybody running around in elephant pants you might be tempted to see some real life elephants. And Thailand is the place to be if you want to meet the gentle giants. However, you have to be really careful and do your research on which places treat the animals nicely and which do not. Do not go to a place that offers elephant riding as this will hurt the animals and should not be supported. Sadly, many tourists do not think about the animals and how they are treated. If you care, please help to spread the word. The Elephant Jungle Sanctuary The Elephant Sanctuary in Chiang Mai was probably the only place that I had booked in advance. This was not necessary as my friend had booked the same trip about two days before, but it at least helped me plan my travel destinations in Thailand a bit more as I had one fixed date already. When I was doing my research at home, two names stuck out for places that people recommended and who promised that there was no elephant riding i...

There are millions of people who dream of visiting Australia one day, and we have been so lucky to have been based here for the last 2 years due to Emma attending University in Sydney. At the same time, this piece of Earth is the smallest continent and the biggest island in the world. Its culture and its nature are completely different from any other place on the planet. However, it is important to know certain things before reaching Australia, so that your travel across this amazing continent is well spent. 1. It is REALLY Big Australia is the 6th largest country in the world. Occupying a territory of 7,692,024 km², which is more than the size of ALL European Union countries! Yet it has one of the lowest population densities in the world of only 2.6 people/km². Half of the roughly 20 million people living in Australia are actually from only three cities, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. When we first flew into Sydney arriving from Abu Dhabi, it took us over 4 hours fr...

Before starting to review Lolita, I must admit I had high expectations from the book and honestly – it did score well.  Lolita is a story of obsession, delusion and moreover lust. The story revolves around Lolita Haze and Humbert Humbert. Humbert is a scholar, aesthete, a nymphet  obsessed and has fallen madly in love with Lolita, his landlady’s – Mrs. Haze – a 12-year-old daughter. After the sudden death of Mrs. Haze, Humbert took Lolita’s charge initially as a fatherly figure and in the name of love carry her for a cross-country adventurous trip. Lolita initially went ahead with Humbert for pocket money and also because she didn’t want to go to a foster. Over a period of time, they drive from state to state, from one to motel to another and eventually settles down in New England, where Humbert enrolls Lolita in a girl’s school. Humbert became very possessive of Lolita and never allowed her to participate in after-school activities. One day ...

As someone who spends more time outside than in, I’m no stranger to outdoor gear, and when I stumbled upon Big Outdoors several months ago, I was excited to find that they featured small gear companies I’ve never even heard of. Turns out, that’s part of their mission – to encourage outdoor lovers to look beyond the big box stores and support up-and-coming  companies. Big Outdoors curates outdoor gear and clothing collections that highlight innovative products made by smaller, high-quality manufacturers that are hard to find elsewhere. I’m totally smitten.   I’ve joined forces with Big Outdoors as a brand ambassador in hopes of inspiring my readers to think outside of the big box stores when choosing gear and clothing for their outdoor adventures.  Want to learn more about this innovative company? You should definitely pop over to their website and have a look around, but first, let me introduce the founder of Big Outdoors, Lloyd Vogel....

My biggest gripe about Boston is that everything shuts down so early.  You can’t get a drink anywhere — anywhere — after 2:00 AM.  Even the after-hours club, Rise, only stocks Diet Coke and Red Bull. So, if the night is young, you could do what most people do, and bring a flask or a few nips to Rise. Or…you could go to Chinatown. Image: Kramchang Many Chinatown restaurants are open until 4:00 AM, and they get packed after the nearby Theater District clubs shut down for the night.  I can’t tell you how many times my friends and I have gone for late night veggie lo mein and crab rangoons. But if you’re looking for something to drink, ask for the “cold tea.” The reactions from Chinatown servers vary widely.  Some will feign ignorance.  Some will give you a wink.  Some will exclaim, “You want beer?” But if you’re lucky, the server will return with a teapot full of Heineken.  Drink up, my friends. Keep in mind that th...

Ljubljana ( pronounced as lyoob-lyAH-nah ) is one of the cutest European cities I have visited. We spent only one day in Ljubljana experiencing a Slovenian cuisine food tour and fell in love with the city. This one day from Zagreb to Ljubljana and the next at Vintgar Gorge near Lake Bled was a detour baked in our two-week itinerary to Croatia. The pedestrian-only town center with its colourful buildings seems straight from a fairy-tale. There is lots to explore and experience in this charming Slovenian capital. My recommendation would be to get your hands on the free guide-cum-map provided by the Tourist Center (near the Triple Bridge) to figure what to do in Ljubljana in one day. Page Contents Recent history Drive from Zagreb to Ljubljana Take a food tour for one day in Ljubljana Food coma: Start with the traditional dishes Potica: Part of Slovenian heritage Modern Slovenian food tasting Recent history After World War Two, Ljubljana and Slovenia became part of Y...

Between 1941 and 1945, approximately six million Jews and some five million non-Jews were killed by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual recognition of the day that the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated in 1945. 70 years later precious few survivors of the Holocaust remain, so the importance of this day grows as we ensure that these atrocities are never forgotten. There are memorials, museums, and tributes dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust all over the world, each as important as the last. We’ve selected a handful of the most prominent memorials where people will be marking and remembering these terrible events. While we know that travel should be fun and inspiring, it is also a way to learn about life. And there are few better ways to learn about being alive, about humanity, than by remembering one of its darkest moments, when so many lives were taken away. 1. Auschwitz (Poland) Mos...

The 1959 – 1975 Vietnam War was a bitter struggle. The US fought against the North Vietnamese to prevent the South of Vietnam falling under Communist rule. Ultimately the mission failed, and millions of Vietnamese people and tens of thousands of Americans lost their lives in the conflict. In recent years many of the sites of the conflict have been opened to tourists, who’ve arrived in ever-increasing numbers. These sites, which range from the moving to the bizarre, are scattered all over the country. Two of the most famous are the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Demilitarized Zone near Hue. Down into the Cu Chi Tunnels This 250-mile network of tunnels, 45 miles north-west of Ho Chi Minh City, played a vital role in the North Vietnamese victory in the war. They were inhabited by up to 10,000 people, who went without daylight for years on end and fought off attacks from the Americans who discovered them after unwittingly building camp right on top of them. I booked my ticket to see the...

If you’ve ever attended a football match, travelled on the subway, or wound up at a poorly organised swinger’s night, then you’ll know the feeling of being trapped in a confined space with a disconcerting abundance of male genitalia. But if they weren’t amputated and languishing in jars of formaldehyde like sexually-disenfranchised offal then you probably haven’t been to the Iceland Penis Museum. This upstanding institution in Reykjavik contains, at time of writing, 282 penises. “To my knowledge this is the only place in the world that houses all the penises of all the mammals found in a single country,” says Hjortur Gisli Sigurdsson, curator & director of the museum. “It’s a unique collection.” A visit will leave you positively engorged with pulsing knowledge. 1. Phallology is a real science, apparently As documented for centuries by art, sports cars, and the Burj Khalifa, men are obsessed with our dangling hitchhikers. “Phallology is a relatively new science,” says Sigurdsso...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I could write a novel to describe the beauty of Switzerland. There is nothing more magical to waking up in the mountains, surrounded by snowy peaks and views for days. And if you are lucky enough to visit Switzerland, you will soon realise this small country hosts endless beautiful towns and cities to visit. So with that, we’ve listed for you the prettiest places in Switzerland to visit. Get pinning! 1. Zurich I’ve been lucky enough in my life to visit Zurich more than once. However, it is my first visit to this city I remember most. Arriving in Zurich feels like a fairytale. The pastel-coloured houses, the scenic Limmat River, and the charming cafes all make this feel like a small town. But the truth is Zurich is a large city. It just feels quaint, charming and bespoke. 2. Oberhofen Castle This 13th-century castle is perhaps one of the most photogenic in all of Europe. Oberhofen sits peacefully on the edge of...