All posts by Jakob Gibbons

Jakob is a freelance writer and digital nomad currently based in Leiden, the Netherlands. On his blog Globalect and elsewhere, he writes about language learning, budget backpacking, and global citizenship.

Weekend Winter Getaways to the Caribbean

The sun-kissed latitudes of the tropics may seem further and further away as the winter days get darker and colder, but in our shrinking world a sunny weekend getaway is never as far as you think.

Most of us weather the winter months believing that a quick rejuvenating jaunt somewhere warm is too distant, too expensive, or just plain out of reach. This was probably true even just five years ago; but in the meantime we’ve transitioned into a new era of travel, in which we’re all walking around with a pocketful of travel-hacking apps, and dramatically dropping airfares implore us to board a plane and soak up the sun stat.

If the thought of a romantic winter getaway gives you the chills, turn your wanderlusting gaze south to look at the Caribbean.

For under $300 round-trip, you can get from most major US airports to the Caribbean and back. You can go budget backpacker style, sleeping in a hostel and grazing on street food while you wander the streets of a new destination, or you can use the extra room in your budget to splurge on the star treatment.

However you spend your winter escape, try it out in one of these four affordable, easily reachable, and gloriously tropical Caribbean destinations.

Cancun

cancun

Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula sort of reaches out into the Gulf towards Florida, and if you look hard enough and squint, it’s almost like Mexico is curling its index finger in a “come here” gesture inviting you down for a weekend out of the snow.

A classic destination for American winterbirds, Cancun is easily reachable, reasonably priced, and most importantly, never runs out of sunshine. Get packed for your beach vacation and spend a long weekend lounging on Playa Delfines near the Iberostar Cancun resort, or pop down to Playa del Carmen and set up shop at one of the dozens of hostels within walking distance of the sand. If you’ve got a roomier schedule, make an adventurous day trip down to the Mayan ruins at Tulum.

Cheapest departure airports: Miami, Dallas, Detroit, NYC, Chicago

Low-cost carriers with service to Cancun: Jetblue, Frontier, Spirit, Virgin America, Southwest

Havana

winter weekend getaways

Once illegal for US citizens, travel to Cuba sailed past off-the-beaten-path hipster destination and almost immediately exploded into the travel mainstream in the last couple of years. And at just over 200 miles from Miami, it’s one of the closest and most inviting places to spend a weekend thawing out and stocking up on some much-needed vitamin D.

The Cuban capital of Havana has become exceedingly easy to reach by plane or cruise in recent years, but there’s also more to the Caribbean’s largest island than the tourist districts of historic Havana Vieja. Treat yourself to a café cubano upon arrival and then shove on to the best beaches in Baracoa or Varadero. Once you’ve seen enough of the main island, take a boat across the narrow straits to idyllic Isla de Juventud, where you can go diving or keep it simple sipping cocktails in your lounge chair.

Cheapest departure airports: Miami, Orlando, NYC, Boston

Low-cost carriers with service to Havana: Jetblue, Spirit, Frontier

Cartagena

weekend winter getaways

Far from the street art of Bogotá, Cartagena is Colombia’s vivid and vibrant tourist outpost on the Caribbean; and despite being all the way on the other side of the sea, it’s one of December’s cheapest sunny getaways.

Spend your days walking under nonstop sunshine, walking between and upon the city walls and taking in the Spanish colonial architecture of the historic city center. You can walk up the Bocagrande peninsula to catch some rays by the beach, but the better choice is an hour south on Playa Blanca, where a couple dollars will rent you an overnight hammock just steps away from the aquamarine waves rushing up out of the Caribbean Sea.

Cheapest departure airports: Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, NYC

Low-cost carriers with service to Cartagena: Spirit, Avianca, Jetblue

The Florida Keys

weekend winter getaways

Sometimes the depth of winter makes you feel like you’re stuck in a frigid world somewhere far from the center of the solar system, but actually you don’t even have to leave the country to feel the heat of the sun again.

The Florida Keys are home to some of the best beaches in the Sunshine State. You can fly into Key West and spend your weekend flip-flopping around the historic district under the shade of palm trees, or visit any of the quieter yet oh-so-splendidly-sunny keys leading back up to Miami. Islamorada and Key Largo are popular among Floridians, but all that really matters is that you enjoy fresh conch fritters and a proper key lime pie while you’re there.

You’ll be able to fly into Key West from New Orleans, Charleston, and Atlanta, as well as other major Florida airports, for around $300 round trip; but you’ll do better by finding a cheap flight to Miami from anywhere in the country and busing or boating the rest of the way.

You can reach either Key West or Miami at a reasonable price from most major US cities and carriers.

Thanksgiving Travel Hacks: 3 Detours to Steer Clear of Traffic Jams

It’s that time of year again: The busiest and most backed-up travel day of the year is almost upon us. What’s meant to be a mid-season break full of fall fashion and family time can easily devolve into a stressed-out mess where you expend all your energy crawling one stoplight at a time toward the interstate onramp.

Let’s skip all that this year. Instead, transform your holiday transportation nightmare into a revitalizing Thanksgiving weekend mini-vacation.

Pick somewhere to watch the fall leaves turn colors on your way home or back, inject a dose of mindfulness to shift your mindset from one of fulfilling obligations to one of adventure, and avoid the seasonal crowds with one of these three alternative approaches to Thanksgiving travel.

Coast Home in the Carpool Lane

thanksgiving travel hacks

Creepy anonymous Craigslist rideshares are a thing of the past, one thing you should be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Nowadays there are plenty of apps and websites to choose from that’ll get you there and back safely and affordably, and let you meet other adventurous travelers on the way.

Zimride is one of the most popular rideshare platforms. Whether you use it online or in app form, you’ll log in with Facebook and connect to other drivers and passengers who study at your university, work at your company, or have mutual Facebook friends, removing the anonymity that turns off many would-be carpoolers. Other apps and sites like Hitch-A-Ride and Carpool World will offer a few more options.

Moreover, try to approach the platforms with a sense of adventure. Do you see a friendly-looking driver headed to a cool historic town close enough to home that a short train connection or Mom’s shuttle service can get you the rest of the way? Send her a message and take it from there.

Take a Trans-American Train Trip

thanksgiving travel hacks

What ever happened to traveling by train in the US? You don’t have to go to Europe for a tranquil tour of the countryside, and it’s a great way to add a dose of novelty to your Thanksgiving commute.

Train travel at the start of the holiday season has picked up so much that Amtrak is even offering extra holiday service in the Great Lakes area — good news for Chicago-dwelling yuppies heading back home to the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, or New England. Whether you live on the East coast, the West coast, or somewhere in between, there’s probably an Amtrak station close to home, and the national train service has quite a few deals to be thankful for this time of year.

Doing some research before booking your itinerary can save you enough money to fit in an extra day trip on your way home or back. Amtrak Smart Fares are available every week, and you can use them to score a 30% discount on tickets booked the week before you leave. Additionally, students, military personnel and families, veterans and more are eligible discounts everyday, be it a holiday weekend or a spontaneous mid-week jaunt.

For more deals, browse by region and find an itinerary that fits your holiday travel plans.

Skip the Checked Baggage, Opt for a Budget Airline

airport baggage

If home is too far for the carpool lane or the train car, it’s time to take advantage of the explosive growth in discount airlines in recent years that have revolutionized air travel in the US.

Frontier, and JetBlue, and Southwest are some of the most popular, and you can board your flight on all three airlines with a free piece of carry-on luggage big enough to get you through the weekend and then some.

Check Fare Compare to see different airlines’ baggage policies, and take an extra minute to check against the individual airline’s website to make sure the policy is up to date.

And if discount sounds too discount for you, there are other smart ways to bypass baggage fees and still fly home and back in style. Just remember, checking a bag will usually mean one more line to wait in on either end of your trip, so spend a little time training yourself in the art of packing light no matter who you fly with this Thanksgiving.

6 Daily Sources of Positive News

Stories about the blitz to end homelessness or how tourism is reviving coal-based economies don’t tend to make it into your daily news feed, and that’s a shame.

In the social media age, we’re constantly bombarded with news about poverty, conflict, disaster, and injustice, and that’s for a couple of different reasons. One is our innate negativity bias, which draws us to click on headlines with words like “outrage” and “scandal” while letting our eyes gloss over the stories where everyone makes it home safe.

Another is the media industry’s belief that, according to the old saying, “if it bleeds, it leads.”

This media attitude is a problem for a few reasons, not least of all because the daily barrage of negativity can severely warp your worldview. Most people don’t know that we’re living in times of rapidly decreasing global poverty, rapidly increasing public health, and, with a few media-inflated exceptions, we’re dangerously close to achieving world peace.

happy news

But the consequences of bad news go beyond Debbie Downer syndrome: Bad news is literally bad for your health.

A popular but extreme remedy is to simply go cold turkey on current events. That’s a great strategy to free up scarce mental space, but it comes at the cost of being an informed citizen in our increasingly interdependent global village.

The good news is there’s actually plenty of good news out there.

And not only does it exist, but when you read, digest, and share it, it’s just as good for you as the bad is bad. Check out these six sources of daily positivity and add them to your content streams for a more balanced look at the world and a more peaceful and positive inner life.

Positive.news

Positive News sees itself as “a magazine and a movement,” churning out meaty in-depth narratives about how “real progress and possibility” are overcoming society’s challenges.

The self-proclaimed longest-established publication for “quality reporting that inspires,” Positive News is a top tier publisher of in-depth articles that piece together the one-off feel good stories you’ll find in the other feeds on this list and pulls out the big picture and positive patterns. Topics like the positive environmental impact of bee tourism and America’s black banking revolution give you something to smile about today, but also show you how it might be leading to an even bigger smile tomorrow.

Real Life Heroes


Real Life Heroes is the YouTube channel that wants to restore your faith in humanity. Every day subscribers are submitting high quality videos of everyday heroes, from the usual suspects like police officers and life-saving pups, to unlikely heroic acts from bikers and brave little kids. While the other sites on this list curate articles that are sure to brighten your day, sometimes you’ve got to see it to believe it, and the videos on Real Life Heroes are high definition proof of the good in the world.

Good News Network 

For nonstop human interest stories with guaranteed happy endings, head to Good News Network. While some of their stories hone in on positive social trends like rising high school graduation rates, the majority are great for a quick read and a smile on your morning commute, like cops choreographing to Beyoncé or baby elephants rescuing humans from adorably nonexistent danger.

Reddit Uplifting News 

Thanks to social media, we no longer have to rely on editorial boards to decide what they think will inspire and uplift us. Reddit is the perfect platform for grassroots good news, which is why it’s no surprise that the Uplifting News subreddit enjoys over eight million subscribers.

Rather than composing their own uplifting news stories, every day Redditors are upvoting articles about little kids making sure their classmates get to eat lunch, Tasmanian devils overcoming facial cancer, and the like. Even better, you can submit your own links, and upvote the most inspiring ones you find, joining the community in ensuring that the best positive news on the Internet is getting read and shared. 

Daily Good

What started as a college student’s late-90s endeavor to inspire his friends with daily motivational quotes has grown into Daily Good, one of the biggest curators of the day’s good news on the web. Stories are conveniently curated in categories like generosity, nature, and mind and body, and their inspiring newsletter is a reliable daily, weekly, or monthly digest of what’s going right in the world.

Upworthy


Upworthy is probably the most popular provider of uplifting news and videos, and for a good reason.

Founded with the goal of using the Internet as a mind-opener rather than a conversation-ender, Upworthy produces some of the most clickable articles and videos on the glass-half-full side of the web, like “How a DIY dress helped one woman reclaim the power words had on her body” and “Having a rough week? These uplifting comics are your chicken soup.” Their illustrations and short videos have a knack for drawing your attention to today’s big issues, but doing so by shining a spotlight on where the most inspiring progress is being made in addressing them.

In need for a regular dose of good news like this? Try an RSS reader like Feedly, curate some uplifting content feeds for yourself, and start every day with a cup of coffee and a reminder that you live in a world that’s becoming a better place every day.

How to Move to Europe: 4 Affordable Ways to Make it Happen

Summer vacations and Euro-tripping gap years were once a thing reserved for the country club class, but today we can see the world on practically any budget.

And that comes with its consequences.

Whereas a generation ago we dreamed of training our way from Madrid to Munich or making a two-week tour of the continent’s most gorgeous castles, today an annual vacation no longer seems like enough. Moving abroad is our new collective cultural daydream, but it’s not the unaffordable fantasy most of us write it off as.

There are more ways to move to Europe for a year or two than there are countries on the crowded continent, and among those are several realistic, affordable options for Average Jane and Joe. If you’re wondering how to move to Europe, here are four possibilities.

moving to europe

Move to Europe as an Au Pair

If you thought Mary Poppins had a good gig, you’ll be glad to know that most European countries have a special visa designed for you to follow in her footsteps.

Au pairs are still popular in the suburbs of Western and Southern Europe, where young ladies and lads spend a year living with a host family, helping take care of the kids, and usually helping them learn your language as well.

In exchange for part-time help around the house, you’ll usually get not only room and board, but also a weekly spending allowance that differs depending on the country and your arrangement. That means you’ll have both time and money for gallivanting about your new city or weekend tripping to explore the countryside.

Becoming an au pair differs by country, and choosing the right agency will be key to a positive experience.

Get Your Master’s Degree at an Affordable European University

One of the popular myths about pursuing a graduate degree abroad is that it’ll bury you in debt.

In truth, pursuing your Master’s or PhD at a European university will often save you thousands annually versus American universities. Some places, you can even get your degree for free.

Master’s degrees tend to last one year in many parts of Europe, and more and more programs are being offered in English. Even in countries like the Netherlands that charge hefty tuition fees for non-EU enrollees, you’ll often find generous grant and scholarship opportunities that cover your tuition and sometimes even grant a small living allowance as well.

Go get that last bit of higher education you’ve been thinking about for years. Live off savings, teach some English classes on the side, or jump on the remote work bandwagon and earn money online while deepening your knowledge of a professional field and a foreign culture.

living in europe

Take a European Working Holiday

A working holiday is a particular kind of visa that allows travelers to stay longer than normally permitted by a tourist visa and engage in some part-time or temporary work along the way. It’s one of the best ways to not only replenish your bank account without ending your trip, but also to learn more about local culture by working in and interacting with a community.

Each country has its own working holiday policy and only offers the visa to citizens of specific other countries. For American citizens, Ireland is the only European country with a working holiday opportunity, but holders of Canadian and Australian passports will enjoy more opportunities to choose from.

For an exhaustive guide to which countries offer you a working holiday visa and under what conditions, check Global Goose.

Volunteer Your Way Across the Continent

You don’t have to be fresh out of high school or college to strap on a backpack and take a gap year. If you can’t stand the thought of limiting yourself to a small handful of cities or a couple of countries, consider scrapping the job offers and study schedules and volunteer your way across Europe.

Sites like Workaway and HelpX exist to connect travelers to volunteer opportunities in exchange for room and board. You can find work in a hostel in one of the best hostelling cities, work on conservation projects, spend a few weeks as a live-in language partner, or find a longer-term sustainable volunteer project to slow down and make an impact.

france

Most travelers’ Schengen visa will only permit 90 days in continental Europe, but a few hacks like an extended trip to the Balkans or the British Isles can make for an easy work-around.

These four methods are easy ways to get your foot in the door for a year, but the opportunities don’t end there. After your first year as an expat flies by, you may find you’re addicted to life abroad.

Once you’re halfway through your year as an au pair, student, working traveler, or volunteering backpacker, check sites like Expatica for detailed guides to visas, work permits, and turning your long-term vacation into a lifestyle.

Dutch Summer Like a Local: 5 Charming Cities Outside of Amsterdam

Summer in the Netherlands means boat rides through urban canals, sipping brews on café terraces, and squeezing through masses of tourists in the crowded summer streets of Amsterdam.

But that’s only for the tourists.

While thousands upon thousands of tourists squeeze their way into the Dutch capital every September to catch the final idyllic days of Dutch summer, Dutch families are squeezing in day and weekend trips elsewhere. Despite being roughly the size of Massachusetts, the Netherlands is home to a diversity of cultures, all squeezed into one of the world’s most densely populated countries, which means that while stone facades and windmills are to be found everywhere, each region has its own eccentricities that make it worth a visit. In every province of the country you’ll find medieval city centers, cobblestone alleys, centuries-old stone rowhouses, picture-perfect canals, and, if you stay long enough and look closely enough, vibrant and distinct local culture.

Do Amsterdam in a day, and then escape the touristic masses by looking to the cities favored by the Dutch for their own late summer city trips.

Utrecht

Utrecht sunset
The city most often compared with Amsterdam for its cosmopolitan feel and picturesque canals is probably Utrecht. A half hour train ride south of the capital and with about half its population, Utrecht has all the idyllic waterways and Gothic architecture that draw tourists up and down the streets of Amsterdam, but with a down-to-earth Dutch atmosphere and hardly a foreign tourist to be found.

The deep-lying wharfs and wharf cellars make a walk along the canals of Utrecht a singular experience unmatched in the Netherlands, with café-lined terraces hanging a story below the street alongside the waterways that have earned it the title of Europe’s most beautiful canal city. You can easily spend an entire day strolling along the canals toward the protruding Dom Tower, the tallest church tower in the Netherlands, and finish up the afternoon by touring the medieval church and climbing to its top for a perfect panoramic of the city below.
Nice colors of Utrecht's night

Maastricht

Maastricht by night
Lying in the extreme south of the country, at the tip of the tiny sliver of the Netherlands that slices between Belgium and Germany, Maastricht is a favorite among the Dutch for summer citytripping.

Best known within the Netherlands for having the best Carnival celebration of the country in spring, Maastricht is also one of the cultural capitals of the southern Netherlands, where laid back European Catholic culture rules in place of the Protestant work ethic of the rest of the country. That might explain its ever-growing popularity as a place to spend a day shopping, as well as the number of little cafés on terraces and church squares, perfect for lounging about in the late summer sun.

Selexyz Dominicanen

Take time during your visit to browse the Dominicanen bookstore, a 13th century cathedral that’s been refashioned into a unique bookshop with a literary atmosphere you’ll find nowhere else in the country.

Leeuwarden

Sunset
Just over two hours northeast of Amsterdam, Leeuwarden is surrounded by windmill-dotted pastures that are unmistakably Dutch; but it’s also a city that even seems a bit exotic to many of the Dutch. The cultural and administrative capital of the province of Frisia, Leeuwarden is the epicenter of a proud regional identity centered on the Frisian language and culture.

Frisia and the Frisians, a historically distinct Germanic people, became part of the Dutch Republic in the Late Middle Ages, but over the centuries have never given up their own distinct regional identity. This is one of the reasons Leeuwarden won its bid to serve as European Cultural Capital in 2018, inviting travelers from around Europe to come and explore the history and heritage of this little-known hook of the Netherlands.

Cultural enthusiasts will want to visit the Fries Museum, home to works of art, archaeological finds, and other artifacts that tell the story of Frisia and its people.

Den Bosch

Guardian of 's-Hertogenbosch
In the near geographic center of the country, a mere hour south of Amsterdam, Den Bosch is the kind of city that’s built for lovers of old architecture, imposing cathedrals, and eye-catching stonework at every turn.
Binnendieze, Den Bosch

The St. John’s Cathedral is unchallenged as Den Bosch’s most-visited attraction, and with good reason. Considered the pinnacle of Gothic architecture in the Netherlands, as well as the country’s largest Catholic church, a guided tour of the church tower and carillon comes with the added bonus of sweeping views of the city from on high.

Once you climb back down from the church tower, descend into the canals in a canoe or kayak and paddle through the semi-underground tunnels of the binnendieze as they twist through and beneath the city.

Leiden

Netherlands
Photo by Jakob Gibbons

Despite being hidden in plain sight in the heart of the country’s Western urban core, Leiden couldn’t be further off the beaten tourist path. A university town of barely 150,000 residents, Leiden’s geographic position and impossibly perfect historic center make it the ideal base for a Dutch vacation.

With the authentic Dutchness of Utrecht and a cosmopolitanism per capita to rival Amsterdam, Leiden has the perfect balance of young international students and Dutch families who’ve called the city home for generations. Tour the city by following its muurgedichten, the more than 100 poems in nearly as many languages painted on its medieval walls. On a Wednesday or Saturday morning in late summer, wake up and explore the outdoor market that pops up along the canals in the heart of the city, where you can buy anything from homemade stroopwaffels and organic french fries with mayonnaise to clothes and fabrics or any of countless kinds of Dutch cheese.

Amsterdam is famous for a reason: With world-class museums, extreme dining experiences, and a devil-may-care nightlife scene where anything goes, there’s no doubt it’s worth a visit. But don’t let the bright city light outshine the rest of the country and fool you into thinking there’s only one city worth seeing in the Netherlands—good trips often come in small packages, and this tiny country packs enough beauty and history to keep you coming back every summer.

The Best Beaches and Beach Towns of the Sunshine State

Translucent turquoise seawater and minty mojitos under the shade of palm trees and luxurious Miami high-rises: It’s the timeless image of Florida beaches that we’ve inherited through decades of tropical crime dramas and partying Kardashians.

But that’s just the start of it.

The other 1,300 miles of Florida coastline spanning the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea are home to all the beautiful Florida beaches and quirky beach towns that most visitors miss as they fly over the rest of the peninsula on their way to the southern tip of the Sunshine State.

Behind every great beach is a worthwhile beach town. From the pre-Columbian to the cosmopolitan, Florida’s beach towns and the famous beaches that line their shores come in a diversity of shapes, sizes, colors, and styles that can’t be beat this side of the equator.

1. St. Petersburg

Salvador Dali Museum Fisheye at Night
Photo by Matthew Paulson via Flickr under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0


St. Petersburg is a lazy beach town turned dense metropolis, occupying the part of the Tampa Bay peninsula that juts out into the Gulf of Mexico and lined with some of the most award-winning beaches of Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Furthest south from Downtown St. Petersburg is Fort De Soto Park, where adventurous beach-goers can camp and kayak or rent bikes to explore winding nature trails along and between the bayou beaches. On the next barrier island to the north lies Pass-a-Grille Beach, famous not only for perfect white Gulf sands but also for its own Eighth Avenue historic district running along the Pass-a-Grille Channel of the bay, frequently epicenter of art exhibits and block parties.

At the end of the day, head back into downtown St. Petersburg and pay a visit to the Salvador Dali Museum, the largest Dali collection outside Europe; or take a night on the town hitting up St. Pete’s favorite microbreweries.

2. Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach

Defence
Photo by Jill/Blue Moonbeam Studio via Flickr under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0


In the northeastern corner of Florida, nestled between Jacksonville and the Georgia border, is Amelia Island, the southernmost of the low-lying Sea Islands lining the coast of Georgia and the Carolinas.

In addition to its 13 miles of laid-back beaches capped by nature reserves on either end of the island, it’s also home to the Victorian and Old South architecture of historic Fernandina Beach. This petite antebellum city hosts a laid-back afternoon’s worth of quirky shops and cafés, as well as the Amelia Community Theatre, with regular shows for the performing arts enthusiast in need of a few hours in out of the sun.

Hit Amelia Island in October for its locally famous Jazz Festival, the proceeds of which go toward a scholarship program funding higher education for aspiring jazz musicians and reinvesting in the local jazz scene.

3. Cocoa Beach

Cocoa Beach Pier Reflection
Photo by Matthew Paulson via Flickr under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0


In the heart of Florida’s Space Coast, a couple dozen blocks of seaside highway down the road from Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center is the town of Cocoa Beach.

Florida’s Atlantic surf capital, Cocoa Beach is home to the largest surf shop in the world, Ron Jon’s Cocoa Beach, which in turn houses the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame, the perfect inspiration for a day spent catching Atlantic waves. Each year, Cocoa Beach hosts the country’s largest charity surf festival, the National Kidney Foundation Pro-Am Surfing Festival, always held during the perfect end-of-summer weather of Labor Day weekend.

When you start to crave a little shade from the direct Florida sun, head a few minutes up the Minutemen Causeway to the Thousand Islands conservation area, where you can canoe or paddleboard under and between the low-hanging mangroves and, with a little luck, find yourself paddling alongside a dolphin or a manatee.

4. Destin

Destin, Florida
Photo by David Kosmos Smith via Flickr under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Way out west in the Florida Panhandle lies Destin, where a few dunes are all that separate famously white quartz sand from a shopper’s paradise.

Part of Florida’s Emerald Coast, named for its deep green ocean water and the literally squeaky-clean white sand that meets it on the beach, the sand at Destin is so fine-grained that your bare footsteps on the shore sound like rubber soles chirping across a freshly waxed linoleum floor. Outside of Spring Break season in late March and early April (and most days), you’ll have no trouble finding yourself a spacious slab of sand to stretch out in peace.

Aside from its picture perfect shores, what Destin is really known for is its unrivaled shopping, with the higher-end Destin Commons downtown and the unbeatable designer outlets of the Silver Sands Outlet Mall. Designer swim apparel at half price or less is the best way to enjoy the sun in Destin.

5. Dry Tortugas and Key West

FORT JEFFERSON DRY TORTUGAS
Photo by Copeland Photo via Flickr under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0


Reachable only by ferry, catamaran, or seaplane from Key West, Dry Tortugas is a small group of islands 70 miles west of the Florida Keys. These coral reef-encircled islands with their marine wildlife make the Dry Tortugas the perfect place for a peaceful snorkeling tour in a region further unspoiled by human activity, and it offers five Florida beaches surrounding Fort Jefferson, the historic structure that occupies most of the island.

At the end of your tour of the park you’ll need to head back to your accommodation in Key West, but don’t just use it as a place to leave your luggage and rest your head: Visit famous Key West attractions like the Hemingway House, and fill up on key lime pie and delicious Caribbean seafood while you’re there.

6. South Beach

South Beach, Miami
Photo by Aurimas via Flickr under CC BY-ND 2.0


There’s a reason it’s famous, and there’s a reason it’s the tropical playground of the rich and famous.

South Beach in Miami is the stuff of luxury dreams, from the salty Caribbean breeze to the beautiful people plastered on its white sand. Both SOBE and the neighborhood around it carry an air of devil-may-care luxury to match, with the kinds of dance clubs and beach bars that draw celebrities and their expensive tastes from across the US and Latin America.

Behind the barrier strip of beaches lies the most cosmopolitan and diverse city of the Southeastern US by far, where day-to-day life is multilingual and pan-American. It’s precisely this mix of Latino and Caribbean cultures with that of the American South that makes it a cultural capital worthy of international art events like Art Basel and puts irresistible arepas, Cuban sandwiches, and stone crab claws on the menu for chowing down after lying out all day.

Florida is more than one palm tree-covered stretch of sand copied and pasted like an outline around the peninsula: Every corner of the state’s nearly endless coastline has its own distinct identity. For culture, history, nature, adventure, shopping, and of course sun, look no further than Florida’s best beach towns.

5 Community Organizations Fighting to End Homelessness

The San Francisco Chronicle together with a coalition of other San Francisco media outlets recently led a media blitz addressing the ever-present problem of homelessness in the Bay Area. The campaign immediately went viral in print and online, lighting up headlines in national newspapers and inspiring other communities across the U.S. to redouble their efforts in the search for solutions.

Homelessness is a human issue that affects all segments of society, coast to coast, urban, rural, and everything in between. Homeless Americans are not the fictional too-lazy-to-work deadbeats and dangerous addicts of TV and movies: They’re our mothers, sons, spouses, widows, teachers, soldiers, employees, and community members; and indeed many houseless men and women are members of communities who are demonstrably more vulnerable to poverty and exclusion.

In the midst of our renewed national outrage over the more than half a million men and women who sleep on the streets each night, let’s applaud the big names like United Way and the National Coalition for the Homeless for their tireless efforts to bring housing security to every American.

But let’s also remember the little guys, those defying their much humbler budgets and capacities to serve the groups most at risk of becoming homeless in the local communities we all call home across the country.

Here are five of those organizations.

 

Project Homeless Connect

In the city where the homelessness epidemic regularly makes headlines, Project Homeless Connect is striving to provide basic services and the overlooked necessities of daily life to the women and men of San Francisco living life without a roof over their heads.

Of the many organizations working to combat homelessness in the Bay Area, Project Homeless Connect stands out for its attention to human detail. Striving to offer “holistic care in a dignified setting,” PHC goes beyond the standard housing and job training services to offer everything from haircuts, to wheelchair repairs, to providing people with the opportunity to call friends and loved ones on the phone. Neglected health and mistreatment of the body and the emotions are obstacles to finding employment and stability, and PHC’s success shows that paying attention to these details pays off.

project homeless connect
Photo courtesy of Project Homeless Connect.

If you live in the Bay Area, you can volunteer a few hours of your time to anything from assembling personal hygiene kits to participating in outreach walks; or you can make a monetary donation here.

 

Lost-n-Found Youth

Lost-n-Found Youth in Atlanta, Georgia is working to rescue the hearts and lives of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youths who together make up 40% of the nation’s homeless youth population.

Their 24-hour hotline is available to youths in all situations, and their six-bed, 90-day housing facility does its best to ease LGBT adolescents’ transition as they cope with fleeing or being forced out of their homes, placing teens and young adults in host homes until they’re able to support themselves. Alongside these services, Lost-n-Found works to provide clothing and food for young people stuck on the street, as well as mental health counseling and assistance recovering vital documents like birth certificates and ID cards that are too often withheld by families and present obstacles to gaining employment.

Lost-n-Found is currently seeking to triple their transitional housing capacity in order to serve more of the young people who find themselves feeling lost and discarded in the streets. You can make a donation to the cause; or if you live in the Atlanta area, volunteer a few hours of your time to empower young people and assure them that it does get better.

 

5 Star Veterans Center

Since 2012, the Five Star Veterans Center has been working to get homeless veterans in the Jacksonville, Florida area “mentally and physically healthy enough to return to work, reunite with families, and regain control of their own lives.”

Many veterans return from deployment to find insufficient healthcare structures in place for issues like PTSD and the physical disabilities that often prevented them from finding employment. Five Star Veterans Center seeks to combat this with its two residence programs: the Passport to Independence program and a mental health counseling initiative, both laid out in detail on their website. Their approach seeks to provide our veterans with safe housing, meals, and assistance obtaining VA benefits and medical care while also offering mental health and job training services to help them to return to work.

veterans
“A child of a New York area Coast Guard service member waves the American Flag while marching in New York City’s Veterans Day Parade, Nov. 11, 2013.” Photo by DVIDSHUB via Flickr under CC BY 2.0.

Five Star Veterans Center is a young organization funded primarily by individual donations, which you can make here. Jacksonville area residents can also volunteer their time in roles ranging from fundraising to computer assistance.

 

A Child’s Place

Too often, children in families experiencing homelessness watch their grades plummet and eventually drop out of school, lacking the stable support structure necessary for learning and a good education. A Child’s Place wants to change that reality for children in the Charlotte, North Carolina area.

A Child’s Place’s mission is “to erase the impact of homelessness on children and their education,” seeing this as one of the best intervention points for making real strides against homelessness. To make this investment in their community, the organization provides food, school supplies, and other necessities to minimize interruptions to the child’s life in the midst of an experience with homelessness, while also working with families to help them gain employment and housing.

If you want to invest in ending homelessness by ensuring all children get an education, you can donate here, or volunteer your time with A Child’s Place in their Charlotte office.

 

Michigan Ability Partners

Up to a quarter of men, women, and children living on the streets are mentally or physically disabled, left to struggle untreated or undiagnosed on sidewalks and back alleys. Michigan Ability Partners is working to support this population in southeast Michigan by creating opportunities for disabled persons and other at-risk groups like veterans in the area.

Aside from traditional housing support and services, MAP offers services like its Transitional Work Program and social enterprise work initiatives, which provide the men and women they work with with an income while building the crucial work experience that many have never had the opportunity to gain. MAP also maintains a vocational program to assist with job placement, and permanent supported housing to disabled persons struggling to escape chronic homelessness.

homelessness
Photo by Helen Taylor via Flickr under CC BY-NC 2.0.

To support Michigan Ability Partners in offering inclusive and empowering services, you can make a donation here, or learn about volunteering your time or supplies here.

 

Interested in learning more about homelessness in the United States and what you can do about it? Take a few minutes to read up on the 10 most essential stories from the San Francisco media blitz and what’s been learned from them. You can also take a hands-on approach by making homeless helper bags, or browse through the national directory of organizations working against homelessness to find out how you can start making an impact in your home community.

The ABCs of the Caribbean: 3 Islands to Visit this Summer

 

From July to September each summer, the warm waters off the southern tip of Florida drag in hurricanes from the Atlantic and funnel them up into North America, temporarily excluding most of the Caribbean Sea and its famous beaches from savvy travelers’ itineraries. But don’t let the weather rob you of your Caribbean vacation altogether—instead, cast your beach-hungry eyes all the way to the southern edge of the sea, just off the coast of South America, and you’ll find three islands that are too cool for hurricane season.

Sprinkled a handful of miles off South America’s northern edge are the ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. All are parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and all are infused with a cultural confluence combining that of their Dutch colonizers with Latin American flavors and a heart that’s pure Papiamentu, as the local Arawak- and West African-descended people refer to their creole language and culture.

With glitzy resorts on Aruba, world-class diving on Bonaire, and a buzzing cultural capital sandwiched between the two on Curaçao, there’s something for any summer traveler on the ABC islands.

 

Alluring Beaches on Aruba

The westernmost of the ABC islands lies just 18 miles off the northern coast of Venezuela, where aquamarine Caribbean water gives way to white sand marching up to multicolored beachfront shops and towering hotels and resorts.

Palm Beach at Aruba
Palm Beach at Aruba.
Natural Bridge Landmark in Aruba.
Natural Bridge Landmark in Aruba.

Aruba’s dry climate and the constant trade wind breeze, keeping the island a nearly unvarying 80 degrees year-round, draws more tourists to its beaches and resorts than any other island in the southern Caribbean. Most itineraries start with seafood and cocktails in the capital, Oranjestad, a popular port of call for Caribbean cruises and the cheapest airport of the ABCs for most visitors arriving from the US. From there, Eagle Beach and its neighbors are among the can’t-miss sandy shores of the southern Caribbean.

eagle beach
Eagle Beach | Photo by Ian Mackenzie via Flickr under CC BY 2.0.
Aruba
Photo by Carl via Flickr under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Aruba’s beaches and the tourist establishments that surround them are a great starting point for those seeking waterborne adventures like windsurfing and diving. For an up-tempo August vacation, catch the annual Aruba International Regatta, three days of quintessential Aruban partying and boat racing.

 

Balmy Island Adventure on Bonaire

Sparsely populated and covered in green as far as the eye can see, Bonaire is a stark contrast to its larger neighboring islands to the west. It’s the smallest and least populous of the ABC islands, giving it a rural, spacious feeling that can be a welcome relief for those coming from the busier and more touristic islands just to its west; and while it’s got the same perfect weather and beautiful beaches as Aruba, the real treasure here is under water.

bonaire diving
Photo by David Stahl via Flickr under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Most tourists will use the capital of Kralendijk, the only major town on the island, as a base for launching their underwater adventures. With some of the most diverse marine life and reefs, Bonaire is home to some of the best diving in the Caribbean, offering experienced divers and first-timers the surreal experience of exploring some of the Caribbean’s best-preserved shipwrecks and coral reefs.

bonaire boats
Kralendijk | Photo by Cliff Hellis via Flickr under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

During your stay on Bonaire, think outdoors: bird watching, mountain biking, and anything involving a wetsuit deserve a spot high on your to do list for the island. While staying on the first 100% sustainable island of the Caribbean, look for a trendy eco-resort that combines some adventure activities with a few nights of rest in environmentally-responsible paradise.

Thousand Steps, Bonaire
Thousand Steps, Bonaire.

 

Cosmopolitan Meets Creole on Curaçao

Centered between Aruba and Bonaire, the largest of the ABC islands is also its cultural hearth: from quirky cuisine to festivals and historical sites, Curaçao has the widest variety of offerings for travelers burnt out on beach bumming and ready for a little stimulation.

Curacao
Bay views in Curacao
curacao handelskade
Photo by Nelo Hotsuma via Flickr () under CC BY 2.0.

The iconic buildings of the Handelskade showcase the cultural confluence that is Curaçao with starkly contrasting rows of distinctly Dutch rowhouses in bright yellows, sky blues, electric greens, and other such bright colors that pop against the backdrop of the turquoise Caribbean sea. The largest city of the ABC islands, it’s home to hip artsy neighborhoods like Pietermaai where urban alternative meets fun in the sun.

curacao market
Curacao Willemstad Market | Photo by Rene Leubert via Flickr under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Explore the touristy Punda district on your way in and head for historic Otrobanda, meaning “Other Side” in Papiamentu, home to cultural attractions like the Kura Hulanda museum, which showcases the island’s own history and its poignant place in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Dine on fish caught in the same waters you were swimming in that same morning, or go for a vegetarian-friendly bowl of cactus-based kadushi, or other Curaçaoan dishes with their heavy Indian, Indonesian, Caribbean, and South American culinary influences.

Queen Emma Bridge in front of the Punda district, is a pontoon bridge across St. Anna Bay
Queen Emma Bridge in front of the Punda district in Curacao.
Curacao
Curacao at dusk

Save your money for shopping downtown and check into one of Curaçao’s favorite hostels, like the Ritz or Hostel La Creole, both of which include a dorm bed and breakfast for as low as $22 a night.

Traveling the Caribbean in hurricane season can still be paradise when done right, but the first step is choosing the right destination. Take your pick of beautiful beaches, unrivaled diving, and the culture and cuisine that defines the southern Caribbean, and escape to the ABCs this summer.

5 Reasons Charleston Is The World’s Best City

Any city can find its way onto a top-whatever list somewhere, but you know you’ve made it when you’ve hit Travel & Leisure‘s annual World’s Best Cities ranking. This year, Charlestonians are rejoicing over their #1 spot, having moved up from second place last year. Charleston has been named not the best American city but the number one in the world, appropriately bumping it to the top of many travelers’ to-visit lists.

the Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC.
The Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC.

The Holy City isn’t just another Southern site of antebellum nostalgia, but a cultural confluence of Deep Southern charm and youthful sensibility, infused with influences of the Gullah community and college students from across the country. But it’s not just luxurious lodging like the Spectator Hotel (which also took Travel & Leisure‘s #2 spot for world hotels) or trendy seafood restaurants like 167 Raw that make Charleston the world’s best city.

Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina

It’s hard to put your finger on the one thing that sets Charleston apart from other southern cities, but these five Holy City exclusives are definitely part of the picture.

 

#1: Marion Square Farmers’ Market

Right in the heart of Historic Downtown is Marion Square, a pleasant expanse of green off the side of Historic King Street. From April to November, Charlestonians and visitors will find the famous Marion Square Farmers’ Market, where farmers and artisans from the Low Country surrounding Charleston come to buy, sell, and gather with the community.

Marion Square in December during the Charleston Christmas Market.
Marion Square in December during the Charleston Christmas Market. | Photo: Jakob Gibbons

Aside from showcasing local goods—from homemade jams to sweetwater basket weaving to Sugah Scrub—the market also serves as a support and advocacy group for local farmers, artisans, crafters, and other producers. A few dollars spent at the farmers’ market will get you the freshest organic delectables available, and the money you spend is immediately invested in Charleston’s charm.

"Sugah Scrub", one of the many quirky local crafts you'll find at the farmers' market.
“Sugah Scrub”, one of the many quirky local crafts you’ll find at the farmers’ market. | Photo: Jakob Gibbons

Market enthusiasts will also find a holiday market at Marion Square in December, and should walk 10 minutes further southeast of Marion Square to the Historic Charleston City Market.

 

#2 The NotSo Hostel

Every cool city needs a quirky hostel to give it that bohemian edge, and the NotSo Hostel brings that to Charleston. The only hostel in both the city and the state, you’ll find it just a few blocks off of Marion Square, your perfect base of operations for meeting other travelers while exploring Charleston.

Starting at $28 a night for a dorm bed, the NotSo has its main location on Spring Street, where it offers private rooms and camping in addition to the traditional dormitory option. Each individual dormitory and private room has its own style and setup, which you can read about in detail before booking, and if you’re looking for more options, the NotSo’s annex location is just a couple of blocks down the street. The interior of the hostel is decorated with local and Gullah-themed art, with plenty of common spaces for enjoying your complementary breakfast in the company of fellow travelers.

 

#3 Kudu Coffee & Craft Beer

Between its assortment of espressos and its quality craft brews, Kudu Coffee is a magnet for local students as well as artists and other creative professionals.

Kudu Coffee House

Kudu Coffee House | Photo: Peter Merholz on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

It’s locally owned, operated, and adored, and it’s easy to see why. The interior is cozy with plenty of sitting space for the laptop-bound professional or a group of friends waxing philosophic, and outside there’s a classy courtyard with relaxed lighting perfect for sipping on draughts.

Kudu coffee charleston south carolina
Photo: Will Gurley on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Order up a spinach parmesan quiche with a blueberry scone and a mimosa for a light morning, or plug in and sit down behind your laptop and keep their French press working all afternoon. It’s also an ideal  place to kick off an out in Downtown with a locally-brewed porter or pale ale.

 

#4 Hannibal’s Kitchen

You probably won’t see Hannibal’s in any guidebooks. Without knowing it’s there, you might walk right past without recognizing it, or you might make the mistake of skipping Charleston’s East Side entirely. And that’d be a shame, because it would mean you’d missed out on one of Charleston’s most genuine neighborhoods and the best soul food the city has to offer.

February 26, 2016 - Hannibal's Kitchen, Charleston, SC
February 26, 2016 – Hannibal’s Kitchen, Charleston, SC. | Photo: Hillary for America on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Hannibal was the nickname of Robert Lawrence Huger, who opened his restaurant more than 40 years ago, and the soul kitchen named after him has been a pillar of the local community since. Alongside serving up savory plates of smothered porkchop and crab rice, Hannibal’s also works toward the betterment of the neighborhood by sponsoring community cookouts and youth basketball programs, keeping the neighborhood well-fed and well-connected.

Don’t let the fact that it’s off the King Street main drag throw you off—Hannibal’s is a goldmine precisely because it’s a local favorite with few tourists, and it offers a taste of the succulent soul food Charleston enjoys outside of its tourist districts.

 

#5 The Philip Simmons Gardens

Less than a block from Hannibal’s Kitchen is the Philip Simmons House, memorial to Charleston’s “poet of ironwork” who spent 97 years in Charleston until passing away in 2009. What Mr. Simmons left behind was a city adorned by gates, fences, and a miscellany of ironwork that Charleston locals will recognize immediately as his, one of the many details giving Charleston the personal touch that makes it unique.

simmons gate
One of Philip Simmons’s iconic wrought iron gates on Anson Street in Charleston. Photo via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0

At the Philip Simmons House, you can explore two gardens—the Bell Garden and the Heart Garden —covered in his masterful ironwork. The house itself is in the St. John’s Reformed Episcopal Church where Simmons worshipped. Simmons created over 500 wrought iron works in Charleston, and the Philip Simmons Foundation maintains a map of sites that are home to his work across the city, a great recipe for an artistic scavenger hunt through the city.

6 Countries to Visit Now (While They’re Still Here)

When the United Kingdom abruptly elected to Brexit its way out of the European Union last month, it showed us just how quickly our world and the lines that divide it up can shift and heave.

In recent years we’ve seen everything from melting permafrost in Alaska to pulverized world heritage sites in Aleppo reshaping the face of our planet. When physical geography and political borders change, so do the countries they delineate: Shifting borders can signal shifting laws and even shifting attitudes toward foreign visitors.

Forces like conflict, secession, and climate change don’t make special exemptions for tourist favorites, which means your dream itinerary can’t wait for “one day.” Here are six places to book a trip to today, because they might not be there tomorrow.

 

#1: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Not So United?

Although the Brexit vote isn’t likely to topple the rocks at Stonehenge or wash away the stunning seaside of Cornwall, it’s prompted a series of reactions that could lead to a much less united kingdom and a series of new hurdles and headaches for travelers.

Old Harry Rocks, located at Handfast Point, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, southern England, United Kingdom; the downlands of Ballard Down were formed approximately 66 million years ago
Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, southern England, United Kingdom. The downlands of Ballard Down were formed approximately 66 million years ago.

As soon as the UK’s plans to divorce Europe became clear, leaders in the Scottish and Northern Irish governments announced their intentions to investigate leaving the United Kingdom and remaining EU members. That would mean heavy revisions to the destinations listed on the official Visit Britain tourism site.

Cranfield Beach, Northern Ireland
Cranfield Beach, Northern Ireland

The dissolution of the United Kingdom won’t make the countries that currently comprise it dangerous or any less attractive tourist destinations, but it could shuffle up visa requirements and even flight prices, leaving travel to and between England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland more complicated. In a couple of years Hadrian’s Wall, the historic line separating England from Scotland, could renew its status as official border, joining the likes of Niagara Falls and other border-straddling attractions whose exploration require a trip or two through customs.

hadrians_wall
Hadrian’s Wall | Photo via Pixabay under CC0

 

#2: Jordan: Hospitality in the Heart of the Middle East

When travelers are confronted with generalizations about the dangerous Middle East, Morocco and its many hidden gems may be the standard counterexample; but there’s another peaceful and historically rich country right in the heart of the region many avoid out of misguided fear. Jordan is a pillar of stability in a region that usually makes headlines for the wrong reasons, and today it’s your best opportunity for exploring the cradle of civilization.

jordan petra
Petra, Jordan | Photo via Pixabay under CC0 (public domain).

Some say that we’re living through a rebirth of the Arab World, and others argue for a more pessimistic interpretation; but everyone agrees that it’s the world’s most unpredictable region today, and the Syrian Civil War is proof enough that neither cosmopolitan cities nor world heritage sites are immune to the fallout of social struggles. Seize the day with a trip to backpacker favorites like Petra and the Dead Sea, or take a camel-back tour of the Valley of the Moon.

Jordanian desert in Wadi Rum, Jordan viewed from Lawrence's Spring. Wadi Rum is known as The Valley of the Moon and has led to its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Wadi Rum in Jordan is known as The Valley of the Moon and has led to its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Dead Sea
Dead Sea

#3: Hong Kong: Counting Down the End of “One Country, Two Systems”

Unlike most of the others on this list, the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong is virtually guaranteed to disappear in 21 years with the expiration of the “one country, two systems” policy in 2047 and its reabsorption into China.

hong kong
A temple in Hong Kong | Photo via Pixabay under CC0

Hong Kong currently maintains its own immigration system, independent of the notoriously difficult-to-navigate visa laws of mainland China, allowing most residents of North America and Europe up to 90 days of visa-free travel. But it’s not just the formalities of coming and going that separate Hong Kong from the mainland: Everything from the language to press freedom and censorship contribute to Hong Kong’s distinct identity and unofficial status as “Asia’s World City.”

Hong Kong harbor
Hong Kong harbor

There’s no telling how much of traditional Hong Kong culture will survive its looming reunification with the mainland, but the kind of budget shopping tours Hong Kong is famous for seem unlikely to stay after Beijing jumps back into the driver’s seat.

Pedestrians and traffic in Kowloon District at night on December 21, 2013 in Hong Kong, China.
Pedestrians and traffic in Kowloon District at night on December 21, 2013 in Hong Kong, China. Andrey Bayda / Shutterstock.com

 

#4 Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Country That Was Never Supposed to Be a Country

Of all the countries that emerged from the former Yugoslavia in the late ’90s and early 2000s, Bosnia and Herzegovina is probably the one with the least staying power. The Dayton Accords that brought peace to the region left the country divided into three autonomous federal entities governed somewhat chaotically by three presidents, leading to frequent and unsurprising separatist movements that may one day lead to further fragmentation in the Balkans.

bosnia starimost
The Stari Most bridge in Mostar, Bosnia | Photo via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0

The Stari Most bridge in Mostar is both one of the country’s most popular tourist sites and a symbol of the tenuous unity between its disparate groups, spanning the river that marks the boundary between the Catholic Croat-majority western side and Bosniak Muslim-majority eastern side of the multicultural city. The bridge was destroyed in 1993 during the Yugoslav Wars, but reconstructed in 2004, and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site the following year.

Kravica waterfall in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kravica waterfall in Bosnia and Herzegovina

When you visit Bosnia and Herzegovina, give yourself plenty of time to explore the starkly contrasting yet peacefully harmonious west and east sides of the city, each offering different but stunning views of the Stari Most.

People walking through the Old Town with many shops and cafes on July 20, 2014 in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva River.
The Old Town with many shops and cafes in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva River. Nightman1965 / Shutterstock.com

 

#5 Turkey: Anatolia’s Complicated Conundrum

The crossroads of East and West is a favorite among travelers worldwide, probably because Turkey’s unique geographic situation assures its landscapes and the people who inhabit them are different than those of anywhere else in the world. With pressure from conflicts in neighboring Syria and Iraq, tensions inside Turkey may in the future lead to a violent civil war and the possible separation of long-marginalized Turkish Kurdistan, yielding a messy situation for travelers.

Mardin, Turkey
Mardin, Turkey

Be sure to visit the rugged landscapes of Eastern Anatolia, enjoy rich Mediterranean cuisine, and explore the area around Lake Van, the region of the country most vulnerable to being cut off to travelers in the coming years.

turkey lake van
Akhtamar Island in Lake Van in Eastern Turkey | Photo via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 3.0
Remains of Christian frescoes in the Armenian Church of the Holy Cross on Akhtamar Island (Akdamar) in Lake Van, Turkey
Remains of Christian frescoes in the Armenian Church of the Holy Cross on Akhtamar Island (Akdamar) in Lake Van, Turkey steve estvanik / Shutterstock.com

#6 The Maldives: The Country that’s Literally Sinking

An island vacation in the Indian Ocean sounds like a dream come true for many, but in a matter of years your choices of islands may be drastically narrowed.

The capital of the Maldives from above
The capital of the Maldives from above
Aerial view on Maldives island, Raa atoll
Aerial view on Maldives island, Raa atoll

Of the many island nations whose very existence is threatened by climate change and rising sea levels, Maldives stands high on the list. Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed has stated that “If carbon emissions continue at the rate they are climbing today, my country will be underwater in seven years”, a humanitarian disaster for the archipelago nation’s nearly half million citizens.

Water villas in the Maldives
Water villas in the Maldives
maldives sunset
Sunset in the Maldives | Photo via Pixabay under CC0 (public domain)

To enjoy Indian Ocean sunsets without contributing to the Maldives’ climate struggles, consider soaking up the sun at one of the country’s growing number of eco-friendly resorts.

 

At the same time as other countries and regions teeter on the brink and close their doors to tourists, others like Cuba and Myanmar are opening up and pitching woo to international travelers.

Part of travel is getting to see and live the world as it is right now, because the world of yesterday will never be the same as the world of tomorrow.

Don’t let the possibility of social unrest or seismic events in the near future scare you out of your dream itinerary. If you’re unsure about security conditions but still inspired to carpe diem, you can check the US State Department’s country-specific travel advisories, or consult with other experienced travelers via communities of travelers like Couchsurfing or the Lonely Planet forums.