City of Valletta, Malta

City of Valletta UNESCO World Heritage Site, Malta

From the World Heritage inscription: Valletta is pre-eminently an ideal creation of the late Renaissance with its uniform urban plan, inspired by neo-Platonic principles, its fortified and bastioned walls modeled around the natural site, and the voluntary implantation of great monuments in well-chosen locations. The capital of Malta is one of the rare urban inhabited …

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Guide to the Megalithic Temples of Malta

Megalithic Temples of Malta UNESCO World Heritage Site

There are human artifacts older than the megaliths in Malta—cave paintings, pottery fragments, etc.—however, no structures on Earth (that we yet know of) are older than Malta’s impressive megalithic temples. That fact alone makes this an incredibly important world heritage site worth visiting. There are several monolithic structures around the islands of Malta and Gozo. …

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This Week in Travel – Episode 175

Regular hosts Jen Leo and Chris Christensen are joined by this week’s guest Dylan Lowe from thetravellingeditor.com. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

How to Travel the World on an Indian Passport

Indian couple traveling the world on an Indian passport.

The experience of traveling the world on can vary greatly depending on a traveler’s passport. A lot of Americans and Europeans assume they have the most powerful passports in the world, but that honor falls to Japan, where passport-holders can visit 190 countries without a visa. Many people in the world, however, are not so …

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This Week in Travel – Episode 174

This special episode of This Week in Travel was the closing keynote at the TBEX (Travel Blog Exchange) conference in Cancun Mexico. It is a discussion on professionalism in travel blogging. This episode celebrates the 5th anniversary of the show which started at the very first TBEX conference. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

Amateur Traveler Interview: The World Heritage Sites of Canada

Canada’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Episode 437 I recently had my 9th appearance on the Amateur Traveler podcast. This time I spoke about the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Canada. There are 17 and as of 2014 I have been to all of them. Nahanni National Park (1978) L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site …

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Photo Essay: Laurence Norah

Every so often I showcase the work of other travel photographers on my site. Today I’d like to introduce you to Laurence Norah. He has been traveling around the world since 2009 and blogging and photographing his travels since 2010. He is well known for his stunning landscape images which has garnered him a large …

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Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza

Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription: The town of Chichen-Itza was established during the Classic period close to two natural cavities (cenotes or chenes), which gave the town its name “At the edge of the well of the Itzaes”. The cenotes facilitated tapping the underground waters of the area. The dates for this settlement vary according …

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Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Technically, Badlands National Park was the first national park I ever visited. My family visited here on a road trip in the late 70’s. I’ve visited several times since then and it never ceases to amaze me. What makes Badlands special is its colorful landscape. The erosional features of the park are actually the remains …

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