6 Best Things to Do When Driving Northern Ireland

6 Best Things to Do When Driving Northern Ireland

The farthest points of Northern Ireland are less than 150 miles apart (a mere three-hour drive) making it the perfect road trip destination, with close-knit attractions, lots of scenery and sightseeing, and just plenty of rustic charm in between. At the same time, local bus and train routes conveniently connect almost everywhere of interest, meaning …

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3 Days in Istanbul: An Itinerary to Cover Centuries of History

3 Days in Istanbul: An Itinerary to Cover Centuries of History

Home to over 15 million Istanbulites, Istanbul may not be Turkey’s capital (that honor belongs to Ankara), but it remains the country’s largest city by quite some margin. Formerly known as Byzantium and Constantinople, the area has long been a major area of trading and commerce thanks to its location and the Bosphorus, the river …

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Exploring the Ancient City of Teotihuacan

Exploring the Ancient City of Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan is a Mesoamerican city and UNESCO World Heritage Site that is believed to date back as far as 400 B.C. Much of the city’s history between 400 B.C. and 1400 A.D. remains a mystery. When the Aztecs arrived in the area in the 1400s, it was already completed deserted. It was they that gave …

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Visiting the Heart of Neolithic Orkney in Scotland

The Heart of Neolithic Orkney – Islands of History

Standing on the most north-easterly mainland point of the British Isles the wind blows continually. Offshore amongst raging waters is a collection of islands, the Orkney Islands. The North Atlantic and the North Sea rage whatever the weather. The Pentland Firth, which stands between the British mainland and the Orkney Islands, is well known for …

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Point Roberts, Washington: America’s Appendix

Point Roberts, Washington: America's Appendix

In 1846, the United States and Canada signed a treaty to finalize their border. It set the 49th north line of latitude as the border from the Lake of the Woods in Minnesota/Manitoba to Puget Sound in Washington/British Columbia. As part of the deal, the British were able to keep Vancouver Island south of the …

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Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range

Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range

From the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range World Heritage Inscription: Set in the dense forests of the Kii Mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean, three sacred sites—Yoshino and Omine, Kumano Sanzan, Koyasan—linked by pilgrimage routes to the ancient capital cities of Nara and Kyoto, reflect the fusion of Shinto, rooted in …

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Kootenay National Park, British Columbia

Kootenay National Park, British Columbia

Kootenay is adjacent to two other national parks: Banff (which borders to the east) and Yoho (which borders to the north). It is also a component of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site. As with Yoho, there is one primary highway which runs through the park, and everything you’d want to see …

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The Next Trip: Eastern Canada

In what is becoming an annual thing for me, I’ll be starting on another North American road trip soon. Compared to my road trip around the western US and Canada last fall, this should be relatively short. I am pretty apprehensive about this trip. My father left the hospital this week was placed in a …

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A Guide to Visiting the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan

A guide to visiting the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan

It was a rainy day in November but the cloudy and gray sky, combined with half-destroyed buildings and ghostly railway tracks, seemed like the ideal scenario for photography. I was wandering around industrial warehouses with broken windows and rusted Soviet machinery. I bumped into a Lenin bust which was surrounded by weeds and located in …

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