On The Road Again

Ah, Valentine’s Day. An occasion for the attached to labour under the unyielding pressure of human relationships and expectation; a time to rinse out the dregs of your wallet on marked-up supermarket flowers and overcrowded restaurants, before returning home to carelessly combine your unmentionable flesh; a time to snatch profound sadness from the jaws of apparent joy. Have we succeeded in making the occasion seem like a terrifying feat of endurance and futility? Good! That sets the tone for our collection of the worst places on the planet you could take your loved one to complete the arbitrary ritual of Valentine’s Day. Dubai, UAE In many ways Dubai is an unabashedly erotic city: sizzling heat, a veneer of decadence, a building like the world’s most fabulously erect penis. But this is somewhat undermined by the fact that kissing in public is an offence punishable by a prison sentence/deportation. Bit of a mood killer. Hull, UK According to a recent poll from Hotels.com, Brits ...

I love New York City.  It’s one of my favorite places to explore because you never know what you’ll find there. But some think that it can be a bit expensive.  The truth is, it doesn’t have to be. With just a little bit of planning and research, you can find fun places to explore and activities that won’t have your wallet screaming for mercy by the end of your visit. Here are a few to get you started. Take a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge Some of the common sites people often visit when they come to New York are the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and Times Square, but Brooklyn is the new place to be. Spanning 5,989 feet, the Brooklyn Bridge is still considered one of New York’s most famous landmarks. The views from the bridge of the Manhattan skyline, which includes Freedom Tower, are breath-taking, and on any given day, you’re bound to meet an interesting individual with a story. Just two quick tips if you plan to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Stay out of the bike...

The Coolest Festival in Japan Today marks the start of the world-famous Yuki Matsuri Snow Festival in Japan. The event sees Sapporo, a city located on the island of Hokkaido, transform into a surreal winter wonderland dominated by enormous ice and snow sculptures. The works of frozen art are truly magnificent spectacles, ranging from larger-than-life animals to historical monuments to scenes from Japanese culture. The festival attracts 2 million people each year, only 3% of whom are international visitors, though the sculptures are created by expert teams from around the world. Check out these photos from previous years:

The New Zealand Picture Show 1. A green arsenic lake, bubbling mud pits, 800-degree-celcius steam vents and an old sulphur mine. Who wouldn’t want to see New Zealand’s only active marine volcano on a helicopter trip to White Island? 2. New Zealand’s stunning underwater world is as pretty as its land. If you love dolphins, otters, and swimming through schools of fish, then this will make you want to sign up for a diving course right now. 3. Now one for the adrenaline freaks. This extreme skiing video will make your stomach churn but for the brave among you, the incredible views from the slopes are well worth the risk 4. “We set out to save The Shire, Sam…”   Lord of the Rings fans will already know that visitors can stroll around the Middle Earth village and little houses where Frodo, Sam, Bilbo and all the other hobbits live. The film’s location scouts loved its rolling green hills and streams and the set, rebuilt as in the movies, is now called Hobbiton 5. This cute couple d...

And the Award Goes To… Whether it’s a couple of weeks, a month or a year, taking a gap break provides the opportunity to go beyond the shores of the Costa del Sol and visit some of the world’s most remarkable destinations. Beaches are high on the list of sought after sights to see, and since a certain film starring Leonardo Dicaprio was released in 2000, many a gap year traveller has searched far and wide to find the perfect beach. But with time in short supply as gappers trade in the gap year for gap months and even gap weeks, how can they find the best beaches without spending months on end sifting sand out of suitcases as they hop from one beach to the next? With the help of over 500 gap travellers, Real Gap Experience have found the top five destinations, as voted by the gappers themselves, that hold the key to the best beaches to visit on a gap break. 1 st Place Thailand – Koh Samet Koh Samet, a little island just a few hours from Bangkok, has been voted by gapp...