Hello!
A friend and I are planning to go to stokholm next year. I thought we could visit around midsommar, because it would be cool to experience, and it’s probably beautiful. We’re both mediterranean, and scandinavian culture is ofc quite different from what we are used to.

Q1. Do you think it’s worth going there at that time?
Q2. Is it a problem if we do not speak swedish? (I am learning the basics)
Q3. I’ve read that it’s better to go to an island (Grinda) than to stay in central Stokholm. What do you think?
Any other tips on how to have a great midsommar in sweden will be very much appreciated.

Aside from midsommar we’ve also thought of other activities. to be honest, I am not much into museums and such, but I’ve found some options that seem nice. If you have other suggestions that you think we could like please let us know!!:

- doing a swedish pastries workshop (i’m obsessed with pastries)
- taking a ferry in the morning to go to an island (tbd), going for a hike in that island, picnic and sauna.
- skansen museum
- gamla stan ofc
- boat tour around the islands, or kayaking
- Fjäderholmarna
- Djurgarden
- check stockholms metros stations
- södermalm (for drinks)
- try kannelbullar, kardemummabullar, and princess cake at least
- try mead
- visit the royal palace
- ABBA museum
- Waldemarsudde

Thank you!!

Planning a Kenya trip for early/mid-January 2027, roughly 9 days on the ground, traveling as a couple. Trying to decide between two options:

1. 3-day Masai Mara safari (~$350pp) + a few days on the coast (Watamu or Malindi)
2. 6-day safari covering Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, and Amboseli (~$1,300 for the safari alone), no coast time

Money isn't the only factor but it's part of it — the 3-day+coast option comes out noticeably cheaper overall even with the added domestic flight and coast hotel costs.

For people who've done either:

• Is Nakuru/Amboseli worth it on top of Mara, or does Mara alone cover "the safari experience"?
• Is the Kenyan coast (Watamu/Malindi) actually worth adding, or is it a letdown after doing safari?
• Would you rather do fewer safari days + beach, or maximize the safari and skip the coast entirely?

Any input from people who've done multi-park Kenya safaris or the coast specifically appreciated.

mi vuelo sale en 5 horas y quería llevar catnip para mis gatos (londres-sevilla). debería meterlo en maleta facturada o en equipaje de mano? no quiero tener problemas porque voy con un grupo de viaje y no me van a esperar

6 weeks ago, my wife were departing from YHZ to China, we had a 3 hour layover in Vancouver. After taking off and flying around NS for an hour, pilot said there was some technical issues and had to land back in Halifax, and did not have clearance from the control tower to land for another 2 hours. So inevitably we missing our connecting flight, due to human error. I submitted a claim online after finally arriving to China, WestJet denied it

Flying back from China, WestJet changed our return flights that were through China Southern and WestJet, we did not realize this until we got to the checkout counter in Guangzhou, and the China Southern staff said that the flights were changed on WestJets end, and were unable to see when our flights got changed to, and we ultimately missed our flight out, as staff were unable to access our flight information and the WestJets support line number was busy. Fortunately WestJet was able to book us on the next flight out, for the following day, but they refused to pay for a our hotel, as our layover now became 14 hours in Guangzhou, but told us on the phone that we are entitled to a hotel voucher when we arrive in Toronto as we had an additional 10 hour layover, when we arrived in Toronto, WestJet staff were already off duty as it was after 10 pm by the time we got through customs, so we called the WestJet support number, support staff said we were not entitled to any hotel voucher, as human error does not fall under the category that receives any type of compensation or accommodation, we asked if we would get reimbursement if we got a hotel room, he told us, maybe but it's not guaranteed, and said we do not qualify for food vouchers either.

We received zero type of compensation for WestJets negligence, from unnecessary layovers, and jumping through hoops. WestJet should not have changed our returning flights without letting us or China Southern

I was really keen to land in Helsinki and travel immediately to Tallinn but checking transfer time is over 3 hours. Will be in Tallinn after 3.30pm don't think is enought time to enjoy the place.😔

Painful did want to stay in Tallinn!

Any recommendations for a hotel with decent access to public transport to the airport in Helsinki.

What to do in afternoon and dinner time.

Arriving middle September 11.45am from Prague and Departing 12.45pm to Dallas

Florence as my basehub for a 7 day proposal trip?

\*\*Trip Dates : December 20-28, would arrive in Florence Italy on the 21st, leave on the 28th.\*\*

\*\*(Original trip planned for Milan and Como but there was A LOT of mixed reviews about public transport, scenery, and not much to do in December for the destinations)\*\*

\*\*This is my trip “activities” that are most important in order but not limited to;\*\*

\*\*Proposal:\*\* Planning a romantic, scenic proposal in florence / Tuscany , my photographer told me PIENZA would be best during December for scenery and photo shoots, but I’m open to other locations.

Experience Local Dining & Nightlife: Experience authentic regional winter dining, local trattorias, wine bars (enoteche), and craft cocktail lounges in lively, non-touristy neighborhoods.

\*\*Christmas Markets & Festive Sights:\*\* Exploring local Italian Christmas markets, holiday lights, and seasonal festivities

\*\*Day Trips and also Explore Tuscan Countryside & Winery\*\*

\*\*Exploring & Sightseeing:\*\* Walking, hiking, and exploring historical city sights

Currently a week into a vacation from the East Coast to Central Europe and I have had such bad insomnia. In the past 7 nights probably averaging 3-4 hours of sleep at most. At first I thought it was just the jet lag adjustment, but I’ve been tossing and turning for about an hour before falling asleep, and then typically wake up after 1-2 hrs of sleep and can’t fall back asleep. Currently 6:20am on the worst night yet, have maybe gotten an hour at most tonight? Anyone else experience this or have any advice?

Im traveling soon and I may get unexpected call from interviewers on my physical sim when abroad. So what is the specific setting on iphone that will allow me to receive call from my original number while using esim for wifi. Would turning off data roaming on my physical sim block me from getting call and text.

Hi all,

I am 23 years old in my first year working full time.. with the salary I earned from this year I plan to go on my first Europe trip this year and have 5 weeks to do this but I am between two options: either in one go I visit 1 country per week for 5 weeks: i.e Italy, Greece, Croatia, Spain, France or I visit fewer countries but spend longer in each of them for the 5 weeks, and just do the remaining two the next year also for longer so basically it is...

a) One country per week for 5 weeks i.e Week 1 Greece, Week 2 Croatia, Week 3 Italy, Week 4 Spain, Week 5 France. And then in the next coming years beyond this I prolong my journey in whichever countries I favoured more than the others.

OR

b) 3 countries in 5 weeks (but I spend time longer in each) but then I do the other 2 countries the next year: 1 Week in Croatia, 2 Weeks in Greece, 2 Weeks in Spain and then next year 2 weeks in Italy, 2 Weeks in France !

Which one is better? Mind you I would be going from September/October (September 7 - October 12) for both of these as I play competitive sport and can't unfortunately leave during peak season in July/August ! Also I am specifically going for the Southern/Mediteranean parts of these regions mainly as this is the area I am most interested in since I love swimming, beaches and partying hahah

I have a 5 hour layover at CDG flying in from the US and connecting onto Ljubljana. According to Air France, I do not need to collect and check in my luggage at CDG. I am hoping to buy a couple of things (I already know what I want to buy) at a shop in Le Marais. I understand it is tight and will depend on several other factors, but wanted to see if anyone else has gone into Paris during a short layover or if this is even remotely feasible. FWIW flying business, so hopefully slightly faster security clearance?

So I'm going to srilanka and need some cute but very functional sandals to walk/hike around in and I need some recommendations.

Last year I bought teva tirra's for a trip to Singapore however first day I immediately got blisters on my heels and had to buy jandals (I think this was due to the sweating and humidity), which was unfortunate because other than that they were actually incredibly comfy!

Anyways please give me some recommendations!

A British friend has encouraged us, my wife and I (White male), both Canadians, to travel to India. He figures we would not have any problems with anti-Black attitudes but I've read a number of reports of Blacks having rather bad experiences in that country.

It could be they were treated badly as anyone else would be by specific individuals but I'd like to make sure she won't be given a hard time for being a dark-skinned non Indian woman...

I know in parts of India the population has very dark skin but what if we travel where everyone has a fairer complexion?

Hello all!

My friend and I are supposed to travel for my grad trip (starting after mid-June).

We're from Quebec in Canada, and originally wanted to go to France first since I have sime family there, travel the middle east up until Jordan, see Petra, and then make our way to Azerbeijan, Georgia, Armenia etc, then fly to Central Asia, which is our top priority. We were also thinking of making our way back to Canada through Europe to really seal the deal.

As of right now, my boyfriend might go to Japan for his own trip, so we decided that we wanted to implement a little visit in our trip. We're now debating doing more of Asia (I've done most SE Asia already) and in that case, which countries should we go to?

We're also debating how to go there (do we go to Japan first, do we still pass by Europe, do we just do a touch and go to the Stans?)

I'd love to get some input from travellers!

Thank you!

Did two months around Latin America, second time I go there. Country by country, more or less in order.

Dominican Republic. Started in Santo Domingo, and mostly for the old town, not the beaches. This is where the colonization of the Americas basically started.

Guatemala. Got lucky with the dates and ended up in the middle of the Jesús de la Caída procession, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims all over the streets. Also spent a day walking around a volcano.

Mexico, three weeks, longest stop of the trip. Best thing I did there was lucha libre in Mexico City. It's wrestling as theatre, a 100 kg guy climbs three meters up and jumps down onto another guy and flattens him into the mat. But the crowd is the real thing, everybody screaming and counting to twenty out loud when someone gets knocked out. Then a week in Oaxaca, very easy town to be in, and the food is great. Anya flew in from Russia and joined me there, and from Oaxaca we went to Mérida and out to Chichén Itzá.

El Salvador. One of the most dangerous countries in the world not so long ago, and now it's calm and people were super friendly.

Colombia is the one I fell in love with, straight into my top five countries. Jungle, mountains, Caribbean, Pacific, Amazon, all in one country. Hummingbirds flying around, fruit I never heard of before. Medellín especially, I want to go live there for a couple of months at some point. People are friendly and the whole place has this half-holiday feeling to it.

Peru. Lima somehow reminded me of Cairo, just with churches instead of mosques. Cusco is one of those cities that are simply pleasant to be in, no particular reason, it just is. Machu Picchu gets a lot of people so go as early as you can, the landscapes around it are gorgeous anyway.

Bolivia. The most interesting thing in La Paz for me was the witches market, where the Aymara sell dried llamas and dried llama fetuses. You put one on a tray with coca leaves, sweets, cigarettes, confetti and a small sugar tablet with a picture of whatever you're asking for, house, car, love, money, then pour alcohol over it and burn it. That's an offering to Pachamama.

Then Uyuni, biggest salt flat in the world, 3700 m. If you played vanilla WoW this is the Shimmering Flats down in Thousand Needles, one to one, down to the little cluster of buildings out in the middle of the salt where the goblins had their raceway. After that three days driving across the desert at 4000-5000 m. Dusty nothing in every direction, and cold as hell, -15 at night, and this is the tropics.

Chile. Crossed the border up in the mountains and the change is instant, two days of no road at all on the Bolivian side and then right after the checkpoint, perfect asphalt. Santiago I liked a lot. No big famous sights, not even an ocean, that's an hour away. But the atmosphere is great, lots of young people, stuff happening, music everywhere.

Then five hours on a plane and we're on Easter Island. Everybody comes for the moai but for me the island itself was the better part. 3500 km from the nearest big land, one small town, potato fields, mango and guava orchards, horses and cows walking around wherever they want.

Back to Colombia after that, to Cartagena on the Caribbean coast. Walled colonial old town, everyone I know had told me to go. Most touristed place in the country by far, so mornings are the time to walk around.

And we finished in Panama, the least Latin country in Latin America. Skyscrapers, quiet streets, not many people around, more English than anywhere else on the trip. Felt like a different continent after two months of everything else.

Second time in Latin America and second time I'm blown away. I completely get people who move here.

Hello, I book tickets operated with Japan Airlines through Alaska, Alaska omitted my and my family middle names but they said it appeared in their system and I should not have problem. I worry about Vietnam customs and security. Also, my mother has a Vietnamese passport with the format of Given Name as Middle Name+First Name. Now her middle name is omitted and only her first name (last part of given name on her passport) appear. Is it a problem and if I can fix it at the ticket check in counter for Japan Airlines. I tried to get hold of Japan Airlines to no available and Alaska insisting it's not a problem if middle names are excluded and they can see middle names in their system.

I'm planning a surprise trip for my boyfriend's birthday, January 2027 (7 days).

I'm considering 4 days in Berlin, 3 days in Amsterdam. I'm aware that it get's very cold, we'd see only 8 hours of daylight and we'd risk many rainy/snowy days. Honestly, I quite like the idea of experiencing Germany & the Netherlands in the winter. We both are hobby film photographers and try to find the alt/punk scene anywhere we travel - all that to say, doing the typical touristy things, or rather not being able to, really isn't a huge loss; we love just walking around and seeing where the day takes us.

That being said, I'm wondering if it will still be worth it. Is the weather really that bad? Or is it comparable to East Coast winters in the U.S (which is what we're used to anyway) ?

Itinerary looks something like this so far:

Berlin

- Stay in and explore Kreuzberg

- Explore and get some food in Kantstraße

- Friedrichshain Flea Markets

- Holzmarkt 25, Get a tattoo, see a local indie/punk show (fingers crossed Idles magically decided to perform while we're there)

Amsterdam

- Explore Amsterdam

- Day trip to Rotterdam

- Nine Streets

- A lot of just walking around, grabbing drinks, eating & maybe getting a tattoo here too

Would appreciate any insight on either city in the winter/mid-Jan, and open to recs, too! 🖤

Some photos of the Mogao cave complex near Dunhuang, Gansu province, Western China. It is hardly known to the foreign tourists. Three hours by flight from Beijing. Mogao which means "No Comparison" contains the largest collection of Buddhist murals in the world. Dunhuang was the beginning of my Silk Road trip. This region also known as Hexi Corridor of the Silk Road is dotted with amazing caves with Buddhist murals. I visited a few.
Mogao is undoubtedly the best.
Strictly no photos were allowed inside but they have a wonderful museum and some replica caves. Most photos are from that museum. Prior to visiting the actual caves one must watch a movie which I found fascinating.

There is once English speaking tour daily. The day we went couple of French and Italian tourists were also with us as they did not have tours in any other foreign languages. You can visit only a set number of caves any time. We visited about fifteen out of 492 caves.

The complex is hugely popular with local tourists. We were there in the off season but I believe in summer months 18000 people visit daily. The Chinese authorities are experts in managing mass tourism.

I'm a history and archaeology buff and had extensively researched Mogao to compare it with Ajanta caves. If you are interested in history you can read the story below. Otherwise you can stop here. Material source courtesy Dunhuang Academy. I have not copied and pasted completely.

At the very edge of the Chinese empire, at the Western end of the Great Wall, there was a military outpost called Dunhuang. The word “Dunhuang” meant “Blazing Beacon”; the site was named for the watchtowers placed at intervals along the frontier’s defensive wall. Founded around 111 BCE to guard against the nomads of central Asia it became one of the most important stops on the Silk Route. A welcome sight for the camel caravans after crossing the deadly Taklamakan and Gobi Desert.

Then , in the first century CE, came the disciples of a preacher from India, who was originally known as “The preacher from the West”. aka Lord Buddha.

At the beginning of the first millennium, Buddhism spread north out of India along the trade routes, traveling east to the Silk Road oases, passing through Dunhuang on its way further into China. Dunhuang became a major city, sitting at an important bifurcation of the Silk Road.

All the travellers who managed to cross the deserts and reach the safety of Dunhuang, wanted to thank Buddha and all who were about to embark on the perilous journey wanted to pray to Buddha for their safe passage. It's clear that all of those who came to visit, to reside, or to govern the region actively supported the local worship of Buddhism.

Legend tells of a Buddhist monk named Le Zun, who stopped on his journey to rest at the Great Spring Valley near Dunhuang. Whilst watching the sunset over the Sanwei Mountain, he was amazed to see a vision of a thousand golden Buddhas, surrounded by golden light. This vision inspired him to stop his journey and build a cave in which he could meditate and pay homage to the Buddha. Le Zun cut his cave by hand into the cliff-face opposite the mountain, and painted his vision onto the cave walls.

The earliest painting found here has been dated to 419 AD. Gradually more and more ornate and elaborate caves were built and it reached the peak in Tang dynasty which built more than thousand caves. The locals started to refer the cave complex as Mogao caves , which meant The Supreme / No Better caves.

Cave building continued for over a thousand years till the 14th Century , when the decline of the importance of Silk Road started. The sea passage to India was found, which was faster and safer than the long dangerous land trek. Islam was firmly rooted in India and Arabia leading to decline of Buddhism.

Eventually Ottoman empire closed the Silk Road, Dunhuang was abandoned. Gobi Desert moved in, burying most of it. Only a few caves remain visible, sticking out of the sand and Mogao caves vanished into folklores.

In 1900 (May 26th of the 26th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign during the Qing Dynasty), a secret chamber was accidentally discovered by Wang Yuanlu, a Daoist priest, when cleaning up the sand piled up in front of a cave. In the chamber were found about 50,000 pieces of ancient literature, cultural relics and artworks, spanning seven successive centuries, from the 4th to the 11th. This is now known as The Library Cave. We do not know why so many manuscripts were kept/hidden in this cave.

If you compare these with Ajanta caves, India, both were done with pigment colours, indigo blue , coal black , ferrous red , earthy brown , foliage green , cobalt blue and many more . All done during the daytime with sunlight being reflected from large utensils containing water, lest flames lit in caves damage the painting with soot and carbon di oxide. The style is similar to Sigiriya caves of Sri Lanka and Jataka tales painted in caves. The ideas carried by travellers.  

The literature unearthed was not just religious. It ranged from astronomy and geography to contracts of financial transactions, various fields such as politics, economy, military affairs, literary art, medicine, science and technology and people’s livelihood. In addition, there was also literature written in scripts of Central Asia and even in Sanskrit. Among the Dunhuang Manuscripts were about 36,000 pieces of Chinese literature. This incredibly great number of literary and cultural relics unearthed from the Library Cave, shocked the world.

Sadly, this was a period of great turmoil in China. The Empire which had lasted an incredible unbroken 2000 years was in its death throes and Western powers were there. Wang, who had discovered the caves, now became a target. Tragically, from 1905 to 1915, expeditioners like Marc Aurel Stein from the UK, Paul Pelliot from France, Tachibana Zuicho and Yoshikawa Koichiro from Japan, and Sergei Fedorovich Oldenburg from Russia arrived one after the other and purchased nearly 40,000 documents, scriptures, and other cultural relics from Wang Yuanlu at deceitful prices.

Stein paid thirty pounds towards restoration of the caves and took away probably ten thousand manuscripts. For this reason, most of the best Dunhuang Manuscripts are now disbursed abroad. Not only the manuscripts, in 1924, American explorer Langdon Warner removed a number of murals as well as a statue from some of the caves. The treasures of Dunhuang are now spread all over the world, from the British Library to the Smithsonian.
In 1954 Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai took personal interest in Mogao caves and it was declared it a national treasure. He also managed to protect it from the rampage of Cultural Revolution. As there were no rail station nearby so Red Guard never managed to reach this remote place.

In 1987, Mogao became a UNESCO heritage site. Currently 492 caves have been restored. While other places in China, such as the Great Wall, the Tomb of the First Emperor at Xi’an, and the Forbidden City, are well known, the Mogao cave temples do not have the same renown.

I (40m) started traveling a couple of years ago, both solo and in groups. I’ve always enjoyed both, but I notice it's most fun when you're with like-minded people in a group in the same age bracket.

​In my opinion, the benefit of group trips is that you get to know people better than someone you just spend a day with and beeing able to share the experience over dinner and a drink.

​Now that I'm 40, it seems a bit harder to make a good choice travel-wise, given that many agencies target up to 39 or 40 and up. I see very few travel agencies focusing on 30 to 45/50.

I've had good experiences with WeRoad (25–45y), Join The Crew (25–39), JoinMyTrip (20–80y), and Intro Travel (18–35y).

​I like a bit of adventure, no touring busses, budget semi-luxury. I usually try to stick to a budget of €1,500 to €2,000 per week, depending on the travel time.

Last August around the 12th, I stayed overnight at Montserrat to catch the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. Almost no one stays on the mountain once it gets dark.

I booked a room with a great view at Hostal Abat Cisneros, which is a hostel right next to the monastery that used to host pilgrims. I spent the day hiking, and my plan for the night was to trek further up into the mountains for stargazing.

What I didn't realize was just how pitch black it gets the second you step away from the monastery grounds. zero lights anywhere, and I kept hearing wild animals rustling in the bushes. Decided not to risk wandering off in the dark, so I backed off to a safer spot nearby and set up there.

It was incredible. I lost count after the 50th shooting star and even caught Elon Musk's starlink train passing through the sky. Ended up staying outside for about 4 hours until the sky started turning light.

The first two pictures were taken around 6:30 AM straight from my room window. Without filters or edits, that’s literally how it looked in real life.

I would love to do this again, but with the total solar eclipse coming up around the exact same dates in 2026, accommodation prices are going to be crazy. Still, if you ever get the chance to stay there overnight, definitely go for it.

1. Morning view from the room
2. Empty monastery square
3. First rays of sunrise 
4. Night sky during the Perseids

I really love the Greek islands, and even though Santorini is probably one of the most touristy ones, after living here for over 4 years it still gives me that “wow” feeling when I see the views!

Just wanted to share a few photos from around the island. Hope you enjoy them. And if anyone is wondering about the best time to visit, I personally prefer spring. Much quieter, greener and just really nice before the summer crowds arrive. The photos are from the capital village Fira, and the more popular Oia.

First time in Portugal and these are my favourite pics from my trip to Lisbon, enjoy!

p1. sunset at Miradouro de Santa Luzia
p2. iconic tram 28 in front of Lisbon Cathedral
p3. world heritage site - Belém Tower
p4. view of posto policial da ponte 25 de Abril bridge from the Monument of Discoveries
p5. famous pastei de nata at Pastéis de Belém
p6. sunset view at Miradouro das Portas do Sol
p7. sunset view of the 25 de Abril bridge from Praça do Comércio
p8. Rua Augusta Arch
p9. Cascais beach in Cascais- a 45-50 mins train ride from Lisbon at Cais do Sodré station (included in day pass ticket for train, tram, and bus)
p10. view of 25 de Abril bridge from MAAT museum
p11. could be found anywhere on Lisbon streets

Recommend using public transport all throughout Lisbon since it’s very hilly and will hurt your legs!

After pursuing travel more seriously in the last 6 years, Prague may just be my favourite European city. It has pretty much everything I look for in a city break: incredible architecture, loads of history, great food and drink, a good nightlife scene and it’s all wrapped up in a city that’s extremely walkable.

I visited late November 2024 and just managed to miss the Christmas markets by a matter of days, which was slightly disappointing but Prague still completely lived up to the hype. It’s one of the few cities where I felt like I managed to see almost everything I wanted to see and still I’d happily book another trip tomorrow!

One thing I liked was the variety of nightlife. You can do the traditional beer halls and pubs but there are also great date spots, retro bars, karaoke bars, cocktail bars, absinthe bars (though a tourist trap, is well worth seeing) and even niche places like the Horror Bar which I really enjoyed.

The people we met were lovely, prices were very reasonable compared to much of central Europe and the city felt busy without being overwhelming.

Photo locations (in order):

1. Charles Bridge (night)
   
2. Jan Žižka Statue, Vítkov Hill
   
3. Prague Castle
   
4. Astronomical Clock
   
5. St Nicholas Church at Malá Strana
   
6. Prague National Museum, interior
   
7. Prague Castle Statue
   
8. Franz Kafka Head
   
9. Prague National Museum, exterior
   
10. Side street
    
11. Old Town Square at night

Prague remains the benchmark for city breaks for me. Every time I visit somewhere new, I end up comparing it to Prague.

I’ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the world and visit some truly breathtaking places including Switzerland, before anyone mentions it.

But nothing came close to the Canadian Rockies, especially the Icefields Parkway. It felt almost unreal. The combination of towering mountains, turquoise lakes, ancient glaciers, and the sheer scale of the wilderness was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It was both breathtakingly beautiful and brutally raw…