Guide to UNESCO World Heritage Sites
(Note – Just a heads up, there is link to a downloadable google docs spreadsheet at the bottom of this post with a full financial report of this trip!)
The Maldives is a country of 1200 islands, 200 of which are inhabited. But what to do with the nearly 1000 islands with absolutely gorgeous beaches? The Maldivian government decided to kill two birds with one stone Read more
Accommodation in Korea is somewhat different from other countries. A lot of unique options are available for all kinds of budgets, so it would be wise to consider them in addition to the usual suspects of hotels, motels, hostels, guesthouses and more recently, Airbnb. Unfortunately, many are marketed only to Koreans an require knowledge of the language. Here is (hopefully) a complete list of all kinds of accommodation in Korea.
[Note – If searching through a maps website, it is usually better to search for the Korean word and on a Korean maps website like Daum or Naver. Feel free to copy and paste.]
By far, my favorite type of accommodation in Korea is Read more
To my knowledge, there are no known maps (that sounds so cool) of the town directly outside of Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak… until NOW! While Google Maps does have a presence in Malaysia, their map is grossly outdated. When I stayed there (August, 2016), I made sure to note every important building, including every hostel, restaurant, and even two churches and a mosque. The town is one long Read more
[The following is a guest post from a fellow UNESCO fanatic named Jordan Adkins (his bio and blog link is at the bottom). I found his entries very fascinating (especially #3) so I hope you enjoy them as well. If you would also like to contribute your top 5 UNESCO sites and are a fellow travel blogger, shoot me an email: maximuz04 (at) gmail.com]
Have you ever visited a tourist site and thought it looked better in pictures? Or arrived only to be overwhelmed by hordes in tourist buses? I feel your pain! Global tourism is booming, and yet everyone seems to go to those same few places…Eiffel Tower, Colosseum, Statue of Liberty. Now this is not without good reason but we have a huge planet out there to explore. There must be somewhere we can have a little time and reflection to ourselves? Well yes there is … there are over 1000 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, most of which have very few visitors, and are spread out all over the globe. I myself have been to 200+ so far and want to help people explore the lesser-known gems. So I put together a list, from my experiences so far, of 5 Amazingly Un-touristy World Heritage Sites! Hope you enjoy, and are inspired to visit more yourself!
The Hal Saflieni Hypogeum (underground cemetery) was only found in 1902 during residential construction in Malta. Little did the workers know they had stumbled upon an enormous subterranean structure which was originally excavated in 2500 B.C.. Little is known of the incredible neolithic find other that its construction at the time was unparalleled with any other known developments on earth. Huge blocks of coralline limestone where lifted into place to create this ancient space, which was originally a sanctuary, but then became a necropolis in prehistoric times. Today it is one of the treasures of Malta and strictly guarded. Only 10 people are allowed in per hour on a limited guided tour (to prevent excess carbon dioxide and air humidity damaging the rock paintings), with no back-packs, cameras or other items. These guys are serious, and tickets sell out months in advance but WOW…It is worth it! Not to be missed!
P.S If you in the area check out my guide to the Top Five Things to Do in Malta!
I guess this comes as no surprise to people who have visited lately, but I am in the middle of a massive hiatus. Before now, the longest I went without posting was…maybe 2 weeks? Now, it has been a solid five months. I guess I felt like I owed some long time visitors (and new fans too) an explanation. Last September, I made a big decision to make teaching my career and decided to get a Master’s, all the while working full time. As you may imagine, 50 hrs working, 40 hours studying…something had to give and unfortunately, it was the blog that no longer fit my schedule. Don’t worry though, the plan is to come back and post more once I finished the Master’s (November) or when I got a reduced schedule at work. The honest fact is, most of the ideas I currently have for posts aren’t that good. While I still didn’t post about my most recent trip to Bali and Lombok (Indonesia), seriously, those have been done to death and in far more detail than I can possibly give. Why reinvent the wheel with a lesser product?
So anyways, as you might have guessed, I will be back, but will take a different approach. I will post far less frequently but hopefully trade quantity for quality. Let’s face it, no one wants to read another “top ten things to do in Bali,” an island with about a billion visitors a week. I am rambling but, I do want to finish a more comprehensive South Korea travel guide and will hopefully finish that by July. Thanks for the support and see ya around. Oh, I almost forgot, in the meantime if anyone has ideas for something they would like to read more about, feel free to post it in the comments or shoot me an email.