The Best Student-Friendly Countries To Visit

BY  Abdul Aziz Sep 13, 2023

Traveling around the world is an experience like no other. But when you have practically boundless choices to explore the Earth, making plans can be a bit of a challenge. That is where you can take inspiration from popular travel destinations and see which places speak to you the most. One of the best options to escape from reality is traveling. But in order to make your trip smooth, there are a few tips that you must follow. In this comprehensive guide, I have listed down 7 destinations that everyone should visit once in their lifetime, followed by a few travel tips.  What Makes An Adventure Perfect? The thrill of making plans and bringing them into reality is the true essence of an adventure. But often, we end up feeling homesick, which does not allow us to make the most of our visits. Even after spending thousands of dollars, we come back with no memories at all. Here is a handful of tips: Choose The Right Destination Traveling is fun until you land at a destination that doesn’t appeal to you. It’s either the food that you dislike or the culture and its people. So, the first and most significant step, in my opinion, would be to come up with the perfect destination.  Once you have decided that, it will be easier to start saving every penny for it. Henceforth, nothing can really go wrong on your next trip. Plan An Itinerary Secondly, you should have a properly framed strategy of the places you want to visit or the hotel you want to stay. But let me break the glass- that’s not all! From booking flight tickets to looking for affordable accommodation- everything falls under the itinerary canopy.  Make your travel seamless by performing these two steps. Both of them are of paramount importance, and neglecting any one of them can lead you into trouble.  Top 7 Destinations You Must Pack Your Bags For If traveling is your passion, you might have already saved a few destinations on your bucket list. By going through the following section of top vacation destinations, you can easily plan your next global adventure and make lasting memories that you can cherish forever. So, let’s get started then: British Columbia, Canada Starting close to home, the lands of British Columbia, Canada, can provide you with both stunning sights and rewarding experiences alike. While the visual treats come from the natural landscapes of the province, personal growth comes from learning more about the Indigenous culture. If you want to witness the beauty of Chilko Lake with your loved ones, you can easily book a family trip to the Great White North without breaking the bank. Caesarea, Israel If you want to embark on an adventure that encapsulates the Earth’s beauty while reminding you of ancient cultures, heading to the town of Caesarea, Israel, can be a wonderful experience. Often included in Holy Land tours, Caesarea offers breathtaking sites that include its eponymous beach, national park, and harbor. The coastal town is not only full of sunshine but also rewarded with picturesque landscapes. This makes it a trip that could refresh your very soul. Benguerra Island, Mozambique If you want to head to a beach town that delivers a more remote experience, Benguerra Island in Mozambique might be a good fit for you. With its gemstone blue waters and sandy shores, Benguerra Island is a sight to behold while also offering you a private vacation setting. But while you pack your mineral sunscreen, you can rest assured that the luxury accommodations on the island will give you more than a place to rest. Mendoza, Argentina There is a reason why Mendoza secures a spot on the best places to travel in February. While the areas in the United States are near-freezing during the start of the year, the picturesque Mendoza offers temperatures around 87 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition to stunning natural views and adventure of the Andes, Mendoza also offers upscale and delicious dining experiences. That’s not all: The wineries in the town are yet another reason to put your feet up during your vacation. Edinburgh, Scotland Yet another vacation destination with a cooler climate, Edinburgh, Scotland, will quickly capture your heart with its bright green foliage and old architecture. But Edinburgh is more than just classic buildings: It is also a hotspot for world-class eateries and charming souvenir shops. You can also visit the majestic ancient volcano called Arthur's Seat while having the option to take day trips to globally famous distilleries. Just remember to take a recycled backpack to have additional outerwear by your side. Málaga, Spain Besides being one of the hottest vacation spots of 2023, the city of Málaga, Spain, is also known for being the birthplace of Pablo Picasso. But even if celebrating the life of the legendary artist is not in your travel journal, the sunny weather is to die for.  Delicious foods and breathtaking architecture may give you more than a few reasons to visit Málaga. You can also visit the stunning adventure fortress called Alcazaba and get an unforgettable view of the whole city. Marrakech, Morocco If you feel confident in managing heat wave effects while traveling, the city of Marrakech, Morocco, can offer you a sunny and warm vacation experience. The city is known for its use of earthy tones in its architecture and vibrant colors in decor while also serving mouthwatering food that would have your taste buds rejoicing for days. You can also explore the nearby desert while enjoying several clubbing options to dance your heart out. The Bottom Line When you get an opportunity to see the world, do not let that go in vain. Make the most of your trips by visiting the most exotic destinations. I hope this article served its true purpose of enlightening you with the best locations.  By looking through these adventure destinations, you can easily make a shortlist of places that you can visit in the near future. This way, you can explore and appreciate the world in its many flavors for years to come. Comment below and let us know which one you are visiting next. So, what are you waiting for? Start packing your bags now!  Read Also: How To Plan A Best One Day Trip To Atlanta With Family? What Is Most Likely To Cause Someone To Fall Overboard? Top 10 Scenic Snowflake Cities In The U.S. To Travel To This Winter

BY  Abdul Aziz Oct 4, 2019

In Afrikaans, a kloof is a narrow mountain river valley or a canyon. And South Africa off-the-beaten-path adventures have followed a course parallel to the antics of European and American canyoneering enthusiasts.   Kloofing is following a mountain river from its beginnings down through waterfalls, rapids, whirlpools, hiking, and climbing your way in between swims. It’s a bit like high diving, hiking, and being put through a spin cycle—all at once. If you are still confused, I am referring to Southern Africa and its off-the-beaten-path adventures.   Do you want to know about more hidden gems in Southern Africa? Keep reading!  THESE Are the Best Southern Africa Off-The-Beaten-Path Adventures Southern Africa, with its eclectic culture, has been attracting tourists to its iconic monuments and natural landscapes. Here are some off-the-beaten-path adventure spots you must add to your itinerary list.   1. Kloofing Near Cape Town  In the mountains behind Betty’s Bay, a short drive from Cape Town, are South Africa’s two best kloofing day trips.   Choose between the regular route, where you’ll have to leap 20 feet off a waterfall into the pool below, or Suicide Gorge (heads up: this means a leap of 60 feet).   To date, no one has been hurt seriously on a kloofing trip. However, if you’re subject to vertigo and aren’t at least halfway fit, then don’t do it.   The company Day Trippers will provide guides, wetsuits, lunch, transport, and moral support.  2. Lesotho on Horseback  The mountain kingdom of Lesotho, in east-central South Africa, serves up stone villages atop remote hillsides.   Villagers, called Basotho, live draped in blankets and robes, almost like ancient Greeks. Shepherd boys sit on the slopes, playing flutes. Vultures and eagles cruise overhead.   In Lesotho, the horse remains the chariot of choice, and this is how you’ll want to get around as well.   Semongkong Lodge, near Maletsunyane, southern Africa’s highest waterfall, offers horseback treks for several days. You’ll stay in timeless Basotho villages and ride some of the subcontinent’s steepest terrain.   The Basotho ponies, schooled in a special “tripling” gait, are tough, sure-footed, and afraid of nothing. A tip: Book a trek that coincides with Semonkong’s horse races. They’re wild spectacles involving carefully nurtured thoroughbreds, child jockeys, and epic bouts of drinking.  3. Hike Chimanimani To Make The Most Of Southern Africa Off-The-Beaten-Path Adventures  As South Africa fills with travelers, more and more are heading into Zimbabwe, and several areas have been developed for hiking, fishing, riding, and other types of tourism.   But the mountainous Eastern Highlands, east of Chimanimani in southern Zim, are hardly developed at all, and that’s their appeal. Besides, this area, part of the Lebombo Mountain range that marks the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique, provides year-round cool relief from the heat of the plains below.  For the serious hiker, a stiff climb-in is rewarded by an upland paradise of high pastures, waterfalls, forests of flowering protea trees, and caves large enough to sleep in.   Because the water up here is pure and drinkable, you can live here for days if you bring enough food with you. The only downside: Don’t cross over to the Mozambique side of the mountains, as old land mines from that country’s now-defunct civil war are still scattered on the range’s eastern slopes. Stick closely to the maps (available in Chimanimani village).  4. Learn Polo-Cross  Hugely popular in Zimbabwe and a growing equestrian sport around the world, polo-cross means falls, body crunches, and glancing blows with the lacrosse stick.   But those with a go-smack-em attitude and sufficient riding experience can learn this fast and highly skilled equestrian sport on trained horses at Mopani Lodge, near Kwekwe in the Midlands area.  Relax between sessions by riding out on the ranch (which has a cross-country course if you still need an adrenaline fix) or just by sunning at the pool. And because of the favorable exchange rate, what would be an extremely expensive riding holiday anywhere else in the world has become one of adventure tourism’s best bargains.  5. Hunt with Bushmen  If you’re after Southern Africa off-the-beaten-path adventures, you can’t do any better than traveling with the Ju’Hoansi. Ju’Hoansi is the last Kalahari Bushmen clan to pursue the traditional hunting and gathering lifestyle.   They’ve decided to open to small-scale tourism in their remote Namibian locale. You’ll camp near the Ju’Hoansi village of Makuri, go hunting with the men, and gather with the women.   This is no theme-park experience: If the hunters stick an animal with an arrow, you may have to track it for up to two days and then carry out your share of the meat. If you love hunting, you can take the best hunting bow with you.   You must also carry your own water and food. Don’t just spend a couple of days here: Allow at least a week for the people to become comfortable with you. If you’re lucky, they may also invite you to attend a trance dance, at which miraculous healings often take place.  6. Dune Boarding  The seaside town of Swakopmund, where the Namib desert falls into the sea, has become southern Africa’s dune-boarding capital. You’re driven out to the foot of a mountain-sized sand dune, given a large oblong sheet of hardboard, some furniture polish, a pair of heavy industrial gloves, and some welding goggles, and the next minute you’re flying almost vertically downward.   It feels suicidal; even on the easiest descents, the board can pick up speeds of 60 or 70 km (about 43.5 mi)/hr. Steeper ones are much faster. Then you graduate to jumps, finally ending the day with the “Knucklegrinder,” an 800-foot whoosh down to a hard gravel plain.  7. Ride the Namib  It’s easily one of the most spectacular rides in the world: You’re galloping through the Namib Desert, the world’s oldest, surrounded by 2,000-foot-high, blood-red sand dunes.   Thousand-year-old plants that resemble exploded cabbages grow on gravel plains that see rain once in a century. Lonely canyons echo the barking shout of baboons and the nighttime cough of leopards.   Then, suddenly, green oases spring up, overgrown with camelthorn and tamarisk trees, where herds of desert antelope gather in the shade. Continue to sun-blasted mountain ranges where ice-cold springs bubble straight from the rock.   Trot through this barren wilderness with Reit Safari, which offers 10-day rides on Namibian Hanoverians (German horses) and rehabilitated mustangs, starting on the mountains west of Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, and ending in the ocean of the aptly named Skeleton Coast.  8. Earthwatch Cheetah Project  The lion really can lie down with the lamb—or at least the cheetah can. So, the biologists of this Earthwatch cheetah conservation project believe, anyway. Your job: to assist in live-capturing and radio-tracking cheetahs and other big cats on the wilderness ranches of central Namibia—the last place on earth where cheetahs still exist in reasonable numbers.   Local ranchers used to shoot them on sight. However, now many are cooperating with the study, which seeks to prove that cats only rarely hunt livestock if their natural prey is readily available.   You, the paying volunteer, have the satisfaction of contributing directly to the conservation of these cats while at the same time experiencing the adventure of chasing after and handling them.  9. Bike the Botswana Pans  Why would anyone want to bike through the Makgadigadi Pans—two vast, shallow expanses of mud? In the scorching Botswana summer, they fill with rain, releasing millions of tiny brine shrimp, which in turn attract breeding flocks of pink flamingos.   In the dry winter, they bake to a hard white crust. A perfect surface across which to go roaring on a quad bike. So wide are the pans that when out in the middle of them, you can’t see the “shore.” And the stars in this part of the Kalahari are unrivaled.  From Jack’s Camp, a luxurious place at the edge of the pans. You take quad bikes out to a table set out in the middle of the emptiness to find dinner laid and ready. By day, you go walking, look at the game, and pick wild foods with a Bushman guide called Cobra.   If you go during the sweltering summer months, you can’t quad bike the pans (too glutinous). However, you do see the flamingos. Further, if you’re lucky, you might see the eastern Kalahari’s summer zebra migration.  10. Deep Kalahari  If you have at least two weeks to explore Southern Africa off-the-beaten-path adventures, hire a 4×4 and blast off into southern Africa’s most remote country. The bigger-than-Switzerland Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the Aha and Tsodilo Hills.   This is rugged driving on some of the toughest tracks in Africa; you must know what you’re doing in a 4×4. You must carry all the fuel and supplies.   And if you get stuck, well, suffice to say it’s best to go in a convoy of two vehicles. Highlights of this once-in-a-lifetime trip include the desert lions of Deception Pan.   The Bushmen communities at Molapo and Xai-Xai (where you can go out with the hunters). The stalactite-filled caves of Drotsky’s Caverns and the ancient rock paintings of the Tsodilos. When you emerge at Shakawe at the northern edge of the Okavango Delta, you’ll forget what civilization looks like.  Final Words on Southern Africa Off-The-Beaten-Path Adventures  With dense vegetation, rugged cliffs, and fascinating wildlife, the Southern Africa Off-The-Beaten-Path adventures promise an unforgettable experience. These trips are also about learning about various fascinating cultures and respecting nature.  So, if you plan to visit Southern Africa soon, you can visit any of the places I have discussed here. Don’t forget to share your experience once you come back! Happy journey!   Read Also: Planning A Hunting Trip To Africa – Here’s What You Should Know Top 12 Amazing Sahara Desert Animals You Need To See Beginner Tips For Your First Camino de Santiago.

BY  Abdul Aziz Sep 19, 2022

When you're a young professional, it's important to get started on the right foot. Where you pick to live changes how much you can afford and what you can do in your off time.  Living in Alabama is a dream come true for young professionals; these are the top Alabama cities to consider if you want to make this your home! Why Young Professionals Should Consider Alabama The top reason for young professionals to move to Alabama is the price!  Everything from housing to food is far more affordable in Alabama, which makes it far easier on starting salaries.  Instead of having to struggle to make your way in a huge expensive city, you can save money and enjoy a higher quality of life. Beyond this, there's a lot to do in Alabama!  From enjoying the countless outdoor spaces to the fantastic cities full of businesses, thriving music scenes, and incredible museums and entertainment, you'll never be bored in Alabama!  The Top 3 Alabama Cities, Young Professionals Should Consider 1. Mountain Brook Although this is an expensive city as far as Alabama goes, Mountain Brook is a fantastic place to live!  With Botanical gardens, gorgeous conservatories, incredible restaurants, and endless boutiques, you'll love living in this area.  Just on the outskirts of Birmingham, you won't have to travel far if you want to live largely and enjoy nightlife any given day. The job market in this area is thriving and offers the chance to work in any career or industry you're interested in. Birmingham homes for sale in this area are far more spacious than other areas and have a far lower crime rate than most of the state.  This is an awesome place to start an amazing career, especially if you eventually want to start a family! 2. Madison On the northern border of Alabama, Madison is a dream come true to many!  Although you'd have to drive a half-hour commute to and from work, this tiny area has some of the most affordable living you'll find in the state.  With only 20,000 people that call it home and countless things to do in the area, you'll never really feel like you're in too small of an area.  This is an exceptional place to start out until you have the funds to move closer to cities! 3. Homewood Possibly the most walkable area in Alabama, Homewood is a fantastic city in Jefferson county that allows city living at affordable prices.  Close to Red Mountain, the local views are breathtaking and offer refreshing surroundings despite being in a city. This is awesome for young professionals because it's a suburb of Birmingham as well, giving those who live here the chance to get the best start out of their career.  If you want to be close to the best job opportunities while still getting to live affordably, there's no place better for it than Homewood! Alabama is an Incredible Place to Start a Career If you’re ready to start a career in a state that gives you the best chance to thrive: it’s time to head to Alabama.  There’s no better state to get a great start! Additionals: Visit Florence In Tuscany 6 Reasons Why You Need To Purchase A Boat In 2022 Stephen Gleave On The Best Waterfalls And Trails In Ancaster 12 Best Things To Do In Sanibel Island – Tour And Travel Guide