50 articles found
Spanish or English in Puerto Rico? What You Actually Need to Know
Puerto Rico's official languages are Spanish and English — but don't let that "official bilingual" status mislead you. The island's daily language is overwhelmingly Spanish. English is widely understood in tourist areas and by professionals who deal...
Brighton Beach, Brooklyn: New York's Russian Neighbourhood Explained
On the southern tip of Brooklyn, where the elevated B and Q train lines ride above Brighton Beach Avenue and the boardwalk runs east from Coney Island, there is a neighbourhood unlike anywhere else in the United States. The storefronts are in Cyrilli...
Oktoberfest: The Complete Guide to Munich's Greatest Tradition
Every year from the third Saturday of September through the first Sunday of October, six million people descend on Munich's Theresienwiese meadow to participate in the world's largest folk festival. They consume approximately 7 million litres of beer...
Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau: What You Need to Know Before You Go
Auschwitz-Birkenau — the network of Nazi German concentration and extermination camps near the Polish town of Oświęcim — was the site of the murder of approximately 1.1 million people, 90% of them Jewish, between 1940 and 1945. Visiting is a solemn a...
Paraguay's Hidden Culture: Guaraní Language, Terere, and the Soul of South America's Forgotten Country
Paraguay is the country that South America travel guides consistently underwrite — small, landlocked, bypassed by most travellers on the Bolivia–Argentina trail. This is a mistake. Paraguay is one of the continent's most culturally distinctive nation...
Rio Carnival: Everything You Need to Know Before You Go
There is nothing on Earth quite like Rio Carnival. Not in size, not in intensity, not in the particular way it temporarily dissolves every social boundary in one of the world's most stratified cities. For five days in February or March — the dates sh...
Georgian Hospitality: Why Guests Are Considered Gifts from God
There's a Georgian proverb that people quote here with genuine conviction: "სტუმარი ღვთის მიერ მოვლენილია" — "A guest is a gift from God." It's one thing to hear it. It's another to be on the receiving end of it at a Georgian dinner table where the w...
Georgia's Street Cats: The Beloved Felines of Tbilisi and Beyond
Walk through Tbilisi's Old Town long enough and you'll notice them — lounging on sun-warmed stone walls, weaving between café chairs, sitting imperiously in the doorways of ancient churches. Georgia's street cats are not strays in the ordinary sense....
Micronesian Culture: Ancient Traditions, Stone Money, and Island Life in the Pacific
The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) — comprising the states of Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae — is a nation of 607 islands spread across more than 2.6 million km² of the western Pacific. Each state has its own language, customs, and identity, y...
Cuban Culture: Music, Art, and the People Who Make Cuba Unforgettable
Ask anyone who's been to Cuba what they remember most, and the answer is almost never a beach. It's the music pouring from a doorway at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday. The old man rolling a cigar who tells you his life story in rapid Spanish. The couple dancing...
What It's Actually Like to Be an American Walking Around Iran: Culture Shock, Hospitality, and Everything In Between
You land in Tehran. You walk out of the airport into a country that your government tells you not to visit, that your media portrays as hostile, and whose leaders regularly chant "Death to America" on television. You're nervous. And within 30 minutes...
LoDo Denver: 10 Wild Facts About the Coolest Neighborhood You've Never Fully Explored
It's just 25 blocks. But those 25 blocks contain more history, more craft beer, more hidden gems, and more genuine cool than most entire cities. Welcome to LoDo — Lower Downtown Denver — and here's why it deserves a serious spot on your travel radar....