327 articles found

South Sudan: The World's Youngest Country and Its Complex Story

South Sudan: The World's Youngest Country and Its Complex Story

On 9 July 2011, South Sudan officially separated from Sudan and became the world's newest independent nation. After decades of civil war between the predominantly Christian and animist south and the Arab Muslim north – a conflict that had cost an est...

Oman: The Middle Eastern Country That Nobody Talks About Enough

Oman: The Middle Eastern Country That Nobody Talks About Enough

Most people planning a Middle East trip think of Dubai's towers or Jordan's Petra. Far fewer think of Oman – and that's one of the things that makes Oman so extraordinary. It's a country that hasn't been over-explained, over-touristed, or turned into...

Why Laos Is the Best Country in Asia to Do Absolutely Nothing

Why Laos Is the Best Country in Asia to Do Absolutely Nothing

You could spend a week in Laos and have nothing to show for it – no certificates climbed, no tours completed, no bucket-list check marks. You'd have a sunburn from sitting on a riverboat. A notebook half-filled with things you noticed. A slow accumul...

Viking Age Norway: History, Myths, and Where to Experience It Today

Viking Age Norway: History, Myths, and Where to Experience It Today

The Viking Age – broadly defined as the period from the first recorded Norse raid (Lindisfarne Monastery, 793 AD) to the Battle of Hastings (1066 AD) – transformed medieval Europe and established Norse seafarers as the most wide-ranging explorers of ...

Colombia Travel Guide 2026: What's Changed and What to Expect

Colombia Travel Guide 2026: What's Changed and What to Expect

Colombia's transformation is one of travel's genuinely extraordinary stories. A country that western tourists were firmly advised against visiting in the 1990s and early 2000s has become one of South America's most compelling destinations — drawing...

Is Laos Safe to Travel? What First-Time Visitors Need to Know

Is Laos Safe to Travel? What First-Time Visitors Need to Know

Laos has one of the lowest violent crime rates for tourists in Southeast Asia. Traveler-on-traveler theft is rare. Scams are mild compared to neighboring Thailand or Vietnam. Political tension doesn't touch tourists. By general safety metrics, it's...

Machu Picchu and the Inca Empire: History, Mysteries, and How to Visit

Machu Picchu and the Inca Empire: History, Mysteries, and How to Visit

Nearly 600 years after its construction and 113 years after its re-introduction to the outside world by Hiram Bingham, Machu Picchu remains unexplained in ways that continue to fascinate. Not unexplained in the tabloid sense — the Inca built it, pr...

The Marshall Islands: Nuclear History, Ocean Culture, and a Nation Between Tides

The Marshall Islands: Nuclear History, Ocean Culture, and a Nation Between Tides

The Marshall Islands occupy 1,225 islands and islets forming 29 coral atolls in the central Pacific — a nation that has endured one of the most devastating legacies of the 20th century and continues to face existential challenges from rising seas. Un...

Seeing the Northern Lights in Norway: When, Where, and How

Seeing the Northern Lights in Norway: When, Where, and How

The Northern Lights — aurora borealis — are caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with gases in Earth's upper atmosphere, producing curtains and ribbons of coloured light across the night sky. Norway, sitting directly beneath the auror...

Angola Travel Tips: Everything You Need to Know Before Your First Visit

Angola Travel Tips: Everything You Need to Know Before Your First Visit

Angola is one of Africa's most rewarding — and most misunderstood — travel destinations. Whether you're planning your first trip to Angola or just starting your research, these 20 practical travel tips will help you navigate the country confidently...

Armenia: The Oldest Christian Country in the World Is Also One of the Most Underrated in Europe

Armenia: The Oldest Christian Country in the World Is Also One of the Most Underrated in Europe

Armenia adopted Christianity as its state religion in 301 AD — over a decade before the Roman Empire. That fact is a useful introduction to what kind of country this is: ancient in a way that isn't metaphorical, shaped by history with a weight that's...

Paraguay's Hidden Culture: Guaraní Language, Terere, and the Soul of South America's Forgotten Country

Paraguay's Hidden Culture: Guaraní Language, Terere, and the Soul of South America's Forgotten Country

Asunción, Paraguay 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 cultura...