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Italy's Hidden Side: 8 Places Most Tourists Never Find
Italy has a well-worn tourist trail: Rome, Venice, Florence, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre. They're famous for a reason, and they're worth seeing. But Italy is a country of 20 regions and thousands of years of layered history. What follows are ei...
Do You Need Cash When Traveling in Italy?
Italy has been slowly embracing card payments over the past decade — but anyone who says cash is unnecessary in Italy has probably only stayed in major city hotels and chain restaurants. Here's the honest picture for travelers. When You Definitely N...
Is Lebanon Safe to Travel in 2026?
***The advice of the UK FCDO, US State Department, and most European foreign ministries as of May 2026 is Level 4 "Do Not Travel" for Lebanon.*** Lebanon entered 2026 in a way that its residents describe as "the new normal" which is to say, be...
What Every Traveler Should Know Right Now — April 2026
Travel in 2026 looks different from even two years ago. Here's what's worth knowing before your next trip. Passport Processing: Plan Ahead US passport processing times have improved from the post-pandemic backlog, but routine processing still t...
Where Americans Loved to Travel in the 1960s
The 1960s were the golden age of American travel. The Interstate Highway System was brand new. Jet passenger service had just become mainstream. America was prosperous, optimistic, and eager to explore. Here's where people actually went — and why it ...
Where Do Germans Travel in 2025? The Statistics, Trends, and Top Destinations
Germany is a nation of travelers. With a strong passport, generous vacation entitlements, and one of Europe's highest standards of living, Germans collectively take hundreds of millions of trips per year — and the destinations they choose, the amount...
Is Paris Safe for LGBTQ+ Travelers? A Complete Guide for 2026
Paris has been a sanctuary for LGBTQ+ people for well over a century — from the bohemian artistic circles of Montparnasse in the 1920s to the electrifying clubs of the Marais today. In 2026, Paris ranks among the most LGBTQ+ welcoming major cities in...
How Much Does It Cost to Travel to Iran as an American? A Complete Budget Breakdown for 2026
Here's the paradox of traveling to Iran as an American: the country itself is incredibly cheap, but getting there is expensive. Iran's currency has lost enormous value against the dollar due to sanctions and inflation, which means your money goes abs...
Do People Still Travel to Iran? The Surprising Truth About Tourism in One of the World's Most Misunderstood Countries
The short answer: yes, people absolutely still travel to Iran — and the numbers might surprise you. Before COVID-19, Iran was receiving over 8 million international visitors per year. While the pandemic and geopolitical tensions reduced those numbers...
San Marino: Where Is It, Why It Exists, and Why You Should Visit
If you draw a circle on a map of Italy midway between Bologna and Rimini, about 20 kilometres inland from the Adriatic coast, you will find a small mountain with a tiny country on top of it. San Marino — the Most Serene Republic of San Marino, offici...
The Underground Tunnels of Provins, Seine-et-Marne, France
Around 60 miles, or 90 kilometers, southeast of Paris, the medieval town of Provins is situated on the plains of Seine-et-Marne. Provins is a UNESCO World Heritage site with fortified walls and gates, round towers, and even medieval festivals and fai...
Will you need Health Insurance When Visiting the US from Europe?
Are you planning a trip to the United States from Europe? Now that you have organized your flights and hotels and mapped out your itinerary, it's time to think about health insurance. It's one of the most important things travelers overlook, and skip...
Ethiopia: What to Do, Where to Go, and Why It Surprises Every Visitor
Ethiopia is unlike anywhere else in Africa — and arguably unlike anywhere else on earth. It has its own calendar (currently in the 2010s while the rest of the world is in 2026), its own writing script, its own time system, its own Orthodox Christ...
Cyprus: 9 Reasons You Should Actually Go
Cyprus is the third-largest island in the Mediterranean, located at its eastern end — closer to Beirut than to Athens, closer to Turkey than to Italy, but very much a European Union country with European standards of infrastructure, food, and safe...
5 Must-See Places in Brunei You Would Never Expect from the World's Most Oil-Rich Tiny State
Brunei Darussalam occupies a small enclave on the island of Borneo, surrounded on three sides by the Malaysian state of Sarawak and open to the South China Sea on the north. With a population of approximately 450,000 and oil reserves that have made i...
Hamburg: Europe's Greatest Port City
Hamburg is Germany's second largest city and, by historical wealth, arguably its most important. It is a city-state — one of three in Germany (alongside Berlin and Bremen) — meaning that Hamburg city and Hamburg state are the same political entity.
Monaco Without a Superyacht: How to Experience the World's Most Expensive Country for Free
Monaco is 2.02 square kilometres — roughly the size of New York's Central Park — and contains the highest concentration of millionaires per capita on Earth. The average apartment price is €48,000/m². A standard main course at the Hotel de Paris costs...
Can You Actually Rent a Place in Vatican City? The Truth About Living There
Vatican City is the world's smallest internationally recognised state — 44 hectares, 800 permanent residents, and no airport, no railway station open to the public, and no conventional accommodation sector. There are no hotels within the Vatican's wa...
Djibouti: When the Country and the Capital Share a Name — and Why That Fits Perfectly
There are not many places in the world where the country and its capital share an identical name — Montenegro and its capital Podgorica come to mind, though they are distinct. Djibouti is different: the capital city of Djibouti is simply called Djibo...
Goa Isn't Just Beaches: What First-Time Visitors Actually Find When They Arrive
Goa has been India's designated escape hatch for decades. British package tourists in the 1980s and 90s. Israeli backpackers on their post-army trip. Russian charter flights in the 2000s and 2010s. Domestic Indian tourists who've discovered it more ...
Germany's Romantic Road: The Ultimate Self-Drive Guide
Germany's Romantische Straße (Romantic Road) is one of Europe's most celebrated scenic drives — a 460km route through the heart of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg connecting the Franconian wine region to the foot of the Bavarian Alps. It passes medieva...
Nauru: The World's Smallest Island Nation and Its Extraordinary Story
Nauru is a single raised coral island — just 21 square kilometers — making it the world's smallest island republic and third-smallest country (after Vatican City and Monaco). It has no capital city, no rivers, no mountains, and about 12,500 people. Y...
Ancient Persia to Modern Iran: 10 Historic Sites That Make This Country One of the Greatest Open-Air Museums on Earth
Iran isn't just old — it's one of the cradles of human civilization. When Rome was still a village, Persia was building an empire that stretched from Egypt to India. When most of Europe was in the Dark Ages, Isfahan was the "Half the World" — one of ...
Top 10 Destinations in Algeria That Will Make You Rethink North Africa
Algeria is one of the world's most underrated travel destinations — and that's exactly what makes it extraordinary. With virtually no mass tourism, you'll experience ancient Roman ruins without crowds, vast Saharan landscapes without other tourists i...
Uri, Switzerland: The Country's Most Historic Canton and Gateway to the Alps
Switzerland has 26 cantons, and most international tourists visit a handful: Geneva, Zürich, Lucerne, the Bernese Oberland, Zermatt and the Matterhorn. Uri — the small, largely German-speaking canton at the center of the country, around the southern ...
Greece and Money: The Euro, the Debt Crisis, and the Economy Today
Greece uses the euro (€) as its currency — has done since 2001 when it joined the eurozone, two years after the euro's initial launch. For travelers, this means the same currency as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and 17 other European countries: no e...
Why Is Greece Called Greece? The Story Behind the Name
If you ask a Greek person what they call their country, they will say Hellas (Ελλάς or Ελλάδα). They call themselves Hellenes (Έλληνες). The Greek language is Helleniki. Greece, in the eyes of the Greeks, has always been and remains Hellas. So where...
A Brief History of Algeria: From Ancient Numidia to Independence and Beyond
Algeria's history is one of the most dramatic and layered in all of Africa. Understanding it isn't just academic — it directly shapes the Algeria you'll experience today, from the ruins you'll visit to the attitudes you'll encounter. Here's a concise...