I remember when selfie sticks were just on late night TV. Before long, they became the thing that was wrong with my generation. Those selfish, entitled millennials. Kids who needed an invention to better become more self-absorbed and to take better Facebook profile pictures.

Everything was so shiny and glittery in the florescent light, each display holding hundreds of varieties of gems and rocks, many of which I could not name. One table had rows and rows of tubs, each filled with water and thin slabs of stone. Later I learned that vendors did this to show the buyer what the rocks would look like once polished.Near the back of the room I was looking at a display of large gemstones when a little girl loudly exclaimed to her mother, “I want that one!” pointing at a three-foot amethyst. My date and I chuckled; the poor girl didn’t realize how costly that gem was. However, her enthusiasm matched my own; it was almost magical to be in a place with so many beautiful things.

Broadway is a fantasy for any lover of the performing arts. Heck, even people who don’t care much for musicals probably have “see a show on Broadway” somewhere on their bucket list. But when it comes to purchasing tickets, a lot of us might opt instead for a stroll through Central Park and a street hot dog. Just think: you could buy a hundred hot dogs and still spend less than what that Broadway ticket would have cost.

With spring underway and summer soon to follow, it’s time to start thinking about some great beaches to visit to soak in that summer sun and salty sea air. These Puerto Rican gems are great to keep in mind during any season of the year, since Puerto Rico’s year-round temperatures hover in the 80s! Puerto Rico is known as “the Star of the Caribbean,” and its beautiful beaches live up to the hype of the nickname. You can find tons of sandy beaches with clear water within a few minutes of San Juan, the capital city. But if you’re willing to do a little exploring, then here’s a list of eight hidden beaches to get you started.

Thinking about your dream backpacking trip all across Europe, where you eat your way through the countryside and the towns? How do the Southern Alps of New Zealand sound, as you walk the trails of the fellowship? Or are you more up for the 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail, as you see everything between Maine and Georgia on foot? Whatever you’re thinking, here are seven things you need to know about minimalist backpacking.

The Princess Diaries was every girl’s dream in the early 2000s. The witty Garry Marshall film is about a girl who discovers she’s a princess, gets a makeover, and falls in love. Perfect plot. Perfect Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews duo. Perfectly quotable movie. And, it’s set (and filmed, mostly) in the beautiful city of San Francisco, California. Here are four locations you can visit that are featured in the movie.

Stepping up to a falafel cart in Jerusalem was thrilling, especially when I asked the owner to make the falafel how he likes it: with everything on it. I could identify only three of the ingredients he added to my falafel, but that is the charm of experiencing local cuisine.

What happens when you combine a salt mine, an underground lake, and a mummy? No, I’m not talking about a Harry Potter book or an Indiana Jones film; I’m talking about the Hallstatt Salt Mine. There are many ways to interact with history, from textbooks to museums, but these options do not offer quite the same experience as visiting the oldest salt mine in the world, located in Hallstatt, Austria.

Calling all lovers of the historic and horrific: get your bucket lists out right now.

As a Kentucky native who has lived in the West for the past five years, I’ve gotten used to being asked if I’ve ever been to the Kentucky Derby. It was the second-most-asked question regarding my home state, finishing close after, “Why don’t you have an accent?” Both questions happen to have the same answer: my hometown was in northern Kentucky, which was closer to Cincinnati than anything else. Instead of associating with the rural culture that is characterized by horse races and thick drawls, I visited Ohio and Indiana more than Louisville (the only city in the state that non-Kentuckians recognize).