travel

While it may be a winter wonderland in the USA, summer is just starting to heat up south of the equator. If you find yourself wanting a break from snowball fights and hot cocoa, consider taking a plane ride to Australia to soak up some sun! Here are a few of the best places to visit if you end up Down Under this season.

The Shimanami Kaido trail in Japan offers a unique way to travel—by bike. At seventy kilometers, this cycling trail connects the country’s main island, Honshu, with the fourth largest island, Shikoku, while passing through six smaller islands along the way.

If you’re a nineties kid and you ever find yourself in London looking for a place to grab a bite, try the Cereal Killer Café. Although this café won’t offer you tea and biscuits, you get an insanely vast variety of cereal and a total retro vibe. With 120 different cereals from around the world, there is something to satisfy everyone’s craving. After you pick your cereal, you get to choose from a variety of milks and toppings for a total sugar rush. But the wow-factor of the café comes from more than just the food—the decorations are a millennial’s dream come true. The upstairs of the café is covered with cereal boxes and memorabilia, and the basement is decorated like a nineties kid’s bedroom. You can even choose to eat your cereal as you sit on one of several twin beds with bedspreads that have prints of Garfield comics or The Simpsons characters on them. Want dinner with a show? No problem. The café comes complete with television sets that play reruns of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Killer food. Killer atmosphere. Killer fun. The next time you happen to be in foggy London town, make sure to grab a bite at the Cereal Killer Café to brighten your day.

'Packing is my favorite part of traveling!' said no one ever. Every time I travel, I repeat the same mistakes: stuffing my suitcase full of unnecessary items, dragging my heavy luggage through crowded airports, and leaving most of what I packed untouched. To save you from making these same mistakes, here are some tips I have found that make packing more efficient.

The Tour de France is the world’s largest cycling race. Every July, elite riders from around the world travel to France to compete against the world’s best. For years, the Tour has attracted spectators who want to witness and be a part of the action. But is there a better way to experience the Tour de France than merely being a spectator?

Have you ever had the opportunity to ride in a gondola on Venice’s Lagoon? Climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris? Visit the Statue of Liberty in New York City? Admire India’s Taj Mahal? Or even dive in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef? Though all these incredible locations are very different from each other, they do share one common element—they are all UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

So you’ve already been to New York City and done everything that a first-time New York tourist should do: Times Square, Central Park, The Met, the Statue of Liberty, Little Italy, the Brooklyn Bridge. Perhaps you have made it a point to see the Tiffany & Co. window Audrey Hepburn looked in during the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s or the Riverside Park Garden where Tom Hanks proposed to Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail. All of these sites are worth seeing, but when you visit them, sometimes you can’t shake the feeling that you are too much of a tourist as you stand in line to take pictures. That’s why another trip to New York is worth your while: it can be just as special as your first trip, but this time you can blend in and become a real New Yorker.

Google My Maps is an underrated gem for travel planning. Released in 2007 and updated in 2014, Google My Maps allows users to create their own maps.

You’ve finally arrived in Cuba and it’s absolutely picturesque—pastel houses, cobblestone streets, turquois beaches—and you don’t want to forget a single detail. You pass by a large decorated building ornamented with security guards; it looks impressive and important, so you snap a few pictures to show your friends back home. Before you’ve even put your camera down, a scowling security guard is blocking your view, demanding to see your camera, and interrogating you as if you’re some kind of criminal. You don’t even know what you’ve done wrong!