September 4, 2012

My New Favorite American City – San Francisco!

I just finished a quick weekend in San Francisco en route to Asia, and I have to say, it might take the cake for my new favorite US city. I’ve been here once upon a time with my parents (under 10) and all I can remember is making my mom cry with a double-team whining onslaught with my brother, our shitty 80’s Toyota Carolla rental barely making it up a steep hill and watching the sea lion orgy at Pier 39. Well, deciding to break up the long haul from Miami to Manilla, San Francisco seemed like a good halfway…

September 1, 2012

How Natural Disasters Have Almost Ruined All My Trips!

I have been having amazing “luck” recently while traveling. It is if the planets align, the stars shine bright and Mother Earth does her part as well, sort of. For some reason, every time I’ve planned to go on a large trip within the past year, some sort of impeding natural disaster looms in my destinations of choice, threatening to derail months (well weeks) of planning, money and time invested. Here are three castrophic events in the past year that almost thwarted my big escapes. 1. Massive Earthquake in Turkey Last October, I had finally planned a big trip to…

August 25, 2012

Check Out My New Travel Website! TopSpotTravel.com

Greetings readers of The World or Bust! I don’t usually address you guys directly through posts, but this one is a special occasion! I wanted to share a link with you to my new travel website, Top Spot Travel.com. It’s going to be another project in the realm of The World or Bust, but more focused on amazing posts from other people including budget to luxury travel, travel tips, inspirational travel stories and not-to-miss destinations. Have a look and let me know what you think, I love feedback! I’ll be leaving for Asia (The Philippines and then on to Thailand) in less…

August 12, 2012

Why Do The British Love Tea So Much?

With the Olympics in London winding down, I thought writing a bit about our British brethren would be in order. Every wonder why the English “love” tea so much? Well here’s why! When one thinks of the British, tea usually comes to mind (bad teeth and Big Ben aren’t far behind, just kidding! Sort of.). Tea culture has a long history in Great Britain. So, what’s the story behind the tea “obsession”? Tea was first introduced to Britain in 1610 by the Dutch. In 1658, a London newspaper advertised tea and within less than a century, tea’s popularity exploded and…

August 10, 2012

Announcing My Two Month Asian Adventure!

If you were a consistent reader of The World or Bust (yea you should be), you’d see that most of my travels over the past two years, while frequent, last for just about two or three weeks at a time. This let’s me focus on seeing exactly what I want/need to see, having a good time, relaxing a bit, and then getting back to Miami where I need to work, sort of. I’ve been wanting to do a serious trip for a long time now, but after graduating college a couple years ago, moving back to Miami, renting an apartment,…

August 9, 2012

I Made It To A Quarter Century!

So, I somehow managed to make it to 25 years young, relatively unscathed. It’s been quite the ride, and sometimes I feel more like a 45 year old than a twenty-something, but I am now in fact an official member of the quarter century club. Being born on August 2nd, I was suckered into the world during the summer. As a young kid, my family were the only ones ever over for my birthday. This was fine at the time and I’m pretty sure I had a pretty good time. My grandpa would design all sorts of kooky cardboard life-size cut outs…

August 6, 2012

The World’s Best Bars: Bar Marsella in Barcelona

While the name might seem rather unassuming, Bar Marsella is one of the coolest bar’s I’ve ever been to. Not because they have wet t-shirt contests, rock bottom prices, or just awesome music, but because of something very special that they serve, absinthe. I studied abroad in Barcelona and my apartment was located right next to a neighborhood called El Reval. It is an area just west of La Rambla and is known for it’s more ethnic, North African inhabitants. I’d be comfortable to say that there are parts you don’t want to wander off into at night, but the center is perfectly…

August 3, 2012

Review of EasyToBook.com

On my recent trip up to Philly, I decided to try out a hotel booking website called EasyToBook.com that a friend told me about. With the competition pretty fierce these days for hotel booking websites, it’s rare to find much of a better deal on one or the other so for me ease of use is just as important. The site reminds me almost of an AirBnb.com/wimdu kind of set up which I like. Big search fields, a nice font and a clean design go a long way in my book. What’s cool about the initial search is that if you put…

August 2, 2012

Magellan Had Nothing On You!

Well, if any of you have been reading my blog for the past year, you know that I’m into maps. When I was a kid, and there was any downtime in class, you could always find me at the back of the room, elbowed over the globe. I was so fascinated that people had been to every inch of the earth, and managed to draw it all out so perfectly. I also really liked looking at old maps as well and seeing how off some of them were! For some reason, geography has always interested me more than let’s say, math, chemistry…

July 30, 2012

Random History Lesson: European Subway Systems

Rapid transit has been improving commutes since the late 1800s when the first steam railways were built. The underground Tünel in Istanbul, built in 1875, is one of the earliest known subways. The London Underground (“The Tube”) is quite possibly the most well-known rapid transit system in the world, as well as the second largest. It opened in 1890 under the name City & South London Railway, the first electric system of its kind which today spans 250 miles and includes 270 stations. Elsewhere in Europe, the turn of the 20th century saw the opening of both the Paris Metro…

July 30, 2012

Flying – The Good, The Bad and The Cat

The more I fly, the more weird shit happens to me. On a recent flight to Paris, I ended up having to play dad to unaccompanied 7 year old twin boys for 10 hours. On my flight from Germany to Miami, I had to listen to a poor girl spill her guts to me about how she caught her husband cheating on her, as well as him giving her HPV (new seat please!). Not to mention my mounting flying anxiety that is only being quelled with increasing amounts of alcohol (I think a road trip might be in my future). Well,…

July 29, 2012

Who Needs London When The Sun Is Shining!

Kilver Court in Somerset County, England

As Europe’s most visited city, London is no stranger to tourists. As sporting fanatics from across the globe pile into Heathrow Airport to begin their Summer Olympics journey, it’s worth noting some peaceful sites around the English countryside to check out for a little respite before or after. While English weather is often deemed dreary, summer months bring relaxing warmer weather that is definitely meant to be enjoyed in the outdoors. Here are some picturesque and notable places to visit outside London Town: 1. The Courts Garden in Wiltshire is a beautiful place for all visitors – even those without…

July 24, 2012

My Shameful Confession and Yorkshire Obsession

The following is a guest post from Emily Buchanan about how we all try and travel outside of our own borders, but never stop to experience and appreciate our mother lands. As a proud British gal and a steadfast traveller, there are a number of things I’ll always love about my home country. They are as follows: Sleepy villages British history (especially monarchical history) Churches, cathedrals and castles (basically historical architecture, I loathe modern stuff) Cream teas (scones + clotted cream + strawberry jam + a pot of tea = drool) The coast (we’ve got lots of it, being an…

July 24, 2012

When in Philly, Do Like Rocky Does!

Once again I’ve found myself in the magnificent city of my birth, Philadelphia. I came up to visit both family and friends, satiate my cheese steak craving, and of course do something I have to do every time I visit…run up the art museum steps like Rocky. Yes, you might think this is a touristy thing to do, but in fact, us Philadelphians do run up the stairs as well. There is nothing more invigorating than waking up early, putting on “Eye of The Tiger” on your ipod, sprinting up the steps, turn around and take in the awe inspiring Philadelphia…

July 23, 2012

What Marco Polo Teaches Travelers

(…or, How to Reconnect with the Pace and Poetry of Overland Travel) Marco! Polo! Ever wondered where that tiresome game originates from? Of course you haven’t, but it’s an interesting and relevant story, so read on. Marco Polo was a man of the 13th century – a man who did spectacular things for our global sense of curiosity and for the West’s exposure to the East (and vice versa). Accordingly, he should have been canonised a long time ago as the Socrates of exploration, especially in the travelling community and especially in the blogosphere. As Christopher Columbus’s senior and mentor,…

July 21, 2012

The Most Unique Spa Treatments in The World

When it comes to youth and beauty, lots of people are willing to go through many an extreme treatment in order to improve their looks. Of course, many people are just looking for ways to unwind. Whichever camp you’re in, you might find some of these unconventional spa treatments right up your alley. Tension-Relieving Snakes Therapist Ada Barak offers a $70 treatment in her Talmei Elazar Carnivorous Plant Farm in Israel. Her treatment medium of choice? Non-venomous California and Florida king snakes. Ada rounds up six of these slithery helpers to crawl around patients backs and help them relieve the…

July 20, 2012

Three of The Craziest Places to Tee Off in The World!

When it comes to golfing, some of us just don’t have the patience, skill or interest to take four hours out of our lives to walk around a massive course, lugging around heavy clubs in the beating hot sun. A regular day out on the links can be mitigated by a cooler full of cold ones, but sometimes you just need a little more stimulation. Check out three of the coolest golf courses in the world that might actually get you out on the green more often than not. La Jenny Golf Resort La Jenny resort located on the west…

July 16, 2012

Why do the Dutch Wear Clogs?

What the English speaking world calls “clogs”, the Dutch call “klompen”. Within the area of cultural accoutrement, Dutch clogs are an extremely well-known phenomenon. They show up in story books and every year, around 3 million pairs are manufactured. Painted wooden clogs are the quintessential Dutch gift for travelers visiting Amsterdam and other cities in The Netherlands. Shirley Temple even sported clogs on the big screen in the 1937 film Heidi, So what’s the story behind this strange wooden footwear? Long ago, during the Roman era, much of the land in The Netherlands was covered with mud. Locals had to…

July 14, 2012

An Adventure to The Agean!

By Natalie Likness Bored of the ‘Great British Summer’, I decided to look at holidays abroad. There are so many deals around to choose from and when I found cheap flights to Turkey, we struck gold! After much deliberation, we settled on a trip to The Aegean, which kept myself, the culture vulture, and my sun-worshiping other half happy. Flying into Istanbul, we took an internal flight to Izmir and used this as our base for the trip. Izmir is the 3rd largest city in Turkey and one which urges you to explore. I immersed myself in the ancient wonder…

July 11, 2012

The Cheapest Cities To Live in The World!

If you enjoy spreading a dollar thinner than a Stretch Armstrong while traveling like me, then you’ll enjoy this one. Travel is something that’s part of my life, no not like it holds a dear little place in my heart, I mean I’m traveling more than I’m not at this point. While I like to think I do alright financially, I definitely don’t do well enough to be going to crazy expensive places and living the good life. I actually prefer to go cheap/interesting places so I can bend my spending power in my direction. I also especially enjoy slow…