World's Best Places to Visit

Reading Time: 7 minutes @StephBeTravel (hi, that’s me) at the Casa Marina, Key West for Fantasy Fest Hello Fantasy Fest! A ten day festival celebrating ghouls, freaks, and sci-fi loving geeks, this year’s theme, All Hallows InterGalactic Freak Show, welcomed 60,000 free people. Free in mind, body, and spirit, revelers of all ages, sizes, and interests took on body paint, parades, live music, and ghostly parties. The 2015 theme is “All Hallows Intergalactic Freak Show.” Fantasy Fest, Key West (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau/HO) #FantasyFestFlorida: spend Halloween with a clan of ghosts, ghouls, and lovers all things absurd. Click To Tweet Alas, the 13 Fantasy Fest phases: Preparing your costumes. Thou does not simply wear a cocktail dress and animal ears to Fantasy Fest. People spend months planning their costumes for the Mardi Gras style parades, strutting solo or rolling out in groups of up to thirty. In addition to the overall annual festival t...

Reading Time: 4 minutes As I stepped onto my first wine train experience, I thought back to my childhood and the significance of trains. For those of you unfamiliar with the American tale of “The Little Engine that Could,” when the struggle is real, the childish coined phrase comes to my mind: “I think I can, I think I can.” As a newcomer to America’s most reputable wine country, Napa Valley, I would not have pinned such a phrase to vino valley until finally experiencing it myself. Currently as a full-time traveler, I often find myself exhausted. When you work hard in America, particularly in California’s competitive corporate or start-up culture, you can end up getting a little burnt out. Then Napa Valley happens. We get a boozy boug sie , relaxing, reenergizing, and escaping — putting everything on hold for blue cheese and a Cabernet Sauvignon. You’re happy, you’re yourself again, and you know you can. Because you #DoNapa. Starting in Downtown Napa, I learned about last ...

Reading Time: 3 minutes A photo posted by Martin Tadashi (@emptyreyes) on Oct 10, 2014 at 10:26am PDT What happens when you put a bunch of photographers in one of Los Angeles’ most iconic museums? #YouHadMeAtTheGetty Awkwardly running in my heels, I found myself arriving late to the Getty InstaMeet hosted by Kyle Huber and Martin Tadashi. A photo posted by Kyle Huber (@asenseofhuber) on Oct 10, 2014 at 10:47am PDT An InstaMeet is when a photographer and Instagrammer organize a public invitation for people to meet… it’s an insta-party. A photo posted by Caleb (@hellohicups) on Oct 10, 2014 at 7:36pm PDT I didn’t know anyone and compensated by being really friendly. Standard. Although this was my first InstaMeet, the concept is similar to traveler situations where you don’t know anyone, and we all are there to hang out because we have something in common. This day and age, it’s easier than ever to meet new people, and while I appreciate a conversation started ...

I only spent a few days in Xi’an, but they were fantastic. Compact and easily navigable, the city centre boasts lo many exciting attractions and fun neighbourhoods to explore. The city actually sprawls far beyond the city walls, but most of the things to do in Xi’an are located within the 14 kilometres of the wall itself. If you’re wondering is Xi’an worth visiting, read on to find out why I loved the city. Is Xi’an Worth Visiting? Reasons to visit Xi’an I’d really recommend adding a trip to Xi’an to your China itinerary because it’s a unique kind of city. It has been China’s capital numerous times in the country’s past and thus boasts an impressive range of history. From the fascinating Terracotta Army to the City Walls, there’s an interesting story from every historical era in Xi’an. The Muslim influence of Xi’an means that it has a unique culture – a fusion of Far Eastern and Chinese Muslim. This society is well worth explorin...