Most Unique Places to Visit
Some travelers are trading beach vacations for unforgettable experiences in faraway lands like these
To create our list of some of the world’s most unique places to visit, we spoke with several travel experts, and asked them to recommend destinations based on their own past journeys. Those weighing in included Giampiero Ambrosi, general manager of Virtual Tourist; Pamela Bryan, co-founder of Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based travel firm Off the Beaten Path; Bruce Poon Tip, chief executive of Toronto-based travel company G.A.P. Adventures; and William Altaffer, owner and founder of Expedition Photo Travel in San Diego.
The Dragon’s Blood Trees of Socotra
The otherworldly Dragon’s Blood Trees and other 700 rare species of flora and fauna have drawn people to Socotra, an island in the Indian Ocean, off the horn of the African continent. Giampiero Ambrosi of Virtual Tourist says, “The trend of eco-tourism is especially strong here.”
Takstang Monastery, Bhutan
Angelo Cavalli/Getty ImagesTakstang Monastery in the Kingdom of Bhutan
The Kingdom of Bhutan is the last remaining kingdom in Asia and is the only place in the world to measure Gross National Happiness. Takstang means “tiger’s lair” and hangs on a cliff high above the Paro valley. Visitors must climb the slope on foot or by mule.
Salt Plains, Salta, Argentina
Emmerich-Webb/Getty ImagesThe Salt Plains in the Salta, Argentina
Off the Beaten Path travel agency recommends the Northwestern Salta province of Argentina. The salt plains here are a pure white expanse, surrounded by high mountains. The Inca tribes that originally inhabited the area offer a unique cultural history.
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta, Canada
Russ Heinl/Getty ImagesHead-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta, Canada
For 5,500 years, the Native Americans of the North American Great Plains killed bison by chasing them off this cliff located in what’s now Alberta, Canada. They would then carve up the bison carcasses in the camp below. This is one of the biggest and best preserved buffalo jumps in North America, according to Off the Beaten Path co-founder Pamela Bryan. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981.
Throat Singers of Tuva, Siberia
Jerry Kobalenko/Getty ImagesThroat Singers of Tuva, Siberia
The throat-singing Tuva people of southern Siberia create sounds and harmonies unique to foreigners’ ears. It is a style that simultaneously combines two or more pitches over a fundamental pitch to create sounds mimicking nature. The pastime is popular especially among the Tuvan male herders, because they are able to practice in the broad, open fields while they work.
See the full list of the World’s Most Unique Places To Visit
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Some of the most popular winter destinations in the USA:
Florida is the most popular winter vacation destination in the eastern USA. At this time of the year, the temperatures in Florida average a very pleasant 25 C. Even in December and January, the temperatures seldom fall below 15 C. The heavy summer rainfalls are finished, so the chances of rainy days are much lower throughout the coming winter months.
The ocean waters are becoming a bit chilly for swimming but sunbathing on the beach is still a very popular activity. Fortunately, nearly every resort has a heated swimming pool that makes swimming possible throughout the winter. Visits to Disney World, Universal Studios and the other attractions remain the most popular activities. Golf, tennis, fishing and other outdoor activities are also great winter pastime in Florida.
If you think it is expensive to vacation in Florida, you are mistaken. There are so many hotels, vacation rentals and resorts in Florida that the competition keeps the prices very affordable. You can easily find hotel rooms for less than $100 per night and even for less than $50 per night.
Las Vegas is the most popular winter vacation destination in the western part of the USA. Current temperatures are around 25 C, but they usually drop to an average 10 C during the months of December through February. The chances of any rainfall are very low in this dry desert community. The most popular indoor attractions in Vegas are gambling, entertainment, gambling, dining and gambling. Outdoor activities include golf, horseback riding, tennis, and exploring the may nearby attractions such as the Grand Canyon.
This is the time of the year to find some real bargains in Las Vegas. Many of the grand casinos are offering some very inexpensive room rates. If you avoid the weekends, you can easily find some luxury rooms in the big hotels along the Las Vegas Strip for bargain prices. You’ll find even lower rates at the hotels off the strip!
Phoenix Arizona is another western winter vacation spot. It currently offers a pleasant 25 C, but temperatures often drop to the 10 C level during December through February. Chances of rainfall are very low. Golf is the main winter attraction with a plethora of great courses nearby. Horseback riding, tennis and other outdoor activities continue through the winter months.
Palm Springs California currently offers beautiful 28 C. days. Those temperatures are unlikely to fall below 15 C even in the dead of winter, while chances of any rainfall are near zero. Palm Springs has some of the finest golf courses in the USA, and they attract many rich and famous guests from nearby Los Angeles and Hollywood. Our list of Palm Springs Hotels will get you started on your warm winter vacation!
For shoppers, this is a great time to browse the fantastic selections that stores are displaying in preparation for the coming Christmas shopping season. If shopping is your thing and you are here the day after Thanksgiving, November 26th, be prepared! This is the busiest shopping day of the entire year! It’s when the Christmas shopping season officially begins, and stores everywhere entice shoppers with incredible sales and offers. It’s quite an event that you will not want to miss!!!
In New York City, November 25 is the date for the great Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Marching bands, clowns, colorful floats and giant character balloons will all parade down Broadway. It will begin at 9AM on 77th Street and Central Park West and end up at Herald Square in front of Macy’s Department Store around noon. At the end of the great procession, Santa Claus will arrive signaling the beginning of the Christmas Season.
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Thanksgiving weekend is a busy travel time
Keep this date in mind if you are planning on visiting the US during this month, since the days around Thanksgiving are considered to be the busiest travel days of the year. You may want to make reservations ahead of time, to assure that you’ll get your train or plane ticket or that hotel room you might need. The days around Thanksgiving are definitely not the time to be scheduling last minute travel, since it might be difficult to get those airplane tickets. If you still want to travel during those specific dates, you will probably pay higher rates.
The rest of the month, however, is an excellent time to travel in the United States. The weather is great in many parts of the country, especially here in the Northwest. The leaves are turning, and even though we do get rain sometimes, we have been getting plenty of sunny days, with temperatures of 10 C to 20 C.
These metros have the lowest rates of violent crime, workplace deaths, fatal crashes and natural disasters
Source: Yahoo
After living five years in New York City and waiting tables while working part time as actors, Pamela Russell and her husband Todd were looking for a safer, cheaper place to put down roots–without giving up all the city perks that they so enjoyed in the Big Apple. Luckily for them, they chanced upon the Twin Cities.
“We drove into Minneapolis and fell in love almost instantly,” says Russell, now 38, who settled in Minneapolis with her husband and started a theater company–as well as a family of five kids–10 years ago.” Among the buzz and hum of Minneapolis, the biggest bonus of it all is that the crime rates are shockingly low. Sure, we lock our home at night, but we feel very safe living here.”
Minneapolis tops our list of America’s safest cities, and not just for its crime rate. In ranking the cities on our list, we looked at workplace fatalities, traffic-related deaths and natural disaster risk; the City of Lakes ranked in the top 10 of all four categories. It’s also one of America’s best places to live cheaply and offers easy access to some of the most scenic drives in the country.
Full List: America’s Safest Cities
The Milwaukee metro area, buoyed by the lowest natural disaster risk of the cities we considered, ranks second. The Portland, Ore.,metro, which boasts the lowest crime rate, places third. Boston and Seattle are tied for fourth. Both benefit from low traffic fatality rates–Boston’s is the lowest on our list, and Seattle’s is the eighth-lowest. This is largely because they boast two of the most user-friendly mass transit systems in the country. In addition to being environmentally friendly, these networks provide an alternative to driving while intoxicated.
“Some cities have transit systems that penetrate more of the area,” says Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “The biggest factors in fatal crashes are alcohol impairment and speeding. So to the extent that communities do a good job of reducing alcohol impairment and speeding, that should show up in fatal crash rates.”
Behind the Numbers
To determine our list of America’s safest cities, we looked at the country’s 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas across four categories of danger. We considered 2008 workplace death rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2008 traffic death rates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; and natural disaster risk, using rankings from green living site SustainLane.com. It devised its rankings by collecting historical data on hurricanes, major flooding, catastrophic hail, tornado super-outbreaks, and earthquakes from government agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States Geological Survey, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and private outfit Risk Management Solutions. We also looked at violent crime rates from the FBI’s 2008 uniform crime report. The violent crime category is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. In cases where the FBI report included incomplete data on a given metro area, we used estimates from Sperling’s BestPlaces.
Seeking Shelter
While the strength of a metro’s mass transit in some cases influenced its traffic fatality rank, the types of industry located there largely affected each city’s workplace death rate. These tended to be lowest in areas like Seattle and San Jose that contain a profusion of technology and service jobs–or Detroit, where nearly one quarter of the workforce is unemployed. Dangerous jobs are more prevalent in industrial centers like Pittsburgh and Indianapolis, whose workplace death rates were five times higher than the safest, Minneapolis.
“Obviously there are some jobs that have a higher fatality rate than others,” says Matt Gunter, a researcher at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “If there’s a concentration of that sort of job in a certain city, there’s probably going to be a higher fatality rate.”
Mother nature can knock down trees, flood houses and even destroy entire neighborhoods. To gauge which cities most feel her wrath, Sustain Lane collected data from observation posts at different areas within cities. It notes that the natural disasters observed generally affect the entire metro area and greater region in which they occur. SustainLane measured the likelihood of disaster as well as the extent of damage. Miami was rated as having the highest natural disaster risk.
“There is an issue of frequency vs. severity to take into consideration,” says Ken Ott, director of city rankings at SustainLane. “San Francisco and Oakland are due for a 100-year quake, but these only happen every 100 or so years, while Miami is in a frequent hurricane path.”
Miami’s natural disaster risk was part of another perfect storm–one composed entirely of statistics. America’s southernmost metropolis ranked among the six worst in all four categories we measured, earning it the lowest overall safety ranking on our list.
Top 5 America’s Safest Cities
4. Seattle, Wa. (tie)
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.
Violent crime: 3 of 40
Workplace deaths: 2 of 40
Traffic deaths: 8 of 40
Natural disaster risk: 31 of 40
4. Boston, Mass.
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H.
Violent crime: 10 of 40
Workplace deaths: 5 of 40
Traffic deaths: 1 of 40
Natural disaster risk: 28 of 40
3. Portland, Ore.
Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.-Wash.
Violent crime: 1 of 40
Workplace deaths: 10 of 40
Traffic deaths: 5 of 40
Natural disaster risk: 25 of 40
2. Milwaukee, Wis.
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis.
Violent crime: 24 of 40
Workplace deaths: 11 of 40
Traffic deaths: 4 of 40
Natural disaster risk: 1 of 40
1. Minneapolis, Minn.
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
Violent crime: 9 of 40
Workplace deaths: 1 of 40
Traffic deaths: 7 of 40
Natural disaster risk: 7 of 40
Click here for the full list of America’s Safest Cities
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