Travel

Day 1 - West Minster Start the day with a walking tour that gives you a nice history & geography of the city of London. Many of the royal palaces and crown-related buildings are in the city of “Westminster” which is next door to the City of London. Then head to the British Museum. Like most government-owned museums, it is free to access. However, I would recommend booking a reservation in advance. Rick Steves has a nice audio guide on touring the British Museum that I would recommend. ...

Miami is hot and humid. I would recommend visiting during winters (Nov-Feb). You can fly directly or use it as a stop-over for visiting the Caribbean or doing a Caribbean cruise Unlike Chicago or Boston , Miami does not have good public transport, so, I would recommend renting a car. Day 1 Start the day with a visit to Seaquarium for a Dolphin show. Follow this with a visit to Everglades National Park , do watch the show here, and get a chance to hold an alligator or a snake in your hand. ...

While touring United States , I ended up in Kentucky. There isn’t a lot to do in Kentucky, especially, during the winters that I visited. So, here are a few small ideas for a day trip. I would recommend starting the day with Kentucky Derby Museum which is famous for its annual Kentucky Derby Horse race. Afterwards, check out the sit-in demonstration site of the 1961 civil rights movement at 501 S Fourth St . ...

While touring United States , I ended up in Tennessee. There isn’t a lot to do in Tennessee, especially, during the winters that I visited. So, here are a few small ideas for a day trip. I would recommend starting the day with Rednor Lake State Park Check out The Parthenon . It is a full-scale replica of The Parthenon in Athens, Greece. I would recommend combining your trip with a visit to the city of Birmingham in Alabama and the city of Louisville located in Kentucky . ...

Alabama is a flyover state with historic connections to the civil rights movement of the United States. I spent a day in Birmingham, Alabama and here’s what I would recommend visiting. Start your day with Birmingham Civil Right Institute which talks about the race relations and the civil rights movements for the Black citizens. I would recommend spending an hour or two here. From here, visit Sloss Furances , a historic landmark around industrialization of the United States. ...

Mt. Fuji is a tough but gorgeous hike. It is much shorter than Grand Canyon or Mt. Whitney and can be done on a day trip. The shortest way to hike Mt. Fuji is to start from the 5th station. I would recommend taking a 2400-yen bus from Tokyo to Kawaguchiko and staying there at night. In the morning, you can start the hike from the 5th station . That’s the furthest one can access via bus. It is about an 8-mile round trip hike with a ~4800 ft elevation gain. So, unless you have done strenuous hikes before, don’t attempt it. ...

Unlike Tokyo , Kyoto is a nice and cozy city. We started the day with a walking tour that gave us an intense view of this city of shrines. There is a lot to do in this city. However, I would recommend focusing on a few of the best specific shrines. Inari Shrine - do the full mountain hike to the top and check the small waterfalls on the backside Kinkaku-ji Shrine Ninna-ji temple - a 1200-year-old temple with several statues of Hindu gods sculpted in 800 AD. ...

Tokyo isn’t a city per se but a prefecture. A prefecture is more akin to a county in the US. Japan has 47 prefectures. I would recommend two important cities in Tokyo to spend your time in - Akihabara Electronic District and Shinjuku (fancy) District. While public transport is great, payment requires cash, iPhone, or Suica cards. Unfortunately, Android phones sold outside Japan do not have the appropriate NFC to pay. There are multiple different types of rail companies operating in Tokyo. When you buy a JR pass (please don’t) or a 24-hour pass, it isn’t obvious where you can use it. ...

Sri Lanka is a small island country near the southern coast of India. My trip was heavily focused on Ramayana and Hinduism. While I loved it, those who have little interest in Hinduism might find the trip. Like Kerala and Sikkim , I had a chauffered guide for the trip. I would highly recommend doing that, otherwise, a packed trip becomes harder to pull off. You can see a list of recommended guides here. ...

Granada Granada is one of the oldest European settlements in the Americas. While it has nice Spanish-era architecture, there isn’t a lot to do in Granada. I would recommend starting your day with a walking tour. Afterward, consider visiting the Chocolate Museum of Granada to learn about the chocolate history of the region. In the evening, do the tour of an active volcano, Volcan Masaya for USD 22 per person. The volcano is good and one can see a fair bit of magma. If, however, you have seen active volcanoes before , then it can be a bit boring. ...