This week's Photo of the Week is a view from the Pao de Azucar (Sugarloaf Mountain) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The entire day was gloomy, but as soon as we arrived at this spot, the clouds opened up, seemingly for us, and we had the chance to witness the great beauty of Rio de Janeiro. You can see the…

In Portuguese the word ‘ficar’ has two meanings. In some contexts ‘ficar’ can mean the verb ‘to stay,’ e.g.“Quanto tempo você vai ficar na Bahia?”  Translation: “For how long are you going to stay in Bahia?” However, in some more complex situations (wink wink), ‘ficar’ can also be the…

This january I volunteered at Festival au Desert in Timbuctu. It was a fantastic experience,

take a look at my blog for more!

 …

As I’ve noticed, the majority of people here are reasonably slim. What’s the secret? Well here’s what I believe are the Cariocas´ (people of Rio de Janeiro) secrets to keeping slim.

1. Beach 365 days of the year:

When you live in a climate where…

Last September I went to Turkey for the first time. I’m what they call a “Slow Traveler,” part of a growing movement of people who are dissatisfied with the pre-packaged, rushed experiences of modern tourism. So when I go somewhere, I try to settle down for a bit and absorb the atmosphere rather than rush to see everything. I don’t even take that many photos. My first time backpacking around Europe I saw 13 cities in 30 days, and by the end of it my head was in a…

Today is Rome’s birthday so I thought it appropriate to post exclusively about the city for once.

I think we’ve all heard the story of Romulus and Remus before. At least we should have heard it before. You remember some of the fragments, right? Romulus and Remus were brothers; Romulus killed Remus and started the city; Rome is named after Romulus. If you don’t remember much, that’s ok. The bare bones are enough for my point, but let me get just a tad bit more in-depth here and give…

I traveled through Venice, Italy, and uncover a place that was vivacious, vigorous and easy to fall in love with. The train came at approximately 8pm and upon wanting to find the bus to where I'd booked Hotel Primavera in Venice Mestra; I had a little worry. The bus system was a bit unknown to try and figure out. I…

Where can we find ancient China?

It is well-known that China is growing explosively and by now is the second biggest economy of the world. But what exactly does that mean? How fast is it growing? What are the effects on tourism and the country’s culture? What will travelers and tourists notice, while being on the road? And where can we find ancient…

Join us on one of the craziest parties of the year!

Queen’s day (in Dutch: Koninginnedag) is an annual national celebration since more than 50 years. On April 30th we celebrate our Queen’s birthday, although this day actually is the birthday of her mother, Princess Juliana.  

To honour our royal family, most houses display the Dutch flag. This is probably the only thing that comes close to…

Picture This

Picture this: I get off my horse’s back and plant my feet in lush green grass. My back is aching from the short, yet pretty rough horseback ride. A ride that is the opposite from the ones back home. This might be due to the different saddle, but my guess is that it has to do with the interaction I have (or the lack of it) with my horse. You simply ride these tough horses in a different way than the trained horses back home. The fact that the horse hardly…