Here’s a fun chart: A look at the world’s best cities for Instagram sunset posts. New research by Heepsy analyzed 54 cities worldwide to identify the ones that have the most Instagrammable sunsets. The study considered several key factors, including the number of Instagram hashtags, average annual sunshine hours, air quality index (AQI), tourist arrivals, and popular sunset spots, to determine the cities that offer the most stunning and popular sunset experiences. Here’s their top nine, including total score based on the above factors and key places to watch the sun go down. As a California native who grew up Read more
Avalon Waterways
The World’s Most Instagrammable Sunset Cities; The World’s Cheapest Countries + Golf and Cruise News
It was a pretty good year for travel outside Canada, with numerous trips to California, a couple to Hawaii, one to Florida, a river cruise in Austria, Slovakia and Hungary, and two weeks in Western Australia and New South Wales. From Santa Monica to Sydney and Maui to Vienna, here are some of my top experiences, fave foods and hotels of 2022. BEST ISLAND PHOTO: The Abrolhos Islands of Western Australia, as seen from my scenic flight with Geraldton Air Charter. We spotted pods of dolphins from the air. You also can take a trip that includes a nice swim Read more
Vienna is rightfully famous for its polished palaces and prancing Lipizzaner stallions, not to mention the rich, pure voices of the Vienna Boy’s Choir. There are historic churches from the Middle Ages and homes lived in by the likes of Ludwig van Beethoven and Johann Strauss. But there’s also a rich, vibrant modern side to this city, with rooftop bars that blast pulsating dance tunes, wildly inventive architecture, and funky shops based on Monty Python sketches. Tour guide Alexa Brauner, an engaging and enthusiastic art lover, recently took me on a three-hour walking tour that included both the old and Read more
It’s tricky when you invite someone who’s afraid of the water to get on board a ship. It’s especially unusual to ask that person to christen the ship, become the ship’s godmother, and then take a four-day cruise. But everything went according to plan this week when television star and journalist Meredith Vieira christened the newest “suite ship” in the Avalon Waterways fleet. (See short video here) Vieira handled the honors with aplomb in Bratislava, Slovakia on Tuesday, and with a bit of emotion to boot, cutting a long cord with a pair of scissors and sending a bottle of Read more
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. recently bumped cruise ship travel to its highest travel advisory level, recommending that Americans avoid cruise travel due to “very high” COVID-19 levels. But Avalon Waterways says they operated more than 100 cruises this past summer and fall without incident. “In fact, after operating more than 100 cruises this summer and fall across Europe, Egypt and the Galapagos Islands – and testing every single cruise passenger in preparation for their journeys home – Avalon Waterways ended its 2021 cruise season with ZERO (0) COVID-19 cases onboard. Not one of our Read more
