Category - Travel Talk

Mexico City is so often an untapped spring when it comes to enjoying a varied and unique holiday. There is much culture to soak in the city that showcases both Hispanic culture as well as Mexico City’s historic roots to the ancient Aztecs. Days wandering Mexico City will be certain to give its visitors a healthy taste of Mexico’s Aztec and Spanish origins. A day could be spent at Teotihuacan exploring ancient Aztec ruins and the next in the Cathedrals and Castles brought over by the Spanish empire. A few more of the different things you can see while visiting the capital of Mexico City include:

Teotihuacan

Carretera MAxico Teotihuacan Km. 46 |

Around an hour drive from Mexico City Teotihuacan has one of the world’s best preserved Aztec cities complete with fantastic pyramids. The most popular of the buildings found in Teotihuacan is the Palace of the Plumed Butterfly, which not surprisingly pays homage to the butter fly, with columns designed in their likeness. At the heart of this ancient city is the Pyramid of the Sun. Be warned however that Teotihuacan can be crowded and some tourists complain that not enough site information is given while looking around. Still, this is a monument to a civilization gone by that really needs to be seen.

Metropolitan Cathedral

Plaza de la Constitución s/n, Colonia Centro | Mexico City 06010, Mexico

The Metropolitan Cathedral is Mexico’s national cathedral and a stunning display of gothic architecture. The Cathedral was built between 1573 and 1813 after the Spanish defeated the Aztecs and conquered Tenochtitlán. Standing in the ancient Aztec prescient, site of many of the Aztec’s religious rituals, the cathedral helped bring Catholicism to Mexico City. Many observers say that this cathedral stands shoulder to shoulder with the most opulent cathedrals in Europe. Highlights of the Cathedral include a system of underground catacombs, 14 chapels, 5 naves and many paintings by the famed Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.

National Palace

Avenida Pino Suarez, Corregidora esquina Guatemala | Mexico City 06060

A massive ornate building containing several gardens, murals and fountains the national palace also holds the federal executive branch of the Mexican government. Situated next to Mexico City’s most well known square El Zocalo the national palace also includes some fantastic historical paintings by artists Diego Rivera that depict different stages of Mexican History. Admission to the palace is free, but you must have some form of identification to receive admittance.

Cape Town is a city that is noted for its cosmopolitan delights, the iconic table mountain, and several nearby natural reserves. With all these varied things to do and see it can’t be that surprising that Cape Town, compared to the rest of Africa, is really expensive. With that said the crafty traveler finds a way to make it to cool locations like Cape Town and still manage to see things and have fun. The following blog is going to discuss how you can spend time in Cape Town without totally obliterating your travel budget.

When to Visit

The time that you come to Cape Town can have a large impact on the cost of your visit. In December and January, the South African summer, you will pay a premium for flights and hotels. A note for booking flights when coming to Cape Town always try to book your flight in the middle of the week as it will generally save you some money over flying on the weekend.

Where to Stay

The best that can be done for paid accommodations in Cape Town is to stay on Long Street which is full of different backpacker hostels. Located in a handy central location, also having a good array of bars and restaurants, Long Street will make an ideal location for exploring the city. Of course if you really want to save money, you could also explore options for doing couch surfing in Cape Town.

Where to Eat

If you really want to save on food you should probably buy some food and cook it inside of the hostel. Now of course when you are in a new city this is not always possible as you need to be on the streets exploring too. A few places along Long Street that can service your basic eating needs include: Arnolds, for a breakfast fry up, and Rafiki’s which does epic sized burgers and fries.

Walk the streets and hang out on the beaches

People travel the world over to enjoy the great beaches of South Africa and the great thing for the low budget traveler is that they are free. Be sure to check out nearby beaches such as Sea Point and Bantry Bay. Also, you can save money by just walking around areas of town and seeing how the locals are living. A good suggestion of where to go to do this includes the always bustling St George Mall and the Sea Point Promenade which has great views over the waters near Cape Town.

As they say, it’s never the times locked behind your desk that one reflects back on before they die. Really, it is the relationships you have formed as well as the truly dynamic moments you have had that define a life in retrospection. Travel often can do the latter, giving people intensely personal moments they reflect back on for a lifetime. With that in mind, there are plenty of travel things people should try to do before they die. Below is just a little list that details a few of them.

1) Ride something larger than a horse; perhaps taking the chance to ride an elephant through the South American jungle.

2) Visiting a “real” blues bar in Chicago.

3) Try travelling India by train, complete with all the people traveling on the top of it.

4) Take part in the Carnival parade in Brazil.

5) Dance the tango, even poorly, in Argentina.

6) Volunteer abroad for a month somewhere remote and very different than where you are from.

7) Cross over a glacier by foot and marvel at the landscape we take for granted actually changing.

8) Walk around in the hustle and bustle of Central London. A walk down Oxford Street is essential for you to see just what a city can be like.

9) Scuba dive, or snorkel, at the Great Barrier Reef. With the largest coral reef in the world you will be given a chance to marvel at all the life that exists in the oceans.

10) Do a wildlife safari in Africa.

11) Buy an around the world ticket once in your life and see the four corners of the globe. If you can try to at once time set foot on all seven continents.

12) Go to a music festival in another country. If you’re having trouble thinking of one try Roskilde in Denmark.

13) Participate once in the Burning Man Festival in the deserts of Nevada.

14) Cross a country only using public transportation and experience the nation as the local people would.

15) Partake in a Japanese tea festival.

16) Go at least once to an Olympic Games to see one of the world’s largest spectacles.

17) Visit as many of the Capitals you can in Europe.

18) See either Barcelona or Real Madrid play soccer in their stadium.

19) Watch an orchestra play in Vienna.

20) Smoke a Cuban cigar near its source in Cuba itself.

21) Drive down the Pacific Coast Highway and enjoy the beauty of the ocean and the waves crashing down upon its beaches.

22) Look over, the eternal city, Paris from the Eifel Tower an marvel in its charm and beauty.

23) Sit in a Paris cafe with a book and a coffee and people watch.

24) Trek your way up to Manchu Pichu.

25) Never let your wonder and excitement for travel and the sheer joy it brings to you disappear.