Viator Travel Blog

If your heart melts every time you look into the eyes of an animal, whether it’s a puppy or a frog, then it’s safe to say you’re an animal lover. Luckily for you, there are countless opportunities for animal people to help furry, feathery, scaly or slimy creatures while traveling the world.

How is this possible? By volunteering abroad, of course! Programs for volunteering with wildlife abroad are located all over the world, but we’ve compiled a list of eight countries that are worth a second glance. Take a look at some of the animals you can work with in each country and what you can do as a volunteer to make a difference.

Thankfully with the technology that is available these days in 2012 almost everyone has video capabilities, whether it’s on your phone, your laptop, point and shoot camera, or a reasonably priced video camera. With sites like the second largest search engine in the world (YouTube), creating and sharing videos from our travels with family, friends, and the world has never been easier. Of course, with the proliferation of videos out there, there are plenty of bad, boring videos to sift through. But with a little extra work, you can create interesting, exciting vacation videos that friends and family will actually want to watch.

The Alps hold a certain charm that is undeniable. People from all over the world flock to this region in Europe at the first sign of fresh powder, aching to drop their skis or snowboards into the fluffy white snow.

But, the Alps are just one of many spectacular areas in the world where the skiing is world-class and the mountains are magical.

Just because most of America is in a deep freeze (or at least not shorts weather), doesn’t mean the rest of the world is experiencing the same. Thankfully, there are plenty of places enjoying summer whilst we pack on the layers and bundle up to face winter’s wrath.

During the Northern Hemisphere’s winter, many other places are enjoying some gorgeous weather, free from the rainy seasons, monsoons and sweltering heat, so now is the time to head to one of these exotic locales to enjoy some sun, blue skies and less clothes. A lot less clothes.

Barbados packs a punch (not only the rum kind). This small island welcomes over 1 million visitors annually and shows them all a good time. Whether you’re a gourmet diner, water sports nut or shopping addict, you’ll find plenty to please you here.

The rich and famous migrate here like clockwork. But there are activities for every budget. And no matter how deep your pockets, you’ll have a warm welcome in Barbados.

Beijing is a city that embodies China’s ancient civilization and rich political and cultural history. Alongside all of the historical buildings, temples, and gates is the juxtaposition of a modern China filled with skyscrapers, luxury shopping malls, and a vibrant art and music scene. Here are suggestions of what to do when you come to the capital of one of the world’s oldest civilizations.

Following a long held love and fascination for travel and books, I have finally found a way to combine the two with ease and discover parts of the world that I never even knew existed: Maurice Sendak’s famous book, Where the Wild Things Are. It recently became a film, but I declined to see it as I really enjoy the originals, and my imagination is probably better – so there!

Being a Londoner, I would never have thought of going on a London day trip anywhere. Oh how ignorant I was! Boarding the coach at Victoria Coach Station, I was pleasantly greeted by Nick, our tour guide for the day; a very knowledgeable and friendly man. He made us all feel comfortable, as we embarked on a two-hour trip down to Dover.

My parents are brilliant grandparents – the hands on types. Which is great for the kids, but as their daughter, I struggle sometimes to get a word in edgeways. So, in order to get a chance to catch up properly, I booked my mum and me a trip to Morocco with a twist. The plan was to do a spot of shopping in Marrakech and then head out to the desert, to visit some Saharan dunes for a spot of camping and camel trekking. She was all up for the shopping and the desert bit, but less sure about the camels. Still, after checking out some video footage on Youtube, she reckoned she was game, how hard could it be?

As America continues to look a bleak economy straight in the face, it is more important than ever to leverage all options to find the cheapest flights and trips online, so we can still enjoy an affordable vacation.

Done right, the intelligent traveler can chop considerable dollars off his or her airfare and invest it somewhere else, where it would be better used. Unfortunately, there isn’t one answer to finding the cheapest fare available. Getting the lowest price requires diligence and careful planning.