Tag Archives: Cuba

Top 7 Countries You Must Travel If You Love Music

Visiting different countries around the globe and experiencing a rich culture, history, and music is always exciting. Music tells a lot about a culture. Exploring a place along with music is one of the best experiences in the world.

We have created a list of top 7 countries that you must visit if you are a music fan and love traveling.

Read Next: 5 Epic Art Festivals Around the Globe

Best Destinations For Music Lovers

Music is my life!

England

London Bridge, England

England is a country with an extraordinary music scene. The most famous music cities in England are Liverpool and London. Liverpool was home to the Beatles band. It is also often called the “pop capital of the world”.

Every year thousands of Beatles fans visit Liverpool during the international Beatles week. London also hosts some great music festivals, and it also has a lot of events for classical music fans.

United States

Coachella

In the United States, the music market is three times larger than any other country. And it is home to six of the ten highest-grossing music venues. Think about that for a moment.

Some of the cities that you must visit during your trip to America are:

 

The USA has something for everyone’s music tastes. It has music festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza, Ultra, SXSW, and pitchfork music festival.

It also has events like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. So, the USA is the place to visit for the best live corporate event band.

Lollapalooza

Germany

Germany is famous for its electronic music scene. Germany is host to some of the best music festivals.

Lollapalooza Berlin, MELT, Hurricane, Splash, Highfields, and MS Dockville are some of the most famous music festivals that you must attend if you are visiting Germany for your music vacation.

Cuba

Cuba has a very rich and interesting music culture and its city Havana is a place that should be on every music lovers bucket list. The Havana International Jazz festival is an event that every jazz fan has to experience.

Jazz festival

Brazil

Image credit – Rio Music Carnival

Among all their talents one thing that the Brazilians also know a thing or two about partying. The country has a beautiful culture and landscape and even more beautiful people. Rio is one of the must-visit cities if you are in Brazil.

Carnival, Rio, Brazil

Brazil hosts loads of music festivals every year some of which are TribalTech, Ultra Brazil, DGTL Sao Paulo, and of course the Rio Music Carnival.

Netherlands

DJ Armin Van Burren mesmerizing the crowd

The Dutch people are the leaders of electronic dance music. Many amazing and talented DJs including Tiesto and Armin Van Burren call the Netherlands their home. The capital of Netherlands, Amsterdam is a place that every music lover must visit.

The city is the best during the Amsterdam dance event in mid-October. The Amsterdam music festival is also held during this event where many DJs from all over the world perform. 

So, anyone who is a fan of electronic music should add visiting Netherlands and Amsterdam to their bucket list.

Belgium

Tomorrowland is one of the most famous electronic dance music festival held in Boom, Belgium. Starting in 2005, it has since become one of the world’s largest and most notable music festivals and now stretches over 2 weekends. It’s so popular that tickets usually sell out in minutes after opening.

Tomorrowland Electronic Music Festival

About the Author

Kristal Bean is a Southern California-based writer and sometimes wedding planner. In her free time, she homeschools, works out and loves to listen to live music. Check her blog Green Light Booking.

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The 5 Best Water Sport Resorts In The World

Watersport has always been very exciting. Both kids and adults love them. It helps to refresh both your mind and body. In my opinion, one of the best vacation spots can be an all-inclusive water sports resort.

Following are my selection of five of the best water sports resorts in the world. Let’s take a look.

Travaasa Hana, Maui

It is located in the town of Hana on the eastern tip of Maui island. Travaasa is the first resort on the island to greet the rising sun. Set amid rolling grass fields and palm trees above Hana Bay, Travaasa will immerse you in the real Hawaii. It has many activities like stand up paddling, husking and throw net fishing.

Salinas do Maragogi Resort, Maragogi, Brazil

Salinas do Maragogi is one of the highest rated hotels in Brazil. It offers a list of activities that include water sports such as diving among coral reefs and colorful fish as well as extreme adventures. The special place of rest in this resort is the spa where they offer body scrubs, massage, aromatherapy, wraps, manicures, and pedicures.

 

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Royalton Cayo Santa Maria, Villa Clara Province, Cuba

TripAdvisor’s Travelers Choice Awards was won by this resort in 2014. Combining the fascinating culture of Cuba with a luxury product, exceptional service, and incredible attention to detail, the Royalton Cayo Santa Maria promises the adults-only vacation of your dreams.

Their picturesque facilities, warm staff, exhilarating culture and world-class cuisine are the perfect components to create an unforgettable vacation.

Half Moon Luxury Resort, Jamaica

With over two miles of oceanfront, the turquoise and the blue Caribbean Sea gently roll onto the golden sands of the two private beaches of this resort. Its sunset beach is crescent-shaped gem inspired the name of the resort back in 1954 and is ideal for swimming, sunbathing and watersports.

The second beach is the sunrise beach, and its beauty is that you will be alone. This expanse is renowned for panoramic sunrises, and it is just right for sunbathing, scuba diving, beach sports and swimming with horses. It has hibiscus pool, Olympic Lap Pool, and Private Pools.

Hibiscus Pool is family-friendly pool set in the Hibiscus gardens, complete with swim-up bar. Olympic Lap Pool is where your workout will be a lot more fun. A quiet area, it is also perfect for relaxing while most of the cottages and all of the villas come with private pools.

Calabash Cove, St. Lucia

St. Lucia is as enchanting place as it is exotic and luxuriant. It offers old Caribbean charm coupled with luxurious resort amenities of today. From the mouth-watering Windsong restaurant and lively C-Bar overlooking our infinity pool at the Ti Spa, you will have everything at your fingertips when vacationing at Calabash Cove.

It offers luxurious amenities that are designed to keep you calm, relaxed and centered for your entire stay. Calabash Cove has nine beautiful Balinese mahogany cottages, four swim-up junior suites, and thirteen luxury ocean view junior suites. The Water’s Edge Cottages are all equipped with their very own secluded plunge pools, Jacuzzis, and native flora.

You must consider the resorts mentioned above whenever you feel like planning a trip with family. I hope it works. Best of luck!

 

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Author bio:

Tom is a blogger and a nature lover. He is obsessed with traveling and adventures and that too with his family. He believes that water has a steady hold of him. He regularly writes about his experiences at www.kayakcritic.net.

20 Christmas Food Traditions Around the World

Besides New Years, Christmas is the most celebrated international holiday. According to Pew Research Center, there are about 2.2 billion Christians in the world, making up nearly one-third of the world population.

This means that about one-third of the entire world celebrates Christmas in some capacity. Just think about all that holiday cheer! 

Christmas is traditionally the celebration of Jesus’ birth on December 25th and customarily includes exchanging presents, hanging lights, decorating Christmas trees, attending church, and eating meals with family and friends.

These are some of the core practices of celebrating Christmas but many cultures add their own unique twist when it comes to observing this meaningful holiday.

Christmas Food Traditions

Some of the most interesting differences in how various cultures and regions celebrate Christmas is through their food and drink traditions. You are probably familiar with turkey in the U.S. and maybe you’ve heard of tamales in Latin America but what about rum punch in Jamaica, Kentucky Fried Chicken in Japan, or prawns in Australia!

Whatever it is, you can bet each region has its own holiday delicacy. In order to reveal some of the most interesting holiday meal traditions, Kitchen Cabinet Kings put together a list of top 20 Holiday delicacies from around the world.

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If that list got you wondering about other cool and unusual Christmas traditions check out the Philippines’ Giant Lantern Festival or the Parrandas Festival in Remedios, Cuba. If you are looking for more bizarre traditions, look up Catalonia’s defecating figure in their nativity scenes and Austria’s Krampus who goes around beating naughty kids.

Another country’s unique traditions to explore is Africa. In Ghana, people dress up in elaborate costumes and parade around on Christmas day. In Kenya and Uganda, people celebrate in much less commercial ways than many other countries.

Usually, the only gift given is a new outfit for church. On Christmas day in South Africa, many indulge on deep-fried caterpillars of the Emperor Moth.

Read more: 8 Destinations that will make you spend Christmas away from home

Traditions may differ around the world but nothing brings people together like food and the holidays, no matter where you’re from or your cultural background. Wherever you call home, there is probably a unique traditional dish, dessert, or drink you look forward to having every Christmas.

Did your favorite dish make the list? Or maybe you saw something you just have to try (personally, France’s Buche de Noel instantly made my mouth water.)

If you decide you want to travel for the holidays next year, use this list and try some of the unique Christmas dishes from the region you find yourself in.

Read more: 10 Most Unique Christmas Traditions Around the World

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Year End Review and Travel Highlights of 2016

With just a few days left in 2016, there is a lot to review before closing out the year. What happened this year? What were the tourist hotspots? What are the changes in the travel industry? What news made it into the headlines?

All these questions help us to look at our year in review. Now, let us catch up with events of this last year before we leap into the new one.

ZIKA OUTBREAK

The booming tourism industry in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil, Panama, United States Virgin Islands, Honduras) took a bitter blow when the virus hit.

Since January, travel experts talk about the drastic effect of the Zika Virus on tourism. Those who had tickets for Zika-affected areas canceled their trips and received full refunds. About 26% of travel agents became victims of Zika cancellations.

Throughout the year, Zika made it in the news worldwide. As a result, concerned travelers canceled their trips even though the virus is mild and only infects the pregnant woman.

During the winter season, the $24 billion travel industry in Miami experienced a major setback because of last minute cancellations due to the virus.

TERROR

Brussels By Miguel Discart CC BY-SA 2.0

After the terror attacks in November 2015, 2016 saw a decline in the number of tourists. Cities like Brussels, Nice and German cities witnessed the killing of innocent humans. After the deadly attacks on Paris, the Sodetour chain of restaurants saw a 70% decrease in business.

How much of that is attributable to terrorism we do not know. Regardless, European countries which depend on tourism got disappointed this year. France was primarily affected by the attacks on Paris and Brussels.

The economy had a loss of one billion pounds in business and tax revenue in March. Furthermore, the country saw no growth from April to June.  Most of the declining economy came from hotels and tourism.

GROWTH OF OTAs

The rise of OTAs (online travel agencies) is slumping the profits from direct booking for hotels. OTAs eat away 15%-30% of the cost of booking, which is a nightmare for hotels. Hence, hotels are seeking out new ways to encourage travelers to book directly through them.

Now that commission free booking engines are available, hoteliers save their commission money and spend it on marketing. It is expected that the OTA share in hotel revenue will increase from 14 % in 2010 to 19% in 2017.

Whereas, estimates say that hotel website bookings will get only a 2% increase in the same period.

AHOY AIRBNB

Not only are hotels and OTAs attracting hoards of customers but so is Airbnb. This company helps you find home rentals while you are traveling across the world. If you do not know about it already then you will certainly hear about it in the coming year.

The company has made an income of $12.3 billion this year and is predicted to outsmart all other accommodation companies. Experts comment that it has the potential to elevate its income by 70% in 2017.

Although there are pending lawsuits against this home-sharing company, it is still running successfully. Next year it will have more than 200 cities on its radar.

TSA HEADACHE

The increasing threat to security has caused officials to take extra precautions. A long and tiring pre-check was the bane of travel this past year. Many people did not want to travel unless necessary because of the never-ending TSA Security lines at the airport.

Flights were a nightmare, and plenty of travelers missed their flights. The plight of the passengers was a massive problem. However, there was a blame game between the TSA and the airlines. After May the TSA made adjustments to its security program.

Now getting through the security check is comparatively smooth and quick.

BURYING THE COLD WAR

Press conference, Havana BY Chuck Kennedy BY Public Domain

The U.S. was hopeful at the start of 2016 to forge a friendship with its long-time rival from the Cold War, Cuba. President Obama took initiatives and was the first U.S. President to visit Cuba.

This initiative was the reason Cuba eased its travel restrictions. In June, the first cruise ship since the 1960s traveled from the U.S. to Cuba. The friendly relationship between the two rivals didn’t last long.

In November, as the conclusion of Obama’s term became imminent and with the death of Fidel Castro, the relationship became tenuous once more.

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10 Most Unique Christmas Traditions Around the World

Our planet is a multicultural place. That means that people around the world celebrate many different holidays at the end of the year, from Hanukkah to Kwanzaa, among many others.

However, with Christianity being followed by one-third of the global population, Christmas is celebrated by many nations and in many countries. Still, these Christmas traditions vary greatly, both from country to country and from continent to continent.

Here are our top 10 most exciting traditions from different countries:

The Philippines

The Philippines is the third largest Catholic nation in the world. No other country’s celebrations come even close to Philippine style celebrations. Filipinos have the longest celebration in the world, starting in September.

There are nine days of Christmas masses in a row, which have the name of Simbang Gabi. On the last day of Simbang Gabi, which is Christmas Eve, the mass service is actually called “Misa de Gallo.” That’s Spanish for “The rooster’s mass”.

And there are also festive of parols, star-shaped ornaments traditional to the country, which brighten the windows of the houses during the entire holiday season. These are the lights which reflect the Star of Bethlehem in design. Their name comes from the Spanish word “farol”, which means lantern.

In the Philippines, Merry Christmas is “Maligayang Pasko”. Try to remember this if you plan to spend the holiday season in this magnificent country!

Sweden

The Yule Log is the traditional Christmas in Sweden. It greatly differs from both European and American traditional celebrations. For example, instead of wood, the Swedish go with a goat. The Yule Goat, or the Julbok, isn’t a live animal. It is made almost entirely of straw and originates from mythology. The Swedes have adopted it as part of the modern Christmas tradition warmly. However, not everybody in Sweden is happy with this holiday symbol.

For example, the town of Gävle has set up a giant Julbok annually since 1966. Since that very same year, people in the town have tried to torch, kidnap or vandalize the symbol in one way or another. Over the half of the goats have fallen victim to what the town authorities call vandalism.

By the way, Merry Christmas in Swedish is “God Jul”. Memorize this congratulation, if you are going to celebrate Christmas in Sweden.

Australia

In Australia, the holiday season falls in the summer. In fact, these might be the hottest weeks in the whole year. So Christmas in Australia is more often characterized with electrical storms and brush fires than with snowstorms.

However, that doesn’t prevent Australians from getting into the Christmas spirit. One family from Canberra even broke a world record by decorating their property with 31 miles of lights.

Some Australians try to follow British traditions. In these families, you will surely see a roast turkey, a steamed pudding, and gingerbread on the Christmas dinner table. However, most people in Australia head towards beaches during Christmas for barbecues. Plum pudding with ice cream is also served traditionally, in an attempt to tolerate the Australian Christmas temperatures.

Finland

Finland is the perfect place for Christmas. Joulupukki, the Finnish Santa Claus, waits for visitors in Rovaniemi, the hometown of Santa in Lapland. However, Christmas in Finland is not all about snow, Santa, and reindeer.

There are several traditions, which you won’t find in any other place in the world.

For example, in South Finland, a formal ceremony takes place at noon, with reading the Declaration of Christmas Peace. With some changes, the document has been read annually since the 13th century. It states that the holiday “shall under aggravating circumstances be guilty and punished according to what the law and statutes prescribe for each and every offense separately”.

It means to never mess with Finnish Christmas! The declaration also wishes the inhabitants of the country a joyous Christmas holidays.

In Finland, people wish each other “Hyvää Joulua” on Christmas!

Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, single girls and women perform an unusual ritual on Christmas to find out if they will get married next year or not. With her back to the house door, a woman throws a shoe over her shoulder. If the shoe lands with its heel towards the door, the woman will stay single. However, if the front of the shoe faces the door, she can start wedding preparations.

If you want to wish somebody Merry Christmas in the Czech Republic, you should say “Veselé Vánoce”!

 

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Slovakia

In Slovakia, during Christmas dinner, the head of the family takes a full spoon of Loksa (a traditional Christmas dish, made of bread, poppy seed filling and water), and throws it up onto the ceiling. There is a belief that the more that sticks to the ceiling, the richer that the family will be next year.

In Slovakia, Merry Christmas is “Veselé Vianoce”!

Ukraine

In Ukraine, Christmas is celebrated on January 7.

The traditional Christmas Eve dinner must contain 12 dishes, relating to the number of the Disciples of Christ.

Christmas dinner doesn’t start until the first star appears in the sky – it is a symbol of a Christmas Star, which showed the way to the Kings when Christ was born.

Also, on Christmas, people gather in groups and perform a unique Christmas performance, called vertep. It usually tells the story of Christmas, reminds the popular of national traditions or pays attention to the modern social problems. Traditionally, vertep includes Maria and Joseph with baby Jesus, Shepherds, which were first to greet the birth of Christ, Kings with presents for the Savior, an Angel, a demon, a Jew and a goat. People go from house to house, performing vertep, singing carols and wishing the hosts all the best in the new year.

In Ukraine, people congratulate each other, saying “Shchastlyvogo Rizdva” (Merry Christmas) or “Khrystos narodyvsya” (Christ was born).

Venezuela

In Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, people go to Mass on roller skates on Christmas morning! The local authorities even close the main city roads for this matter.

To wish Merry Christmas to somebody in Venezuela, say “Feliz Navidad”.

Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, people also celebrate Christmas on January 7th. People traditionally dress in white clothes on this day. Men also play ganna, a fast-paced game with sticks and wooden balls.

“Melkam Genna” is how they say Merry Christmas in Ethiopia.

Cuba

Every December, the Cuban city Remedios hosts the Parrandas festival. The city is divided into two halves, each building a sculpture from light bulbs. These sculptures then compete against each other. 

“Feliz Navidad” works for Cuba too, if you want to say “Merry Christmas”, as Spanish is country’s language as well.

 

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