It was 2:38 p.m. on August 21, 2017, when day turned to night. That was the precise moment in Greenville, South Carolina, when the moon, passing between the sun and Earth, fully blocked our view of the sun.
16.12.2023 - 17:57 / lonelyplanet.com
The Maldives or Barbados? Even muttering their names can unknot the most tense of shoulders.
To pick one you need to ask what you want from a tropical island vacation. Do you favor fine dining over fine diving? Luxury resorts over life-giving rum? Peace and quiet over watersports?
The one thing you don't want is any more stress, so we've had two writers pick their paradise and put the case forward for each. Now it's showdown time!
The Maldives vs Barbados: which should you choose?
Fiona Tapp is a British travel writer living in Canada who loves the Indian Ocean. She has traveled around the region extensively including across different atolls and islands in the Maldives. Here's why she thinks life is too short not to pick the Maldives…
More than 1000 coral islands, grouped together like sparkling gems across chains of 27 atolls? You've got to choose the Maldives. Either stay on one of the 188 inhabited islands. Or hop between several. However you choose to visit, you'll get a celebrity welcome. Frangipani garlands. A refreshing ruku raa (coconut palm toddy). Traditional Boduberu drums.
You can cover many of the islands on foot, which adds to the sense of remoteness. It's as though you're shipwrecked here. What good fortune.
The Maldives offers the kind of beach vacation people dream of their whole lives. Luxury 5-star resorts. Over-water villas like Sun Siyam Iru Veli. All you need to do is climb down a ladder from your villa into the Indian Ocean. Many resorts offer day passes to non-guests, too. That means enjoying the amenities for a fraction of the cost.
Once you’ve had your fill of private pools and butler service (yeah, right...), explore the Maldives beyond the villas. Local islands like Maafushi have the same gorgeous beaches and clear waters but with a more laid-back vibe. It's a good chance to experience community culture. Other gems include Vadhoo, which has a bioluminescent beach, and Goidhoo, a favorite with divers.
Venture beneath the waves and it's easy to see why the Maldives are so popular with divers. The fantasy-like crystalline waters are home to the most beautiful coral gardens in the world. Snorkellers can marvel at over 2000 fish species, moray eels, various rays. There’s wildlife on land, too. There are garden lizards and flying foxes (fruit bats). The latter are as common as birds but have wingspanes of up to almost 5ft.
Despite a plentiful supply such as fresh fish and coconuts, the country is dependent on imported food. Still, locals find inventive ways to maximize those ingredients. Try the mas huni (shredded coconut, tuna, chilis, and onions) for breakfast with roshi (flatbread), or used as a filling in masroshi (chapatis) or bajiyaa (samosas).
Many resorts in the Maldives have
It was 2:38 p.m. on August 21, 2017, when day turned to night. That was the precise moment in Greenville, South Carolina, when the moon, passing between the sun and Earth, fully blocked our view of the sun.
Tickets will be awarded via cumulative sales, with the first two winners being awarded at the end of January, then one new winner each month from February – July.
For the third year running, Delta has been named the carrier with the best on-time performance record in North America by the airline analytics company Cirium, which crunches data for 32 million global flights annually. Delta also won Cirium’s Platinum Award, determined by evaluating timeliness alongside the overall breadth of an airline’s operations.
Veganuary was inititated by a UK non-profit organisation ten years ago to encourage people worldwide to try vegan for January and beyond. Millions of people have signed up to their one-month vegan pledge since 2014 and the number of vegan food products continues to grow. To make things easier, the organisation offers to send anyone willing to take the challenge their celebrity cookbook, meal plans and recipes – all for free. And here are 15 new food and drink products recommended for anyone going vegan this month and beyond.
Exploring Yorkshire’s coastline on two wheels is about to get a whole lot easier. Route YC, the organisation which promotes the Yorkshire coast, has teamed up with leading adventure cyclists to launch a series of new cycle routes in January. Ranging from nine to 260 miles, the routes are designed to help visitors of all abilities get off the beaten track on gravel, touring and road bikes.
If you’ve been conjuring up images of whipping down the ski slope (or simply getting cozy during apres-ski in a beautiful setting), you might also be wondering about the best ski destinations to check off your bucket list. New data from the travel insurance experts at Compare the Market AU has recently revealed some of the objectively best ski destinations in the world to help bring your vision to reality.
£28, Hardie GrantThe second cookbook from food writer Dina Begum is a love letter to Bangladesh. Alongside the selection of tempting recipes are detailed ingredient notes, explanations of distinctive spice blends and advice on traditional preparation and serving, all accompanied by evocative photography of busy street-sellers, verdant landscapes and market produce. Some recipes do feature fish and vegetables native to Bangladesh that might be harder to find in the UK, but the author suggests accessible substitutions for those unable to find a Bangladeshi grocery store.
British skies dazzle when the sun sinks, and there are a handful of dark sky reserves and discovery sites where the lack of light pollution can help stargazing enthusiasts feel that bit closer to the universe. Take a winter stomp across freezing moors or a late-night summer drive up to a remote hilltop to find a sky full of stars with distant planets glittering overhead on clear nights. Often, there’s no need for a telescope either — star clusters such as Pleiades and Hyades, the Milky Way, nebulae and shooting stars can often be seen with the naked eye or with the help of a pair of cheap binoculars and stargazing apps such as Stellarium Mobile.
Ask people to name the places they’ve visited in the Caribbean and Bequia isn’t the first name you’ll hear. That’s an advantage — especially when you want all the beaches, beauty and local charm of an island vacation without feeling like you’re surrounded by more tourists than sand. And for the ultimate escape look no further than the newly opened Grenadine Villas overlooking Friendship Bay Beach, from the island’s top resort Bequia Beach Hotel.
When in Jaipur, it’s imperative to dine with a great view—the city affords some of the best backdrops with monuments and markets. At outdoor restaurants in Jaipur, these panoramas come with good food and great vibes.
Now that the northern hemisphere is firmly in the cooler months of the year—and it’s only getting colder—it’s time to talk fleece. For bitter winter chills, fleece is hard to beat because the fabric is made to be both lightweight and incredibly insulating. And in recent years, fleece technology has improved so much that the variety on offer is now immense both in quality, style, and price. If you thought that Colorado bros have the market cornered with their Patagonia zip-ups, it’s time to reconsider the category altogether.I was previously super hesitant about fleece because, for most of my life, I assumed its pieces all looked the same. But while shopping in Manchester last year, I came upon a button-up fleece chore jacket with a rounded collar from UK-based Universal Works that changed my mind about what fleece could look like. But in speaking with Universal Works design director and co-founder David Keyte about the material, I learned that the name is actually a catchall that could mean different things depending on where you are. “There really are so many different fleeces,” Keyte says. “It’s an amazing technical invention that replaced knitted wools and cottons to become a flexible layer of clothing that moves with the body and is warm. Fleece became the modern version of those traditional fabrics, but it’s made of synthetic fibers that hold warmth and are lightweight.”My jacket is a wool-blend fleece (that almost looks like boiled wool), which Keyte says is great for heat regulation. I use it from fall on; either on its own or layered underneath a heavier coat when it gets bitingly cold out. But regardless of which brand or style you go for, that’s kind of the benefit of fleece when it comes to outerwear or as a shirt or sweater: They offer enough warmth when worn on their own, but most are light enough to be another protective layer to partner with heavier items for harsher winter days. Here, you'll find our picks for 28 fleece items that will serve you well from now through spring.
If we adopted a child’s-eye view of the world, how would we choose to have fun? It’s likely to be about more than the usual incentives, such as an ice cream, suggests research from Nature Communications. According to the journal, children as young as four seek experiences that deliver positive results, guide action, answer questions about the world — and are just plain fun. Whether it’s getting up-close with crustaceans on a rockpooling adventure, diving into a good book at a literature festival, learning to surf, taking to the stage or gazing at the stars, these 12 UK-based experiences deliver hands-on learning and creativity.