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12 Sites That Will Help You Find A Travel Buddy

Meeting new people is one of the best parts of traveling.

Hopefully, you found some cool solo travel groups in our blog post, 10 Different Types of Solo Travel Groups . But there are also times when you might want to find a travel buddy, one other person to travel with, on your own trip.

Here are 11 sites that will help you find a travel buddy:

Search a destination, find travel partners, get connected, and trip together! It’s as easy as that. You can rest easy knowing that GAFFL uses a strict verification process so you can feel safe about your travel partner. Start your search here !

2. Utilize Social Media Groups

There are many Facebook groups and pages that you can follow and join to meet people with similar interests as you. Search for things like “travel” or “travel buddy” and you will find groups like Female Travel Buddies, Travel Buddies, and Travel Friends Finder that you can join.

I have been a part of a Facebook group called Women Who Travel , and it has been very helpful to me. Not only do these women post when they need travel companions, but they post tips for each other too. Other sites like Reddit utilize forums and feeds to connect people. All worth a look!

Check out Women Who Travel’s podcast  too!

3. Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing is a service that allows you to connect to a worldwide community of travelers. It is a great place to somewhere to stay or to share your home with travelers.

As with any online interaction, you need to make sure you do your due diligence. Using trusted sources for finding couches to key to couch surfing safely .

This website is super cool because it’s simpler than the rest. On Meetup , you can search for events in the area or wherever you will be, and see who is attending. You can even contact those people through Meetup too!

Working with Meetup will be a little different than other sites when looking for a travel companion. You might not meet your travel companion until you go to an event or two. It is more of a free-flowing way to meet people in the area you are in.

5. TripGiraffe

TripGiraffe is really easy to use. It offers the options of finding a travel buddy, exploring all travelers on the site, and looking for meetups. You can search for trips coming up soon as well as create your own.

Each mini-profile is straightforward listing the exact places you will be going, the dates you will be traveling, your gender and age, as well as the type of trip and budget.

Check out some of the profiles before you build your own – you might just want to hop on someone else’s trip!

6.  Trip in Touch

How about a new site called Trip in Touch . “Same place. Same time. Same interests. Trip in Touch – find your next Travel Buddy!”

The app is on its way, for now, you can subscribe and join their Facebook groups to connect with other travelers.

7. Intrepid Travel

If you’ve got the urge to travel but no one to do it with you can stop worrying because Intrepid has got you covered. Join one of their small group tours and find ready-made friends who are itching to explore just like you are.

8. Flexible Guided Travel

If you book daily tours in each place you stay, you are sure to make friends that might be on the same schedule as you! Give it a chance.

In New Zealand, you can pay for guided but flexible travel with the Kiwi Experience . The Kiwi Experience is a bus that travels around New Zealand making stops and bringing you from Point A to Point B. But it’s your choice how often you want to stay on the bus or on the journey! Completely flexible!

This would be a great way to meet people while you’re in the country and possibly grab a travel companion while you’re there.

9.  Travello

Travello is an app designed to make travel social. Known for where travelers connect, Travello asks you what you are interested in and then helps you to connect with other travelers nearby.

This is an excellent way to meet a travel buddy, whether you’re at home before the trip takes place or on the actual trip!

If you meet someone at home with similar interests and who loves to travel, chances are it could be a good match! This also eliminates traveling far to meet up before the trip.

10. Tourlina

Tourlina is specifically for females looking for female travel buddies. Another option to browse other trips, create your own, and speak with other females about their trips too!

The app promises a trusted and secure network of individuals.

11. Join My Trip

Choose the destination, the group size, and the experience that is right for you and Join My Trip will find the trip mates.

Whether you are looking for a simple weekend getaway or the trip of a lifetime, this is a great way to find new friends, share costs, and make memories that will last forever.

12. DePassport

DePassport can be the premier destination for you to find adventure buddies and a perfect travel companion. And for a surprise, this app lets you find not just a partner, but someone whom you will truly vibe with. The platform uses an AI-powered matching algorithm to connect you with people who match your values, and interests. 

You can connect with people from around the world, and plan your travels easily.

44 Responses

You need to add http://www.gogaffl.com to this list!

Thanks for the tip!

Very good information regarding travel

Thanks so much, Prakash!

Hi Erica, Absolutely awesome article. Btw, you are missing two big ones. CouchSurfing and GAFFL. I have always used CS before and recently used GAFFL in Australia. It was awesome. It connects people based on trips. You can start a trip or join trips. I think you can mention them in your list too.

Will do, thanks Ed!

I love Wandure app! They have amazing experiences created by awesome locals.

We love it too Lina!

Finding a perfect travel buddy is always difficult. But, having a travel buddy can make the trip more enjoyable and less lonely. It helps to have someone to split the expenses with, so you can save up for your next trip. A travel partner also minimizes risks associated with traveling alone. GAFFL (www.gogaffl.com) can be a great addition to this list. It matches up travelers with similar travel plans and ensures the safety of travelers through their well-built verification process.

Thanks for the tip, Abrar!

Are you a solo traveller? I am an Indian n Canadian citizen retired 60+ age group in n good shape to travel. Can you suggest some dependable solo travel groups. Pls email your response to [email protected] thanks

Hi Peter, check out Eldertreks, Adventures Abroad, Road Scholar, Walking the World!

Yes! I love it

Thanks Sarah!

Ms.Erika Szumel, Really Thank you for the information. Can you please rank them according to your knowledge and experience? is it possible to know which are all providing paid and which are all free in 2020?

Hi Siva, thanks for reading! Most of these are free or offer free basic memberships. Click on the links to get an idea of which fits best!

Thanks for sharing this info..

Really nice post. Thanks for sharing with us..

Thanks for reading, Suvajit!

Great Blog.It is very useful.Thanks….

Thanks for this lovely info.

Thanks for reading, Pradyut!

Great post!! Thank you very much for sharing.

Glad you enjoyed it, Ujjal!

Hi, maybe you should add https://backpackingtribe.com/ to this list. It’s a platform where you can find not just a buddy, but an entire group to backpack together with! It’s amazing!

Thanks for the tip, Wijnand!

Hey Erika, You should think about adding Share Bus to this list – if you’re travelling in Aus! Its a shared rental of a minibus, trailer and camping equipment. They find the travel mates (other backpackers) for you. It’s totally flexible and self guided – you just join on the trip/date you want to do (i.e. Perth to Broome) and you can make your own adventure.

Hey Jade, thanks for the tip!

This is such a great list! It’s got everything except https://www.fairytrail.app , a dating app for people with a passion for adventure and can work anywhere (one can look for friendships too). You should check it out and review it 😉

The most interesting list is here to find a travel buddy. Travelling with someone is fun. And these days finding a perfect travel partner is tough task, but your list has made it bit easy.

Great post! thank you so much for sharing

Thanks, Shawn!

Great content. You can also add https://cogofly.com to this list. It is a travel social networking site that helps travellers connect with other travellers around the world. As well as with its advanced search filter, anyone can find the perfect travel buddy match.

Thanks for the tip, Sameena!

You need to add http://www.joinmytrip.com to this list for sure!

Thanks for the tip, Prasanna!

great post … full of knowledge ,i am inviting you to India if you think so it will be a great pleasure for me to hosting you

Are there any sites for older people? Most of these sound like they are for younger folks. Thanks for any referrals.

Check out Walking The World, Eldertreks, Adventures Abroad, Intrepid!

Hello, I am 61 yr old female looking to travel solo but would like to join a group to travel to St Martin in the spring 2023. Do you have any recommendations.

Hi Valerie, check out some of the sites listed above! We know there are specific age groups that you can book with.

I think you have missed http://www.connectingtraveller.com as well.

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The Complete Guide to Group Travel

The paella was a breaking point. I was in the middle of the most complicated group trip I’d ever planned—13 people, flying in from six different cities, all gathering in a seven-bedroom villa in Andalucia . We were there, ostensibly, on a joint 30th-birthday trip, a group vacation we’d been planning for years . As high school classmates, some of us had known each other for decades, and the group had grown to include significant others and even a not-yet-announced pregnancy.

It would have been an ambitious trip no matter how many people were attending. We had chosen Spain as a middle ground between North America and East Asia, where my friends and I had scattered after college graduation. We were basing ourselves in Ronda, but rented several cars and planned day trips to see the bigger cities—Seville, Granada, Cordoba. But, inevitably, the dreamy idea of bringing us together for a milestone trip took on a life of its own: destination suggestions ranged from Croatia to Marrakech , and a total of 26 people were invited at some point. And I was wrangling it all— finding a villa , planning activities, making restaurant reservations, confirming the rental cars , and generally making sure it all went smoothly. Thankfully, I had some help: a villa specialist , plus a subset of friends I could count on for strong opinions and quick decisions. I took on this role naturally—and my friends were great about checking in to see if I needed any organizational help whatsoever. But generally, it was up to me to shape the flow of the trip while accommodating every travel personality, from super-planner to totally blasé.

Like every group vacation I’ve ever been on, our Spain trip had its ups and downs. On the first night, my head spinning while trying to keep track of a group text chain that had lost all sense of reason, I found myself struggling to keep my eyes open. Even though I was seeing my friends for the first time in a while, enjoying a home-cooked, multi-course meal as we shared exciting news (A new job! An international move! That pregnancy!), all I wanted to do was lie down after a very long travel day of planes, trains, and cars. On day two, I came downstairs to a breakfast spread of eggs, cheese, meats, and bread (there’s nothing like traveling with someone who likes to wake up early and prepare breakfast), and proceeded to try and block out the morning noise—questions about what to wear, what to bring, where the chargers were—way too much before I'd had my morning caffeine.

I hung back a bit that day during the group tour, scanning the crowd to make sure all my friends were having fun. Did they like the tour guide we had booked? Were they tired and jet lagged? Was the lunch reservation at an appropriate time? That night at dinner, a random spot we found within walking distance of our villa, I was happy to let someone else take the lead in ordering for the group, since the menu was only printed in Spanish. And then, the next night, we were so excited when our paella was delivered. It was in a massive pan the size of my wingspan, and took two people to carry. The saffron-infused aroma was coming through the aluminum sheets, and we were all crowded around the stove, awaiting the big reveal—until we uncovered the aluminum and realized they hadn’t seen my note about dietary restrictions, and my friends with shellfish sensitivities would be eating leftovers instead.

At its best, travel has a way of making every daily anxiety feel absolutely insignificant. And at its worst, even the tiniest mishaps, like the wrong ingredients in the paella, feel like the end of the world. This is even more the case on group trips, when you’re dealing with people of different ages, needs, and activity levels, or traveling with a group of friends of friends, where you’re close with some and not quite as comfortable with others. When you’re trying to accommodate everyone’s travel wishes, but somehow end up pleasing nobody. And of course, that moment when you realize you’re going to need a vacation to recover from this vacation.

That’s not to say that I didn’t have a great time in Spain. When I look back, I think about the one night we picked to be our joint birthday dinner. We were all gathered around restaurant table, 13 of us trying to blow the candles out together, each dissolving into giggles at different times. And of the one day we smartly split up into smaller groups—one group exploring the town, the other hanging by the pool—and then gathered together at night to share the highlights of our day. And how our long car rides led to long conversations, which was a way for me to really get to know my friend’s significant other—something that would have been nearly impossible otherwise, as they live in Toronto and we only see them a few times a year.

It always takes a few days for me to settle into vacation mode, but this time around, I had the added stress of worrying about everything that could go wrong, when a group of people who became friends at 18 meet again to travel together a dozen years later. I needed those moments of joy, of spontaneous laughter, of lounging around in silence, to be reminded of why we were all together in the first place—and why a few years earlier, we had known that we needed to prioritize setting aside time in our schedules to find a week that worked for all of us.

I think about how, during the vacation, we fantasized about what the next reunion would look like. Would we alternate continents? Would we take a cruise? Would we bring partners and kids along for our 40th birthday trip? At one point, someone brought up making it an annual trip —but the panicked look on my face might have nipped that suggestion in the bud immediately.

Group travel requires a herculean amount of coordination and compromise. But there’s something about having a group of people in the same place at the same time that can give every trip that once-in-a-lifetime feeling—an adrenaline rush that I only get when I’m traveling. I got to see a new side of my friends, who I haven’t lived in the same city as since I was 18—how some woke up early to check in at the office, how others were unflappable through hours of traffic and confusing driving directions, and how the parents-to-be soaked up the last few months before they became a family of three. That’s the magic of a group trip—you get to see your travel companions out of their daily element, in their vacation selves. And, if you can manage to stay calm throughout the planning process, the truth is, that’s often our best selves.

Why we built this guide

Group trips don’t all have to be stressful before they get good. If you’re reading this, it’s likely because you’ve been tasked to be the planner, at least in some part, for an upcoming trip. Here at Condé Nast Traveler , we embrace group travel in all forms, from big family vacations to a core group of friends that always travels together to traveling alone in a larger group. And we put this package together to help you take care of the big things—from where to stay and how to save money with points and miles —to the little ones, like how one app can change the group travel game.

We’re also letting you in on our best-kept secret, for when it’s time to throw your hands up and let the travel gods take over: Book a cruise . It’s what I did for my recent bachelorette party, where we paid just over $300 per person for 3 nights in the Caribbean, unlimited food and drinks, and endless entertainment. Okay, there was still a little planning, but it was limited to where we’d eat lunch on port day and whether we had brought enough sunscreen for our kayaking trip. As the de facto planner, I never had to think about signing a bill , or making sure everybody was entertained. I simply soaked it all in as my friends congregated in various combinations and got to know each other in vacation mode. It was the best gift I could have given myself—second to this guide, of course.

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56 travel together quotes for friends and loved ones

By: Author Sylvia

Posted on Last updated: February 21, 2024

Are you looking for the best travel together quotes? You came to the right place.

I’m the sort of person who doesn’t like to travel alone.

Although I always hear from people who travel alone that it is super fun because you get to know a lot more new people, it is not for me. For me, nothing is more fun than traveling together.

Therefore we made an overview of the best quotes about traveling together.

But traveling together doesn’t always mean you should travel with your partner.  Traveling with friends or with your best friend can also be lots of fun.

That’s why besides travel together quotes we also include couple travel quotes, couple adventure quotes, travel partner quotes, travel companion quotes, quotes on traveling with friends, and travel buddy quotes.

There is a really good chance that this post contains affiliate links. If you click one of them, we may receive a small commission (for which we are deeply grateful) at no extra cost to you.

Couple travel quotes 

We start off with a collection of the best couple travel-together quotes. You must admit, what is more, beautiful than to travel with your loved one.

1.  “It doesn’t matter where you are going, it’s who you have beside you.” –  Anonymous 

I partly agree with this quote. Whom you travel with is super important.  You could be in an epic destination and your company could ruin the complete experience. 

The opposite is true as well, an evening in a subpar guesthouse could turn into one of the most memorable experiences if you make some new friends.

We are fortunate to have already seen a lot of wonderful things like Antarctica, Japan , India , Alaska , etc.

Because of this, the destination has become somewhat more important for us.

Unfortunately, it seems that the more you travel, the harder it gets to get that wow-feeling. That’s why we now focus more on unique experiences instead of merely visiting places.

For example, I have been dreaming of a dog sledding trip in Lapland for years and spotting gorilla’s in Africa is also on my list.

Hopefully, we can scratch those items from our bucket list in the near future.

We will see what the future will bring.

2. “Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.” – Antoine Desaint-Exupery

In a long-term relationship, I think it is extremely important to have the same opinion about the important issues and to have the noses in the same direction on these issues. That makes having a long-term relationship much easier.

And it helps if your ideas about traveling are the same. 

When we just met I had planned a trip around some African countries with a tent. 

I still remember how relieved Kris was that, when I came back after spending 3 weeks in a tent, I admitted that I would appreciate somewhat more comfort on our next trips. 😊

3. “Our goal is to run out of pages in our passports.”

I think this is a nice goal, but to be honest, we will have a lot of work to get our passport full.

Now that it is valid for 10 years, who know, we may succeed.

Have you already got your passport filled out?

4. “In Life, It’s Not Where You Go, It’s Who You Travel With.” –   Charles Schulz

I completely agree with this travel quote. Kris and I have already made many beautiful trips to eg Korea , Borneo , India and much more.

And despite the fact that these are beautiful destinations, it is always more special to share this together with Kris.

Read also: Where to go in Europe in winter. 

After all, we have always made the most special memories together and without his presence, those trips would be less special.

The following quote fits in nicely with this.

5. “I want to travel the world with you.”

I think, as someone who is addicted to traveling, that this is really a romantic quote.  This is one of the most romantic things someone can say to me.

6. “Let’s travel together and get lost in beautiful places.”

We like nothing more than to wander through small streets and supposedly get lost. This is how we usually discover the nicest spots.

The best travel with friends quotes

7. “Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.” – Ernest Hemingway

Some people say that taking a vacation is the best way to get to know each other. And just as I agree with this quote, I think they are right.

When you’re going on a journey together, and certainly when you go to a somewhat adventurous destination, you can sometimes face surprises. 

Discover things about each other that you didn’t know yet and didn’t expect.  Some positives and some negatives.

With your loved ones you will manage to see through some of the annoyances but we’re sometimes reluctant to go on a trip with our friends because we’re afraid it would cause trouble in our friendship. 

Then again, your trips with your friends can also bring you closer together.

Vacations cost money and you should be sure that you get to enjoy them. 

That’s why I agree with this travel quote and I only take my loved ones and best friends with whom I’m sure I will have a good time.

8.   “I just want to hold your hand and wander the streets with you.”

Sometimes, even when we’re on a holiday, we tend to impose a schedule on ourselves.  It’s almost as if we are at work.  An hour to visit the first site, 20 minutes to rush to the next, a quick picture, and on to the next sight.

Yet it feels so good letting go of time and plans!

We both really enjoy just heading to a neighborhood and wandering around, holding hands, like a romantic couple just watching daily life.

9.  “ I would like to travel the world with you twice. Once, to see the world. Twice to see the way you see the world.”

10. “I want to travel the world with you, go to every country, every city, take pictures and be happy.”

I think this is certainly a romantic idea for a bucket list. Although we have traveled already a lot an visited many amazing places such as the Azores , Lisbon , Rajasthan, and Kerala in India , Borneo , Korea , Japan and much more.

Unfortunately, there are far too many countries and places in the world and it is absolutely impossible to do them all in one lifetime.

So as it usually goes in life, we should make choices. I certainly want to discover the Azores , Hawaii, Iceland, Namibia, The Philippines and so on.

Which countries are still on your bucket list?

11. “Let’s find some beautiful place to get lost together.”

And there are so many beautiful places to discover. I do not know how it is for you but for every destination that we can scratch off our bucket list, we add at least 2 new destinations.

As much as I love the idea of spending some months in one location it would be really hard to choose.  We have seen so many beautiful places already…

12.  “Will you give me yourself? Will you come to travel with me? Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?” – Walt Whitman

This quote could definitely be used for me as a marriage proposal. I would certainly say yes if the right person asks me to marry him with these words. 

Marriage is a lifelong journey in itself, with ups and downs.  The journeys we did together only brought us closer together.

We have been married now for several years.  Kris didn’t ask me with these exact romantic words but I said yes anyway. 😍

13. “Here’s to all the places we went. And here’s to all the places we’ll go. And here’s to me, whispering again and again and again and again: I love you” – John Green.

This is the perfect quote to toast on with your loved one.

14. “Love is being with you anywhere.”

Certainly true for me.  I love nothing more than discovering new places with Kris.

15. “Go the distance, couples who travel together are more likely to stay together and feel more connected.” – Anonymous

This quote absolutely refers to us. By discovering new destinations and doing things together, our relationship remains fascinating. What about you?

16. “I would gladly live out of a suitcase if it meant I could see the world with you.”

I do not fully agree with this quote. No matter how much I love to travel, always living from my suitcase is nothing for me. I am always happy to go back home after a trip.

17. “I want to laugh often, feel love, have a lot of insanely dirty sex and travel the world with you.”

18.  “some souls just understand each other upon meeting” – n.r hart.

With some people, it clicks from the first moment you meet them. I remember the first time I met Kris.

We met through common friends and it immediately clicked. We also immediately had a common topic.

The whole evening we only spoke about traveling. Meanwhile, we are more than 10 years further and travel is still something we can not stop talking about.

19. “A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” –  John Steinbeck

This is true in a way.  We do prepare our trips quite extensively and always have a very good idea about what we’re going to do,  but we still need to change our plans sometimes. 

Unexpected things interfere with our plans, sometimes for the good. 

Because of some of the hiccups we have encountered we met interesting people we would not otherwise have met and we discovered beautiful places that we would not have known existed.

20. “Take that person and travel around the world. Buy a plane ticket for the two of you to travel all around the world and go to places that are hard to get to and hard to get out of. And when you come back… and if you’re still in love with that person… get married at the airport.”– Bill Murray

I think this is very good advice.

Only when you leave your comfort zone you can really experience who your partner is, how you both react to certain situations and whether you are suitable for each other.

21. “That is why best trips like best love affairs, never really end.” – Pico Iyer

Your best trips don’t end with the flight back home.  Several years later we still reminisce great stories about our journeys together over dinner. 

When we’re out with friends we have good laughs about the funny things we encountered during our trips and when we look at the pictures we imagine ourselves being back there. 

The memories of your best travels will stay with you for a lifetime.

22. “Fifty years from now, when you’re looking back at your life, don’t you want to be able to say you had the guts to get in the car?” -Sam Witwicky

23. “home is not where you are from, it is where you belong. some of us travel the whole world to find it. others, find it in a person.” – beau taplin, adventure couple quotes .

Here’s a list of the best adventure quotes for couples we came across during our journeys. I’m a person who gets quickly bored.

I’m always looking for new things to do and new adventures to experience. 

And nothing is more fun than undertaking these adventures with your partner.

24. “Date someone who is a home and an adventure all at once.”

In my opinion, it keeps the relationship fascinating.

25. “Maybe it won’t work out. But maybe seeing if it does will be the best adventure ever.”

I think this quote applies to everyone who starts a relationship. It is always a bit of a step into the unknown and, unfortunately, often it doesn’t work out.

They say you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet your prince. And this is absolutely true.

Sometimes, however, it becomes the greatest adventure of your life. 

So if you are single and you get the chance to start a relationship, do not hesitate and go for it.

That first date may be the start of the most beautiful adventure of your life.

26. “As soon as I saw you I knew a grand adventure was about to happen.”- A.A. Milne

I can still vividly remember how on the evening we met, and again on our first date, we both talked passionately about all the destinations we had seen. 

It was so much fun to exchange those stories. 

We did of course talk about other things as well but those travel stories made us dream about all the adventures that we could still do together.

27. “Let’s go on an adventure. I’ll make some sandwiches and a flask of tea, we’ll get out walking boots on and get lost somewhere.”

We find nothing more fun than putting on our walking shoes during the weekend and going out to explore.

28. “I’ve fallen in love with adventures, so I begin to wonder if that’s why I’ve fallen for you.” – E.Grin

29.  “actually, the best gift you could have given her was a lifetime of adventures.” –  lewis carroll.

This quote definitely refers to me. You can not give me a better present than enough variety and adventure in life.

30.  “Why should a relationship mean settling down? Wait for someone who won’t let life escape you, who’ll challenge you and drive you towards your dreams. Someone spontaneous who you can get lost in the world with. A relationship, with the right person, is a release, not a restriction.” –  Beau Taplin

I certainly found someone like that with Kris. And you, have you already found someone who challenges you and drives you to your dreams?

31. “What we find in a soulmate is not something wild to tame, but something wild to run with.” – Robert Brauld

32. “you keep me safe, i’ll keep you wild.”.

33. “Oh darling, let’s be adventurers.”

This is a quote that absolutely suits me.

As a child, I always wanted to become an explorer.

And although we now like to travel in a comfortable way, there is nothing more fun than to undertake new adventures.

34. “We must take adventures in order to know where we truly belong.”

Everywhere we go we wonder how it would be to live there.  Sometimes we just try to imagine it by watching daily life. 

But in our opinion, the best way to find out is to engage in conversations with locals in pubs.  This is so much fun and we even created some new friends doing this. 

Sometimes our opinion about a particular city changes completely after we have spoken with the residents. 

And despite the fact that we’re annoyed by many things in our home country (the sky-high taxes just to name one thing), it is often only when we travel that we value certain aspects of our home country more.

35. “If happiness is the goal, and it should be, then adventure should be a top priority.” – Richard Branson

I am, as I  said already, someone who gets bored very quickly. So I need variety and new things to make me happy. What about you?

Travel partner quotes 

I still have keen memories of some of the trips I took with my best friends back in college. 

Traveling is so much fun and being able to share it with your best friends makes it even better.

Years later we still feel connected by those fun and crazy adventures that we have experienced together.

So here we share the best travel partner quotes, travel with friends quotes and get-together quotes.

36. “Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life.” —  Pythagoras

It is so important to have good friends who support you when you have a hard time but also share and celebrate your successes when you’re on a roll.

37. “In the end, what you do isn’t going to be nearly as interesting or important as who you do it with.” — John Green

I agree completely with this quote. 

I do need some time for myself from time to time, but when it comes to going out, it’s so much more fun when you’re in good company.

And that goes for many things.  It’s always much more fun to share the good things in life with somebody else whom you care about, and who cares about you.

That’s why it is so important to find a great travel companion with which it really clicks and with which you share the same interest.

38. “Surround yourself with people who make you hungry for life, touch your heart, and nourish your soul.”

It is so necessary to surround yourself with people who believe in you and who see a better version of yourself than you see. Only in this way can you grow.

39. “When traveling with someone, take large doses of patience and tolerance with your morning coffee.” – Helen Hayes

A very wise quote. Even though you may be best friends, and you may share the same interests in daily life, it is possible that you have a completely different idea about a vacation.

You may be someone who is up early, excited about the new adventures that are coming and who is out and about all day long. 

Your travel partner may not get so excited about an active vacation and would rather relax by the pool.

This is an example with extreme opposites, a situation that is not likely to occur, but possibly over the course of your vacation, some small habits of your travel partner may start to annoy you.

Making some good arrangements in advance and showing the necessary understanding for each other will bring you a whole lot further.

40. “I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” — Mark Twain

Unfortunately, I have heard this from others and even personally experienced it.

I will not go into details here, but that holiday together was almost the end of our friendship. 

So there is certainly truth in this quote from Mark Twain.

41. Everyone needs a friend who will call, and say, ‘Get dressed, we’re going on an adventure.” — Unknown

Sometimes spontaneous decisions result in the best experiences!

42.“Sometimes all you need is a great friend and thirst for adventure.”

When you have the feeling that life is boring and all days look-alike, a good friend and some sense of adventure can definitely change that. 

Let go of control and have your friend take you on an adventure.

43. “The most beautiful things in life are not things. They’re people and places, memories, and pictures. They’re feelings and moments, and smiles and laughter.” — Unknown

It’s sad to see that we are increasingly evolving towards a materialistic society. Brands want us to believe that we will be happier with a bigger house, a bigger car, and a more expensive watch. 

But the most beautiful things in life aren’t bought with money.

Enjoying a beautiful sunrise, and spending a pleasant evening with good friends. These are things that do not cost money but are priceless.

44. “Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you traveled.” – Mohammed

I’m not saying you should quit school early to do a world tour but I did learn a lot from my trips around the world.  

There are so many things that you can not learn from books. 

You only completely understand them once you have experienced them yourself. 

I do believe the world would be a better place if everybody traveled more and showed real interest in the places they were going.  Connecting with the people and being open-minded about their culture, beliefs and habits.

The best travel buddy quotes

Last but not least, below we share the best travel buddy quotes.

45. “A good friend listens to your adventures. A best friend makes them with you.” — Unknown

46. “life was meant to great adventure and close friends.”.

Adventure and good friends are very important to me.  I always feel good when I’m surrounded by my best friends. Adventures keep life exciting and when you can enjoy them with good friends they’re twice as fun.

The best travel proverbs

47. “There is a whole world out there. Pack your backpack, your best friend and go.”

Although we have exchanged our backpack for a suitcase a long time ago, this is certainly a quote that still applies to us. There are still so many destinations on our bucket list and there is so much to discover.

So we regularly pack our suitcase and we are gone.

What’s your next destination?

48. “Life is about doing things that don’t suck with people who don’t suck.”

This is a straight-to-the-point quote. Maybe it can be better expressed but it is entirely right.

49. “We are all travelers in the wilderness of the world & the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Friendships are so important. Everyone should have at least one sincere friend to share successes and failures with.

50. “Be careful whom you make memories with. Those things can last a lifetime.” – Ugo Eze

Nothing is more beautiful than reminiscing about things that you have experienced together. 

Most often the person you have experienced it with is just as important as what you did. 

The real profound memories create a bond for life.

Looking back at those great moments that you enjoyed together with your friends, acquaintances and family members will not only give you a good feeling, it will also reinforce the bond you have with each other.

51. “Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.” – Izaak Walton

I am fortunate that I can travel together with Kris and even though I hear from solo travelers how great it is to travel alone and how many cool and interesting people they meet.

Yet I would not want it any other way.

After all, nothing is more fun than to experience unforgettable things such as spotting a tiger or seeing a beautiful sunset together with your partner.

It is always more fun to be able to share experiences with someone else.  It makes the memory for me more beautiful.

But if you aren’t in good company I do think that good music and a good book will also help to kill time.

52. “I get a friend to travel with me… I need somebody to bring me back to who I am. It’s hard to be alone.” – Leonardo DiCaprio

53. “you and me, we are more than friends. we are like a small travel gang”.

I think this is such a nice travel buddy quote and I would love to be a member of such a travel gang with which I could regularly discover a new destination. I think it’s a lot of fun.

How about you?

54. “A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

55. “travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone.” – the dhammapada.

I do agree with this quote when it concerns my daily life.  I believe that you become like the persons you spend the most time with.  So I like to spend time with people that are positive and at least equal or better than me.

But I don’t yet see myself traveling alone.  I met people who are really enthusiastic about it but it would be a big step for me. I have not tried it yet, so maybe I’ll change my mind once I’ve done it.

56. “Friends that travel together, stay together.”

Or they argue so much during their holiday that the friendship is partly over after it. 😆 But I firmly believe that if the journey is a success this will strengthen the friendship that already existed. 

That is why it is so important to make good arrangements in advance, you don’t want to risk losing a friend over a vacation.

I really enjoyed writing this article.  It brought back many good memories, both to the journeys I did with Kris and the ones I did with my friends.

I’m sure you will be able to cheer up your travel buddy or travel partner with one of these quotes if he or she is in a bad spot. 

Or you could use them to surprise them and show how much you appreciate their friendship.

And don’t forget to keep your travel partner adventurous, because he or she will do the same for you.

I hope that you enjoyed reading these travel together quotes as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Here you can find more  travel quotes. 

How to travel with friends – without falling out

Sep 3, 2019 • 6 min read

Travelling together offers friends the chance to enjoy quality time awash with in-jokes, proper catch-ups and unforgettable experiences. Sound like bliss? It can be. But beware: even the best of friendships can be tested on the road.

Whether you’re about to embark on your first adventure with your mates in tow or are looking to improve on past experiences, here are writer Emma Sparks' 10 tips for having a harmonious trip with friends.

Beginners: start on the right foot

1. choose the right people to go with.

Pick any old pal with a passport at your peril. Just because you share a love of Nicolas Cage movies and Chinese food doesn’t mean you’re compatible travel buddies. Think twice before travelling with someone you only ever see in one context; your coffee-and-cake companion, yoga chum or work bestie might be a dream to hang out with at home, but a nightmare when it comes to exploring somewhere new. Opt for someone you’re confident you could tolerate for three days straight and you should have a reasonably hiccup-free trip – but there are no guarantees.

You might also like this:  All abroad: how to plan a group trip

2. Set expectations

Is this trip about winding down and going with the flow, or ticking off a list of sights the length of your arm? Will it be action-packed and outdoorsy, or heavy on the hangovers? It’s easy to make assumptions about your friends’ vision for a trip based on their usual behaviour, but travel can bring with it a different set of priorities and reveal a totally different side of people. Night owl travelling with early birds or vice versa? Proceed with caution – or agree to adjust your body clocks accordingly. Verbalise your needs: a simple conversation about what each of you wants to get out of the holiday – and what you don’t want to do – should do the trick.

3. Discuss your budget

You probably have an idea of how flash or frugal your friends are, but it’s worth chatting about what you intend to spend on food and activities before you go. In situ, manage money sensitively – some people are happy to split the bill every time, while others will find subsidising your dessert addiction stressful. Keep a tally in a group budgeting app like Splitwise if you like, but don’t sweat the small stuff – no-one likes a penny-pincher.

You might also like this:  What I learned from backpacking in my 20s and 30s

4. Prepare for close quarters

If you’re sharing accommodation, prepare to learn a lot more about your mates. Sleeping habits, bathroom routines and kitchen cleanliness (or lack thereof) can all cause friction between friends. Years of sharing rooms with incessant snorers, shower hoggers and the occasional gleeful farter have taught me that the best way to overcome small irritations is to make light of them – no doubt you have your own shortcomings too – and always pack earplugs...

‘When we travel as a three, Emily always gets a room to herself as she’s the loudest snorer. Emma puts up with my mild snores and I ignore the fact she leaves hair in the plughole’ – Mary, Emma’s travel buddy on many long weekends in Europe .

Intermediate: avoid common pitfalls

5. hanger and fatigue.

The needs of travelling adults often mirror those of a two year old’s. If someone’s acting moody, chances are they’re hungry or overtired. Punctuate sightseeing with plenty of pit stops and snacks, or work siestas into your holiday routine to keep the peace.

‘I like my sleep and I’m prone to energy dips if I don’t eat at regular intervals. Before a long hike through the Latvian wilderness, Emma made sure to buy some carb-heavy snacks and sugary sweets, which saved the day’  – Helen, Emma’s travel buddy in Australia , Latvia and Estonia .

6. Too much time together

Find yourself lingering in the loo, or volunteering to pop to the shops for the milk and a few precious minutes by yourself? Don’t feel bad about taking some time away from each other. Introverts in particular often need plenty of alone time to avoid burnout – but splitting up for a few hours here and there can refresh and revive everyone. 

7. Lack of flexibility

Travelling with friends is a masterclass in the art of the compromise. When Friend A is laser-focused on finding a tabbacheria for their strictly-on-holiday smokes, Friend B wants nothing more than an Aperol spritz and a sit down, and you want to get to the top local landmark before it closes, something has to give. If it isn’t essential to you, let it go – but don’t let dominant or demanding personalities get their way every time. If you’re lucky, everyone’s wants and needs can be met with some tactical shuffling of schedules. 

‘Emma has dragged us up church spires and medieval towers in Florence , Porto , Seville and more – we expect it now, just as she expects to skip a few sights so we can sample local tipples in the sun’ – Emily, Emma’s travel buddy on many long weekends in Europe.

8. Overenthusiasm

The weeks and months ahead of a trip can be saturated with hope and high expectations, excited text messages and squeals of anticipation. So much so that by the time you board the plane, you’re already exhausted. Then, in the face of adversity – a disappointing Airbnb, bad weather or mosquito invasions – one friend may appoint themselves as a hype man, ignoring glaring issues and refusing to let anyone whinge. While positivity is a lifesaver on group trips, you can still keep it real. It’s OK if things aren’t perfect, so don’t put pressure on yourself or each other to have the best time ever – go with the flow and it will happen naturally.

Advanced: be your best self

9. forgive (and apologise) quickly.

An intense dose of togetherness coupled with new, sometimes challenging experiences means minor niggles are almost inevitable. Left to fester, resentment and pettiness can thrive. Unresolved tension is a sure-fire way to spoil a trip, so be honest about the way you’re feeling. If anyone gets snappy, forgive and forget immediately – and always apologise if you’re the grump of the group.

You might also like this:   How travel helps me cope with grief

10. Be considerate and self aware

When it comes to maintaining a good group dynamic, basic courtesies go a long way – and taking extra care of each other (without fussing) will give you the warm and fuzzies. Make sure you’ve got the fundamentals covered, such as doing your fair share of washing up and collecting the morning croissants, then go the extra mile by keeping tabs on hydration levels and sunscreen top ups, or volunteering to drive.

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75 Best Quotes About Traveling With Friends

Because your epic adventures together call for the perfect saying.

It’s no secret that traveling can open your eyes to new experiences, cultures and perspectives. What can make those memorable journeys even better? A companion, of course! Traveling with friends can enhance trips in unimaginable ways. For starters, they can be your personal photographer when selfies won’t suffice. That’s what friends are for, right ?

Exploring the world together can create enlightening experiences that you will look back on for years to come. But, before you embark on your next adventure, we’ve rounded up some of the best traveling with friends quotes to get you excited about the trips that you have yet to take.

Whether you’re planning a trip to a relaxing resort or a girls’ weekend getaway with your besties, these traveling quotes are sure to inspire, enlighten and maybe even make you laugh.

From short and sweet to deep and meaningful, these quotes will boost your anticipation for your future travels. If you’ve taken trips together in the past, these travel quotes can help you reflect and reminisce. Text them in your special group chat or post as captions on Instagram . Regardless of how you share them, these quotes and messages are sure to resonate with your travel buddies.

No matter if you’re going with one friend or a group of your closest buds, traveling with friends presents an opportunity to strengthen bonds while having fun. So, pack your bags and get ready to create memories that will last a lifetime.

• “ Sharing adventures means enjoying them 100% more .” – Anonymous
• “ There are no strangers in this world, only friends I haven’t met yet. ” – William Butler Yeats
• “Friends make everything better, vacations included! ” — Anonymous
• “ A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face .” – Maya Angelou
• “ Traveling with a friend is like stepping into a storybook adventure together.” – Unknown
• “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Travel far, travel wide, but always travel with a friend by your side. ” – Unknown
• “ Just as the stars shine brighter in the night sky, so do friendships glow stronger amidst the wonders of the world discovered together .” – Unknown
• “ As the road stretches out before us, I’m grateful for the company of my best friend, knowing that no matter where we end up, the journey together is what truly matters. ” – Unknown
• “ No matter where our journey takes us, friendship will always be our guiding light. ” —Anonymous
• “ I can speak to my soul only when the two of us are off exploring deserts or cities or mountains or roads. ” – Paulo Coelho
• “Good company on a journey makes the way seem shorter.” — Izaak Walton
• “A good friend listens to your adventures. A best friend makes them with you.” — Unknown
• “A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles.” — Tim Cahill
• “No adventure is complete without you by my side.” — Unknown
• “Friends that travel together, stay together.” — Unknown
• “It doesn’t matter where you’re going — it’s who you go with that makes it fun!” — Unknown
• “As soon as I saw you, I knew a grand adventure was about to happen.” — Winnie The Pooh.
• “Life was meant for great adventures and close friends." — Unknown
• “You can pack for every occasion, but a good friend will always be the best thing you could bring!” — Unknown
• "We all have that one friend who is either on a road-trip or planning a road-trip or thinking about a road-trip or talking to people who are on road-trip or posting quotes about road-trip." — Crestless Wave
• “It’s the friends we meet along the way that help us appreciate the journey.” — Unknown
• “You never know where life will take you, but it will always be better with friends.” —Unknown
• “We are all travelers in the wilderness of the world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
• “The tans will fade but the memories will last forever.” — Unknown
• “Wherever it is you may be, it is your friends who make your world.” — Chris Bradford
• ​​“When traveling life’s journey, it’s good to have a friend’s hand to hold on to.” — Unknown
• “If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” — African Proverb
• “A good trip is an even better one with your bestie.” — Unknown
• “The more I traveled the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends” —Shirley MacLaine
• “Embarking on new adventures is a million times better with close pals.” — Unknown
• “Life was meant for great adventures and close friends.” —Unknown
• “I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” —Mark Twain
• “Adventure awaits — all you need is your best buddy to make it a reality.” — Unknown

• “Life is a beach, enjoy the waves.” — Unknown
• “Frozen drinks are better with friends.” — Unknown
• “With friends by your side, every journey becomes an opportunity to discover the beauty of the world and the depths of your bond.” — Unknown
• “If you go looking for a friend, you’re going to find they’re very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.” — Zig Ziglar
• “On the road, strangers become friends, sharing stories and laughter, creating bonds that last beyond the journey.” — Unknown
• “ The best way to travel is to always pack light, with the exception of a friend . ” —Anonymous
• " If you want to have fun, bring a friend.” — Unknown
• “ Nothing makes the journey more enjoyable than a friend who can make you laugh.” — Unknown
• “ I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within .” —Lillian Smith
• “ In the tapestry of life, friends are the threads that weave together our most cherished travel stories .” – Unknown
• “ May your travels be filled with the magic of friendship, the wonder of new experiences, and the warmth of shared memories that last a lifetime .” —Unknown
• " T raveling the world is great, but nothing tops going around the world with a friend ." —Unknown
• “ The beach and my besties are all I need to have a good time." —Unknown
• "Travel memories we make alone may fade, but those made with friends will last a lifetime." — Unknown
• “Away is a place where it’s not about the money you spend. It’s about the moments you share.” —Unknown
• “Just grab a friend and take a ride, together upon the open road.” —The Goofy Movie
• Life is about doing things that don’t suck with people who don’t suck.” —Unknown
• “I would like to travel the world with you twice. Once, to see the world. Twice, to see the way you see the world.” —Unknown
• “Everyone needs this friend that calls and says, “Get dressed, we’re going on an adventure.” —Unknown
• “Getting to know new people and gaining new friends is one of life’s greatest pleasures. So, conquer your fears and get out there.” —Tony Clark
• “Traveling with friends is always better.” —Unknown
• “No road is long with good company.” —Turkish proverb
• "Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." —Anais Nin
• "In life, it’s not where you go – it’s who you travel with.” — Charles M. Schulz
• “Exploring new places is always sweeter with your favorite people.” — Unknown
• “Getting lost with you is a risk I’m always willing to take.”— Unknown
• “As with any journey, whom you travel with is more important than the destination.” —Unknown
• “At the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy and your eyes sparkling.” —Shanti
• “May your adventures bring you closer together, even as they take you far away from home.” — Trenton Lee Stewart
• “I get a friend to travel with me… I need somebody to bring me back to who I am. It’s hard to be alone.” —Leonardo DiCaprio
• “Travel should make friendships stronger and memories sweeter.” —Unknown
• “Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.” —Ernest Hemingway
• “Sometimes all you need is a great friend and a tank of gas.” — Thelma & Louise
• “One of the great things about travel is that you find out how many good, kind people there are.” —Edith Wharton
• “We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.” — Paul Coelho
• “Sometimes all you need is a great friend and thirst for adventure.” —Unknown
• “Nothing makes a good trip more memorable than experiencing it with your best friends.” —Unknown
• “Traveling with a pal can be the foundation for a lifelong friendship.” —Unknown
• “Good times and crazy friends make the best memories.” —Unknown
• “The best things in life are the people we love, the places we’ve been, and the memories we’ve made along the way.” —Unknown
• “Don’t be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.”— Richard Bach

Karla Pope is a longtime writer, editor and blogger with nearly two decades of editorial experience. She’s written for a variety of outlets including Good Housekeeping , Woman’s Day , People , Parade , BET.com. WebMD and more. Her coverage includes entertainment, beauty, lifestyle, parenting and fashion content. If she's not exploring New York City with her two young children, you can find her curled up on the couch watching a documentary and eating gummy bears. 

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Formula One News

Zak Brown and Christian Horner travel together to ‘restore peace’ amidst close 2024 title battle

McLaren and Red Bull have been fighting tooth and nail throughout the 2024 season. This high-stakes battle soon got to their team chiefs as it severed their relationship amid the title battle. However, the tussle between Zak Brown and Christian Horner ended after the race at Marina Bay. The two team supremos posted a selfie of them traveling together and asserting that the peace had been restored.

Zak Brown and Christian Horner have been long-time friends in F1. Though friendships in a championship as big as F1 have to go through a lot, the relationship between the Brit and the American remained humble for many years. However, this soon changed this year when Brown started raising questions against the Austrian giant’s ownership of two F1 teams .

Moreover, after the race in Austria, the 52-year-old adopted a harsh stance on the matter involving both team’s drivers which further disconnected the pair. On the other hand, to mend the relationship, the duo traveled together on a plane after the race in Singapore.

Peace in F1 has been restored on flight home (where’s Netflix when you need them!) - but the battle will continue on track. What an awesome sport! Zak Brown wrote on X

Peace in F1 has been restored on flight home (where’s Netflix when you need them!) – but the battle will continue on track. What an awesome sport! pic.twitter.com/LBnr3jtkee — Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) September 23, 2024

The McLaren Racing CEO posted a selfie of the two team representatives in the same outfit. Subsequently, Brown asked where was Netflix when the paddock needed it, as Drive to Survive is known for stirring up drama, while he and Horner rebuild broken bridges in the friendship.

Zak Brown not happy with Daniel Ricciardo stealing the fastest lap away from Lando Norris

While Brown claimed that peace had been restored, his allegations against Red Bull did not stop. Daniel Ricciardo pitted in the dying stages of the race in Singapore to take the fastest lap away from Lando Norris . The 35-year-old was successful in achieving this feat which could cost Norris the driver’s championship toward the business end of the season.

Though many reckoned Ricciardo’s fastest lap as a farewell gift, the American was not happy with such antics.

That’s a nice A/B team sporting thing that I didn’t think was allowed. But hey, that’s not the first time we’ve seen it, probably won’t be the last. I’ll certainly ask some questions. It’s something I’ve spoken about in the past and I think it illustrates that it does happen, because I think you wouldn’t have made that pit stop to go for that. It’s not going to get anyone a point, so I think it does illustrate the issue around that topic. Zak Brown said on SiriusXM

Brown hurled allegations at RB for aiding Red Bull’s Max Verstappen . While the Austrian giant affirms that both teams work independently, the Aussie aiding Verstappen raised questions about their individuality, which the 52-year-old was eager to know about.

Apart from this, McLaren doubled their lead in the constructor’s standings. Thus, it looks even more likely that the driver’s title remains the only front where Red Bull could fight for longer as the constructor’s title appears as a lost cause.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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How To Maximize Your Vacation By Booking Back-To-Back Cruises

Disembarking a cruise is often a frustrating experience, so why not book consecutive cruises and experience the joy of remaining on board a familiar ship for an entirely new vacation?

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Why choose just one cruise itinerary when you can stay on board for a second?

With the cruise industry booming, and the largest ships ever built now setting sail, cruising has never been more popular. As bookings surge worldwide, savvy travelers are discovering a unique way to maximize their vacation: booking back-to-back trips.

Back-to-back cruises involve staying on the same ship for two (or more) consecutive itineraries. This strategy allows you to extend your time at sea and explore multiple destinations without the hassle of planning separate trips.

Disembarkation Day Becomes Turnaround Day

Cruise ships typically undergo a quick turnaround between sailings—once the last guest has disembarked, the ship is swiftly cleaned and prepared for the new itinerary, often within just a couple of hours.

This makes it relatively straightforward for guests to remain on board and embark on a second adventure.

Depending on availability, guests may even be able to remain in the same cabin—removing the need to repack and completely changing the experience of disembarkation day .

Depending on cruise line policy, guests may be able to stay on board during the changeover, although there may be restrictions on dining and moving about the ship for a few hours.

For example, Carnival’s policy requires passengers to leave the ship for immigration purposes, but time off the ship is escorted and kept as short as possible.

Cruise lines usually detail their back-to-back policy on a FAQ page on their website, so it’s well worth seeking this out before booking.

Although only a small percentage of passengers take advantage of back-to-back cruises, those who do often find the experience even more enjoyable. By the time the second itinerary begins, you’ll have already built relationships with the crew, making your continued voyage feel more homely.

Can’t Decide? There’s No Need To Choose

If you're torn between two enticing itineraries, why not enjoy the best of both worlds by booking back-to-back cruises? This approach eliminates the need to make a tough decision and instead allows you to combine two distinct voyages into one unforgettable adventure.

For example, many cruise ships in Europe offer alternating itineraries that provide a unique opportunity to experience vastly different regions in a single extended trip.

Imagine spending a week or two exploring the breathtaking landscapes of Northern Europe, perhaps chasing the northern lights or cruising the Norwegian fjords.

Then, as the ship sets sail for its next itinerary, you head south to bask in the warmth of the Mediterranean or the Canary Islands , trading snowy vistas for sun-soaked beaches and vibrant cultures.

There’s also the possibility of booking back-to-back trips on two different cruise lines. While this means packing and unpacking, if you live near a busy port such as Southampton or Miami, you could be spoilt for choice across different lines.

A Cost-Effective Vacation

Back-to-back cruises can be more economical than booking two separate cruises, because the potential cost savings extend beyond the cruise itself.

By combining two cruises into one extended vacation, you eliminate the need for multiple flights, additional hotel stays, and other travel-related expenses.

This not only reduces your overall trip cost but also adds convenience, as you won’t have to deal with the stress of additional travel logistics between vacations.

How To Book Back-To-Back Itineraries

It’s possible to get a good deal when booking consecutive cruises, although such deals are rarely advertised. You may be able to strike a deal by contacting the cruise line booking office directly, or better still, working with a travel agent.

Specialist cruise travel agents often have access to exclusive promotions, discounts, group rates, and even staterooms that aren’t available by booking directly. They are also more easily able to secure you the same accommodation for both itineraries, saving a huge amount of hassle.

Another advantage of working with a travel agent is their ability to coordinate all aspects of your trip, from pre- and post-cruise accommodations to travel insurance, ensuring a seamless and worry-free experience.

Practical Matters

Packing for an extended cruise can be a bit of a challenge, especially when you're preparing for back-to-back sailings. To make the most of your luggage space and ensure you're well-prepared for the entire journey, it’s important to plan strategically .

Some cruise ships offer self-serve laundry facilities, which can be a lifesaver during an extended trip. If these facilities are available, using them on the first day of the second cruise is a smart move.

This timing allows you to refresh your wardrobe and ensures you have plenty of clean clothes for the remainder of your journey. Self-serve machines tend to be less crowded on the first day of a new sailing, giving you easy access without long waits.

Don’t forget to pack essentials that might be harder to find on board, such as medications, toiletries, and any specialty items you can’t live without. While cruise ships have onboard shops, they may not carry your preferred brands or specific items, and prices can be higher than on land.

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• Places - European, Western and Northern Russia

YEKATERINBURG: FACTORIES, URAL SIGHTS, YELTSIN AND THE WHERE NICHOLAS II WAS KILLED

Sverdlovsk oblast.

Sverdlovsk Oblast is the largest region in the Urals; it lies in the foothills of mountains and contains a monument indicating the border between Europe and Asia. The region covers 194,800 square kilometers (75,200 square miles), is home to about 4.3 million people and has a population density of 22 people per square kilometer. About 83 percent of the population live in urban areas. Yekaterinburg is the capital and largest city, with 1.5 million people. For Russians, the Ural Mountains are closely associated with Pavel Bazhov's tales and known for folk crafts such as Kasli iron sculpture, Tagil painting, and copper embossing. Yekaterinburg is the birthplace of Russia’s iron and steel industry, taking advantage of the large iron deposits in the Ural mountains. The popular Silver Ring of the Urals tourist route starts here.

In the summer you can follow in the tracks of Yermak, climb relatively low Ural mountain peaks and look for boulders seemingly with human faces on them. You can head to the Gemstone Belt of the Ural mountains, which used to house emerald, amethyst and topaz mines. In the winter you can go ice fishing, ski and cross-country ski.

Sverdlovsk Oblast and Yekaterinburg are located near the center of Russia, at the crossroads between Europe and Asia and also the southern and northern parts of Russia. Winters are longer and colder than in western section of European Russia. Snowfalls can be heavy. Winter temperatures occasionally drop as low as - 40 degrees C (-40 degrees F) and the first snow usually falls in October. A heavy winter coat, long underwear and good boots are essential. Snow and ice make the sidewalks very slippery, so footwear with a good grip is important. Since the climate is very dry during the winter months, skin moisturizer plus lip balm are recommended. Be alert for mud on street surfaces when snow cover is melting (April-May). Patches of mud create slippery road conditions.

Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg (kilometer 1818 on the Trans-Siberian Railway) is the fourth largest city in Russia, with of 1.5 million and growth rate of about 12 percent, high for Russia. Located in the southern Ural mountains, it was founded by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine, it was used by the tsars as a summer retreat and is where tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed and President Boris Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career. The city is near the border between Europe and Asia.

Yekaterinburg (also spelled Ekaterinburg) is located on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains in the headwaters of the Iset and Pyshma Rivers. The Iset runs through the city center. Three ponds — Verkh-Isetsky, Gorodskoy and Nizhne-Isetsky — were created on it. Yekaterinburg has traditionally been a city of mining and was once the center of the mining industry of the Urals and Siberia. Yekaterinburg remains a major center of the Russian armaments industry and is sometimes called the "Pittsburgh of Russia.". A few ornate, pastel mansions and wide boulevards are reminders of the tsarist era. The city is large enough that it has its own Metro system but is characterized mostly by blocky Soviet-era apartment buildings. The city has advanced under President Vladimir Putin and is now one of the fastest growing places in Russia, a country otherwise characterized by population declines

Yekaterinburg is technically an Asian city as it lies 32 kilometers east of the continental divide between Europe and Asia. The unofficial capital of the Urals, a key region in the Russian heartland, it is second only to Moscow in terms of industrial production and capital of Sverdlovsk oblast. Among the important industries are ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, machine building and metalworking, chemical and petrochemicals, construction materials and medical, light and food industries. On top of being home of numerous heavy industries and mining concerns, Yekaterinburg is also a major center for industrial research and development and power engineering as well as home to numerous institutes of higher education, technical training, and scientific research. In addition, Yekaterinburg is the largest railway junction in Russia: the Trans-Siberian Railway passes through it, the southern, northern, western and eastern routes merge in the city.

Accommodation: There are two good and affordable hotels — the 3-star Emerald and Parus hotels — located close to the city's most popular landmarks and main transport interchanges in the center of Yekaterinburg. Room prices start at RUB 1,800 per night.

History of Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg was founded in 1723 by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine I. It was used by the tsars as a summer retreat but was mainly developed as metalworking and manufacturing center to take advantage of the large deposits of iron and other minerals in the Ural mountains. It is best known to Americans as the place where the last Tsar and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and near where American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Gary Powers, was shot down in 1960.

Peter the Great recognized the importance of the iron and copper-rich Urals region for Imperial Russia's industrial and military development. In November 1723, he ordered the construction of a fortress factory and an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. In its early years Yekaterinburg grew rich from gold and other minerals and later coal. The Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745 created such a huge amount of wealth that one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. By the mid-18th century, metallurgical plants had sprung up across the Urals to cast cannons, swords, guns and other weapons to arm Russia’s expansionist ambitions. The Yekaterinburg mint produced most of Russia's coins. Explorations of the Trans-Baikal and Altai regions began here in the 18th century.

Iron, cast iron and copper were the main products. Even though Iron from the region went into the Eiffel Tower, the main plant in Yekaterinburg itself was shut down in 1808. The city still kept going through a mountain factory control system of the Urals. The first railway in the Urals was built here: in 1878, the Yekaterinburg-Perm railway branch connected the province's capital with the factories of the Middle Urals.

In the Soviet era the city was called Sverdlovsk (named after Yakov Sverdlov, the man who organized Nicholas II's execution). During the first five-year plans the city became industrial — old plants were reconstructed, new ones were built. The center of Yekaterinburg was formed to conform to the historical general plan of 1829 but was the layout was adjusted around plants and factories. In the Stalin era the city was a major gulag transhipment center. In World War II, many defense-related industries were moved here. It and the surrounding area were a center of the Soviet Union's military industrial complex. Soviet tanks, missiles and aircraft engines were made in the Urals. During the Cold War era, Yekaterinburg was a center of weapons-grade uranium enrichment and processing, warhead assembly and dismantlement. In 1979, 64 people died when anthrax leaked from a biological weapons facility. Yekaterinburg was a “Closed City” for 40 years during the Cold Soviet era and was not open to foreigners until 1991

In the early post-Soviet era, much like Pittsburgh in the 1970s, Yekaterinburg had a hard struggle d to cope with dramatic economic changes that have made its heavy industries uncompetitive on the world market. Huge defense plants struggled to survive and the city was notorious as an organized crime center in the 1990s, when its hometown boy Boris Yeltsin was President of Russia. By the 2000s, Yekaterinburg’s retail and service was taking off, the defense industry was reviving and it was attracting tech industries and investments related to the Urals’ natural resources. By the 2010s it was vying to host a world exhibition in 2020 (it lost, Dubai won) and it had McDonald’s, Subway, sushi restaurants, and Gucci, Chanel and Armani. There were Bentley and Ferrari dealerships but they closed down

Transportation in Yekaterinburg

Getting There: By Plane: Yekaterinburg is a three-hour flight from Moscow with prices starting at RUB 8,000, or a 3-hour flight from Saint Petersburg starting from RUB 9,422 (direct round-trip flight tickets for one adult passenger). There are also flights from Frankfurt, Istanbul, China and major cities in the former Soviet Union.

By Train: Yekaterinburg is a major stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Daily train service is available to Moscow and many other Russian cities.Yekaterinburg is a 32-hour train ride from Moscow (tickets RUB 8,380 and above) or a 36-hour train ride from Saint Petersburg (RUB 10,300 and above). The ticket prices are round trip for a berth in a sleeper compartment for one adult passenger). By Car: a car trip from Moscow to Yekateringburg is 1,787 kilometers long and takes about 18 hours. The road from Saint Petersburg is 2,294 kilometers and takes about 28 hours.

Regional Transport: The region's public transport includes buses and suburban electric trains. Regional trains provide transport to larger cities in the Ural region. Buses depart from Yekaterinburg’s two bus stations: the Southern Bus Station and the Northern Bus Station.

Regional Transport: According the to Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT): “Public transportation is well developed. Overcrowding is common. Fares are low. Service is efficient. Buses are the main form of public transport. Tram network is extensive. Fares are reasonable; service is regular. Trams are heavily used by residents, overcrowding is common. Purchase ticket after boarding. Metro runs from city center to Uralmash, an industrial area south of the city. Metro ends near the main railway station. Fares are inexpensive.

“Traffic is congested in city center. Getting around by car can be difficult. Route taxis (minivans) provide the fastest transport. They generally run on specific routes, but do not have specific stops. Drivers stop where passengers request. Route taxis can be hailed. Travel by bus or trolleybuses may be slow in rush hour. Trams are less affected by traffic jams. Trolley buses (electric buses) cannot run when temperatures drop below freezing.”

Entertainment, Sports and Recreation in Yekaterinburg

The performing arts in Yekaterinburg are first rate. The city has an excellent symphony orchestra, opera and ballet theater, and many other performing arts venues. Tickets are inexpensive. The Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater is lavishly designed and richly decorated building in the city center of Yekaterinburg. The theater was established in 1912 and building was designed by architect Vladimir Semyonov and inspired by the Vienna Opera House and the Theater of Opera and Ballet in Odessa.

Vaynera Street is a pedestrian only shopping street in city center with restaurants, cafes and some bars. But otherwise Yekaterinburg's nightlife options are limited. There are a handful of expensive Western-style restaurants and bars, none of them that great. Nightclubs serve the city's nouveau riche clientele. Its casinos have closed down. Some of them had links with organized crime. New dance clubs have sprung up that are popular with Yekaterinburg's more affluent youth.

Yekaterinburg's most popular spectator sports are hockey, basketball, and soccer. There are stadiums and arenas that host all three that have fairly cheap tickets. There is an indoor water park and lots of parks and green spaces. The Urals have many lakes, forests and mountains are great for hiking, boating, berry and mushroom hunting, swimming and fishing. Winter sports include cross-country skiing and ice skating. Winter lasts about six months and there’s usually plenty of snow. The nearby Ural Mountains however are not very high and the downhill skiing opportunities are limited..

Sights in Yekaterinburg

Sights in Yekaterinburg include the Museum of City Architecture and Ural Industry, with an old water tower and mineral collection with emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and other precious stone; Geological Alley, a small park with labeled samples of minerals found in the Urals region; the Ural Geology Museum, which houses an extensive collection of stones, gold and gems from the Urals; a monument marking the border between Europe and Asia; a memorial for gulag victims; and a graveyard with outlandish memorials for slain mafia members.

The Military History Museum houses the remains of the U-2 spy plane shot down in 1960 and locally made tanks and rocket launchers. The fine arts museum contains paintings by some of Russia's 19th-century masters. Also worth a look are the History an Local Studies Museum; the Political History and Youth Museum; and the University and Arboretum. Old wooden houses can be seen around Zatoutstovsya ulitsa and ulitsa Belinskogo. Around the city are wooded parks, lakes and quarries used to harvest a variety of minerals. Weiner Street is the main street of Yekaterinburg. Along it are lovely sculptures and 19th century architecture. Take a walk around the unique Literary Quarter

Plotinka is a local meeting spot, where you will often find street musicians performing. Plotinka can be described as the center of the city's center. This is where Yekaterinburg holds its biggest events: festivals, seasonal fairs, regional holiday celebrations, carnivals and musical fountain shows. There are many museums and open-air exhibitions on Plotinka. Plotinka is named after an actual dam of the city pond located nearby (“plotinka” means “a small dam” in Russian).In November 1723, Peter the Great ordered the construction of an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. “Iset” can be translated from Finnish as “abundant with fish”. This name was given to the river by the Mansi — the Finno-Ugric people dwelling on the eastern slope of the Northern Urals.

Vysotsky and Iset are skyscrapers that are 188.3 meters and 209 meters high, respectively. Fifty-story-high Iset has been described by locals as the world’s northernmost skyscraper. Before the construction of Iset, Vysotsky was the tallest building of Yekaterinburg and Russia (excluding Moscow). A popular vote has decided to name the skyscraper after the famous Soviet songwriter, singer and actor Vladimir Vysotsky. and the building was opened on November 25, 2011. There is a lookout at the top of the building, and the Vysotsky museum on its second floor. The annual “Vysotsky climb” (1137 steps) is held there, with a prize of RUB 100,000. While Vysotsky serves as an office building, Iset, owned by the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, houses 225 premium residential apartments ranging from 80 to 490 square meters in size.

Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center

The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center (in the city center: ul. Yeltsina, 3) is a non-governmental organization named after the first president of the Russian Federation. The Museum of the First President of Russia as well as his archives are located in the Center. There is also a library, educational and children's centers, and exposition halls. Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career in Yekaterinburg. He was born in Butka about 200 kilometers east of Yekaterinburg.

The core of the Center is the Museum. Modern multimedia technologies help animate the documents, photos from the archives, and artifacts. The Yeltsin Museum holds collections of: propaganda posters, leaflets, and photos of the first years of the Soviet regime; portraits and portrait sculptures of members of Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of various years; U.S.S.R. government bonds and other items of the Soviet era; a copy of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, published in the “Novy Mir” magazine (#11, 1962); perestroika-era editions of books by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Vasily Grossman, and other authors; theater, concert, and cinema posters, programs, and tickets — in short, all of the artifacts of the perestroika era.

The Yeltsin Center opened in 2012. Inside you will also find an art gallery, a bookstore, a gift shop, a food court, concert stages and a theater. There are regular screenings of unique films that you will not find anywhere else. Also operating inside the center, is a scientific exploritorium for children. The center was designed by Boris Bernaskoni. Almost from the its very opening, the Yeltsin Center has been accused by members of different political entities of various ideological crimes. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00am to 9:00pm.

Where Nicholas II was Executed

On July, 17, 1918, during this reign of terror of the Russian Civil War, former-tsar Nicholas II, his wife, five children (the 13-year-old Alexis, 22-year-old Olga, 19-year-old Maria and 17-year-old Anastasia)the family physician, the cook, maid, and valet were shot to death by a Red Army firing squad in the cellar of the house they were staying at in Yekaterinburg.

Ipatiev House (near Church on the Blood, Ulitsa Libknekhta) was a merchant's house where Nicholas II and his family were executed. The house was demolished in 1977, on the orders of an up and coming communist politician named Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin later said that the destruction of the house was an "act of barbarism" and he had no choice because he had been ordered to do it by the Politburo,

The site is marked with s cross with the photos of the family members and cross bearing their names. A small wooden church was built at the site. It contains paintings of the family. For a while there were seven traditional wooden churches. Mass is given ay noon everyday in an open-air museum. The Church on the Blood — constructed to honor Nicholas II and his family — was built on the part of the site in 1991 and is now a major place of pilgrimage.

Nicholas and his family where killed during the Russian civil war. It is thought the Bolsheviks figured that Nicholas and his family gave the Whites figureheads to rally around and they were better of dead. Even though the death orders were signed Yakov Sverdlov, the assassination was personally ordered by Lenin, who wanted to get them out of sight and out of mind. Trotsky suggested a trial. Lenin nixed the idea, deciding something had to be done about the Romanovs before White troops approached Yekaterinburg. Trotsky later wrote: "The decision was not only expedient but necessary. The severity of he punishment showed everyone that we would continue to fight on mercilessly, stopping at nothing."

Ian Frazier wrote in The New Yorker: “Having read a lot about the end of Tsar Nicholas II and his family and servants, I wanted to see the place in Yekaterinburg where that event occurred. The gloomy quality of this quest depressed Sergei’s spirits, but he drove all over Yekaterinburg searching for the site nonetheless. Whenever he stopped and asked a pedestrian how to get to the house where Nicholas II was murdered, the reaction was a wince. Several people simply walked away. But eventually, after a lot of asking, Sergei found the location. It was on a low ridge near the edge of town, above railroad tracks and the Iset River. The house, known as the Ipatiev House, was no longer standing, and the basement where the actual killings happened had been filled in. I found the blankness of the place sinister and dizzying. It reminded me of an erasure done so determinedly that it had worn a hole through the page. [Source: Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, August 3, 2009, Frazier is author of “Travels in Siberia” (2010)]

“The street next to the site is called Karl Liebknecht Street. A building near where the house used to be had a large green advertisement that said, in English, “LG—Digitally Yours.” On an adjoining lot, a small chapel kept the memory of the Tsar and his family; beneath a pedestal holding an Orthodox cross, peonies and pansies grew. The inscription on the pedestal read, “We go down on our knees, Russia, at the foot of the tsarist cross.”

Books: The Romanovs: The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie (Random House, 1995); The Fall of the Romanovs by Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir Khrustalëv (Yale, 1995);

See Separate Article END OF NICHOLAS II factsanddetails.com

Execution of Nicholas II

According to Robert Massie K. Massie, author of Nicholas and Alexandra, Nicholas II and his family were awakened from their bedrooms around midnight and taken to the basement. They were told they were to going to take some photographs of them and were told to stand behind a row of chairs.

Suddenly, a group of 11 Russians and Latvians, each with a revolver, burst into the room with orders to kill a specific person. Yakob Yurovsky, a member of the Soviet executive committee, reportedly shouted "your relatives are continuing to attack the Soviet Union.” After firing, bullets bouncing off gemstones hidden in the corsets of Alexandra and her daughters ricocheted around the room like "a shower of hail," the soldiers said. Those that were still breathing were killed with point black shots to the head.

The three sisters and the maid survived the first round thanks to their gems. They were pressed up against a wall and killed with a second round of bullets. The maid was the only one that survived. She was pursued by the executioners who stabbed her more than 30 times with their bayonets. The still writhing body of Alexis was made still by a kick to the head and two bullets in the ear delivered by Yurovsky himself.

Yurovsky wrote: "When the party entered I told the Romanovs that in view of the fact their relatives continued their offensive against Soviet Russia, the Executive Committee of the Urals Soviet had decided to shoot them. Nicholas turned his back to the detachment and faced his family. Then, as if collecting himself, he turned around, asking, 'What? What?'"

"[I] ordered the detachment to prepare. Its members had been previously instructed whom to shoot and to am directly at the heart to avoid much blood and to end more quickly. Nicholas said no more. he turned again to his family. The others shouted some incoherent exclamations. All this lasted a few seconds. Then commenced the shooting, which went on for two or three minutes. [I] killed Nicholas on the spot."

Nicholas II’s Initial Burial Site in Yekaterinburg

Ganina Yama Monastery (near the village of Koptyaki, 15 kilometers northwest of Yekaterinburg) stands near the three-meter-deep pit where some the remains of Nicholas II and his family were initially buried. The second burial site — where most of the remains were — is in a field known as Porosyonkov (56.9113628°N 60.4954326°E), seven kilometers from Ganina Yama.

On visiting Ganina Yama Monastery, one person posted in Trip Advisor: “We visited this set of churches in a pretty park with Konstantin from Ekaterinburg Guide Centre. He really brought it to life with his extensive knowledge of the history of the events surrounding their terrible end. The story is so moving so unless you speak Russian, it is best to come here with a guide or else you will have no idea of what is what.”

In 1991, the acid-burned remains of Nicholas II and his family were exhumed from a shallow roadside mass grave in a swampy area 12 miles northwest of Yekaterinburg. The remains had been found in 1979 by geologist and amateur archeologist Alexander Avdonin, who kept the location secret out of fear that they would be destroyed by Soviet authorities. The location was disclosed to a magazine by one his fellow discovers.

The original plan was to throw the Romanovs down a mine shaft and disposes of their remains with acid. They were thrown in a mine with some grenades but the mine didn't collapse. They were then carried by horse cart. The vats of acid fell off and broke. When the carriage carrying the bodies broke down it was decided the bury the bodies then and there. The remaining acid was poured on the bones, but most of it was soaked up the ground and the bones largely survived.

After this their pulses were then checked, their faces were crushed to make them unrecognizable and the bodies were wrapped in bed sheets loaded onto a truck. The "whole procedure," Yurovsky said took 20 minutes. One soldiers later bragged than he could "die in peace because he had squeezed the Empress's -------."

The bodies were taken to a forest and stripped, burned with acid and gasoline, and thrown into abandoned mine shafts and buried under railroad ties near a country road near the village of Koptyaki. "The bodies were put in the hole," Yurovsky wrote, "and the faces and all the bodies, generally doused with sulfuric acid, both so they couldn't be recognized and prevent a stink from them rotting...We scattered it with branches and lime, put boards on top and drove over it several times—no traces of the hole remained.

Shortly afterwards, the government in Moscow announced that Nicholas II had been shot because of "a counterrevolutionary conspiracy." There was no immediate word on the other members of the family which gave rise to rumors that other members of the family had escaped. Yekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlov in honor of the man who signed the death orders.

For seven years the remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra, three of their daughters and four servants were stored in polyethylene bags on shelves in the old criminal morgue in Yekaterunburg. On July 17, 1998, Nicholas II and his family and servants who were murdered with him were buried Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg along with the other Romanov tsars, who have been buried there starting with Peter the Great. Nicholas II had a side chapel built for himself at the fortress in 1913 but was buried in a new crypt.

Near Yekaterinburg

Factory-Museum of Iron and Steel Metallurgy (in Niznhy Tagil 80 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg) a museum with old mining equipment made at the site of huge abandoned iron and steel factory. Officially known as the Factory-Museum of the History of the Development of Iron and Steel Metallurgy, it covers an area of 30 hectares and contains a factory founded by the Demidov family in 1725 that specialized mainly in the production of high-quality cast iron and steel. Later, the foundry was renamed after Valerian Kuybyshev, a prominent figure of the Communist Party.

The first Russian factory museum, the unusual museum demonstrates all stages of metallurgy and metal working. There is even a blast furnace and an open-hearth furnace. The display of factory equipment includes bridge crane from 1892) and rolling stock equipment from the 19th-20th centuries. In Niznhy Tagil contains some huge blocks of malachite and

Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha (180 kilometers east-northeast of Yekaterinburg) has an open air architecture museum with log buildings, a stone church and other pre-revolutionary architecture. The village is the creation of Ivan Samoilov, a local activist who loved his village so much he dedicated 40 years of his life to recreating it as the open-air museum of wooden architecture.

The stone Savior Church, a good example of Siberian baroque architecture. The interior and exterior of the church are exhibition spaces of design. The houses are very colorful. In tsarist times, rich villagers hired serfs to paint the walls of their wooden izbas (houses) bright colors. Old neglected buildings from the 17th to 19th centuries have been brought to Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha from all over the Urals. You will see the interior design of the houses and hear stories about traditions and customs of the Ural farmers.

Verkhoturye (330 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg) is the home a 400-year-old monastery that served as 16th century capital of the Urals. Verkhoturye is a small town on the Tura River knows as the Jerusalem of the Urals for its many holy places, churches and monasteries. The town's main landmark is its Kremlin — the smallest in Russia. Pilgrims visit the St. Nicholas Monastery to see the remains of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, the patron saint of fishermen.

Ural Mountains

Ural Mountains are the traditional dividing line between Europe and Asia and have been a crossroads of Russian history. Stretching from Kazakhstan to the fringes of the Arctic Kara Sea, the Urals lie almost exactly along the 60 degree meridian of longitude and extend for about 2,000 kilometers (1,300 miles) from north to south and varies in width from about 50 kilometers (30 miles) in the north and 160 kilometers (100 miles) the south. At kilometers 1777 on the Trans-Siberian Railway there is white obelisk with "Europe" carved in Russian on one side and "Asia" carved on the other.

The eastern side of the Urals contains a lot of granite and igneous rock. The western side is primarily sandstone and limestones. A number of precious stones can be found in the southern part of the Urals, including emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and aquamarines. The highest peaks are in the north. Mount Narodnaya is the highest of all but is only 1884 meters (6,184 feet) high. The northern Urals are covered in thick forests and home to relatively few people.

Like the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States, the Urals are very old mountains — with rocks and sediments that are hundreds of millions years old — that were one much taller than they are now and have been steadily eroded down over millions of years by weather and other natural processes to their current size. According to Encyclopedia Britannica: “The rock composition helps shape the topography: the high ranges and low, broad-topped ridges consist of quartzites, schists, and gabbro, all weather-resistant. Buttes are frequent, and there are north–south troughs of limestone, nearly all containing river valleys. Karst topography is highly developed on the western slopes of the Urals, with many caves, basins, and underground streams. The eastern slopes, on the other hand, have fewer karst formations; instead, rocky outliers rise above the flattened surfaces. Broad foothills, reduced to peneplain, adjoin the Central and Southern Urals on the east.

“The Urals date from the structural upheavals of the Hercynian orogeny (about 250 million years ago). About 280 million years ago there arose a high mountainous region, which was eroded to a peneplain. Alpine folding resulted in new mountains, the most marked upheaval being that of the Nether-Polar Urals...The western slope of the Urals is composed of middle Paleozoic sedimentary rocks (sandstones and limestones) that are about 350 million years old. In many places it descends in terraces to the Cis-Ural depression (west of the Urals), to which much of the eroded matter was carried during the late Paleozoic (about 300 million years ago). Found there are widespread karst (a starkly eroded limestone region) and gypsum, with large caverns and subterranean streams. On the eastern slope, volcanic layers alternate with sedimentary strata, all dating from middle Paleozoic times.”

Southern Urals

The southern Urals are characterized by grassy slopes and fertile valleys. The middle Urals are a rolling platform that barely rises above 300 meters (1,000 feet). This region is rich in minerals and has been heavily industrialized. This is where you can find Yekaterinburg (formally Sverdlovsk), the largest city in the Urals.

Most of the Southern Urals are is covered with forests, with 50 percent of that pine-woods, 44 percent birch woods, and the rest are deciduous aspen and alder forests. In the north, typical taiga forests are the norm. There are patches of herbal-poaceous steppes, northem sphagnous marshes and bushy steppes, light birch forests and shady riparian forests, tall-grass mountainous meadows, lowland ling marshes and stony placers with lichen stains. In some places there are no large areas of homogeneous forests, rather they are forests with numerous glades and meadows of different size.

In the Ilmensky Mountains Reserve in the Southern Urals, scientists counted 927 vascular plants (50 relicts, 23 endemic species), about 140 moss species, 483 algae species and 566 mushroom species. Among the species included into the Red Book of Russia are feather grass, downy-leaved feather grass, Zalessky feather grass, moccasin flower, ladies'-slipper, neottianthe cucullata, Baltic orchis, fen orchis, helmeted orchis, dark-winged orchis, Gelma sandwart, Krasheninnikov sandwart, Clare astragalus.

The fauna of the vertebrate animals in the Reserve includes 19 fish, 5 amphibian and 5 reptile. Among the 48 mammal species are elks, roe deer, boars, foxes, wolves, lynxes, badgers, common weasels, least weasels, forest ferrets, Siberian striped weasel, common marten, American mink. Squirrels, beavers, muskrats, hares, dibblers, moles, hedgehogs, voles are quite common, as well as chiropterans: pond bat, water bat, Brandt's bat, whiskered bat, northern bat, long-eared bat, parti-coloured bat, Nathusius' pipistrelle. The 174 bird bird species include white-tailed eagles, honey hawks, boreal owls, gnome owls, hawk owls, tawny owls, common scoters, cuckoos, wookcocks, common grouses, wood grouses, hazel grouses, common partridges, shrikes, goldenmountain thrushes, black- throated loons and others.

Activities and Places in the Ural Mountains

The Urals possess beautiful natural scenery that can be accessed from Yekaterinburg with a rent-a-car, hired taxi and tour. Travel agencies arrange rafting, kayaking and hiking trips. Hikes are available in the taiga forest and the Urals. Trips often include walks through the taiga to small lakes and hikes into the mountains and excursions to collect mushrooms and berries and climb in underground caves. Mellow rafting is offered in a relatively calm six kilometer section of the River Serga. In the winter visitor can enjoy cross-mountains skiing, downhill skiing, ice fishing, dog sledding, snow-shoeing and winter hiking through the forest to a cave covered with ice crystals.

Lake Shartash (10 kilometers from Yekaterinburg) is where the first Ural gold was found, setting in motion the Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745, which created so much wealth one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. The area around Shartash Lake is a favorite picnic and barbecue spot of the locals. Getting There: by bus route No. 50, 054 or 54, with a transfer to suburban commuter bus route No. 112, 120 or 121 (the whole trip takes about an hour), or by car (10 kilometers drive from the city center, 40 minutes).

Revun Rapids (90 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg near Beklenishcheva village) is a popular white water rafting places On the nearby cliffs you can see the remains of a mysterious petroglyph from the Paleolithic period. Along the steep banks, you may notice the dark entrance of Smolinskaya Cave. There are legends of a sorceress who lived in there. The rocks at the riverside are suited for competitive rock climbers and beginners. Climbing hooks and rings are hammered into rocks. The most fun rafting is generally in May and June.

Olenii Ruchii National Park (100 kilometers west of Yekaterinburg) is the most popular nature park in Sverdlovsk Oblast and popular weekend getaway for Yekaterinburg residents. Visitors are attracted by the beautiful forests, the crystal clear Serga River and picturesque rocks caves. There are some easy hiking routes: the six-kilometer Lesser Ring and the 15-kilometer Greater Ring. Another route extends for 18 km and passes by the Mitkinsky Mine, which operated in the 18th-19th centuries. It's a kind of an open-air museum — you can still view mining an enrichment equipment here. There is also a genuine beaver dam nearby.

Among the other attractions at Olenii Ruchii are Druzhba (Friendship) Cave, with passages that extend for about 500 meters; Dyrovaty Kamen (Holed Stone), created over time by water of Serga River eroding rock; and Utoplennik (Drowned Man), where you can see “The Angel of Sole Hope”., created by the Swedish artist Lehna Edwall, who has placed seven angels figures in different parts of the world to “embrace the planet, protecting it from fear, despair, and disasters.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation (official Russia tourism website russiatourism.ru ), Russian government websites, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Yomiuri Shimbun and various books and other publications.

Updated in September 2020

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UPDATED: Due to planned industrial action across the rail network, trains are running at reduced frequency. Please allow for additional time to make your way to the game. We will provide further updates as needed.

Sharks fans – we're calling on you to join the 'Sharks Shiver' movement by storming Allianz Stadium as a pack ahead of Friday night's NRL elimination semi-final against the Cowboys!

The NRL has organised several exciting initiatives and exclusive offers for Cronulla supporters as the stadium becomes Sydney's Shark Tank.

The official term for a group of sharks is a 'shiver' – and just like the ocean's apex predators might do, we're gearing up to hunt together and make our presence felt.

Read on to see how you can help create a black, white and blue frenzy as part of the Sharks Shiver, with group travel, money-can't-buy merchandise, food and beverage specials and a march into the stadium all included in the experience.

It's do or die, so we need our diehard Sharks crew in full voice at the game to inspire Craig Fitzgibbon's boys and keep the premiership dream alive.

Join the Sharks Shiver

Claim your merch and jump aboard the g-train to the city.

Sharks supporters are encouraged to meet at Cronulla Station at 4.30pm. The first 300 fans to post a photo of themselves to social media wearing Sharks kit with the hashtag #SharksShiver will receive an exclusive Sharks finals T-shirt.

Fans can jump aboard the 'G-Train' – bearing the nickname of club great Paul Gallen – to make their way to Central Station.

NOTE: Train schedules have been impacted by planned industrial action across the rail network. Please go to http://transportnsw.info/trip for the latest timetables.

PSA: @cronullasharks supporters are encouraged to jump aboard the G-Train tomorrow night! The ‘G-Train’ will depart at 5.05pm (arriving at Central at 5.56pm). Trains will then leave every 15 minutes. Remember, your ticket to the match includes free train travel. pic.twitter.com/0ZeyMrIxZF — NRL (@NRL) September 19, 2024

Remember, your ticket to the match includes free train travel.

To get to the stadium, fans can board the Light Rail from Central to Moore Park.

Enjoy pre-game specials at the Aurora Hotel 

The iconic Aurora Rooftop Hotel – across from Central Station on Elizabeth St, Surry Hills – is the ideal spot for a delicious pre-game meal or refreshing drink.

The venue will offer specials for Sharks fans, including $6.50 house beer and wine from 5-7pm. It's the perfect place to embrace the pre-game excitement and fuel up for cheering the team into next week's preliminary final against the Panthers!

Storm the stadium together – paint Allianz black, white and blue

The Sharks Shiver will assemble on the steps outside Rugby League Central on Driver Avenue, Moore Park (out the front of Allianz Stadium) at 7pm.

Our fearsome group will then march into the ground together to the beat of Up Up Cronulla, ensuring the Cowboys know they're in dangerous Shark territory.

The must-see match will kick-off at 7.50pm.

Don't miss the action – CLICK HERE to secure a ticket and join the Sharks Shiver! Use the hashtag #SharksShiver to share your journey.

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