“Not all those who wander are lost” – Tolkien

A lot of the islands that I looked into, and I looked at the entire list of islands in the Caribbean, were privately owned islands or islands once privately owned and now for sale. So cool, and for the measly price of around 15 million you could have yourself an island!

This is a list of ten islands in the Caribbean I have never heard of (although there are many more I have yet to hear of) and would love to go visit. Maybe some of you will beat me to it and all the power to you! Do it!

1. Carriacou (Grenada)

Carriacou is largely undeveloped and for the outdoor loving people out there, this sounds wonderful to me. Exploring the mountainous, wooded areas, coming back to relax on the beach, looking out over the pristine, crystal clear water is an unforgettable experience. Jump into the calm water and snorkel around with the fish.

2. Lime Cay (Jamaica)

Lime Cay has no residents but is a great getaway. The beaches are sparsely visited on most days so feel free to get your skinny dip on, but Lime Cay does have plenty of visitors on Sunday (so do NOT get your skinny dip on). Snorkeling is a favorite activity at Lime Cay, and the area is perfect for seeing lots of underwater life.

3. Anegada (British Virgin Islands)

Anegada is a coral island surrounded by extensive coral reefs. The coral reefs give an abundance of nooks and crannies to explore during scuba diving.

4. Vieques (Puerto Rico)

The coolest thing I found out about Vieques, besides its old use as being a U.S. Navy Testing Ground, was its popularity for bio-luminescence. If you do not know what bio-luminescence is the emission of micro-organisms in the water at night. It is truly a spectacular thing even to look at in pictures. I encourage you to look it up and hopefully find it as exciting as I do!

5. Buck Island (Virgin Islands)

Buck Island is a part of the National Park system in the United States and is a National Monument. The pictures of the coral reef that surrounds the island is extremely picturesque, and the activities offered from the park help make Buck Island a great destination for anyone.

6. Saba (Netherlands)

Saba is a volcano that pokes out of the ocean. Do not fear though, it is dormant. There is no need to worry about any eruptions happening while you are on vacation! It is right next to St. Maarten which is a much more well-known destination. Go to Saba instead and check out a place many people have not been to!

7. Andros (Bahamas)

Andros is quite a large island, and yet it is the least populated out of the Bahamian Islands. Besides scuba diving, fishing is also an activity to capture your attention. Go fishing’ and you are sure to find something on your hook!

8. Providencia Island (Colombia)

This is probably the best place to get out and explore. There are a few hotels here and there and places to stay, but overall this island does not have much on it. The diversity of animal life on the island and in the water surrounding it is protected and, therefore, is abundant.

9. Bocas del Toro (Panama)

This is, in fact, a grouping of islands, but they are also undeveloped like some of the other islands mentioned. There are some places to stay for tourists, but do not expect too much. Expect more out of the natural beauty of where you are staying and not the man-made features!

10. Isla de la Juventud (Cuba) (in English– Isle of Youth)

Treasure Island and Peter Pan were based on accounts from this island. Maybe you should travel there and go treasure hunting!

I wish I had done this sooner, but all this search did was excite my curiosity for travel and continue to make me more jealous of people who are traveling the world. It was much fun to explore the little-known islands of the Caribbean. Get out there and make your adventure. Help makes these unknown places more known for the travelers like you and Me.

Pack your bags and pick one of these ten destinations and go.

Taylor Thomas has researched many fantastic vacation destinations, compiling a list of places she longed to visit as soon as she saves up enough, working towards that dream by running her own small business after getting her MBA at University of Florida School of Business. To boost sales, and help others live the dream, she recommends sweetening the deal with travel incentives, such as those offered by Get Up and Go!

Veli Tourist Village

The picnic destination at Thiruvananthapuram attracts hundreds of visitors daily to cherish the sights of the fishing village. The fascinating scene here is the meeting of Arabian Sea with the Veli Lake. Paddle boats, pedal boats, speed boats are available to hire and to enjoy the placid lagoon. Apart from boat rides, floating bridge which connects to the famous Shankumugham beach, floating restaurant, children’s park, enchanting gardens, fishing pools and sculptures are dotted along the landscape. Kids can play in the park which has the beach on the other end. They can have fun climbing the sculptures. The picnic spot is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Veegaland Amusement Park

The amusement park located in Pallikara 12kms away from Kochi, is known for its fun-filled rides and endless entertainment for the visitors. The park situated over 30 acres of land on top of the hill, stands as a popular picnic spot for anyone visiting the city. Veegaland, the number one water theme park of South India boasts a spectacular range of rides. The blue waters and splashy rides are simply cool. The pleasant ambience nestled by trees, flowering plants, fountain and picturesque attractions, invites visitors every day. The exceptional facilities mark the park as one of the favourite picnic spots for school children, collage students and fun-seekers.

Akkulam Tourist Village

Sprawling along the banks of Akkulam Lake, near Ulloor in the Thiruvananthapuram district, is the popular picnicking destination, Akkulam Tourist Village. The alluring spot is also a famous backwater destination and always seen with flocks of children in high revelry. Boat rides, swimming pool, children’s park, paddle pool, artificial waterfalls, Anthurium Project are added beauties of the picnic hub. Boat club is managed by District Tourism Promotion Council.

Kallar

The idyllic picnic location situated on the way to the renowned hill station Ponmudi. Located 50kms away from the capital city Thiruvananthapuram, the destination is undoubtedly a desired haunt for picnickers, trekkers, birdwatchers and wildlife lovers. The place gets its name from the river Kallar (Aru means river in Malayalam), a crystal clear river which runs through the region, especially over round boulders or stones (Kallu) and pebbles, hence the name Kallar.  Kallar offers swimming facilities for visitors. Golden Valley adjoining Ponmudi (Golden Peak) and captivating Meenmutti waterfalls are attractions in the closer vicinity of the destination. From the right side of Kallar Bridge, trekkers and birdwatchers can stroll along the narrow trail to the waterfalls and Ponmudi.

Peruvannamuzhi Dam

Located in Kozhikode district, amidst the hilly terrains is the ever-stunning destination, Peruvannamuzhi Dam. The reservoir offers boating facilities where one can enjoy the pristine waters, the view of Smarakathottam – a beautiful garden built in memory of freedom fighters of the place. Speedboats, rowboats can be hired to relish the ride along the waters. The lake provides bathing facilities, where one can dip in the cold waters and get rejuvenated.  Crocodile farm, bird sanctuary and small unoccupied islands are notable fascinations which hold attention. The reservoir meets the irrigation needs of three districts, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Kannur.

This article is authored by Sooraj Kumar who is one of the authors of the blog  GreatBackwaters, you can find him at Google+

Go and enjoy the view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This Bridge is a gorgeous thing to look at, especially at night. With all the beautiful lights, it’s a sight you won’t want to miss.

Sydney Harbour Bridge by Jimmy Harris on Flickr

Take a stroll along the Darling Harbor. This is a place to have some fun. Not only do you get to look at the beautiful ocean, but the Darling Harbour has a ton to do. Consisting of exotic arts, culture and cuisine. Seeing the Luminous at night is gorgeous. It is the largest interactive light installation in the world.

Enjoy The Taronga Zoo. The Taronga Zoo is a great zoo that consists of a ton of awesome, exotic animals and a great way to spend the day with the family.

Spend a fun day at Luna Park Sydney. This is a good old fashioned Amusement Park. Filled with a ton of games, roller coasters, and just pure fun.

Luna Park Sydney by Eva Rinaldi on Flickr

Visit the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. If you didn’t get enough of the awesome Australian animals at the Zoo, the aquarium should be your next stop. You get a whole new world of animals from the under waters of Sydney Australia.

Go to the Wonderland Sydney. Another amusement park. Who can’t have enough fun?. Why not explore all the Amusement Parks.

Spend a day laying out, surfing, or just having fun at the Bondi Beach. You won’t regret it, it’s not only gorgeous but you’ll have a ton of fun while just hanging out with friends or family.

Waves at Bondi Beach by Rob Chandler on Flickr

See a football game at the Allianz Stadium. Who doesn’t love to watch a football game. You can get a feel of the culture at a football game.

Spend a fun day the Manly Waterworks. A water park that is awesome and will be a great way to spend a hot day in Sydney Australia.

See a play at the State Theatre. This theatre is awesome and is sure to put on a GREAT show. If you’re interested in seeing some of the actors in their home country in the USA, make sure you look into an  ESTA (the Electronic System for Travel Authorization), which is now a requirement for all travelers from Visa Waiver Countries, including Australia.

These things are all part of a fun-filled agenda to spend in Sydney. With these fun family ideas, there is no doubt you will have the time of your life.

Make Friends

If you miss your friends at home, make new friends! You can have new adventures, make memories that you can share with your old friends, and you will fill a void (if only for a little bit) that being away from your friends has left.

Join Clubs

If you aren’t the kind that makes friends easily, try to join some clubs or other organizations that will allow you to meet people with like interests. This will also expand your knowledge and take up some of the free time that you would otherwise have and probably spend missing your friends.

Facetime

You can learn to Facetime (its free on iPhone devices) or video chat with your friends and family back home. This will allow you the actually see your loved ones as you talk to them, which can help eliminate some of that loneliness that a simple phone call cannot alleviate. Use VOIP calling to help cut costs.

Photo by Beverley Goodwin on Flickr

Bring Photos

Whether you keep them on an electronic device or you actually have them printed out where you can hang them in your room, bring photographs of those you love with you. This will keep them close to you when you feel lonely and miss them.

Call Home Often

Hearing a familiar voice can do wonders to make homesickness go away. Call your loved ones at least once a week (even more, now that you can use a great WiFi calling app  to make calling affordable!) so that you catch up with them and tell them about the wonderful things you have learned and done. This will also keep you enthusiastic about the things you are doing with your studies overseas so that you can continue to share fun stories and make memories that you can share with those you care about when you return home.

Photo by Prasad Kholkute on Flickr

Bring Something Sentimental With You

Don’t just bring pictures with you. Do you have a favorite stuffed animal or a favorite piece of jewelry? Bring it with you so that you can feel connected to those you care about most even when you’re far from them.

Buy Things for Your Loved Ones

For some people, remembering their loved ones by buying them gifts of new and fun things they find in their adventures helps them feel better about being away from their friends and family. If you see something your mother or father will love, pick it up and send it home to them. They will appreciate getting things from you and you will feel better about being away from them.

Attend a sporting event at the Suncorp Stadium. This stadium holds many different types of sporting events and you’re bound to find one you’ll love and enjoy yourself while doing it.

Spend a day at Australian Sea World Gold Coast. This is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, and theme park. It is a great way to spend the day because there is SO much for you to do. Definitely worth the time spent.

Penguins at Sea World Australia by Phalinn Ooi on Flickr

Take a ride on the Wheel of Brisbane. The Wheel of Brisbane is a large Ferris Wheel, and so fun and extremely romantic if it is just you and your loved one taking a ride.

Spend a day exploring at the Alma Park Zoo. This is an awesome Zoo full of awesome animals and a great time. They are so interesting to explore and you will have so much fun.

Red Panda at Alma Park Zoo by Andrew Napier on Flickr

Take a ride on the Giant Drop. If you haven’t ridden something like this, you’ll want to. It is so exhilarating and a great rush of adventure. This ride is very similar to the Tower of Terror. You’re bound to have fun riding this.

Spend a fun filled day at the Dreamworld theme Park. Not only do they have an awesome park for adults, but they also have a GREAT children’s area within the park, making this a great place for the whole family.

Dreamworld theme Park by Andi Ryan on Flickr

Go shopping at the Queen Street Mall. Who doesn’t love to shop? You can pick up some new fashion trends that may be different from where you are originally from.

Visit the Museum of Brisbane. This is an awesome way to get in touch with the city of Brisbane. You can learn about the culture and the history of the city and a definite must when visiting.

Have fun at the Castaway Bay. This is located at the Sea world Amusement Park. It has three fun filled attractions. Battle Boats, Sky Climb, and Sky Fortress.

Go visit the Koala Bears at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Koala Bears are so cute. So who wouldn’t want to spend a day visiting them?

Koala by chem7 on Flickr

Today, most travelers have replaced their paper guidebooks with an iPhone or Android phone. While some of us may secretly pine for simpler times, it’s a fact that smart phone can be a great help when traveling.

Here’s a list of 10 iPhone apps that can make your travels a world easier.

TripAdvisor Offline City Guides (free)

Tripadvisor’s offline city guides work even without an Internet connection. This is a lifesaver if you’re on the road without WiFi or a data plan. The offline city guides have all the essentials, including restaurant, hotel and attraction info and a map.

The best part of the TripAdvisor Offline City Guides is that your phone’s GPS integrates with the app’s map even when you’re offline, so your location always shows as that trusty little blue dot. The city guides are only available for major cities.

Google Maps (free)

The Google Maps app is available for car, public transportation and walking.

Google maps will give you turn by turn directions, making it easy to get around.

FlightTracker (free)

FlightTrack is a simple, no fuss app for keeping track of flight information.

The app will tell you if the flight you’re on is on time, and also lets you know airplane info, your airport and your departure or arrival gate.

There’s a version of the app that costs $9.99, which gets excellent reviews on the App Store.

Clock (free)

The simple Clock app that comes with your iPhone has everything that you’ll need to work as an alarm clock.

It’s simple, reliable, and easy to use.

Since the Clock app is native to the iPhone, you cannot download it from the iStore. Just search your iPhone for the Clock.

Google Translate (free)

You can use the Google Translate app to translate to and from over 60 languages. It also has a helpful feature that will allow you to auto detect a language.

If you happen to have an Android phone, you can download language packs that will let you use Google Translate offline. Unfortunately, the language packs aren’t available yet for iPhones.

You can also speak into Google Translate and hear the translate spoken back to you which is incredibly helpful when your accent is a problem.

The Weather Channel (free)

The simple Weather Channel app forecasts the weather for almost any location in the world.

There’s a pay version with more features, but the reviews are a bit mixed.

XE (free)

Simply enter in an amount in one currency, and look for the converted amount in a list of currencies. The free XE converts 180 currencies, but does have ads

There’s a pay version of the app ($1.99) that does not have ads, but lets you monitor twice as many currencies as the free version.

Skype (free)

Skype, the granddaddy of internet calling apps, is reliable and user friendly.

Calls to the US and Canada are free of charge, and you can call other countries for reasonable prices.

Skype has video calling and speakerphone capabilities.

SkyScanner (free)

Skyscanner, a relatively new airline search engine, has an easy to use app for finding flights. It’s a useful tool for figuring out the cost of flights, and determining which airlines fly certain routes.

The downside is that you can’t book your flights directly with Skyscanner. However, the app can direct you to the airline’s website where you can book a flight.

Booking.com (free)

Booking.com is probably one of the few hotel booking sites that is equally useful in North America and Europe.

The app is simple to use. There’s also a computer based version of the app, and a last minute app called Booking Tonight for booking last minute rooms.

Bonus App #1: Facebook (free)

Half the fun of travel is being able to share the sights we see with friends and family. That makes Facebook a must have for sharing photos and updates.

Bonus App #2: Gas Buddy (free)

Gas Buddy gives you the lowest gas prices across North American. Most of the information is entered by users, and tends to be very up to date and accurate.

Gas Buddy also allows you to search for different types of gas, and lets you know the address and amenities for each gas station.

Are these some of your favorite travel apps? Let us know in the comments..

Here are ten fun facts about Australia that you probably don’t know.

1. Australia has the largest concentration of natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world. These include many that are world famous like the Great Barrier Reef that lies just off Australia’s coast as well as Fraser Island (the largest sand island in the world). Uluru (or Ayer’s Rock) stands defiantly in the dry interior while only a few hundred kilometers north the vast wetlands of Kakadu National Park with it’s large crocodile population covers over 5 million acres.
2. Speaking of water, Australia is home to one of the strangest mammals ever discovered:  The duck-billed, beaver-tailed, web-footed, egg laying, warm blooded platypus. You can find this unique mammal in several rivers, streams and lakes around the country and though they’re very shy, they’re not too hard to find. Probably the strangest thing about this little creature is that on top of all that, it’s also venomous! The platypus has a pair of spurs on it’s hind legs that can give a painful (though not fatal) injection.
3. At over 24,000 square kilometers or 6,000,000 acres, Anna Creek Station in South Australia is eight times bigger than the fabled King Ranch in the USA and is larger than Israel. Considering it’s nearly the same size as Belgium, what’s amazing is that this gigantic ranch usually has less than a dozen workers at any time!
4. Australia not only has the worlds largest cattle ranch, it’s also one of the largest sheep and cattle exporters in the world. There are twice as many sheep in the country as there are people and nearly as much cattle.
5. In terms of population density, Australia is one of the least populated countries in the world. When you consider that over a third of Australia is a desert and that 90% of the population lives along it’s coastline, you can literally drive for hours in the center of the outback without seeing another living being.
6. Australia is a multicultural country. Nearly one in four Australians were born outside of Australia with English, Irish, Scottish, Italian, German, Chinese, Indian and Greek descent accounting for the vast majority of foreign nationals. Over 80% of the country originates from European ancestry with the remaining population having Asian heritage. Amazingly, the original indigenous population only accounts for a few percent of that total.
7. Though the Europeans and Asians have only been in Australia for the past few hundred years, the indigenous people of Australia have inhabited Australia for around 50,000 years. With almost 600 indigenous dialects, of which 250 to 300 were commonly spoken, only 20 aren’t considered to be endangered.
8. Australia, often referred to as an island continent, has almost 50,000 kilometers of coastline and over 10,000 beaches. With so much coastline, and fantastic Australian islands to explore, it’s easy to understand why the vast amount of the population lives within an hour’s drive of the beach.
9. Next to Antarctica, Australia is the driest continent on the planet. With some areas receiving less than 81 mm (three inches) of rain per year, it’s easy to see why. Especially when the majority of the country is desert or semi-arid.
10. In terms of fauna, Australia has a penchant for poisonous things. From snakes and spiders to jellyfish and stingrays, Australia has some of the most poisonous fauna in the world. For instance, 20 out of the top 25 venomous snakes can be found in Australia and the box jellyfish found just off the north eastern coast is often considered one of the most poisonous things on the planet. That being said, Oz also has some of the cutest animals in the world. Kangaroos and their smaller brethren, wallabies can often be seen bouncing in the distance and koalas are definitely natures teddy bears. As well as those three they have sugar gliders in the upper trees and Australia has the largest population of possum’s in the world.

Photo of Uluru by Cornelia Kopp on Flickr.

The Western Queensland’s Outback is known as “The Outback by the Sea.” Unlike the lush and verdant tropical growth in the nearby rainforests, the Outback features winding bush lands, ancient mining towns, aboriginal communities and remote cattle ranches. Within the vast Outback lies Mount Isa, the city with the largest land area in the world. It comprises 10, 977km and is home to the most productive lead and silver mine in the world.

Within this region, Savannah guided tours are available from highly trained rangers. It is noteworthy, however, that much of this area is wild, with the presence of pharmacies ending past Atherton Tablelands and LPG gas is unavailable in many of the surrounding communities.