Rich Francis
jrfrancis
Yoyo! I'm Rich (or Joe, whichever you prefer). I'm a Welsh guy from Swansea and now a full-time traveler. I used to love cities, but now I go hunting for surf breaks, beach towns, hiking mountains, alpine lakes - the great outdoors.
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List of All 63 National Parks in the US by State | 2023
Read more...From swivel chairs to space rockets, the US has had some darn bright ideas over its short history. But of all the ideas that have changed the world, the national parks system is surely close to the top. It was way back in 1872 that the sulfur-belching lands of Yellowstone were designated as protected lands […]
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Denali National Park: The Complete Guide for 2023
Read more...Anyone who’s ever seen Sean Penn’s Into the Wild (2007), a wonderful biopic of the intrepid Alexander Supertramp, should be acquainted with the sheer sublimity of Alaska’s deepest wilderness. That’s precisely what awaits in the eye-wateringly wonderful Denali National Park. Here, glaciers converge on swathes of taiga plains, spruce forests cascade to steppes, tundra crashes […]
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National Parks: the Best Parks in Europe by Country
Read more...Europe stretches from the wild waves of Portugal to the mossy woodlands of Belarus, the tundra of the Scandinavian north to the glistening beaches and down in Greece. Between its borders, this land holds treasures of such immeasurable natural magnificence that it would be a crime to even attempt to distill the lot into a […]
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11 of the Best Things to Do in Wroclaw, Poland
Read more...Wroclaw – pronounced frohts-wahf – might not be easy on the tongue, but it’s certainly easy on the eye! Spread over a series of small isles on the Oder River, it’s a classic medley of Gothic, Germanic, Slavic, and medieval architecture. Look here —an iron-clad turret filigreed with metalwork and gargoyles pokes above the skyline. […]
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41 of the Best Things to Do in Sri Lanka
Read more...They call it the Teardrop of India: Sri Lanka. The island of spice, sun and tea fields. There’s no doubt about it— this is one darn mystical, amazing, culture-packed, and tasty destination. It’s just about as far south in South Asia as it’s possible to go, with swells of the Southern Ocean crashing into the […]
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Death Valley National Park: The Complete Guide for 2023
Read more...Death Valley National Park. Just let that sink in for a moment: Death Valley. What sort of place could possibly inspire such a macabre moniker? Well…how about one of the hottest and driest places in the Western Hemisphere? How about a vast, Mars-like landscape of rust-red dunes and badlands that extends over three million acres […]
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Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: The Complete Guide for 2023
Read more...Prepare to be stunned by the great gorge that carves its way through the heart of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Reaching from top to bottom in a whopping 2,250 feet of vertical at its tallest point, its been whittled out over millions of years by the ceaseless flow of the Gunnison River. […]
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Grand Teton National Park: The Complete Guide for 2023
Read more...Prepare to be stunned by Grand Teton National Park. A wonderland of gnarled and twisted rock spires that jut to over 4,100 meters above sea level, it occupies a 40-mile stretch of the great Rocky Mountains, just 10 miles south of Yellowstone. But it’s not just soaring summits here. Landscapes range from wildflower meadows to […]
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Olympic National Park: The Complete Guide for 2023
Read more...Olympic National Park might just be the closest the United States comes to New Zealand. At Olympic (AKA, the one and only national park in Washington), lofty mountains crash skywards to snow fields while dense rainforests teem with life below. Fueled by a constant supply of precipitation (up to 150 inches per year!), these lands […]
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Lassen Volcanic National Park: The Complete Guide for 2023
Read more...There’s no doubt about it: Lassen Volcanic National Park is a weird and wild place. Where else can you lurch from steaming fumaroles and broiling mud plots to idyllic alpine scenery with the turn of a hiking trail? Where else can you scramble up Cinder Cone scree slopes by day and gaze into some of […]
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Everglades National Park: The Complete Guide for 2023
Read more...Sawgrass, cypress hammocks, sloshing swamps, and waxy mangroves— that’s the patchwork of Everglades National Park. It all rolls out for as far as the eye can see, capping the southern tip of the Sunshine State with what’s now the largest protected wilderness east of the Mississippi River. What the Everglades lack in soaring mountain summits, […]
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Tuscany Road Trip: 13 Stops Along the Way
Read more...Oh, Tuscany! The stuff of Italian dreams, this region rarely fails to enchant. Sweeping from the Apuan Alps to the verdant valleys of Maremma and the sloshing waves of the Ligurian Sea, it covers some seriously gorgeous corners of the land (and is home to some of the best things to do in Italy). The […]
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11 Dreamy Destinations on Lake Garda
Read more...There are the crags of the Prealps. There are the silhouettes of Dolomites on the horizon. You’ve got dashes of lemon orchards and vineyards. Feel the fizz of Prosecco. See the mirror-like sheen of the water. It can only be Lake Garda (AKA, one the best things to do in Italy). A gorgeous and grand […]
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Yellowstone National Park: The Complete Guide for 2023
Read more...Spread over three states and covering a hiking-boot-battering 2.2 million acres, Yellowstone National Park is one of the most iconic national parks in all of America. Clichés aside, it’s the stuff of superlatives. It was the first of the designated national parks in the USA. It lays claim to 60% of the planet’s natural geysers. […]
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41 of the Best Things to Do in Italy
Read more...Oh, Italy— you boot-shaped beauty, you. With your pizza-spinning chefs, OTT hand gestures, truffle-scented tagliatelle and creamy gelato, there’s really nowhere else that can match. From north to south, you range from ice-capped Dolomites covered in snow to wave-lapped pebble coves baked in 80-degree sun. And between the two…well…let’s just say it’s a panini sandwich […]
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Travelers Stuck at Home Because of the Coronavirus: Read This
Read more...Three months ago, I was surfing every sunrise on the glassy waves of Hiriketiya Bay, southern Sri Lanka. Four months past, my evenings were spent navigating the soy-scented night markets of Bangkok. Go back a year and I was exploring Mexico, devouring huevos rancheros with refried beans on cobbled plazas in Morelia and Guanajuato. Last […]
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41 of the Best Things to Do in Poland
Read more...In a whirlwind of potato-packed pierogi dumplings, Slavic churches, cobbled old towns, and smoky sheep’s cheese, Poland unfolds from the icy waves of the Baltic Sea to the rock-topped crags of the Tatras. From north to south, it packs in all sorts to entertain travelers. You’ll come face to face with grunting bison in old-growth […]
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41 of the Best Things to Do in Bali
Read more...Peppered with mystical Hindu temples, writhed in volcano smoke, scented with incense and Javanese coffee beans, and blanketed in emerald rice paddies: Bali is one of the best islands in Indonesia, the fabled Isle of the Gods. And topping all that off are legendary surf swells, powered by the pumping undercurrents of the Indian Ocean […]
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The Ultimate Interrail Itinerary: 41 Pit Stops Across Europe
Read more...For more than 45 years, the Interrail pass has been whisking travelers around Europe. From Paris to Porto, Lisbon to Latvia, Berlin to Bulgaria, it now covers a vast network of rail lines and connections between the Black Sea, the Baltic, and the Atlantic Ocean. Some links are nifty high-speed whizzers out of the future. […]
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Backpacking Southeast Asia: 41 Destinations That Won’t Blow Your Budget
Read more...Like a bar mitzvah or a grad party, backpacking the well-worn trails of Southeast Asia is nothing short of a rite of passage. For the budding traveler, the trodden route that links electrifying Bangkok to the temples of Angkor and the rolling surf of Bali is a chance to discover what street food and tuk […]
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13 of the Best Off-the-Beaten-Path Greek Islands
Read more...Forget the body-packed beaches of Corfu. Dodge the snorkeler-filled lagoons of Crete. Ditch the pulsing party towns of Mykonos. There are plenty of other Greek islands: you just might not have heard of them yet. Cue this list. We’ll guide you from the rustic Dodecanese chain on the cusp of Turkey all the way to […]
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11 of Mexico’s Best Kept Secret Cities
Read more...Move over, Mexico City. Begone big Cancun. This list is all about seeking out the hidden towns of Michoacán, Jalisco, the Yucatan, and beyond. It spans from coast to coast, through cowboy canyons, and across plantations of yucca and agave, looking to pin down places that you won’t forget in a hurry. From the tile-fronted […]
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41 of the Best Things to Do in Krakow
Read more...So, you’re heading off to Krakow? Get ready for a whirlwind of Gothic castles, cobbled squares topped by majestic palaces, leafy parks, and, of course, more potent vodka shots than you’ll care to remember (or be able to remember!). Yep, this cultural hub of Poland is unquestionably one of the most enthralling towns on the […]
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Hike and Surf New Zealand in 11 Days
Read more...From the sheer-cut fjords of South Island to the smoke-sputtering volcano cones of North Island, New Zealand is brimming with breathtaking natural sites. It’s an obvious destination for any adventure-hungry traveler, touting more wild bays, shimmering beaches, misty rainforests, and snow-capped mountains than you can shake an endangered kiwi bird at (but definitely don’t do […]