AbsoluteVisit

Swimming with Sea Lions – Galapagos Islands

Brad Harbach — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 21:17:04 +0000

Back in February 2012 I took a trip to the Galapagos Islands to discover what some consider to be the top place on earth to interact with animals. The highlight of the trip was definitely the several times we got to swim out in the wild ocean with rafts of sea lions. Spending time underwater playing with these massive mammals was a surreal experience and unlike anything I had ever done before in my life.

Here is a quick video I put together of the shaky footage I captured with my new whiskered friends.

Do you have any unique animal encounters from your travels?

The Places You Must Absolutely Visit in New York

Will Crowthers — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 09:00:44 +0000

After visiting New York dozens of times over the past 20 years and living there for two-years, I have come to know this incredible and famous city quite well. Although New York is constantly changing there are also many things (like the major attractions) that never seem to change! With this in mind, take a look at the list of things you absolutely must do in New York!

New York

United States

Top City

“The places you must absolutely visit in New York”

New York City is famous for its incredible skyscrapers. The first thing I recommend when visiting New York City is to take it all in with an incredible view from the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center! This will be an incredible introduction to this world-class city and you’ll be amazed at the number, size, and density of buildings packed on to Manhattan. Spend some time pointing out the major destinations around the city as you’ll hopefully be seeing those soon!

The most popular city square in the world filled with shops, restaurants, hotels and tourist information. As cliche, cheesy, and touristy as it may be, Times Square should be one of your first stops in New York City! There is an infinite amount to take in and the incredible amount of lights, buzz, people, and information in front of you should be enough to show you why Times Square is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Check-out the ‘crossroads’ of the world for yourself to see exactly what all the buzz is about!

After all the buzz around the city, you’ll want to check-out one of the world’s most beautiful urban parks. Give yourself a break from the hussle and bussle of New York City with a relaxing trip to this massive and beautiful park right in the middle of Manhattan. Stretching 51 blocks long and 3 avenues wide, this is a park that you can visit over and over again receiving a different experience each time. Take in the grasses, the trees, the trails, and the peace before getting back into the city.

As one of the largest art museums in the world and THE largest in the US, the MET’s staggering collection of 2 million pieces is certainly an absolute must see! Plan to spend some time at the museum, but also remember you don’t need to see it all … whew. In fact, I highly recommend making this part of your day when visiting Central Park. The museum is located on the Eastern border of the park and makes for a perfect stopping point after strolling through the park.

It’s time to be entertained! And why not take in a world-renowned musical performance right on Broadway? There are dozens of shows to choose from and keep in mind they are not all “on Broadway”. Don’t let this discourage you – some of the very best musicals and performances are not on Broadway. For your first musical, unless you have your heart set on one, I would stick with some of the biggest names such as Lion King, Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, or Chicago. You can book these tickets online, with your hotel concierge, or at the dozens of tickets sales offices around the city.

Ah, the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s just a bridge right? No. This is the Brooklyn Bridge which when built was the longest suspension bridge in the world and helped New York rise from its early beginnings to the top. The bridge is not only a historical landmark, but its classic architecture is simply beautiful. I highly recommend walking the Brooklyn Bridge and then spending a little time in the Brooklyn Bridge park where you’ll have the view you see in the photo above!

With every name brand designer, boutique, and up and coming designer on the planet selling their goods in New York City, you’ll be at the epicenter of the shopping world! Shop for literally anything and everything you want in this city. The major shopping districts are 5th Avenue, around Macy’s on 34th, and Soho. There are dozens of other shopping districts for you to seek out as well for some of the most unique items and the best bargains.

New York is famous for its pizza and your trip will not be complete without trying the famous New York City style pizza from Lombardi’s! Lombardi’s is the oldest Pizzeria in the world and uses a unique coal fired oven to bake the pizza – it’s delicious. Be prepared to wait if you come at peak times and if you don’t want to sit around, I highly recommend going for a late lunch. This can be perfect on a day when you’re seeing a show and won’t eat dinner until much later!

So there you have it, the list that you MUST complete on your visit to New York City! Also, check-out some of my local favorites on the city page itself!

The Top Cities in the World!

Will Crowthers — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 09:00:25 +0000

No, we haven’t fallen off of the face of the Earth! In fact, we have been busy at work putting a new look to AbsoluteVisit (check it out!) and working on a brand new section of the site called AbsoluteVisit Top Cities.

The AbsoluteVisit Top Cities

From traveling quite a bit, we have always struggled to find out exactly what it is that you need to do in a city during your limited time there. Yes, Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, and others can help with this, but they seem to just throw the thousand things there are to do in a city, right at you. It always is such a challenge to separate the “must-do’s” from the rest of the pack. Discovering local favorites is even more difficult.

Have you run into this as well? Well, this is exactly why we are building the AbsoluteVisit Top Cities! Our goal is to provide expert level information to travelers like you on what you absolutely need to see and do with your limited and valuable time in a city. Additionally we want to call out a few spots that locals regularly enjoy, but you as a tourist are not likely to find in a guidebook.

Currently, we have completed four of our favorite cities (take a peek). Next up, we’ll be working working with some of the top travel bloggers from around the world to help us curate the things you must absolutely do when you visit the top cities around the world! As these additional cities are completed, we’ll be updating you on the blog, Facebook, and Twitter!

Calling All Experts!

Are you or is someone you know an expert on one of the Top Cities in the World? Let us know! We’d love to have them help contribute their expert knowledge to the AbsoluteVisit community. Get in touch directly by email and we’ll work together from there!

Thank You

And lastly, a big THANK YOU for those of you that are still following on our journey. We may not be currently traveling as we were, but rest assured that we are still passionate travelers hoping to assist, inspire, and motivate others!

Duomo Top View – Florence, Italy

Will Crowthers — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:00:34 +0000

Photo of the Day – Duomo Top View – Florence, Italy

There are many places to check-out the stunning Florence Cityscape and one that I enjoyed this week was from atop Il Duomo. This famous dome sits on top of the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower and has been there since its completion in 1436. Yes, for nearly 600 years!

One of the craziest things about it is that you can actually climb all the way to the top. Next, you spiral around and up the side of the dome (inside). And finally, you stand on top of the dome with this magnificent view of Florence.

As you can probably see, I didn’t have the best weather. In fact, I took this shot in between wiping down the lens from the rain that was coming down pretty good. I was the first one up to the top (got there at 8:15 – doors open at 8:30) which afforded me plenty of room to move around. Add this to your list of things to do in Florence … you’re going to be busy

PS: Be ready to climb – it is a solid 10-15 minutes of non-stop stairs!

Golden Hour Michelangelo Style – Firenze, Italy

Will Crowthers — Thu, 23 May 2013 09:00:19 +0000

Photo of the Day – Golden Hour Michelangelo Style – Firenze, Italy

The Golden Hour is one of the best times (if not THE best) to photograph just about anything that is effected by the light of the sun. Here in Florence, there are several places to see the incredible Florence Cityscape (AV #47) from, but my personal favorite is Piazzale Michelangelo.

What makes this specific location breathtaking for a view of the city is that it is just high enough to gain a top down perspective, but also not too far away so that you can’t see specific buildings and details which make the city come to life. The view from Piazzale Michelangelo during sunset is particularly spectacular and it absolutely should not be missed when you visit!

Ancient Illumination – Ponte Vecchio – Florence, Italy

Will Crowthers — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:00:29 +0000

Photo of the Day – Ancient Illumination – Ponte Vecchio – Florence, Italy

With the change in our travel plans came a rare opportunity to do something I usually can’t do for long periods of time – visit family! Now you may be wondering what that has to do with travel, but I’m here to tell you Lucky for me, my Mom moved to Florence, Italy in 2010. Florence is home to two different AbsoluteVisits – #47, The Florence Cityscape and #94, The Uffizi Gallery! So, here I am in Florence for two weeks which will be jam-packed with exploring everything Florence has to offer.

First up, the Ponte Vecchio! This beautiful bridge never gets old to look at and explore. This time, my Mom and I happened to be getting around town well after dark when I captured this shot. I shared a couple photos of the bridge previously (here and here), but you can see how different it looks at night in this photo.

I hope you enjoy this photo and I’ll have more coming from one of the most beautiful places in the world (and easiest to take photos of!).

Tijuca Sunrise – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brad Harbach — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:14:32 +0000

AV Travel Photo – Tijuca Sunrise – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Everything in Rio always appears to be perfect – especially the simple things can often go wrong back at home. Every morning this week I have awoken to the same beautiful sun rising outside of my apartment window here in the local neighborhood of Tijuca. What a difference it makes to have a warm sun accompany you through the always challenging morning “wake-up” process.

A lot of locals will tell you winter is not a good time to visit Rio de Janeiro. I couldn’t disagree more.

The high temperature floats comfortably throughout the low eighties (high twenties celsius) and it drops just below seventy each night (twenty celsius). The majority of the days are sunny, as the winter doesn’t bring much rain and of course it never snows.

I think the Cariocas (local Rio people) are just used to much warmer weather and so crazily their bodies think you can’t go to the beach unless the temperature is in the nineties (thirties celsius). I’ve been to the beach twice this week and both times is was plenty hot outside and the sun was definitely toasting my skin.

Best of all, it is not popular to travel to Rio in the winter, which means all of your travel costs are much lower if you make a visit this time of the year. Flights, hotels and tours are all significantly cheaper.

If you have a little extra vacation time, why not book a last minute trip to my favorite city in the world this winter? The endless beaches, beautiful people and delicious caipirinhas will surely be very distracting, but make sure not to forget to cross the Rio Panoramic View AV off of your list!

Açúcar Reality – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brad Harbach — Sun, 12 May 2013 00:04:24 +0000

AV Travel Photo – Açúcar Reality – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The original AV Trip plans had me flying to Madrid in a few days, but with our new changes I found myself landing in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. Different continents, similar (and very different) languages, and both places that I really love. No complaints with the swap here

I’ll be in Rio for the next two-weeks. The plan is to split time between working on AbsoluteVisit and exploring my favorite city in the world from more of a local perspective. I’m staying with a local friend (Paloma), in a very local neighborhood (Tijuca) and trying my best to do very local things (like attempt to speak Portuguese…attempt).

Today I took my local host Paloma on a several hour afternoon street walk through the historic neighborhood of Santa Teresa. The narrow, cobblestone streets are dotted primarily with old school colonial buildings from when the Portuguese ran the place. The walk can be tough at times, but you are handsomely rewarded for traversing the steep hills with some of the best views I have found in Rio, including the view of Pão de Açúcar from Parque Das Ruinas shown in the photo below.

Since I planned out the tour and dragged my Carioca (Rio de Janeiro inhabitant) friend with me, I’m not sure this was really a “local” thing to do, but it was far away from the sun-soaked beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema – good enough in my book!

The Next Chapter for AbsoluteVisit

Will Crowthers — Fri, 03 May 2013 21:13:26 +0000

As One Door Closes, Another Door Opens

It is often said that when one door closes, another one will be opened. Over the past month, we have had to reach deep to evaluate our very own business and dream – our open door. It is with weeks of thought, hours of discussion, and the most humbled feelings that we announce today that the AbsoluteVisit trip has come to an end. We will not be continuing on to visit the rest of the Top 100 Places as we originally had planned.

Although this door has closed, we will not simply let it slam behind us. To our avid support group, we would like to help you understand why we came to this decision and what’s next for AbsoluteVisit.

The Ultimate Goal of AbsoluteVisit

Two years ago when we started AbsoluteVisit, our overall goal was to help get more people out on the road discovering the amazing world we live in. We thought creating a website about the Top 100 Places would allow people to learn about far away places they didn’t even know existed, ultimately creating new travel dreams of their own that one day would be realized. AbsoluteVisit was born.

Over time, our passion to share the Top 100 Places with more people led to us kicking off the “AbsoluteVisit Trip”. We believed that through our photos, videos and personal experiences traveling around the world to all of these incredible places, we would be more successful at reaching our overall goal – to get more people to travel.

Unfortunately, traveling over the last four months to AbsoluteVisits was not very effective. While we were able to help push a few people to embrace travel dreams of their own, ultimately we were disappointed with the results given the amount of time and money we invested.

We now believe there are better ways to reach our AbsoluteVisit goal – to get more people to travel – than spending the next 20 months doing the exact same thing we just completed. We’ve opened up to thinking about alternate ways to use our resources to get more people out on the road discovering the world. We know we can do better.

While cutting the trip short is not exactly the easiest pill to swallow, the idea of helping more people fulfill their own travel dreams brings huge smiles to our faces. We will always remain very passionate about getting others to travel more.

Next Up for AbsoluteVisit

AbsoluteVisit is not going anywhere. We already have several projects underway and you will start to notice improvements showing up this month. These are the type of improvements that we hope will get more people traveling and that we would never have the ability to deliver with our full focus on the AbsoluteVisit Trip. We are incredibly excited about what is on the horizon.

We’re sure that you might be thinking that we have lost our passion for being on the road. Rest assured that our love for discovering new places and cultural experiences still runs deep through our veins. Next Friday Brad is flying to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he has secured a local place to stay and an office downtown to work on AbsoluteVisit for a couple weeks. Shortly thereafter Will heads to Florence, Italy, to spend two-weeks with his Mom exploring the Tuscan countryside before returning his focus back to AbsoluteVisit. We will always be travelers and we will never stop sharing our experiences and passion for the world with you.

We Have No Regrets

After we made this heart-wrenching decision, we looked back over the the last year we spent trying to get the AbsoluteVisit Trip off of the ground. We can both confidently say that we have no regrets. We’ve had a countless number of incredible travel experiences this year and we learned a lot through creating and living through the AbsoluteVisit Trip. Witnessing the Serengeti Migration alone was worth all of the hard work

We are passionate travelers, curious explorers, avid entrepreneurs, and these characteristics will remain embedded in us. Neither of us will stop dreaming big, takings risks and trying to always live life to the very fullest. We’re excited at this moment to embrace the change in front of us instead of pretending that change is not necessary to continue forward.

Thanks To Everyone For The Support!

Last but not least, there are hundreds if not thousands of thank you’s that we owe to family members, old friends, hostel dwellers, blog readers, Twitter followers, Facebook likers, and of course the new friends this trip has brought us. We have had an amazing amount of encouragement from each of you in your own ways. Doing anything challenging requires extra support, but each of you made it that much easier while we fought for our dream. Thank YOU!

We will never stop traveling, searching to finish the Top 100, and providing information to others who dream of traveling or are already frequent travelers themselves. Please stay connected with us. We hope that you continue to be involved in the AbsoluteVisit community and continue to help us reach our ultimate goal of getting more people out there traveling.

Here’s to a great run, a bright future and to crossing paths someday soon out there on the road!

PS: We have included some of our favorite photos from the AbsoluteVisit Trip below – enjoy!

Where it all started – Cape Town, South Africa

Brad leaping through a Namibian Sunset

Elephants Galore! – Chobe National Park, Botswana

Jump Squat over Victoria Falls – Livingstone, Zambia

100 Trillion Dollar Trade – Zimbabwe

Stunning Lounging Leopard – Samburu National Park, Kenya

Crowded Grass – Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Incredible Thai Curry on the Streets of Bangkok – Thailand

Exploring the Mystery of the Bagan Temples – Bagan, Myanmar

Tubing the Vang Vieng – Laos

Exploring the Temples of Angkor – Cambodia

Island Hopping in El Nido – Philippines

Sunrise at Mt. Bromo – Indonesia

AbsoluteVisit Trip Update – Leg 1 Complete – San Francisco Edition

Will Crowthers — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:16:47 +0000

Trip Update from San Francisco, USA

Dreaming of Mt. Bromo – Mt. Bromo, Indonesia

Wow, it has been over three weeks since we have provided an update! Apologies for the delay, but on to the madness . . .

After we last wrote an update from Siem Reap, we spent a few days in Bangkok before heading to the Philippines for 11 days. Here we traversed the metropolis of Manila, saw our seventh AbsoluteVisit (The Banaue Rice Terraces, #33), and explored two amazing Philippine islands – Palawan and Boracay.

Heading out of the Philippines, we made a quick stop in Singapore, and found ourselves in Indonesia. Here, we toured the mayhem of Jakarta, visited our eighth AbsoluteVisit (Borobudur, #25), and were astounded by the site of Mt. Bromo (photo above!).

Finally, we have made our way back to the states for a much needed rest and re-charge. Brad is in Chicago and Will is in San Francisco and although we intend to rest, we know that will be difficult with all of the friends and family we plan on seeing!

Next up, Europe! We’ll be departing on May 13th to Madrid, Spain! Check-out our crazy 86 day itinerary covering 28 AbsoluteVisits below.

Cheers!

Updates – March 30th – April 25th, 2013

Luzon, Philippines – Thanks to the help of Will’s girlfriend Anne, we explored Manila with locals and had the perfect setup for visiting AbsoluteVisit #33, The Banaue Rice Terraces!

Palawan, Philippines – After a crazy 4 days to start our Philippines expedition, we moved to the tranquil island of Palawan. Here we explored the Underground River and Island Hoped around El Nido!

Boracay, Philippines – To cap off our first trip to the Philippines, we headed to the vacation island of Boracay. Covered with white-sands, this island provided the perfect ending to an amazing trip to the Philippines.

Singapore – During an 8-hour lay-over in Singapore, we managed to grab a quick tour of the most incredible pool in the world and had a delicious little India lunch.

Java, Indonesia – On the main island of Indonesia, we toured Jakarta with a local, conquered AbsoluteVisit #25 (Borobudur), and gazed in amazement at Mt. Bromo.

Home Sweet Home – After an insane first leg through Africa and Southeast Asia, we have both made it home (Brad – Chicago, Will – San Francisco). We’ll be using the bulk of this time to catch-up with friends and family, rest, and re-charge. We’ll be getting back to our adventure on May 13th when we head to Europe. First stop, Madrid, Spain.

Next Up

In about 18 days, we’ll be moving to the second leg of the AbsoluteVisit trip, Europe! We will be visiting an astounding 28 AbsoluteVisits. Europe is packed FULL of AV’s and we can’t wait to share them all with you.

Here’s our plan for our trip to Europe:

Europe – May 13th – August 6th – 2013

View Leg 2 – Europe in a larger map

View Leg 2 – Europe in a larger map

May 13th – 24th – Spain
Madrid, Mezquita de Cordoba, Alhambra, Barcelona

May 25th – June 13th – Italy
Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, Colosseum of Rome, St. Peters, Vatican Museum,

Trevi Fountain, Florence Cityscape, Uffizi Gallery, Florence Duomo,

Cinque Terra, Portofino, Venice Canals, St. Mark’s Square, Basilica San Marco

June 14th – 17th – Switzerland
Matterhorn, Zermatt, Zurich

June 18th – 21st – Germany
Neuschwanstein, Munich

June 22nd – 24th – Czech Republic
Prague’s Old Town

June 25th – 27th – Germany
Berlin

June 28th – 30th – Netherlands
Amsterdam

July 1st – 3rd – Belgium
Brussels

July 4th – 15th – France
Louvre Museum, Eiffel Tower, Palace of Versailles, Chartres Cathedral,

Chambord Chateau, Mont St. Michel

July 16th – 18th – England
British Museum, London

July 19th – 23rd – Ireland
Dublin, Cliffs of Moher

July 24th – 28th – Norway
Fjords

July 29th – August 6th – Russia
Hermitage Museum, Church of Spilled Blood, The Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral

Previous Blogs, Photos, and Videos

In case you missed them, here are some photos and blogs from last week!

Blogs (click to read the full photo blog)

AV Trip Blog – Borobudur – AbsoluteVisit #25

AV Trip Blog – Prambanan Temple – Yogyakarta, Indonesia

The Most Incredible Pool in the World – Marina Bay Sands SkyPark

AV Trip Blog – Until next time, farewell Philippines

AV Trip Blog – The Banaue Rice Terraces – AbsoluteVisit #33

AV Trip Blog – Island Hopping – El Nido, Philippines

AV Trip Blog – Angkor Wat Visit – AbsoluteVisit #7

Sleeping Stone Giant – Bayon Temple – Siem Reap, Cambodia

AV Trip Blog – Curry and Iced Coffee on the Streets of Bangkok, Thailand

Photos (click to read the full photo blog)

Hardcore Photo Shoot – Prambanan Temple – Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Two Wheel Circus – Jakarta, Indonesia

The Future Riders – Jakarta, Indonesia

Last Seconds of Sunlight – Boracay, Philippines

Purple Haze Sunset – Boracay, Philippines

Spirit of the Philippines Sunset – Boracay, Philippines

Angkor Wat Stone Battle – Siem Reap, Cambodia

Angkor Wat Feelings – Siem Reap, Cambodia

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