Here are some of the highlights in this hip Hawaiian enclave:

• Kuan Yin Temple: Incense perfumes this 1880 shrine, the oldest known Buddhist temple in the islands. Followers chant, pray, and place orchids at the golden idol of Kuan Yin. Nuns welcome guests but discourage photography inside.
• 

  Inside Bar 35. (Photograph by Kyle Nishioka, Flickr)

  Legend Seafood: Families head to this old-style dim sum favorite for taro puffs and ha gau (shrimp dumplings).

• Florencia Arias: This tiny shop is stocked with Hawaii-made, cloud-soft knit tunics designed by Florencia Arias, who often works the counter.
• Arts at Marks Garage: This center’s First Friday gallery walks helped launch Chinatown’s renaissance. Art exhibits, poetry slams, burlesque, and improv comedy rev up the ground floor of a square-block parking garage.
• Hawaii Theatre Center: On weekly tours of this 1922 vaudeville theater known as the “Pride of the Pacific,” visitors hear a mini-concert on a classic pipe organ and see trompe l’oeil mosaics and gilded Corinthian pilasters.
• Tin Can Mailman: The bounty here is pure “Hawaiiana,” from vintage postcards and Bakelite bracelets to a 1940s Dorothy Lamour doll with shell lei.
• Bar 35: A pau hana (post-work) scene convenes at indoor and outdoor bars for some 200 beers, DJ nights, and fruit cocktails like the Cherry Blossom Princess.
• Lucky Belly: Honolulans flock to this new industrial-chic noodle bar for egg-roll-like lumpia filled with duck confit, steamed pork-belly buns, and spicy ramen with kimchi. A weekend window serves post-club takeout until 2:30 a.m.

This piece, written by Christopher Hall, appeared in the May 2013 issue of Traveler magazine. There’s a lot you can’t get online. Subscribe to have the print edition delivered to your door.

Related:

• National Geographic Travel’s Guide to Hawaii
• I Heart My City: Malia’s Honolulu

But that’s just one of many reasons to explore the region. Here are three stories that capture why I love coming here:

Chasing the northern lights

“This is incredible,” said Peter Rosén as he trudged through calf-deep snow to join his students — Henrik, Yvonne, Una, and me. We were close to the top of Mount Nuolja with our cameras trained on the sky, which was alive with twinkling stars and dancing ribbons of green light. Peter had positioned his tripod directly behind the Aurora Sky Station and was recording a time lapse of the aurora borealis swirling and folding over Abisko National Park, Lapporten, and Lake Torneträsk.

“The last few days have been incredible,” he repeated, his eyes shimmering in the moonlight. “I couldn’t have asked for more.” Peter’s energy and excitement were infectious. Even though he has been professionally photographing the northern lights in Swedish Lapland since 1999 and is a local legend around these parts, he seemed to welcome every display with fresh, appreciative eyes.

These natural phenomena are wildly unpredictable, but chasing the lights with Peter meant that we were able to avoid tourists, head deeper into the wilderness around Kiruna and Jukkasjärvi, set our own schedule in terms of where and how long we wanted to photograph, and find the clearest views.

Reindeer sledding with our Sami guides. (Photograph by Lola Akinmade-Åkerström, Flickr)

Soaking up Sámi culture

“We don’t herd the reindeer. They herd us,” said Sámi elder Anders Kärrstedt. At that moment I began to understand the deep intrinsic connection between the Sámi and the great antlered beasts before us.

We were chatting in one of Nutti Sami Siida’s rustic lodges. Its rooms are minimalist, with drinking water in a jug and sleeping bags and a small wood-burning fireplace to keep you warm. The toilet is an outhouse where you have to switch the water pump on and off to wash your hands. Yet these amenities seemed more than adequate — if not unnecessary — in the rustic and ethereal Sápmi landscape.

The Sámi are an indigenous people who live in parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Russian Kola peninsula (collectively known as the Sápmi region). About a third of the total population of 70,000 resides in Swedish Lapland. And while the reindeer has remained a strong symbol of their culture, it by no means defines it.

Our group would be trying out the centuries-old Sámi tradition of reindeer sledding. A few meters away from us, 28-year-old Jakob Cederang was busy feeding about 100 reindeer. Thousands more were deep within the alpine forest between Norway and Sweden. Our guides (who happen to be brothers), Nils and Per-Anders Nutti, helped us pick strong male reindeer from the group, then showed us how to gently yet sternly guide them through the mountains and frozen lakes.

Dog sledding across frozen lakes in Jokkmokk. (Photograph by Lola Akinmade-Åkerström, Flickr)

Running with the huskies

“We met online,” Matti Holmgren openly shared with our group as we roasted sausages over the fire. We were sitting in a Tentipi near a very frozen Lake Skabram just outside the small town of Jokkmokk. “She fell in love with the outdoors, too,” he continued.

Matti had moved north from central Sweden to study ecology, but his passion for the outdoors kept him in Swedish Lapland. He started training his first Siberian husky in 1994, a year before launching his adventure company. When they started dating, Stina Svensson had never been to Lapland. But after her first trip, she was smitten with both Matti and the landscape. She moved in with Matti in 2004 and they’ve been partners — in life and at Jokkmokkguiderna – ever since.

These days, they’re up to about 40 Siberian huskies and run one of the coolest year-round routes in Lapland, including multi-day camping trips through spectacular Padjelanta and Sarek national parks in Laponia. Top race dogs can run up to 250 kilometers in 24 hours, but Matti and Stina mostly raise working dogs which they use for expeditions and tours — with a few long-distance races thrown in for good measure. “It feels like I have found a home here,” Stina said.

Lola Akinmade Åkerström is a Stockholm-based photographer and writer who contributes to National Geographic Traveler and other travel publications. See more of her photography from Lapland and follow her story on Twitter @LolaAkinmade.

Related:

• Go on an Aurora Photo Adventures expedition with Peter
• Go exploring with Matti, Stina, and their huskies
• Check out Nutti Sámi Siida’s reindeer lodge and sledding activities

Ringo Starr and his wife flash peace signs at the WaterAid garden. (Photograph by Emily Ainsworth)

Each May for the past hundred years, gardeners have succeeded – with the help of hairdryers, miracles, and the greenest of fingers — at coaxing thousands of exotic plant species into full bloom at precisely the same time.

But the Chelsea Flower Show isn’t about the quest for the perfect begonia or the latest composting techniques. It’s about the carat count on your fingers and how debonair you look in a panama hat.

Given that it’s the centenary, tickets sold out in record time, and were appearing on the black market at £500 a pop. The show is, after all, the place to be seen debating the qualities of a herbaceous border as if your life depended on it. This is why Prince Harry was trying to look inconspicuous (even while wearing a high-vis jacket) as he sneaked in before the grand opening to visit the garden built to promote his charity, Sentebale.

To be sure, royalty plays a central role at Chelsea Flower Show: at 3 p.m. on opening day, a small bell is rung: everyone who isn’t anyone is told, unceremoniously, to beat it so that the Queen can tour in private.

Exuberant (and colorful) Show-goers fraternizing with a police officer. (Photograph by Emily Ainsworth)

So the great and the good were out in force, clinking glasses full of lavender vodka. A marigold-wreathed Ringo Starr was chatting to me personally (I am still having palpitations) about how he had learned to love gardening from his good friend, George Harrison. Having grown up without a garden, he described how thrilling it was to dig up his first potato and how heartbroken he was when the trees he planted died. An ambassador for WaterAid, Starr was a firm fixture in the organization’s beautifully crafted Indian garden.

Show Manager Sarah Easter took time out from worrying about a brewing thunderstorm to talk about how much has changed at Chelsea over the past 100 years. Standards have relaxed considerably, particularly in terms of the dress code. In the 1950s a group of ladies in bathing costumes were unceremoniously removed, in keeping with the ban on livestock. I could attest to this fact, having already spotted a couple of girls wearing nothing but strategically placed petals.

More shocking however, for those nostalgic for times past, was the fact that the embargo on garden gnomes was revoked for the first time in the Show’s history. Elton John took advantage of the laxity, contributing a mini-me version of the once-offending figurine: glittery pink, with diamante glasses.

Gardeners described how they took inspiration from the past, as well as from looking forward to the future.

The “Get Well Soon” garden illustrating how plants can improve health. (Photograph by Emily Ainsworth)

One of the exhibitors, Robbie Blackhall-Miles described how the botanical blueprint of the plants at the Flower Show differed from that in his own garden (he only permits plants with a fossil record dating back before the dinosaurs were wiped out). Other exhibitors whispered gleefully about how their cucumber-melon hybrid was hitting the open market.

Chelsea Flower Show is always hedonistic: ancient olive groves are brought over from “the Continent,” gardens are built into the sky, and Thailand’s offering of thousands of orchids is nothing less than a diplomatic mission. You can follow your nose around the globe, from the lavender fields of Provence, to the heady scent of the Amazon.

You won’t be disappointed. The gardens are extraordinarily established and cared for meticulously. It isn’t unusual to wander past an exhibitor pruning with nail scissors and a magnifying glass.

But the most amazing — and delicious — thing about the Flower Show is that it ends: after a mere five days, ornamental ponds are drained, zen gardens are raked out, and newly built “ancient cottages” are bulldozed, returning the Royal Hospital Chelsea grounds to their normal, stately state.

National Geographic Young Explorer and photographer extraordinaire Emily Ainsworth was born and raised in Oxford, England. 

Albuquerque is My City 

Marble Brewery takes its name from Marble Avenue in Albuquerque’s warehouse district. (Photograph by Alejandro De La Cruz, Flickr)

When someone comes to visit me, the first place I take them is to Marble Brewery for beers, Duke City Donuts for donuts (of course), and Barelas Coffee House for chicharrones and red chile and other New Mexican food delights.

Fall is the best time to visit my city because the weather is perfect, the trees all change colors, the International Balloon Fiesta takes place and all the local breweries start churning out pumpkin-flavored offerings.

You can see my city best from the Sandia Mountains after taking the La Luz Trail to the top.

Locals know to skip Sadie’s and check out Cervantes, Barelas Coffee Shop, and Cafe Azul instead. I feel the same could be said for Frontier, but some locals love the place.

A University of New Mexico Lobos or Albuquerque Isotopes game is the place to buy authentic, local souvenirs. That or head an hour north to Santa Fe to visit the historic plaza and Indian Market.

In the past, notable people like Bill Gates, rapper Xzibit, author Rudolfo Anaya and Freddie Prinze, Jr. have called my city home.

Nothing can quite match the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. (Photograph by Traci Wildenstein, My Shot)

My city’s best museum is the New Mexico Museum of Natural History because it reflects the great climatological changes that have taken place in the state over millions of years and teaches us about all the fascinating prehistoric creatures that once called New Mexico home (well, they lived here at least).

If there’s one thing you should know about getting around my city, it’s that Albuquerque’s not a place you’d want to rely on public transportation. But there are wonderful bike paths and trails.

The best place to spend time outdoors in my city is at one of the city’s many golf courses, including the high-end Sandia Resort course. Or at Tiguex Park downtown on a summer night when live music is being played next door at the Albuquerque Museum.

My city really knows how to celebrate beer at our awesome Beer Week festival.

You can tell if someone is from my city if they finish sentences with “eh” and everything they say sounds like a question.

Take in a minor league Albuquerque Isotopes game with the locals. (Photograph by OpenThreads, Flickr)

For a fancy night out, I prefer the Bien Shur restaurant at the Sandia Casino for drinks and food, followed by a concert at the casino’s spectacular outdoor amphitheater.

Just outside my city, you can visit Santa Fe for the art and quirky downtown. Or you can go just east of town and visit Wildlife West Nature Park, which is a refuge/zoo for injured wildlife.

My city is known for being the city in Breaking Bad and thus meth-riddled, but it’s really a diverse city both as far as income and education and race and ethnicity. We have scientists and professors alongside cholos and blue-collar everyday folks. We also have — beyond New Mexican cuisine — some outstanding Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, and many great pizza joints.

Barelas Coffee House or Duke City Donuts are my favorite places to grab breakfast, and Frontier is the spot for late-night eats (mostly by default, because places close pretty early).

To find out what’s going on at night and on the weekends, read the Weekly Alibi or Local IQ.

My city’s biggest sports event is a Lobos basketball game. Watch it at The Pit, one of the coolest venues in all of sports.

When I’m feeling cash-strapped, I eat at Banh Mi Coda for a cheap banh mi, Taqueria Mexico for cheap shrimp tacos, or Bricklight Dive for cheap sandwiches and beer.

To escape the crowds, I stay home and sip beer from a growler I’ve filled at La Cumbre Brewing for all of $8-9.

If my city were a celebrity it’d be Charlie Sheen because while it’s kind of wacky and unpredictable, and likes its drugs and drink a little bit too much, there’s plenty of intelligence and logic wrapped up in our troubled soul.

Sandia Peak with the Rio Grande valley in the distance. (Photograph by John Fowler, Flickr)

The dish that represents my city best is carne adovada, and a palate-wrecking IPA (La Cumbre’s Elevated IPA is the best example) is my city’s signature drink.

The Wells Fargo building is my favorite building in town because it lights up green at night.

The most random thing about my city is its neighborhoods. One block can be nice and then you head down another and it looks like a scene from Mad Max.

Launchpad and the Sunshine Theater are popular, but I say the Sandia Casino amphitheater is the best place to see live music. If you’re in the mood to dance, check out the Library Bar and Grill downtown (but beware some of the dancing is either appalling or downright hilarious).

In the spring you should check out an Isotopes game and enjoy Albuquerque Beer Week.

In the summer you should enjoy the concert series at the Bio Park or at the Albuquerque Museum.

In the fall you should drive up north and see the leaves turn in the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

In the winter you should hit the slopes at Ski Sandia, Ski Santa Fe, or Ski Taos. Or check out the River of Lights at the Bio Park.

If you have kids (or are a kid at heart), you won’t want to miss the Explora! Museum.

The best book about my city is a really tough question to answer. A lot of people will want my head on a stake for this, but I’m going to go with the Tony Hillerman novels which don’t necessarily take place in Albuquerque, but often have a scene or two there.

When I think about my city, the song that comes to mind is ”Mi Pueblo” by Grupo Niche. It’s a beautiful song about getting teary-eyed every time you return home and see the beauty of the place where you were raised. I get that feeling every time I touch down at the Sunport.

In 140 characters or less, the world should heart my city because it’s got four seasons, great cuisine, world-class beer and breweries, outdoors and urban activities, and wonderful people!

You can play, too. Follow us on Twitter @NatGeoTraveler and tag your favorite travel stories #NGTRadar to help us find the crème de la crème on the web.

Here’s this week’s:

Got Radar? Follow us on Twitter @NatGeoTraveler and tag your favorite travel stories from the web #NGTRadar. Then check back on Wednesdays for our Travel Lately roundup.

The Moses Mabhida Stadium hosted five group games during the 2010 World Cup. (Photograph by Ben Robinson, Flickr)

But if you’re looking for an itinerary with a little more variety, few places can match South Africa for its mix of culture, beauty, and wildlife adventure.

As I prepared for my sixth visit to the country (the second with the entire family in tow), I wanted to move beyond what we’d already seen while keeping it age-appropriate. So, working with DSA Vacations, we decided to build in a few days in and around the beaches of Durban before heading into the bush.

Here’s a sample of the kid-friendly activities we experienced in South Africa’s third largest city:

Durban is an essential stopover on any in-country itinerary. Located along the Indian Ocean in KwaZulu-Natal and renowned for its year-round warm weather, the city is a beach lover’s paradise. The water was a bit too rough for the surf lessons we had planned for the boys, but there are miles of soft sand to explore, along with convenient snack bars and restaurants when tummies start to growl.

Although it’s tempting to stay on the beach, plan to spend at least half a day at uShaka Marine World, South Africa’s version of Sea World. There’s a nice aquarium and dolphin show to check out in between the Wet ‘n Wild Water Park rides. And if your hotel is located along the promenade (I’d recommend a family room at the Southern Sun Elangeni), you can walk, rent bikes, or even skateboard to get there and back.

The five-star Zimbali Lodge. (Photograph by Rainer Jenss)

One of Durban’s newest attractions, Moses Mabhida Stadium, built especially for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, offers a SkyCar that takes you high over the arena for a bird’s-eye view of the city. Spoiler alert: We didn’t think it was all that exciting. On the other hand, if your family has a teenager (or parent) who’s an adrenaline junkie, you can always take the plunge on the Big Swing, a 660-foot arc that swings you through the stadium itself. Good luck, and let me know how it goes!

If you have the time (and money), it’s well worth spending a few extra days at the Zimbali Lodge nestled in a coastal forest reserve 45 minutes northeast of Durban. While the five-star resort’s many pools will dominate your child’s attention, an on-site golf course provides a challenging diversion for active parents. You can also rent bicycles and cruise around the grounds exploring the diverse flora and fauna on display. The boys were excited at their first wildlife sighting — some vervet monkeys — which got them in gear for the second leg of our trip: a return to the South African bush.

Follow Rainer’s story on Twitter @JenssTravels.

Almost impossibly, the steak lived up to the hype, but best of all, sharing a common experience made me feel connected to Andy all the way back in New York City. That’s part of the reason I love to get personal recommendations from friends. We could be thousands of miles apart, but in a way, it’s as if I’m having dinner with them.

Buenos Aires is a city that needs an exclamation point after its name. And maybe all caps.

El Ateneo was once a theater. (Photograph by Mac Aque, Flickr)

BUENOS AIRES! seems to capture the city’s exuberant, exhausting, and beautiful urban buzz. I spent a full week in the South American capital and left wanting more. The wide boulevards, green parks, French-inspired architecture, late-night dancing, custom leather shops, and delectable dishes combined to deliver an exhilarating travel adventure.

Of course, there are problems. I’m not exaggerating when I say I was warned 20 times about pickpockets my first day in town. I also heard constant complaints about the government’s economic policies. And, though the city has long been known as a great value destination, hotel and restaurant costs are climbing. Still, Buenos Aires is one of the most intoxicating places I’ve ever visited.

Here are my reasons why:

See & Do

Though getting around Buenos Aires is easiest by taxi, (each ride is around $5-8), you need to put on your walking shoes to really get the lay of the land. Start by exploring the city’s distinct neighborhoods.

Craving nature? Explore the Bosques de Palermo. (Photograph by Azotesdivinos, Flickr)

You’ll find the city’s most exclusive shops and cafes in the Recoleta neighborhood. If you want a custom leather jacket, try Uru Recoleta. Nearby you’ll find city-center sights like the gorgeous Teatro Colon opera house, Casa Rosada, and the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, where Pope Francis served as archbishop. Don’t miss one of the world’s most stunning bookstores, El Ateneo, and the famous cemetery where Eva Perón and other notables are buried (the real draw is the intricate architecture of the mausoleums).

You’ll be charmed by Palermo. The shaded, cobblestoned streets there reminded me of my neighborhood (the West Village) in NYC. Spend one late night at the casual milonga (dance hall) Salon Canning, where the locals start dancing after midnight. Save a few hours to check out the mind-boggling, sometimes gut-wrenching exhibitions at the Buenos Aires Museum of Latin American Art and take a stroll through the Bosques de Palermo, a beautiful urban oasis. The area perks up in November and December when the glamorous Argentine Derby and Argentine Polo Open Championship come to town. Watch for beloved native son, polo player, and Ralph Lauren model Nacho Figueras.

The old docks area of Puerto Madero has been reinvigorated thanks to the bizarre Faena Hotel and Universe, which puts on one of the city’s most over-the-top (and pricey) tango shows, Rojo Tango. Though the rest of the area is unremarkable, the Fortabat Collection is worth seeing, and outdoor biking and birding enthusiasts will love exploring the Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve.

Make a quick stop during the day in La Boca, the colorful, small area where tango was born. Though it’s touristy during the day and generally lifeless at night, it’s still an essential stop for the first-time visitor.

And, on Sundays, the place to be is the bustling flea market in San Telmo for leather, antique watches, and unique artwork.

La Boca can be touristy, but it’s worth checking out. (Photograph by Wally Gobetz, Flickr)

Sit & Eat

While Argentina doesn’t come close to disappointing when it comes to red meat (besides La Cabrera Norte, try Cabaña Las Lilas or Fervor for steaks), I’ll take dulce de leche any day of the week. Lucky for me, a different version of the South American sensation — inside crepes, drizzled over grilled bananas, giving flavor to gelato – was offered on nearly every menu I encountered in the city. Speaking of gelato, head to Volta or Persicco to sample more local flavor.

Piegari and Sottovoce are great choices for Italian. I took a friend’s recommendation to find Guido on a nondescript, locals-only street, where families and friends devour pizza and pasta and no English is spoken. Tegui has a chic-meets-industrial vibe and fantastic Mediterranean food, while Olsen, with its stunning garden, was my favorite lunch spot. Tip: Don’t book a dinner reservation before 10 p.m.

Stay & Sleep

Head to Olsen for great food. (Photograph by Annie Fitzsimmons)

I recommend making your home base in either the elegant Recoleta or the au courant Palermo districts.

You’ll find the ultimate in comfort at the Four Seasons Buenos Aires, where much of the design reflects Argentina’s heritage, including the striking horse sculpture out front. The swirly patterns in the lobby were inspired by the tango, while polo lends inspiration to Elena (absolutely the hottest restaurant in Buenos Aires right now). Guests can choose between the historic belle epoque-style mansion or the more modern “tower” with its sweeping views of the widest avenue in the world, 9 de Julio.

In Recoleta, Loi Suites, where some rooms overlook the famous cemetery, is a good value, while the chic Hotel Krista in the Hollywood district of Palermo provides a great boutique option.

Annie Fitzsimmons is Intelligent Travel’s Urban Insider, giving you the dish on the best things to see and do in cities all over the world. Follow her on Twitter @anniefitz.

I sat down with Patrick to ask him about the venture he’s currently getting off the ground: a 10-day train journey from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., with 100 enterprising millennials on board. This is what he had to say about the epic undertaking and the generation that — whatever it may be — is sure to shape our global future.

Q: What inspired the Millennial Trains Project? 

A: The idea comes from India, where I helped lead a similar trains project as a Fulbright scholar. This journey has been going on there for about 10 years and has become a totem to the aspirations of young and enterprising people in that country. Last year 20,000 millennials applied for 400 spots.

Millennial Trains Project founder Patrick Dowd. (Photograph courtesy Patrick Dowd)

When I came back from India, I was working in investment banking at J.P. Morgan in New York, right as Occupy Wall Street was coming to its height. I felt there was a more positive way to respond to the dissatisfaction that many people felt with where their country was, and I thought it would look more like this trains project from India than the protests that were going on outside our offices. So I left my job to start this project.

Q: Why trains? 

A: Trains have played a huge role in shaping America’s culture. You see it everywhere from our language to our art to our infrastructure. They evoke nostalgia because they reconnect us to our origins.

At the core of this whole project is the idea that journeys build leaders. In India it’s called a yatra. The train journey [I helped organize there] is called Jagriti Yatra, signifying the awakening of the entrepreneurial spirit in India.

I think this idea exists everywhere. Every culture has myths about why that is, and so do we. By incorporating trains into the project, we’re tapping back into this idea of the pioneering spirit that built our country.

Q: Why millennials? 

A: In India the whole idea of “rising India” is pervasive, especially amongst the younger generation. I was really taken aback by the experience on the train in India, seeing people my age so committed to bridging the gap between where their country is and where they want it to be.

The 11-car train, composed of refurbished cars from the 1950s and ’60s, will be pulled by an Amtrak locomotive. (Photograph by John McFadden)

The verdict is still out about millennials and what we’re going to do or be. Are we lazy or heroic? In the U.S., I’ve noticed a lowering of expectations about what we can accomplish. The train is meant to go against that by providing a dose of optimism and a platform for discovering opportunities.

I’m a millennial, so maybe it’s a self-centered thing.

Q: People have to earn their way onto the train, correct?

A: Applicants get on the train by pitching a project and raising money — $5,000 — to earn their spot. This crowd-funding element means the opportunity is accessible to anyone.

The project requirements are open-ended, so it’s a chance for participants to explore whatever their personal, professional, or creative frontier is on a national scale. It could be something that’s very closely related to the work that they do on a daily basis or a complete departure.

Q: How is this different from a TED talk on wheels? 

Is this an inspiring and informative initiative that has some similarities to TED? Yes. But the emphasis on action, connection to landscape, and the goal of having these ideas contribute to the welfare of communities across the country make it unique.

My hope is that people who hear about this project and interact with it along the way will begin to see a picture of the diversity, creativity, and enterprising nature of this rising generation. I think this will definitely send a message to older people who have an impression of millennials, though this isn’t about changing their minds. I think the more important value is changing the minds of kids in grade school and high school — giving them the sense that the generation a few years older than they are is taking ownership over their future.

Like everything in American history, this project is an experiment. We feel it’s definitely an experiment worth pursuing — the first of many journeys.

Q: Have you been surprised by the applications you’ve seen so far?

A: The proposals keep getting better. There’s a sort of learning that’s happening; people are looking at the project ideas other applicants have submitted, and they’re getting sharper and more creative.

Patrick Dowd (center) chatting with conductors from the Virginia Railway Express about the Millennial Trains Project. (Photograph by Nick Barbato)

An oncologist from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is launching a project where she is creating original artwork based on groundbreaking innovations in each locality’s scientific community. There’s a young graffiti artist from South Central L.A. who is co-creating murals for social change and a digital press secretary at the White House who’s proposing a project that’s all about poetry, because that’s what she loves, but something she doesn’t get to do at work.

It’s as if the train is this big rock and all the applicants are coral. At the end [of the journey] we’ll have an awesome reef with all this aquatic life on it.

Nuts and Bolts

Q: Who will be on the train?

A: There will be 100 millennials — 10 from each applicant category – along with 12 mentors and 12 staff at any given time.

Q: How does it work?

A: We travel by night, stopping each day in a different locality. Three things happen each day: a “local innovation showcase” where we see what interesting new things are starting to crop up in each community, followed by six hours of free time where participants advance their own projects. The third part happens back on the train where we have seminars from distinguished guest speakers responding to the prompt, “Where are the new frontiers?”

Q: How can folks apply?

A: On our website, www.millennialtrain.co.

Q: What does the application consist of?

A: The application is very similar to those of a Kickstarter campaign. They need to answer short questions that ask what is your project, what does it aim to accomplish, how do you intend to share your experience with others, and why are you applying on the train? Add a short one- to two-minute video introducing yourself and your project and why you want to get on the train. It’s meant to be something you could do on a Saturday afternoon.

Q: Can only Americans apply? 

A: No – anyone can apply. That’s an important point because our perception of ourselves as a nation has always been shaped by the observations of foreigners. We’ve been really excited to see that creative, enterprising, and civic-minded people from other countries want to come on board. I think we’ll see ourselves in interesting and different ways through their eyes.

Q: Once people meet the threshold of $5,000, are they automatically on?

A: Yes. If they are one of the first 10 people in their professional category, they automatically get on. It’s definitely a race — if you’re the 11th person to reach your fundraising goal you’re out of the running — so people who apply early have the best chance of getting on board.

Leslie Trew Magraw is the editor of National Geographic’s travel blogs. Follow her story on Twitter @leslietrew.

Here are three lessons I learned along the way:

1. Seek a perfect match: There are many excellent outfitters as out there (our own National Geographic Expeditions is a great example.) The one you should go with, however, is not necessarily the one your roommate from college raved about on her Facebook page or even the one a travel expert recommends.

The tour you want is the one that best matches your wishes, needs, and price points. Among requirements such as destination and itinerary, I wanted a trip during which I could eat well without gaining weight (a problem I’ve had on other trips!). The walking tour I chose fit the bill. We went on daily treks on varied terrain that worked off the tagines, pastillas, couscous, and sweets I unabashedly enjoyed.

2. The guide matters: Travelers typically pore over the tour itinerary, counting up the number of UNESCO World Heritage sites, looking up hotels on TripAdvisor, and generally obsessing over minute details. But most fail to do due diligence on what I consider the most important factor of a trip: the guide.

An excellent guide can turn a trip into an experience of a lifetime. Conversely, a bad guide can sour a visit to the most astounding destinations. The guide on my Morocco trip, Fes native Saida Ezzahoui, added cultural context and a personal touch to the trip. She was also one of only a handful of female guides to lead trips outside the imperial cities. I found her insights as a woman in a North African and predominantly Muslim country to be invaluable. She also turned me on to a great fava bean soup recipe and a black soap made of crushed olives that does wonders to exfoliate and soften the skin.

3. Pick up the phone: You can’t get everything from the website and, hey, you’re spending a lot of money. Calling the company yields important information, such as what ground operator the company uses for its programs in a particular country. You want to make sure your operator has strong local ties that could come in handy in cases of emergency. I find the phone even better than e-mail as an indicator to determining the company’s philosophy, commitment to customer service, and knowledge of its products. Is the company right for you? By the end of a phone call, I often know whether it is a match.

Reader Question: Which exposure mode should I use with my camera? What’s the difference between “Auto” and “A”?

My Answer: I’m going to start with a bit of background on the basics of camera settings. ”A” refers to Aperture Priority mode. The user chooses the aperture and the camera automatically sets the appropriate shutter speed. Similarly, “S” stands for Shutter Priority, where the photographer chooses the shutter speed and the camera automatically chooses the appropriate aperture. ”M” is for Manual, where the user selects both aperture and shutter speed — usually with the help of the in-camera meter.

“P,” or Program mode, is a bit of a hybrid. A simple explanation is that the photographer sets the aperture or shutter speed and the camera uses some built-in intelligence to make sure the picture does not result from a wrong setting. Usually a too-slow shutter speed would cause the picture to appear blurry. Program mode corrects for that.

The Auto setting is essentially the same as Program mode, but with one important difference: Auto wants the camera to produce a reasonably correct photo in all situations. Usually this is achieved by making the flash go off if the scene is the slightest bit dim. There’s a problem here, because it’s when a scene is starting to get dim that the interesting light that makes for great pictures happens. An indiscriminate flash can ruin the beauty of the scene. Another caution about Auto: it can cancel out specialized controls within the camera menu such as custom settings for saturation, sharpness, etc.

My recommendation: Most users would do well shooting with the Aperture Priority setting. But be careful and pay attention to the shutter speed produced by your chosen aperture, as it’s easy to forget that your lens is set to f/11 when you move from outdoors to indoors. If you leave that lens setting on, all of a sudden your indoor shutter speeds will be very slow (something you can actually hear, if you pay attention). If you find yourself being a little forgetful, switch to Program.

I’ve met many beginning photographers who have been told that if they aren’t shooting with their camera set on Manual, they’re not a real photographer. I would argue that the new version of “shooting in Manual” is to use one of the automated modes S, A, or P (but never Auto) but use exposure compensation to fine tune the setting.

Many cameras also have “Scene” modes. Usually these are indicated by little icons such as a portrait, flower, mountain, running person, etc. Those modes are great — much better than Auto — so give them a try.

My favorite “Scene” setting is the person with star or crescent moon icon (“Night Portrait”). This mode will keep the camera shutter open for a long time at night while using the flash to illuminate what’s in the foreground and freeze the action even though the shutter speed is slow. Experiment with this mode to capture amazing-looking pictures in the dark.

Most good cameras have a button marked with the +/- symbol. That’s the exposure compensation setting. A great way to work is to take a picture of a scene, check the histogram on the back of your camera, then set the exposure compensation to correct any over- or under-exposure. The histogram should, generally speaking, be centered. Then, after the compensation is set, you can look for interesting things to take pictures of. Re-set your compensation only when you notice that something drastic has changed in the scene. Experienced photographers use the histogram to check exposure instead of trusting what the picture looks like on the back of the camera.

In the photo above, I didn’t want to be bothering with Manual mode because we were within 10 yards of the North Pole and, as you can see, we were all focused on looking for it. I had originally dialed in +2/3 exposure because all the white in the scene tricked the camera’s meter into making the picture look too dark. I didn’t want the snow to appear completely white, so I only partially compensated, but the histogram helped me determine the best setting. Usually I use Aperture mode, but in this case my camera kept rubbing against my jacket and messing with the aperture settings. So, I switched to Program mode to stop that from happening.

Dan Westergren is director of photography for National Geographic Traveler magazine. Follow him on Twitter @dwestergren and on Instagram @danwestergren.

Do you have something you want to ask Dan about travel photography? He’ll be answering reader questions periodically on the blog, so be sure to leave a comment.