The summer road trip season is approaching rapidly.

And that SHOULD conjure up good thoughts: Hitting the open road, renting a convertible, blasting good music, checking out weird road-side attractions.

But there’s a dark side to road trips.  And it can be summed up into four little words…

Are. We. There. Yet.

It’s the phrase every parent dreads when they embark on a long car ride with their kids.

Well, the GPS navigation company TomTom wanted to know just what kind of threshold kids have when it comes to road trips.

And, sorry to say, the results don’t look too good for you parents out there.

They found that the average kid in the U.S. gets bored on a road trip after just 30 minutes.

Yup, even with ALL the toys and technology out there, you’re barely going to get out of your own city before your kid begins bombarding you with an endless stream of “Are we there yets.”

And kids in the U.S. were actually MORE PATIENT than kids in other parts of the world.

The worldwide average was 27 minutes.

Only kids in Germany (31 minutes) and New Zealand (34 minutes) did better than the U.S.

Kids in Australia and the U.K. were the least-patient, lasting just 23 and 24 minutes, respectively.

And all that impatience certainly takes a toll on parents.

Forty-one percent of moms said that being in the car with their kids is more stressful than being in the office, and 36 percent said they are likely to argue with their partner during the journey.

And as for how parents deal with their kids on a long road trip, 74 percent make up games, 52 percent offer treats and rewards, and 24 percent LIE about the estimated time of arrival to make the journey seem shorter.

Have you got a road trip horror story?  Either about your kids or from when YOU were a kid? 

I have so many, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.  But in honor of Mother’s Day yesterday, let’s take a moment to appreciate my incredible (and patient) mom.  When I was about 12, we drove from L.A. to Yosemite, which SHOULD have been a less-than-400-mile drive.  But somehow, thanks to an incredible lack of navigational skills, we ended up driving more than 1,000 miles.  In her defense, it WAS the early ’90s, so GPS was not yet around.  Thomas Guide all the way.  As fun as that was for ME, I think it was more torturous for my poor mom, who allowed me to play and replay my Sister Act cassette tape for the entire duration of the trip.  Most patient woman EVER!

What our path should have looked like vs. what it actually looked like

I just got back from a trip to Washington, D.C.  And something I noticed on the flight home is that, when I fly, I generally end up making friends with someone on the plane.

So it got me thinking about how common that is.

And luckily for me, Skyscanner had the answer: it turns out, it’s relatively common.

According to a recent survey, they found that nearly 39% of travelers have become friends with someone they met on a flight.

5% even spent time on their vacation hanging out with someone they met while flying.

And people don’t just make platonic friendships on flights.  6% of flyers have met a ROMANTIC PARTNER on a flight.

Unfortunately, most of these encounters are short-lived.

7% said they continued to stay in touch with a new friend after their vacation.

Just 3% add each other on Facebook.

So what are YOUR flight-friendship stories?  Do you regularly chat with the people sitting next to you?  And if so, do you try to keep in touch afterwards? 

Traveling is a fantastic experience:  Getting to see the sights, sounds and smells of other cultures, interacting with new people, engaging in foreign customs.

But even the most well-traveled of us can get homesick from time to time.

A recent study of British people found the top 20 things they miss when they’re traveling.

And coming in at #1 is something that’s just so… British: A cup of tea.

Yes, the perfect cup of tea is the thing Brits miss the most when they’re traveling.

Can’t say I agree, but it brings up an interesting question.  What do YOU miss most while traveling?

Your comfortable bed?  Your adorable pet?  Friends and family?

We want to know!

As for the rest of what Britons miss when they’re traveling, here’s the full Top 20:

1.  Cup of tea

2.  Drinking tap water without worrying

3.  Own bed

4.  Pet

5.  Own toilet

6.  Watching TV shows I’m used to

7.  Own shower

8.  Eating salads without worrying

9.  Newspaper

10.  Family

11.  Supermarkets

12.  Money

13.  Listening to radio / familiar stations

14.  Television set

15.  Car

16.  The UK’s smoke-free policy

17.  Friends

18.  Coffee the way I like it

19.  Parents

20.  British manners

C’mon, loyal Jetpacker readers.  We can do better than this.  What do YOU miss most while traveling?

Welcome to the latest entry in our “Where To Travel In…” series, where we tell you about the best places to travel each month.

Although March doesn’t have many massive “headline” events, there are so many small, offbeat things going on, you’ll be happy you get 31 days to check them all out instead of 30.

Here’s what’s happening in March…

The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta – St. Maarten

March 1 – 4

This year marks the 32nd edition of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, a unique blend of International sailing, musical talent, and all-night parties.   What began in 1980 with just 12 entries has steadily climbed to over 200 boats, and bands such as the Black Eyed Peas, the Marley Brothers, Maxi Priest and Wyclef Jean just to name a few.  With its official slogan being “Serious Fun” it’s no wonder people come from over 25 countries to attend this one-of-a-kind regatta.

Calle Ocho Festival – Miami

March 2

For one week each March, Little Havana in Miami transforms itself into a traditional Latin street festival.  The Calle Ocho Festival is an opportunity to experience Miami’s large Cuban influence as 23 blocks along SW 8th Street transform into a giant carnival.  Attracting over a million spectators, it’s known as the largest street festival on Earth, though we don’t believe that’s actually been officially Guinness certified.  Although what IS Guinness certified is that in 1998, more than 119,000 people joined in the world’s longest conga line at the festival, setting a new world record.

Adelaide Festival of Arts – Adelaide, South Australia

March 2 – 18

Held every other year in the South Australian capital of Adelaide, the Adelaide Festival of Arts is the most important cultural event in Australia and one of the world’s greatest celebrations of the arts.  Since its launch in 1960, the Adelaide Festival has showcased the most compelling artists, companies and productions from around the globe in the areas of opera, theater, dance, classical and contemporary music, cabaret, new media, literature, and outdoor entertainment.

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race – Alaska

March 3

They do all the work, yet reap none of the rewards. How is that fair?

The Iditarod is a 1,131-mile sled dog race that’s run along a trail from Anchorage to Nome.  Mushers and a team of 12 to 16 dogs compete for a cash prize and a new pickup truck (which I’m sure the dogs really appreciate?).  The current fastest winning time record was set in last year by John Baker with a time of 8 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds.

Holi – India, Nepal, Pakistan and other Hindu areas

March 7 – 9

Holi is also known as the Festival of Colors, when Hindus welcome spring’s abundant colors after the winter season.  It’s celebrated on the last full moon day of the lunar month and lasts about two days.  During Holi, participants host bonfires, throw colored powder at each other, and celebrate wildly.  One of the biggest customs is the loosening of strict social structures, including age, sex, status, and caste.

South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival (SXSW) – Austin, Texas

March 9 – 18

Thousands of fans of music, film, and technology make the journey to the Texas capital to catch a glimpse of the year’s new trends and breakthroughs at SXSW.  With a reputation built over the last 20-plus years, the event is no longer just the epicenter of indie rock.  What started in 1987 with 700 people has expanded to an event that was 20,000-attendees strong in 2011.

Starkbierzeit (Strong Beer Festival) – Munich, Germany

March 9 – 25

Meet Oktoberfest’s little brother – the tougher, more down-to-earth sibling whose company can be enjoyed without the crowds.  For Bavarians, Starkbierzeit is like opening the fridge door to a new season of beer drinking after winter ends.  It’s got all the beer, dancing, and Lederhosen of Oktoberfest with just a fraction of the crowds.

Las Falles – Valencia, Spain

March 15 – 19

Las Falles is a celebration held in commemoration of Saint Joseph in Valencia, Spain.   The five days and nights of Falles include processions, costumes, food, frolicking in the streets, and fireworks.  The Falles themselves are huge sculptures of papier-mâché on wood, built by teams of local artists.  Throughout the five days, explosions can reportedly be heard all day long and sporadically through the night as everyone from small children to the elderly throw fireworks and noisemakers in the streets.  The final night of Falles is a pyromaniac’s dream: there’s a huge bonfire (known as the cremà, or, the burning) and each falles is laden with fireworks before it’s burned.

Possibly one of the most horrifying images I've ever seen

Winter Music Conference – Miami

March 16 – 25

The Winter Music Conference is an electronic music gathering that features more than 400 events, 1,400 DJs and artists, and 100,000 attendees.  It’s basically nine straight days of music, parties, nightclubs, and dancing.  The headline event is the Ultra Music Festival, a three-day outdoor electronic music festival in Bicentennial Park that was attended by over 100,000 people in 2011.

SAINT PATRICK’S DAY – Worldwide

March 17

Celebrated in countries across the globe, Saint Patrick’s Day commemorates Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.  It’s a public holiday in Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador, and in Montserrat.  And it’s famous for the wearing of green attire (especially shamrocks) and drinking unhealthy amounts of alcohol.  The best festivities take place in Ireland, but there’s some fun stuff in the U.S., like in Chicago where they dye the Chicago River green.  For some Saint Patrick’s Day trivia, check out our list of 17 Bizarre but True Facts About Ireland.

Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing) – Japan

March through May

Hanami is the Japanese tradition of enjoying the beauty of flowers, usually referring to cherry blossoms or ume blossoms.  Cherry blossoms can begin to appear in Okinawa as early as January, or as late as May in Hokkaido.  But they bloom in the bulk of the country near the end of March.  In Japan, thousands of people gather to enjoy the trees by feasting at outdoor parties.  And in many places, paper lanterns are hung in the trees for nighttime enjoyment.

National Cherry Blossom Festival – Washington, D.C.

March 20 – April 27

The National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the gift of 3,000 Japanese cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to Washington, D.C., on March 27, 1912.  This year is the 100th anniversary of the gift, so the usual two-week festival has been expanded to over a month, and well over a million people are expected to visit during that time.

And here’s a look at some of the smaller, weirder, and just plain fun things going on in March…

World Ice Art Championships – Fairbanks, Alaska

Through March 25

Fairbanks doesn’t have a whole lot to offer tourists, so it’s making up for it with the one thing it has an abundance of: ICE.  Over 100 ice artists representing 40 countries take part in the World Ice Art Championships, creating both competition and exhibition pieces.

International Ice Festival – Jerusalem, Israel

March 3 – April 4

An ice festival in Alaska makes sense.  But Israel?  Jerusalem is holding their first International Ice Festival this March.  The month-long event will feature an ice bar, ice skating, live entertainment, storytelling, and a replica of Jerusalem made entirely of ice.  And coats will be handed out at the entrance to keep visitors warm.

Frozen Dead Guy Days – Nederland, Colorado

March 2 – 4

The story behind Frozen Dead Guy Days is so crazy, it’s deserving of its own feature on TheJetpacker.  That’s why I’ve officially marked it down on my 2013 “must-attend” list.  But until then, here’s the gist: the “frozen dead guy” is Grandpa Bredo, who’s been dead since 1989 and resides in a Tuff Shed in the hills above Nederland, Colorado.  His body is frozen with 1,600 pounds of dry ice packed around him in a sarcophagus, surrounded by foam padding, a tarp, and blankets.  A cryonicist keeps Grandpa at a steady -60 degrees Fahrenheit, and gives tours to anybody who’s interested.  The festival part started 11 years ago.  People come from all over the U.S. for wacky events like coffin racing, polar plunging, frozen salmon tossing, and, yes, even to have a beer with Colorado’s best-known corpse.

Smirnoff boxes double as a coffin in a pinch.

Annual National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show – Albuquerque, New Mexico

March 2 – 4

It bills itself as “The Hottest Show on Earth.”  Now in its 24th year, the National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show is supposedly the largest and most visited show about spicy foods and barbecue in the world, featuring hundreds of booths and thousands of products.

Honen Matsuri – Japan

March 15

Honen Matsuri is a fertility festival celebrated in Japan.  The best-known (and strangest) event takes place in the town of Komaki, just north of Nagoya City.  The main features of the festival are Shinto priests playing musical instruments, a parade, all-you-can-drink sake, and, oh yeah, a 620-pound, 96-inch-long wooden phallus.  There’s also an array of phallus-shaped food and souvenirs.  At the end of the procession, the giant wooden dong is spun furiously (?) before it’s set down and more prayers are said. Everyone then gathers in the square and the crowd is showered with small rice cakes thrown by officials from raised platforms.  Awesome!

The 84th Annual Academy Awards are this weekend.  So that got us thinking about movies that inspire people to travel.

These are movies that make you want to follow in each character’s footsteps and get away from it all.  It doesn’t matter if they travel to the other side of the planet or the other side of town, these characters explore the world with fresh eyes, embrace adventure and leave the door open to new and exciting possibilities.

After watching any one of the Top 10 Movies That Inspire Travel, you might become the same way too.

The Beach

When things get boring, go somewhere crazy (usually that’s a place that serves bugs on a stick).  That’s what Leo does in The Beach.  He plays a backpacker who wants to disconnect from his computer and his life, so he goes where every young, broke person who wants to party and do illegal things goes to: Thailand.  While ignoring all sense of responsibility in Bangkok, he finds out about an island paradise where people go to escape the world, explore jungles, play volleyball all day, gaze into the clear night sky and swim through glow-in-the-dark plankton.  As if things couldn’t get any better, Leo gets lucky on a beach, which is, despite the unsanitary conditions, pretty much every traveler’s fantasy.  That might explain why the guys from The Hangover are heading to Thailand.

Before Sunrise

When you’re not looking for love, that’s when you find it.  And when you travel, you’re looking for a lot of other things:  directions, a clean bathroom, someone who speaks English, a bar.  In Before Sunrise, a soul-searching American man looking for something to do before he heads back home meets a sassy Parisian woman on a train.  Just as they’re about to separate, he convinces her to get off the train with him in Vienna.  They then spend a memorable night checking out the sights and talking about heavy topics that are usually reserved until at least date #6.  We’ve watched enough travel movies to know that anyone who goes on a mission of self-discovery eventually gets laid.

City Slickers

The thing to remember, however, is that self-discovery really is about self-discovery.  City Slickers follows three friends stuck in a mid-life crisis who are looking for adventure to escape their dull everyday lives.  After a bad experience at the Running Of The Bulls, they decide to do something a little less dangerous by going on a two-week cattle drive through the Southwest.  It winds up being more dangerous.  When their leader dies on the journey, the men are forced to band together and complete the cattle drive alone.  But in the end, they wind up learning valuable life lessons and realize that their everyday lives aren’t that dull.  The self-discovery sex principle still applies; even though we don’t see it, we know these dudes got laid after they bragged to their wives about their manliness.

Eat, Pray, Love

Eat Pray Love is a film based on the best-selling book by the same name.  It stars Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert, a woman who has everything — a husband, a house, a successful career — and, yet, she feels lost, confused, and is desperately searching for what she really wants in life. So she does what any logical person would do, she divorces her husband, quits her job, and embarks on a journey to Italy (Eat), India (Pray), and Bali (Love).  What they don’t tell you in the movie is that Ms. Gilbert’s trip was completely paid for by a generous book advance, so for people like you and me who may hope to emulate her… yeah, keep dreaming.  Regardless, the lush scenery, delicious meals, and personal relationships depicted in the film will hit home with anyone who’s done some international traveling in their time.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

You don’t have to fly to another country to travel.  Sometimes all you’ve got to do is escape the ordinary and do something new in your own city.  In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, three friends ditch school to discover downtown Chicago, acting like tourists in their own city.  They visit many of the great Chicago attractions like the Sears Tower, the Art Institute of Chicago, Wrigley Field, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and even take part in the German-themed Von Steuben Day parade.  This movie is responsible for more high school truancies than any other movie, but, really, are you ever going to need calculus in the real world?

The Indiana Jones Series

The Indiana Jones movies were probably the first movies to inspire travel for kids growing up.  They’re also the movies that greatly misrepresented the job duties of an archaeologist.  How can you not want to get out of the house after watching Indiana Jones go on an around the world treasure hunt to exotic places like Peru, Egypt, India, Nepal and Brazil?  Sure, the road was paved with danger, but that made it even more exciting.  If you wanted safe and boring, you might as well stay at home, where there’s no risk of getting your heart ripped out of your chest or killed by Nazis.

Into The Wild

At some point everyone gets annoyed with reading Twitter updates on what people had for lunch and paying bills on things you’re not even sure why bought in the first place.  So the kid in Into the Wild decides to abandon the material world and search for the real world, which is apparently located in Alaska.  He could have just taken a cruise like normal people, but instead he gets rid of all his stuff, hitchhikes his way across the U.S. with hippies and eventually makes his way into the beautiful yet ruthless Alaskan wilderness.  It’s the desire to (at least temporarily) live a simple life away from the needless distractions of the modern world that is an impetus for a lot of people to travel in the first place.  Just make sure that if you plan on living off the land, double check that what you are eating isn’t poison.

The Motorcycle Diaries

Before Che Guevara was a commercialized image on a trendy t-shirt, he was a guy trying to find his place in the world.  The Motorcycle Diaries follows a young Che and his friend Alberto on their 5,000-mile journey across South America.  It’s only after they leave the big city of Buenos Aires that they become aware of the social injustices taking place in small villages.  At Machu Picchu, Che is inspired to start a revolution to give rights back to the common worker and close the gap between the rich and the poor, proving once again that you have to see the world before you can change it.

Roman Holiday

In Roman Holiday, a princess on a tour of European capitals rebels against her regimented life — see?  Even wealthy people can feel stifled too — and sneaks off to explore Rome.  She soon connects with the lone non-sleazy guy in town, a reporter who takes her on a tour of the city.  The two spend the day visiting all the major tourist attractions, which of course leads to them falling in love.  While the movie isn’t necessarily accurate — they didn’t get run over by a Vespa or get pick-pocketed — it shows us how much fun we can have when we do something unexpected.

Under The Tuscan Sun

In case you haven’t noticed by now, most travel movies are about people who need to escape.  The same goes for Diane Lane’s character in Under the Tuscan Sun: she’s recently divorced and suffering from writer’s block.  So her friends convince her to go on a trip to Italy, where she buys a dilapidated villa in the Tuscan countryside.  In the process of fixing the villa, she fixes her life, thanks to a crew of quirky immigrants, interesting neighbors, a couple love interests and some damn good food.  She’s not just escaping her life, she’s escaping the Olive Garden.

Today is the most polarizing — and most fake — holiday in the world, Valentine’s Day.

And that means it’s time to give your significant other a box of chocolates.  How typical and uncreative.

She won’t be impressed by that cheap box of chocolate you picked up from the gas station on your way home from work.  And she certainly won’t put out like some cheap hooker that succumbs to any feeble token of adoration.  Your gal is better than that — and so are you.

If you really want to woo her — or woo her back — you’ve got to step it a notch.  Don’t just give her chocolates, give her the entire chocolate experience by taking her to a chocolate museum.

There are 45 chocolate museums in the world, but if you really want to engage in a traditional missionary-style lovemaking session under the contrived conditions of Valentine’s Day, you’ve got to take her to one of the best.

Here’s a list of the top 10 chocolate museums in the world, in alphabetical order…

Cadbury World – Birmingham, United Kingdom

Cadbury is probably best known in the States for their chocolate eggs hawked by a clucking bunny.  Even though it’s an Easter treat, it’s guaranteed to get her into the mood, which is why it’s imperative that you immediately whisk her away to Cadbury World in Birmingham, England.  If things don’t go well, at least you have three tours and 14 attractions to fall back on.

Candy Americana Museum – Lititz, Pennsylvania

Nothing says romance more than you and your loved one admiring a collection of over 1,000 antique molds, tins, boxes of chocolate and hand-painted porcelain chocolate pots at the Candy Americana Museum.  Best of all, it’s free, and that makes you a thoughtful cheapskate.

Chocolate Museum – Jeju Island, South Korea

Not only does chocolate have the uncanny ability to rapidly turn women on, so too does a building that is phallic in shape.  That’s why the Chocolate Museum on Jeju Island in South Korea is certain to lead to a sweaty mating session on Valentine’s Day.  If walking through an entrance of a brick phallus doesn’t do it for her, maybe the Bean to Bar showroom, which showcases the process of transforming a cacao bean into chocolate, will get her excited.  And if all else fails, there’s a park nearby called Love Land that displays 140 sculptures of people having sex.

Chocolate Museum – St. Stephen, Canada

Blame the Canadian chocolate company Ganong Brothers for those tacky heart-shaped boxes that we’re obligated to buy on Valentine’s Day — they introduced them to North America.  It started as a Christmas tradition, but we’re guessing that it transferred over to Valentine’s Day when some forgetful-yet-crafty boyfriend parlayed an unopened heart-shaped box of chocolates into a Valentine’s Day gift.  It’s one of the few times in history re-gifting actually worked.

Choco-Story – Bruges, Belgium

Choco-Story is a fantastic chocolate museum because it clarifies a burning question among men: why should I buy my woman chocolate if it’s only going to make her fat?  The answer can be found in a section of this museum that extols the health benefits of chocolate: it’s rich in antioxidants, which removes harmful free radicals, it extends one’s lifespan, and promotes good health.  So at least if she gets fatter, she’ll be a somewhat healthy heifer.

Cologne Chocolate Museum – Cologne, Germany

When discussing something as luxurious as fine chocolate, it’s mandatory to use pretentious phrases.  We’ll oblige and remark that the Pièce de résistance at the Cologne Chocolate Museum is a gaudy 10-foot tall chocolate fountain that visitors may dip wafers into at the end of the tour.  Unfortunately, no chocolate-covered Airborne tablets are available to ward off whatever microorganisms are lingering in that cesspool.

Halloren Chocolate Museum – Halle, Germany

Germany may very well be the chocolate capital of the world.  And since Halloren is the oldest chocolate factory in Germany, their chocolate museum is kind of like a holy grail.  Take your lady here and watch her clothes melt off when you get home.

Hershey’s Chocolate World – Hershey, Pennsylvania

Hershey’s Chocolate World is more than a standard chocolate museum, it’s a theme park that features 3-D shows, walking tours and a ride that takes visitors through the chocolate-making process (Hmm, somebody should make a movie about this!).

Museo del Chocolate – Villajoyosa, Spain

Villajoyosa is known as “The City of Chocolate” — which is really a misleading title since it doesn’t match Homer Simpson’s version where everything is edible, including the street lamps and animals — and it’s also home to a chocolate museum sponsored by Spain’s most famous chocolate company, Valor.  The museum, which is located inside a 19th-century house, features exhibits on the history of production of chocolate, in case you need something educational to do in between stuffing your face full of chocolate.

Nestle Chocolate Museum – Mexico City, Mexico

Since Nestle chocolate isn’t particularly good, they had to make up for it by designing a really cool looking chocolate museum.  The origami-like structure, which was built in a record time of only 2 1/2 months, symbolizes the process of opening of a candy bar wrapper.  We’re sure Freud would have a theory on this, but take your lady there anyway.

Welcome to the latest entry in our “Where To Travel In…” series, where we tell you about the best places to travel each month.  Here’s what’s happening in February…

Groundhog Day – Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

February 2

Normally we rely on doctors to bring us good or bad news, but for one day a year Americans leave it up to a groundhog. 30,000 converge on Gobbler’s Knob annually to watch Punxsutawney Phil predict the weather: if he sees his shadow and retreats back into his burrow, it means winter will continue for six more weeks.

Candlemas – Mexico

February 2

Is there a better way to celebrate a Christian holiday than by stuffing a figurine of Jesus inside a cake? It’s called an Epiphany cake, and whoever finds the Jesus figure becomes the host of a Candlemas party where people eat tamales, decorate lanterns and play music before heading to church — that is, if no one accidentally ate the Jesus toy.

Saint Blaise Festival – Ateca, Spain

February 3 – 5

Spain offers plenty of festivals that involve throwing things at people (like La Tomatina’s giant tomato fight), but this one makes the least amount of sense. This festival begins with locals pelting a masked clown with apples as he attempts to climb a mountain, and ends with a procession in honor of Saint Blaise, the patron saint of sore throats.

Setsubun – Tokyo, Japan

February 3

If your diet is lacking soy, head to the Senso-ji Temple in Tokyo for Setsubun, where priests throw soybeans into a crowd to drive out demons and welcome good fortune.

Sant’Agata Festival – Catania, Italy

February 3 – 5

Over a million people attend this celebration to honor the city’s patron saint. Festivities include a procession each day, candle-lighting, fireworks, parades, a cross-country race and an effigy on the final night.

Super Bowl XLVI – Indianapolis, Indiana

February 5

Not only is this one of the biggest sporting events in the world, it’s also the day when Americans collectively abandon their New Year’s diet resolutions by consuming enough Doritos and pizza bagel bites to feed entire nations. This year’s Super Bowl saw the New York Giants defeat the New England Patriots.

Wat Phu Festival – Wat Phu, Laos

February 4 – 6

Festivals that involve dancing, sack racing, bamboo climbing, elephant racing and cock fighting are usually undignified, but put it against the backdrop of a candle-lit temple that’s a designated UNESCO World Heritage site and magically the festival becomes regal.

Hurling The Silver Ball – St. Ives, England

February 6

On Feast Monday, the mayor of St. Ives throws a silver ball into a large crowd, and for the next few hours, the ball is passed around like a game of hot potato. When the clock strikes noon, the person in possession of the silver ball is declared the winner and receives a reward of five shilling… or about 50 cents American. For the amount of time and effort put in, that’s a dismal hourly wage. You’d make more pining for nickels on the boardwalk.

Sapporo Snow Festival – Sapporo, Japan

February 6 – 12

With all the winter festivals last month, you’re probably snowed out. But just in case you aren’t, there’s one more major winter festival held in Sapporo, Japan (you know, the city that brews that beer you always drink in sushi bars). It offers all the usual stuff like ice sculptures, rides, games, but what makes this festival so special is the annual Snowman Competition, which features over 10,000 snowmen — perfect set-up for a horror movie.

Empire State Building Run-Up – New York City, New York

February 8

If you’re still trying to burn off all those holiday meals, a race up 1,575 stairs to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building should do the trick in one fell swoop (or, at the very least, help you drop a few pounds by inducing vomiting).

World Shovel Race Championships – Angel Fire, New Mexico

February 10 – 12

It’s terribly unsafe to ride a steel shovel down a snowy mountain, especially when it’s capable of reaching speeds of 75mph.  But that doesn’t stop men, women and children from doing it every year at the World Shovel Race Championships. At least the shovels come in handy when you have to scrape a body off the mountain.

Hadaka Matsuri – Inazawa City, Japan

February 19

Never has groping men in public been more acceptable than at Hadaka Matsuri. At this festival, over 10,000 men wearing nothing but loincloths and sandals crowd the streets in an effort to touch a fully shaved naked man (called shin-otokoa) who, according to legend, absorbs all the bad luck and evil deeds from the men who grope him. After that, the naked man is cast out of town so he can take all the evil away. Sucks for that dude.

Argungu Fishing Festival – mid-February

Argungu, Nigeria

This 3-day festival was originally designed to build peace between the people of Argungu and nearby Sokoto. But it’s become famous for a fishing competition in which 17,000 pairs of fishermen wade through the muddy Fada River to catch fish with their bare hands. The team that catches the largest fish wins a cash prize equal to $8,000 US and a minibus (and let’s not forget about the fish dinner).

Saidai-ji Eyo – Saidai-ji, Japan

February 18

We’re back to Japan for more uncomfortable male nudity! This time it’s bigger and more violent! The Saidai-ji is perhaps the most popular out of all of Japan’s naked festivals (yes, there are actually a lot these). 10,000 people, including yakuza gang members, fight for possession of two sacred wooden sticks that must be delivered to the gates of the Kannon-in temple in order to receive a cash prize. Those who survive the bloody combat might not survive the hypothermia that comes from freezing cold water being dumped over them during the competition.

Biikebrennen – Sylt, Germany

February 21

On the Fresian Islands in Germany’s North Sea coast, small towns burn effigies to mark the end of winter. But the largest and most popular takes place in Sylt where spectators bask in the warmth of the fire before retreating to local restaurants to eat potatoes and sausage.

Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting – Berkeley Springs, West Virginia

February 25

This is the largest and longest running water tasting competition in the world, featuring over 100 sparking, bottled and municipal waters.  Suddenly wine snobs don’t look so pretentious anymore.

Pasola – Sumba, Indonesia

Sometime in February

February already has an unreasonable number of dangerous festivals, but this might be the worst. When a type of sea worm called nyale begins to appear off the coast, it heralds a deadly tournament in which teams of horsemen wielding spears attack each other in an effort to spill blood to appease the spirits and bring a good harvest. Occasionally combatants are killed despite the use of blunt spears. Awesome.

Punakha Dromche – Punakha, Bhutan

February 27 – March 2

This annual festival held in the ancient capital city of Bhutan features musical performances, religious masked dances and a reenactment of the seventeenth century battle against a Tibetan invasion.

Know of a cool event that should be added to the list?  Leave us a comment and we’ll make sure to add it!

Super Bowl XLVI will go down in Indianapolis in just over a week.  And with the New York Giants facing the New England Patriots, we’ve got a matchup of two of the most prominent cities in America.

So in the spirit of good competition, I’ve broken down some statistics for New York, Boston, and the host city, Indianapolis.  Which city will… go… all… the… way…?!

Claim to fame:

New York:  Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Times Square

Boston:  The Freedom Trail, MIT and Harvard, Sam Adams

Indianapolis:  Peyton Manning

Where they rank on the list of America’s most populous cities:

New York:  1st

Boston:  22nd

Indianapolis:  12th

Price of a 16-ounce beer at the stadium:

New York:  $8.75

Boston:  $6.00

Indianapolis:  $9.25

Most attractive cheerleaders (according to BleacherReport.com):

New York:  Doesn’t have cheerleaders

Boston:  27th out of 32

Indianapolis:  24th out of 32

Most attractive quarterback (according to me):

New York Giants:  Eli Manning – 18th out of 32

Boston:  Tom Brady – 1st out of 32

Indianapolis:  Dan Orlovsky – 24th out of 32

Famous TV shows set in the city:

New York:  Saturday Night Live, I Love Lucy, The Jeffersons, The Cosby Show, NYPD Blue, Friends, Sex and the City, Law & Order, 30 Rock, Gossip Girl

Boston:  Cheers, Boston Legal and/or Public, Ally McBeal, The Practice

Indianapolis:  One Day at a Time

Largest Airport:

New York:  JFK International Airport with over 46 million passengers a year

Boston:  Logan International Airport with over 27 million passengers a year

Indianapolis:  Indianapolis International Airport with over 7 million passengers a year

Price of a gallon of gas:

New York:  $3.73

Boston:  $3.45

Indianapolis:  $3.15

Median household income:

New York:  $48,743

Boston:  $49,893

Indianapolis:  $38,502

National Average:  $50,046

Median home value:

New York:  $504,500

Boston:  $369,600

Indianapolis:  $118,100

National Average:  $179,900

Percentage of residents 25 and older who had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2010:

New York:  33.4%

Boston:  44.3%

Indianapolis:  26.7%

National Average:  28.2%

Average amount of time it takes residents to get to work:

New York:  38.7 minutes

Boston:  28.4 minutes

Indianapolis:  22.2 minutes

National Average:  25.3 minutes

Percentage of residents age 5 and older who speak a language other than English at home:

New York:  49.2%

Boston:  35.5%

Indianapolis:  12.7%

National Average:  20%

So, now that you’ve got all the facts, who will YOU be rooting for on February 5th?

When I got the chance to spend a week in South Africa’s “mother city” I was extremely excited at the prospect of all the amazing animals and bird life I’d see.

My first port of call was to see those elegant little birds in tuxedos.  Who doesn’t love penguins?

And Cape Town’s Boulders Beach is one of the best places to find them.

Slightly nervous that these cute little water birds would be shy, I was assured that my concerns were unnecessary and I would certainly see some on my day out.

I shouldn’t have worried at all.

There I was, lounging on the beach beneath the warm African sun and looking out at the glittering Indian Ocean when two short shadows fell across my legs. When I looked over, expecting to see perhaps a couple of small children playing near my towel, I found a pair of penguins just meandering towards the ocean for a dip.

While there are some 27 locations where these little guys live along the cape coast, they are still endangered. But don’t let that stop you from popping along to swim alongside them in the ocean at Boulders Bay.

Next was a day with the Big 5.

I headed out with a friend with a car through the stunning wine lands to Sanbona Wildlife Reserve.  The drive is some 3.5 hours so an overnight stay is certainly worth the effort.

This park has everything, and the afternoon game drive we caught after our arrival was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I’ve always loved photography and thank goodness for the invention of the digital camera, because there wouldn’t have been enough film in an entire suitcase to cover the amount of pictures I took while riding in the back of that Jeep.

Lions, giraffes, elephants, springboks, steenboks, even a white rhino, to name a few, graced us with their presence.

Best of all for me were the cheetahs, which brings me to my last stop.

Statuesque when still and so elegant and sleek as they athletically run over the plains, and I defy anyone not to melt when they look at a cheetah’s warm sad face with their black tear stripes running down from the eyes.

Not satisfied with seeing them from a distance, I wanted to get up close.

As we drove back towards Cape Town we took a minor detour to the Spier Wine Farm near Stellenbosch, home to an outreach Cheetah Sanctuary. Not only did we enjoy the most incredible meal at the winery, but I actually got to play with a 6-month old cub – definitely the highlight of an utterly animaltasic week.

You can see more photos from Cape Town on this page.

Liah S Thorley is a travel writer for MyDestination.com/CapeTown and novelist from the UK. She has travelled extensively and particularly enjoys history and the arts.

Welcome to the first edition of 2012′s “Where To Travel In…” series, where we tell you about the best places to travel each month.  Get the New Year started off right by attending to one of these famous, interesting or downright weird events…

Tournament of Roses – Pasadena, California

January 2

You’re obligated to watch one parade each year, so you might as well get it over with early in the year. Fortunately, this parade is the best. The Rose Parade is considered “America’s New Year Celebration” and is one of the most opulent displays of flower-covered floats in the world. The floats are designed after a different theme every year, this one being “Just Imagine…”  The Tournament of Roses also includes the oldest bowl game in college football, the Rose Bowl, which will feature Wisconsin versus Oregon this year.

Blacks And Whites’ Festival – Pasto, Colombia

January 2 – 7

Apparently in Colombia, blacks and whites don’t come together too often to party.  That’s where the Blacks and Whites’ Festival comes in.  This is one of the largest and most important celebrations in Colombia, and it’s on the UNESCO list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.  That’s quite a refined-sounding title for a giant street party involving parades, music, dancing and floats.  The cool thing is, on Whites’ Day everyone paints each other white, and on Blacks’ Day everyone paints each other black.  So you don’t have to worry about the same kind of backlash Ted Danson faced when he painted his face black.

Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival – Harbin, China

Begins January 5

With all the crazy snow storms hitting the eastern United States and Europe, we know that most of you aren’t ready to celebrate snow just yet.  But the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival will remind you of how beautiful ice can be when you sculpt statues out of it and construct giant ice houses illuminated by lights frozen into the ice.  This is one of the largest ice sculpture festivals in the world.  It still holds the world record for the largest ice sculpture ever at 250 meters long and 8.5 meters high.  Check out these pictures to see what’s in store for this year’s festival.

Sydney Festival – Sydney, Australia

January 7 – 29

If you’re tired of winter, head to the other side of the world for some summer action. Over a million people bask in the warmth outdoors at The Sydney Festival, which features 80 free events like music, dance, circus, theater and visual arts, making it the largest and most attended cultural event in Australia.

Lohri Bonfire Festival – Punjab, India

January 13

Who doesn’t love a good bonfire?  It’s a great time to dance, sing, and, of course, appease the gods.  This is what happens all over the Punjab region in Northern India during Lohri, the festival of fire worship.  People huddle around giant bonfires and throw rice and popcorn into the flames to thank the gods for a good harvest and seek prosperity in the coming year.  It’s kind of like throwing a coin into a fountain, but with more flair.

The Great Fruitcake Toss – Manitou Springs, Colorado

January 14

Since you’re not gonna eat that fruitcake grandma sent you, put it to good use… by tossing it.  The Great Fruitcake Toss offers a variety of ways to get rid of that fruitcake in dramatic fashion, such as hand-tossing and catapult-launching.  If you have a little more respect for the aesthetic merits of your fruitcake but you still don’t want to eat it, you can enter it into the fruitcake art show or fruitcake relay.

Windless Kite Festival – Long Beach, Washington

January 14 – 15

The name alone makes us laugh. How is flying a kite without wind even possible? Well, that’s for the people at the Windless Kite Festival to show you. The event features an indoor kite flying competition, kite performances choreographed to music and a trick competition.

Camel Wrestling Championship – Selcuk, Turkey

January 15

Who says wrestling isn’t real?  In Turkey it is.  It’s just that the combatants are camels.  Every year, 100 camels are ushered into an ancient stadium to compete in front of thousands of betting audience members.  Each match consists of two camels.  A female camel in heat is kept nearby to work the males into a frenzy.  Most of the time the camels refuse to fight and instead break loose and chase after the female or jump into the crowd.

Sinulog Festival – Cebu City, Philippines

January 15

We know it’s hard to compete with camel wrestling, but if pomp and pageantry is your thing, you might want to check out the month-long Sinulog Festival instead. It’s the biggest and most colorful festival in the Philippines, featuring a grand parade on January 15 with thousands of performers dressed in extravagant costumes who dance to drums, trumpets and gongs. Strangely, the festival honors three strikingly different religions: Islam, Catholicism and paganism.

Frog Leg Festival – Fellsmere, Florida

January 19 – 22

Everyone knows the French love frog legs… but who would have figured that the largest frog leg festival in the world takes place in Florida? Every year, 80,000 people consume over 6,000 pounds of crispy frog legs that the townspeople spent all year hunting. If frog legs don’t do it for you, they also serve gator tail.

Sundance Film Festival – Park City, Utah

January 19 – 29

The Sundance Film Festival is the largest and most important independent film festival in the United States. If you’re lucky enough to score a ticket, you could be one of the first people to discover new classics like Saw, The Blair Witch Project, Reservoir Dogs and Napoleon Dynamite, all of which made their debut at Sundance. Just make sure to bring your coat, gloves and film snobbery.

World Buskers Festival – Christchurch, New Zealand

January 19 – 29

It’s almost one year after the devastating 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch, but the city will still be hosting the World Buskers Festival at the end of the month.  While many of us try to avoid street performers, some prefer to watch hundreds of them at one of the largest street performer festivals in the world, the World Buskers Festival. Make sure to bring plenty of spare change.

Yamayaki – Mt. Wakakusayama, Japan

January 28

Back in feudal Japan, different factions disputed the territorial boundaries on Mt. Wakakusayama. So the entire 343-meter high mountain was set ablaze to resolve the conflict. Oddly, that tradition continues to this day. Every year, over 100,000 people show up to watch Buddhist monks set the mountain on fire. And if that isn’t enough fire for you, the event is followed by a fireworks show.

Cockroach Racing World Championship – Brisbane, Australia

January 26

What better way to celebrate national pride than by racing cockroaches? That’s what happens every year at the Story Bridge Hotel on Australia Day. The Cockroach Racing World Championship bills itself as “the greatest gathering of thoroughbred cockroaches in the known universe,” but really it’s just an excuse to drink like mad with friends. The winning cockroach is the first one to run from the center of a circular ring to the edge… but most of the winners never get the attention they deserve. Instead, they scatter into the crowd and disappear.

Quebec Winter Festival – Quebec, Canada

January 27 – February 13

In case you haven’t had your fill of winter, there’s always the Quebec Winter Festival, the world’s largest winter carnival. It features parades, fireworks (that’s not very winter-like), slide runs, concerts, snow sculptures, dogsled rides and other fun events. The two most popular activities are the snowbath, in which 100 people strip down to their bathing suits and roll around in the snow, and the St. Lawrence river canoe race. If the river is frozen over, contestants must drag their canoes across the ice.

Tough Guy Competition – Staffordshire, England

January 29

The Tough Guy Competition bills itself as “the world’s most demanding one-day survival ordeal” and we believe them: two people have died competing. Yet it still attracts over 6,000 masochists who risk cuts, scrapes, burns, dehydration, electrocution, joint dislocation and broken bones in order to traverse a dangerous 8-mile long obstacle course in freezing conditions.  And, yes, they pay money to do this.

Do you know about a cool event happening in January that should be on this list?  What events are you planning on visiting this month?