Manchester, New Hampshire, is a city where history and modern life intersect along the banks of the Merrimack River. Once a hub for textile mills, the city’s industrial roots are still visible in renovated brick buildings and restored warehouses that now house shops, offices, and restaurants. The riverfront provides scenic walks and public spaces that highlight both the city’s industrial past and its present-day urban life.

Set in a wide valley beneath towering Himalayan peaks, Dingboche offers a striking pause along the route toward Mount Everest. Unlike the narrower trails below, Dingboche opens into a broad landscape framed by snow-covered giants such as Ama Dablam and Lhotse. The village sits high above the tree line, where the air feels thin and clear, and the surrounding terrain shifts from forested slopes to open alpine ground.

Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world where a 700-year-old fishing village sits minutes away from the headquarters of international banks. Once a British colony and now a Special Administrative Region of China, the city carries traces of Cantonese, colonial, and global influences in its streets, rituals, and food. The city has more than 300 hiking trails, including the well-known Lion Rock hike, which ends at a dramatic cliff overlooking Kowloon’s dense skyline.

In ancient times, Kaanapali was a royal retreat for the rulers of Maui, who delighted in the perfect three-mile stretch of white sand beach, the gentle waves, warm sunny days and the majestic West Maui Mountains. Maui royalty surfed, raced their outrigger canoes, feasted at luaus that lasted for weeks, and where the Kaanapali Golf Course now blankets the land, they played ulu maika, a form of lawn bowling with heavy lava balls.

Wick’s location at the mouth of the River Wick provides a dramatic coastal setting, with cliffs, sandy beaches, and the North Sea stretching into the horizon.