Last fall, my wife and I went on a camping trip to Everglades National Park. This sprawling wilderness, covering 1.5 million acres in southern Florida, is my happy place where I like to return over and over again. To put the size of Everglades National Park into perspective, it’s roughly the size of the state of Delaware or half the size of the state of New Jersey. 200,000 alligators and 1,000 crocodiles call the Everglades home, as well as the critically endangered Florida panthers. But make no mistake: the park's biggest badass is the mosquito! Those ferocious creatures can eat you alive, even at the end of the rainy season. Fancy to learn about our canoeing journey in the heart of the Everglades?

Standing among the giant sequoias left a permanent mark on me. These 2,000- to 3,000-year-old natural wonders clearly overshadow humans and all man-made structures. When a massive fire ravaged Sequoia National Park in 2021, I was heartbroken. Upon returning to this place in 2024, witnessing the blackened landscape prompted me to write a story about monster forest fires to raise awareness.

Alaska, meaning "great country" in one of the native languages, lives up to its name in the breathtaking Inside Passage. For many travellers, their Alaskan adventure begins here, cruising or ferrying through a majestic landscape of over a thousand islands, lush green forests, giant tongues of bright blue glaciers, and snow-capped mountains, frequently covered in white ribbons of fog. To fully appreciate Southeast Alaska’s beautiful waterway, often called a "liquid main street", you should take it slow and allow yourself to be immersed in its striking, untamed nature, abundant wildlife, and liveable coastal communities. 

This is the third and the last part of the story about my 2020 ultimate road trip to British Columbia and the Canadian Rockies. You will learn about a lesser-known but no less spectacular Yoho National Park and see Canada's own real desert located at the south end of the hot and dry Okanagan Valley. British Columbia is undoubtedly the most biologically and geologically diverse province in Canada!

This is the second part of the story about my 2020 ultimate road trip to British Columbia and the Canadian Rockies. You will get a closer look at the two most iconic national parks in Canada - Banff and Jasper -  the number one reason most overseas visitors come to Canada. Both are located entirely in the province of Alberta, but we also will take a quick detour into the neighbouring Kootenay National Park to see its gorgeous Marble Canyon.

Road trips - my favourite road trips! I love them for many reasons. Sitting behind a steering wheel and enjoying the surrounding beauty that slowly unfolds before my eyes seems like a meditation. Road trips are also perfect to bond as a family. Though long driving may seem pretty monotonous and boring for rookies, you’ll be surprised how much you can learn from your travel companions under no time pressure if only you can patiently listen. I invite you to virtually join me on a 9-day road trip across most of southern British Columbia as well as Banff and Jasper National Parks. For a flatlander like me, the allure of snow-covered peaks, emerald lakes, mighty glaciers, immense ocean and a damp smell of old-growth rainforests was such a delight.

Northern New Mexico makes a perfect place for sci-fi movies: frequent UFO sightings, a former secret federal research facility that developed nuclear weapons, extinct volcano caldera that still seeps through cracks in the form of fumaroles and hot springs. But there is something else, completely different, hidden in the ponderosa pine forest just outside of Los Alamos: a ghost village of the ancient and now bygone Pueblo culture called Bandelier National Monument.

Imagine not just one canyon, but a wave of hundreds or thousands of them carved by water and gravity as far as you can see. Sounds exciting? That's about Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah. Little known place before it became a national park in 1964, Canyonlands National Park still looks and feels worlds away when wandering a bit off the paved roads. In fact, the park remains largely unhampered, so you can explore it on foot or from your 4x4 for days or even weeks without seeing another person, that's how vast and remote it is. 

You heard me say how much I like the American Southwest for its vast and simplistic beauty. Well, Arches National Park in Utah is yet another place in that region that had been sitting on my bucket list for quite some time before I had a chance to visit it this past winter. Though not entirely unique as other places on Earth feature natural sandstone arches, the park holds the largest concentration of them - more than 2,000. Scroll down to check them out and learn five things about these natural marvels before visiting Arches National Park yourself.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore stretched along the south shore of mighty Lake Superior in Michigan may not be your first choice to spend a chilly weekend in May, but trust me - you can't go wrong with this place even if the weather is a bit cranky. Some people even come in the winter despite the bitter cold to see the park's famous ice caves and climb frozen waterfalls, but that's a separate story. Put it this way: early spring is a perfect time to visit this park, because not only will you beat the crowds, but you'll also avoid nasty mosquitos and, most importantly, black flies. I hope that my article will inspire you to visit Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, but remember - leave no trace and take only pictures!

Among all the things I like about the United States, their national parks are my favourite ones. I always enjoy visiting them no matter the season and the weather. Since the first national park was created in 1872, the goal has always been to provide recreational opportunities with the conservation coming after. As a result, most of America's national parks are very accessible and often draw big crowds, especially those parks near major highways and cities. It obviously seems appealing to me that tourism brings more profit to some areas than traditional mining of natural resources, but I believe there should be a better way to control crowds since most visitors to the national parks come to see nature, not other people. So I was really glad that Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, which I visited this past December, was still a hidden gem with fewer visitors compared to other "big boys" in the Southwest such as the Grand Canyon, Zion and Arches.

Hiking from hut to hut in the Presidential Range in central New Hampshire is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This area of the White Mountains is remarkable in many ways. Its scenery rivals that of national parks in Western North America and its treeless alpine tundra seems a world away from the hustle and bustle of the nearest big cities such as Boston or Montreal. Mount Washington, the tallest peak of the Presidential Range, is known to be the most dangerous small mountain in the world due to its strong winds and unpredictable weather. Come explore the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, and your memories will certainly last for the rest of your life.

I like bridges. They solve problems to make our lives easier, more efficient, safer and more comfortable. Bridges often exhibit innovations and technological advancements. And most extraordinary bridges are at least good-looking ones. Take the New River Gorge bridge: it's been the longest single-arch span bridge in the Western hemisphere (used to be number one in the world) and the third highest in the US. It also significantly reduced the time required to cross the New River. And look at the bridge itself - isn't it beautiful?

Joshua Tree National Park became a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts from all over the world by offering unparalleled rock climbing and bouldering experience. With over 400 monzogranite formations and more than 8,000 climbing routes, everyone can find the perfect wall that best suits their skill level. But if you're not up for climbing, there are plenty of other activities at the park including hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, nature viewing and even stargazing. Yes, Joshua Tree is home to some of the darkest sky in the world!

When people ask me to recommend places to visit around Toronto in the summertime, my obvious number one choice is Niagara Falls. And then depending on how much time they have and how far they are willing to drive, I usually recommend three additional day-trippers: Muskoka,  Algonquin Park, and Bruce Peninsula National Park. The last one is my long-time favourite as it offers some of the most stunning views of Georgian Bay. The trip to the Bruce Peninsula can easily be combined with visiting Fathom Five National Marine Park and its Flowerpot Island's miraculous rock formations.

Saguenay Fjord is one of my favourite places in Canada. Not only is it the southernmost fjord in North America, but also it's one of the most beautiful ones with very diverse flora and fauna. It's fairly accessible, too, so don't miss it out while in the area: only a 2.5 h drive from Quebec City along the northern bank of the magnificent Saint Lawrence River will take you there.

Hurricanes love Grand Bahama Island and visit it more often than any other island in the Bahamas. But people living on Grand Bahama Island hate hurricanes as not only do they damage their property and threaten their lives, but also they negatively impact the local economy, and it takes years if not decades for it to recover. And, let's face it: you can't really leave the island even though you know that the hurricane is coming unless you are a reach person, and most locals aren't. And that's a huge disadvantage over the United States that are also hit hard by hurricanes, but people often have a choice to leave. But on a positive note, hurricanes are one of the reasons why Grand Bahama Island with its beautiful beaches is so wild and virgin.

The Saguaro cactus is one of the symbols of Arizona and the American Wild West. And for a good reason: unlike other cacti I have seen before, saguaro's size is just mind-blowing. A grown-up one can be as tall as 55 ft / 17 m - it's like a 5-story building! - and weighs up to 8 tonnes. Can you imagine? You absolutely have to see it at Saguaro National Park to believe it.