Holidays

We tend to think of winter as a time of rest, hibernation, and quiet. But a look at the calendar reveals many holidays around the world that prove this impression entirely wrong. The cold months are clearly a popular time for parties and celebrations. While some are filled with solemn tradition, others focus on fun and frolic. All pose opportunities for interesting and real-life lessons in geography, culture, history, and religion. Take a look at this list of several popular traditions celebrated during winter holidays around the world and share them with your kids. We hope they inspire further discussion and learning with some related activities. Enjoy the tour:

St. Nicholas Day (December 6) This holiday is celebrated in Europe to honor the patron saint of children, St. Nicholas, on the anniversary of his death in 343 A.D. In Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and other countries children put their shoes out in front of their house or bedroom door on December 5th hoping that St. Nicholas will fill them with nuts, fruits, chocolates, or small toys while they are sleeping! If they have behaved well during the year… Children who have been bad may find switches or twigs instead.

Chinese New Year is a big holiday in China and other parts of Asia. The Chinese New Year, also called the Lunar New Year, usually falls between January 21 and February 20. The holiday lasts for about two weeks, with people taking time off from school or work to spend time with family. Before the new year starts, people clean their houses and cook special foods. On the first day of the year, they might wear red clothes and set off noisy fireworks to frighten demons away. They also give money to children in red paper envelopes as gifts.

Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that begins on the 25th day of Kislev on the Jewish calendar. This means Hanukkah can fall anywhere between late November and late December on the Gregorian calendar used by most people around the world today. For eight days each November or December, Jews light a special candleholder called a menorah. They do it to remember an ancient miracle in which one day’s worth of oil burned for eight days in the temple. During Hanukkah, many Jews also eat special potato pancakes called latkes, sing songs, and spin a top called a dreidel to win chocolate coins, At the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas comes a day called the Epiphany, or Three Kings Day. This holiday is celebrated as the day the three wise men first saw baby Jesus and brought him gifts. On this day in Spain, many children get their Christmas presents. In Puerto Rico, before children go to sleep on January 5, they leave a box with hay under their beds so the kings will leave good presents. In France, a delicious King cake is baked. Bakers will hide a coin, jewel, or little toy inside. The person who finds it is supposed to have good luck during the next year and must throw the next party!

If you don’t celebrate Christmas, you can still enjoy this time of year. Here are some other winter holidays:

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar (which usually falls in December). This year it will begin on Dec 24th at sundown and end on January 1st at nightfall. It’s an eight-day celebration commemorating the victory of Judah Maccabee over the Syrian Greeks in 165 B.C., which allowed Jews to practice their religion freely again in Israel.

If you’re curious about experiencing life like this, know that the Peace Corps is an incredible way to travel the world. If you’re thinking about the Peace Corps…Traveling the world is on everyone’s bucket list — who wouldn’t want to see the pyramids of Egypt or the colorful cities of South America? But what if you could use your passion for travel to get paid, too? That’s not a pipe dream — it’s an opportunity. For a select few, they’re also able to use their free time while traveling as an opportunity to serve other people. Traveling the world for free sounds impossible but with The Peace Corps, it’s possible. You can find a way to travel the world and do so for free with lots of bars of different kinds.

It’s not only about traveling the world, you’ll be helping provide services and actually create grassroots development across the globe. If you’re thinking of joining the Peace Corps, preparing yourself during your interview is key. Here are some tips to help your chances. Traveling the world for free? It’s not as far-fetched as you might think. That’s right, for anything from a backpacking trip to long-term trips abroad, you can travel the world for free or even get paid. Traveling is one of the great joys in life. Finding a free trip around the world, though? It’s not so easy (you could say it’s darn near impossible)! I’ll be honest…the idea of traveling for free seems like it should be possible.

However, finding a legitimate website that offers ways to travel for free is incredibly difficult… Traveling can cost a small fortune, but it doesn’t have to. You can volunteer your way around the world, courtesy of those doing the actual giving. 1. Take a Jane Goodall-approved primate vacation in Malaysia by volunteering at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehab Center. 2. Hang with monkeys in the Amazon jungle with a short-term volunteer stint focused on tropical ecology in Peru.    3. Learn how to do something positive for this planet as you help clear debris from local beaches on an eco-volunteer vacation package in Mexico. 4. Enrich your knowledge of endangered species on a whale-watching adventure off the coast of Canada, thanks to the OrcaLab Whale and Bear Habitat Project.

5. Explore the beautiful hills of Uganda, where bushmeat and poaching threaten endangered species like gorillas, on an educational wildlife tour run by Ape Action Africa. 6. Teach English while touring the Italian countryside with volunteer organization Giovanisimo. You’ll work in Italy’s educational system while traveling around and staying in hostels in Rome or Florence for 10 weeks or more at a time. 7. Immerse yourself in ancient Maya culture while working with archaeological researchers at sites

Have you ever dreamed of seeing the world but don’t have a fat travel fund to do it? Today, there are more opportunities than ever to travel the world on the cheap or even for free. My wife and I visit an average of 10 countries every year — all on her salary alone (she’s a school counselor and I’m a gazillionaire). Part of our travel strategy involves visiting inexpensive countries and looking for low-cost accommodations through Airbnb and local guesthouses. But the primary reasons we can afford to see the world are all the ways we’ve found to travel for free.

Travel Tips to See the World for Free

There are plenty of expat-friendly job options overseas, from international nurses and doctors to au pairs to educators to engineers. Here’s a great list of options from the New York Times — their travel section is one of the best. You may think that it’s impossible to travel the world if you don’t have a ton of money. But it’s not true. Your budget can determine which parts of the world you can visit and how often you travel, but you can still see more of the world than your friends and family back home without breaking the bank.

You don’t have to dedicate your life and wallet to traveling the globe. You can take on-the-ground and part-time jobs overseas that will help you get a taste of the country. Teaching English, for instance, is one of the most common opportunities.  You’ll get paid for your time and talents, but don’t expect plush accommodations either. And if you’re ready to leave the classroom (and country) behind, there are plenty of options out there. It doesn’t matter if you have professional experience or not. With a little ingenuity and effort, you can find your own path to a foreign adventure. Here are 14 ways to travel the world for free (or even get paid). Sure, your bank account may be empty and you’re looking at your maps and wondering where you can go on a vacation that won’t cost an arm or a leg (or both).

You can’t just quit your job and live on the beach. But you can get paid for long-term travel if you want to break up your trip by working for a little bit of money. Most people dream of traveling the world, but never really think about how to do it on a budget. Sure there are the fancy methods like staying at boutique hotels in your local downtown and taking jets to faraway islands. In this article, I’ll show you some cheaper ways of doing things, for example: how to travel across Europe by taking overnight trains.

Traveling on Christmas Day is the best. It’s quiet, the flights are empty and you don’t have to worry about being surrounded by hundreds of people making a racket while they open their gifts. And if you’re flying back home on December 25th and you love flying, catching an early morning flight back home can reduce your chances of having to wait in long lines at an airport — a definite blessing when traveling during the Christmas season. Even better, some airports are virtually empty meaning you could hang out for a bit in the baggage claim area and watch the TV screen that shows other planes landing and departing from your terminal.

I’m an advocate for getting out of the house on Christmas Day. I always go to the movies and it’s great to do something different. Traveling is another good option if you can swing it because you don’t have to go anywhere too far away. There are a few cheaper travel options on this day and even airfare sales. Everybody knows that the major airlines reduce their schedule on Christmas Day. So, if enough customers are aware of this, why not take advantage of it? On Christmas Day in 2015, JetBlue offered flights from Boston to Orlando for just $15 each way! If you are going from outside of the country then obviously airlines offer incredible deals (as they’re competing against each other) and I believe 24-hour round-trip flights from Los Angeles to South Korea can be found for under $600. Again though this doesn’t always happen so make sure you do your research.

Not too long ago, I was searching for a flight from San Diego to Chicago, and I noticed there weren’t many options on Christmas day. So I thought… why not?! This would be the perfect opportunity to get a good deal on an impromptu trip. If you’re intending to fly on Christmas Day then you need to check the flights in advance. You can sometimes find great deals on these days as airlines try to fill empty seats for the holiday season.

Christmas day is a great time to travel and if you’re okay with traveling at those crazy hours of the night, then Christmas Day flights are for you. You’ll save a significant amount of money on your flight ticket by flying on this particular holiday. This is such a good idea that most airlines already know about it and charge more for tickets purchased on Christmas Day.

Waiting in the ticket queue on Christmas Day at London City Airport is always a pleasure. A little magic from the Christmas holiday magic mixes with the excitement of the holidays. Oh, they’re singing “Let It Snow”–landing on Christmas Day means I didn’t have to take my guitar out of its case–there must be a good chance that Santa will grant it just one or two more tunes…sorry, back to the topic: traveling while everyone else is either sleeping off their Christmas feast or just unwrapping another copy of “50 Shades of Spiderman 3 (XXX)”. You might find that traveling on Christmas Day and Boxing Day can get you cheaper plane tickets or even cut-rate limo service. In fact, flying on these days may be as much as a twenty percent cheaper present for yourself for being clever enough to be avoiding claustrophobia at the mall with your nearest and dearest. In our post about traveling for cheap, we mentioned in passing that traveling on Christmas Day can be a good time to find cheap flights. We said to see if your destination airport was open. Now we need to elaborate on that.

People are so interesting. They have so many stories to tell, if only you take the time to engage and show interest. So this holiday season, instead of wondering why the world is so chaotic and difficult, accept it, embrace it – and be prepared to make the best of it. Talking to people makes life nicer for everyone involved. I think my daughter is beginning to catch on to this. I started out a little bit put off. I wanted to be done with the ordeal and on my way. But I just reminded myself that was not what it was about, and the world would not end if I took a breather. People are interesting. The more you talk to them, the more you’ll learn about their lives and how alike we all are in different ways. And you may discover something you have in common that could become a great conversation starter once again. So my daughter is coming home this weekend. I’m pretty excited.

I’m trying to be kinder in the subways. One MetroCard swipe at a time. I am grateful my 2-year old is engrossed with her new mermaid backpack and matching mermaid friend, I can move on to the next. I love my children, but they are not the brightest when it comes to this. I aspire to be the female version of Geraldo Rivera on TV’s “A Current Affair” or “Fox News” – you know, the guy who’s always interviewing everyone and trying to get them to spill whatever juicy secrets they have – but with a friendly smile.

There’s nothing more stressful than almost missing your flight. I recently flew home from Austria via Munich on the busiest day of the year. I had two hours to get to my gate and almost didn’t make it Evan if you have an unusual surprise and the lines aren’t long at least you’ll make your flight and you can relax at the gate with a good book. Study after study has shown that those who avoid long lines at the airport are more likely to make their flights with time to spare. Whether you’re flying domestic or international, there are ways to experience less congestion, save money, and enjoy a more pleasant travel experience. There are several simple things you can do to avoid airports chaos when embarking on your next trip.

There is nothing more stressful than almost missing your flight. The initial check-in and security queues move quickly, but you know that the boarding gate is on another level of hell…​Now, with the new superfast train to the airport, it’s even easier to get to any gate with plenty of time on your hands. I had organized a trip to Austria, and I decided to take the train from Munich to Frankfurt to connect with another flight. That flight was late leaving Frankfurt, and I was supposed to be on the second leg by 10:45a. I ended up getting on around 11:15a, which would have given me almost no time to connect with my final flight. The lower-than-normal passenger volume at that time of day also meant that there was still a long line at security when I arrived. By the time I found my gate, it was 11:25a, so I only had five minutes left until the flight was scheduled to depart.

Thanks to an incredibly kind gate agent who allowed me to move ahead in line, and at least five other people whose tickets were later adjusted before departure so they were able to board after me like Charlie from Charlie’s Angels (all women), I made my flight with less than five minutes to spare. I was in the very last group to board the plane. At first, I thought I was going to have time, but it quickly became apparent this wasn’t going to be a problem. A long line still wrapped around the check-in area, and everyone else was in a panic, rushing towards their gate. I didn’t let myself get flustered; while all those people put their luggage on the conveyor belt, I took my time selecting just two carry-ons: my backpack, and a small bag with liquids and chargers. By understanding airline policy and asking an airline employee for assistance, I got through a lengthy process without aggravating the situation or irritating fellow travelers. I’m going to tell you the six worst things I experienced on this flight so that you don’t have to. On January 9th, 2016 (I know I remember the date because it was my birthday), I was flying to JFK airport in New York City. The flight was only 45 minutes and I ran into bad weather that caused a 30-minute delay.