The cities that will have clear skies for July 4 fireworks
A record 72.2 million Americans are projected to travel across the U.S. for the Fourth of July Holiday.
This includes an unprecedented 5.84 million air travelers and 61.6 million people driving, with gas prices at their lowest since 2021 contributing to increased road travel.
Weather forecasts indicate optimal fireworks viewing conditions for major Northeast cities and the West Coast, particularly on Friday.
Conversely, large parts of the central and northern U.S., including the Midwest, Southeast, and interior Southwest, anticipate disruptive downpours and thunderstorms, with flash flooding concerns.
Meteorologists are monitoring a potential tropical cyclone in the Bay of Campeche that could bring heavy rainfall and rough surf to southeastern beaches, while AAA advises travelers to prepare for potential roadside issues.
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The Guardian
38 minutes ago
- The Guardian
How three young Londoners set out to explore the countries of their parents' birth - and redefined the travel vlog
'Kayum was my friend for years,' recalls Abubakar Finiin. 'But when I met his grandad in Bangladesh, it just felt like I understood his whole story. I knew so much more about him as a person.' This moment of connection captures the essence of Kids of the Colony, a grassroots travel series on YouTube created by three childhood friends from Islington: Abubakar, Kayum Miah and Zakariya Hajjaj, all 23. In a series of chatty vlogs that thrive on their offbeat humour and close friendship, the trio provide a rich travelogue of culture and identity as they explore the countries of their parents' birth. The idea came to Abubakar while contemplating his next steps after graduating from Oxford University in 2023. 'I just thought about the places that we came from,' he says, reflecting on the layered identity of growing up in London with ties elsewhere. Abubakar is Somali, Kayum is Bengali and Zakariya is of Moroccan and English descent. 'My uni life was so different from my home life. I wanted to do something positive that inspires people,' Abubakar says. After his pitches to media production companies were ignored, he turned to his school friends. 'We were already planning to travel that summer, so I asked Kayum and Zakariya if they wanted to go to Bangladesh.' 'I was in love with the idea from the jump,' Zakariya says. 'I'm a guy who loves travelling – especially if my friends are there.' It was also a no-brainer for Kayum: 'I couldn't let you [Abubakar] go to Bangladesh on your own.' Despite lacking a studio or a big budget, they gathered some friends to help them film. 'Travel YouTube is such a huge mini-genre,' says Abubakar. 'But it felt weird that people only go to the markets with a GoPro and try to haggle prices. You can't go to a country and not show the culture or local traditions.' Their rules were simple: no resorts, no tourist traps and no fancy restaurants – just real life, as lived by the people who call these places home. 'It's always important for us to have someone that's connected to that country on the trip,' Abubakar adds. 'I think that's what differentiates us.' Their first trip was to Bangladesh, where Kayum's family is from. Serving as an unofficial tour guide, he took them to try on a lungi (traditional men's skirt) and sample street food from Sylhet, in the country's north-east. They swam in a fukri, a large communal pond dug by locals, and marvelled at cows wandering freely along the roads. 'A lot of Abubakar and Zakariya's first-time experiences were new to me, too,' says Kayum, despite having spent his summer holidays in Bangladesh. 'But seeing their reactions to things I viewed as normal, like the cows, was hilarious.' One of the more moving, yet humorous, moments comes when they chat with Kayum's grandfather, a man who insists he's 120, though no one can confirm this. 'It was amazing to see my friends merge with my family in my homeland, especially when my nieces and nephews played football with us,' Kayum says. 'It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.' The second series took them to Somaliland, where Abubakar has roots. There, they served shaah (spiced tea) in a local cafe, caught fish in the northern port city of Berbera, and joined the Eid prayer with thousands of others at the national stadium in the capital, Hargeisa. In one episode, they're invited to try martial arts at a local taekwondo studio. Kayum, who had never stepped inside a dojo before, was struck by the energy. 'They didn't have much funding – they were just doing it themselves,' he says. 'But inside, there was so much talent.' Then came the trio's favourite moment – sharing an urn of camel milk. 'Everyone started dropping like flies – there was very little footage the day after that,' Abubakar laughs, recalling how everyone but him got sick. The chaotic aftermath of Zakariya and Kayum splayed out on sofas, of course, made it into the vlog. 'It was so funny to me that I drank it and just had immunity.' Though not yet featured on their channel, the boys also visited Morocco, Zakariya's home country. In one TikTok clip, they're serenaded by a street performer whom they dub the 'Moroccan Shakira', somewhat questionably. 'We're planning to revisit and film another series,' Zakariya tells me. Since uploading their first video in November 2023, Kids of the Colony has attracted a loyal audience. Their Instagram following has passed 35,000, their TikTok has racked up more than one million likes when combined with Abubakar's own page. Their fans include everyone from NBA star Kyrie Irving to Amelia Dimoldenberg of YouTube's celebrity interview show Chicken Shop Date. 'We've had people recognising us in public and teachers telling us [on social media] that they've been showing our videos in geography classes,' Kayum says. 'We wanted to create a fun family show where parents can watch and remember their childhood,' Abubakar explains. The desire to represent their roots and reframe negative perceptions is reflected in their channel name, which was coined by Abubakar after learning about third-culture kids – individuals who grow up in a culture different from their parents'. He says he wanted to come up with his own version: '[The name] references children of immigrants from ex-colonies. But when we come together, we can create a colony of our own – like ants – to be a nice and powerful force.' After filming in each others' countries of origin, Zakariya is keen to keep going: 'I want to go to every country. I love travelling, so this gives me more of a reason.' Meanwhile, Kayum sees the show as a chance to reclaim misrepresented parts of the world: 'I'd love to visit Palestine. I want to go to places that get the worst media coverage.' While they're still self-funding, all working and using their savings to pay for the filming and travel, the trio feel the investment has been worth it: 'So many things are happening from us coming together, so it feels very good to see the results,' says Kayum. 'We grew up in working-class families,' Abubakar says, 'but through film, writing and the arts, children of immigrants are trying to forge an identity. We hope our platform celebrates that identity.' As Kayum puts it: 'It's about preserving culture.' And in doing so, Kids of the Colony reshapes the narrative around where we get to travel and whose stories are documented.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
The world's least-visited countries – and why you should give them a chance
Many of the world's best-loved holiday spots are overcrowded – and their inhabitants have had enough. Last month, thousands of them took to the streets across Europe to protest against overtourism in a coordinated, Continent-wide effort. Further afield, some of the busiest spots have upped tourist taxes or limited visitor numbers in an attempt to stem the tide of tourists. There are, however, plenty of places in the world that remain mysteriously under-visited. And with unique endemic wildlife, fantastic local vintages or untrammelled mountains, they make for excellent holidays too. Below, we highlight six of the planet's least-trodden countries and hear from the experts about why they're worth travelling to. Moldova Widely said to be Europe's least visited country (just 67,000 foreigners visited through travel agencies in 2024, and that was a 55 per cent increase on 2023), Moldova mixes breakaway republics, empty countryside and Byzantine-era monuments with relics of its recent Communist past – all seemingly frozen in time. 'The fact that you can visit Transdniestr – a throwback to the Soviet Union – gives it a quirky feel that you won't find in countries on the well-trodden tourist trail,' says Jim O'Brien, director of the tour operator Native Eye. 'Add to this, miles and miles of underground wine cellars, ancient monasteries, and a diverse culture that includes both the Gagauz people and Romani communities, and the destination packs quite a punch for such a small place.' The lake-dotted, monument-littered capital Chișinău is said to be the greenest on the continent, near enough to the ancient cave monasteries of Old Orhei for a day trip. Beyond that, 'you'll be well away from the crowds of other parts of Europe, so you not only get to see a traditional part of the continent where customs have survived more than elsewhere, but it feels a little less contrived or staged for tourism,' says O'Brien. 'Get into the villages and you'll discover traditional hospitality, a wealth of homemade food and homemade wines and spirits – which definitely help in breaking down any cultural or language barriers.' How to do it Native Eye's week-long Moldova Explorer trip costs from £1,075pp, including excursions and accommodation but excluding international flights (01473 351565). Sao Tome and Príncipe Only around 12,000 visitors per year make it to this island nation off Africa's west coast, but many who do fall madly in love. 'It's one of the most unique, untouched destinations I've visited – organised tourism is still in its early stages, so it's a bit rough around the edges, but that's what makes it special,' says Marta Marinelli, a Senior Trip Designer at Much Better Adventures. 'When I first saw the two forest-covered islands rising from the Atlantic, it felt like landing in a real-life Garden of Eden, or Jurassic Park. There's a raw, off-the-radar charm – empty pristine beaches, rainforest hikes and authentic cultural encounters.' Though the islands are safe and welcoming, a lack of infrastructure means that independent trips can be hard. But join an organised tour and you can trek through the 30 per cent of the country that's been designated national parkland (the entire island of Príncipe is a Unesco Biosphere Reserve) searching out waterfalls, the toothy peak of Pico Cão Grande and the endemic species that have earned the nation the nickname ' the Galapagos of Africa '. Beyond that, there are cafes and plantations (where visitors can learn about the slave trade and the islands' haunting past) to explore, as well as Rolas Island with its sea turtles and Bounty-ad beaches: Marinelli cites Praia Cafė as her favourite. How to do it Much Better Adventures's 10-night Journey to the Equator in Sao Tome and Príncipe trip costs from £1,642pp including meals and excursions, but excluding international flights (020 3966 7597). Kiribati Hardly anybody goes to the island nation of Kiribati. The Pacific atoll gets less than 5,000 visitors per year, compared with the million-or-so who head to Fiji (from where it's a three-hour plane ride). It makes it the world's least visited nation, and it really is Crusoe country. There are no five-star resorts with WiFi connections or high-octane watersports on its 33 islands, just the chance to flit between them by prop plane, stay in waterside beach huts on deserted stretches of sand, or snorkel through coral reef busy with neon fish. On the atoll of Tarawa, there are the skeletons of long-lost planes too, relics of a fierce Second World War battle between the Japanese and Americans. Residents are 'really welcoming' to visitors, says Rhia Steele, Product and Sales Manager at the operator Undiscovered Destinations. 'On North Tarawa I stayed in an eco-lodge in an over-water buia (traditional hut). It was very basic, very simple and had shared facilities. Because everyone is trusting of each other, there are no locks or real doors on the buias and you walk to the edge of the island through the plantations, seeing the island's simple schools and shops along the way. For me it was a great experience – no internet and cut off from the outside world.' Soon though, these low-lying islands and their barely-seen attractions may be just a figment of the past: rising sea levels have brought regular floods and a gradual sinking that could make them uninhabitable by 2050. Staying around the atoll brings valuable money to help towards solutions for the future. The only problem is getting there. The islands are so remote that they're usually included as part of a tour of the wider area from the UK, which can mean a big outlay in terms of both time and money. How to do it Undiscovered Destinations has a 26-night Pacific Explorer trip that connects eight Pacific nations including Kiribati and costs from £19,355pp, including activities, local transport and some meals but excluding international flights (0191 296 2674). Guyana Costa Rica has become known as the wildlife capital of Central and South America and, after a brief hiatus post-pandemic, the most popular of its resorts are over-saturated once more. For its residents, there are definite minuses: locals are struggling to afford housing and there are strains on water and electricity supplies. Meanwhile, other parts of the region see barely any visitors. In 2024, only around 350,000 made it to Guyana, which has its own rare wildlife, hidden in untrodden jungle. Reef and Rainforest Tours has been visiting the country for more than 20 years. 'With its vast tracts of untouched rainforest, captivating wildlife and culture, and the one-of-a-kind Kaieteur Falls, a trip through Guyana leaves a lasting impression,' says the company's director Alan Godwin. 'It's a true adventure, featuring remote jungle lodges, exotic wildlife, and welcoming Amerindian communities who continue to live in harmony with nature in the country's wild interior.' Expect to see caiman, tree boas and squirrel monkeys, and look out for giant otters and anteaters too. How to do it Reef and Rainforest's The Highlights of Guyana trip costs from £5,470pp for 12 nights, including meals and activities but excluding international flights (01803 866965). Liechtenstein A tiny dot on the map between Switzerland and Austria, it's easy to see why this miniscule principality gets overlooked. As the second least visited country in Europe, it receives less than 120,000 visitors per year and that's a shame, because there's enough here to fill at least a week. 'It offers visitors an incredible range of cultural, natural and culinary highlights packed into just 160 square kilometres,' says Claudia Agnolazza of Liechtenstein Marketing. Top of the list of things to do are Liechtenstein's 400km of hiking trails, which weave up and down empty mountains. Among them is a lesser-known (but more taxing) 'Route 66', which stretches for 50km and can be completed in three days with stops in mountain huts – it takes in the highest point in the country, views over empty valleys towards Austria and Switzerland on the Fürstensteig trail and, finally, shady forests and sleepy villages on its descent. The capital Vaduz is gorgeous too – pint-sized with a cathedral, the Prince's castle and museums set against a snow-tipped mountain backdrop. Agnolazza recommends visits to two prince-related endeavours: the Princely Cinema and the Princely Winery. Though Liechtenstein can be pricey (this is one of the world's richest countries after all), an all-inclusive Adventure Pass means free transport and access to 20 attractions for 35CHF (£32) for three days. How to do it Stay between the vines of Vaduz at the Hotel-Gasthof Löwen, where doubles cost from £293, B&B (00 423 238 11 44). Timor Leste In densely visited destinations, seeking out truly local experiences can be difficult. That's certainly not the case in Timor Leste, a country that gained independence in 2002 but shares an island with Indonesia. Its half comes with a lively capital, treks up Mount Ramelau, some of the planet's most beautiful beaches, and the chance to snorkel the world's most biodiverse coral reefs, home to whale sharks, manta rays and around 1,200 species of fish. 'It holds incredible promise as a sustainable and culturally rich destination,' says Ravindra Singh Shekhawat, who is Intrepid Travel's General Manager for Indonesia. Timor Leste is also a place where homestays are taking off, meaning the chance to spend time with islanders in an authentic way. 'It's a great way to immerse yourself in the culture, eat delicious homemade meals and learn about the local way of life,' he adds. How to do it Intrepid's eight-night Timor Leste Expedition costs from £1,819pp, including meals and activities but excluding international flights (0330 808 7337).
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Can passengers skip the security check for a connecting flight?
QWe have just connected through Dublin airport (Terminal 2) from the UK to a flight to Canada, and were pleased to find that there was no need to go through security again. We've also found in some airports in Europe that arriving and departing passengers mingle without further checks. What are the rules on this practice, and does it apply in the UK? John R A The airport security check is everyone's least favourite part of aviation. Anything that reduces the number of occasions on which you must endure the indignity, stress and wasted time of undergoing a search is to be welcomed. From the aviation industry's point of view, single-point clearance is a positive idea. If a robust check has been carried out on a passenger and their possessions in airport A, and there has been no opportunity for anyone to acquire anything hazardous on the journey to airport B, then dispensing with a second check frees up resources to tackle potential threats. This is especially common in the US: the fact that you have cleared a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint in one city works at the next hub, too – for example, a recent flight I had from Kansas City to Atlanta and onward to London Heathrow. Ireland is one of many European countries that recognises the security standards of another nation. But note that if you fly on Ryanair to the Irish capital for a connecting flight, you will exit 'landside' and must go through security again before the next departure. And for US destinations, a secondary security check will be carried out before you enter the US departure area. In continental Europe, the acceptance that passengers have been screened at their airport of origin is widespread, particularly between European Union/Schengen area nations. That explains the mingling of arriving and departing passengers, though all airports reserve the right to require transferring passengers to clear an additional security check. Such a courtesy does not extend to international flights to and from the UK. Heathrow airport says: 'All connecting passengers must go through security again.' It adds: 'Any passenger flying from a UK airport must comply with UK security checks.' Q I read your article about plans by the European parliament to make it mandatory for airlines to allow passengers to take two pieces of hand luggage without paying extra. On a number of British Airways flights I have taken over the past year, the airline said that the cabin baggage of certain boarding groups must be placed in the hold. How could this new legislation affect that behaviour, if passed? Paul B A 'Bold' is how I would sum up the European parliament's plan to mandate a two-pieces-free allowance for all airlines across the EU; if passed, this would inevitably affect UK carriers as well. While some politicians have characterised the plan as protecting 'a basic human right', I think that is a term best applied to concepts such as education, freedom of speech and gender equality rather than the commercial terms applied by airlines to their customers. I believe that the proposal will ultimately be dropped because, at present, passengers have plenty of choice. On 'full-service' airlines such as British Airways and Lufthansa, you can bring two items: one chunky-sized trolley case and a smaller 'personal item' such as a modest backpack or laptop bag. Naturally, many passengers make the most of this option. As a result, airlines will often run out of available space in the overhead bins. Either they offer the chance to check in the larger piece free of charge (as Lufthansa did for my flight from Heathrow to Munich yesterday morning), or they will require some passengers to surrender the bag at the gate and pick it up from the carousel at the other end. They typically select the later boarding groups – who have paid less than other passengers – for this treatment. Were the parliament's plan to become law, such palaver would become standard on all airlines. British Airways and Lufthansa have longer 'turns' between flights – typically an hour – which means they can accommodate the extra time involved at the gate. Nothing would change. But for budget airlines, which allow as little as 25 minutes between arrival and departure, it would be more of an issue: their schedules would soon unravel. With low-cost carriers unable to maximise the time their planes, cabin crew and pilots spend flying, options would reduce and fares would rise. Which strikes me as a significant consumer detriment, though not the loss of a basic human right. Q We have booked a package holiday including flights, hotels and a cruise departing on 6 August. My husband has received a cancer diagnosis, which means he will be having surgery three weeks earlier, rendering him unable to travel. We actually wanted to change the dates. The cruise line said that if the travel company would talk to them, they could offer some flexibility. But the travel company insists we can't do anything except not turn up for the departure and lose all our money. Is this normal? I have since heard about other travel companies that would have handled this situation with more compassion. We are pursuing a claim with our insurance company but still stand to lose about £3,000. Is there anything else we could do? Name supplied A I am sorry to learn of the cancer diagnosis. I hope that the treatment proceeds well, with your husband making a full recovery. In such circumstances, the last thing you need is a travel firm sticking rigidly to its terms and conditions. Most companies, as you surmise, will be flexible and compassionate. But unfortunately, a firm may choose to make no allowance for such a stressful and concerning turn of events. This can mean that even when the provider of a service such as the cruise company is prepared to postpone a trip, it cannot force the intermediary to make that change. Your contract is strictly with the travel firm with whom you booked the trip. The obvious answer would be to cancel and claim on travel insurance. But if that still means taking a £3,000 hit, I imagine there are complications such as a very high 'excess' on cancellation claims. One other suggestion: that you see if you can transfer the holiday to someone else. Under the package travel regulations, the firm is required to allow you to do this with sufficient notice (typically a week) and a modest fee (about £50).
