Activities to Get You Outdoors While Traveling

Many of us would enjoy getting outside and escaping our day-to-day work with some fresh air while traveling. But where do you start? Try out a few of these activities, and you're sure to find a new outdoor hobby to help you enjoy nature on your next holiday.

Horseback Riding

Many people may shy away from this, excusing having little experience with horses, but most operators have horses for riders of any experience including none if they meet the physical（身体上的）needs. Horses can take you across greater distances in a shorter time, covering areas that would be difficult or inaccessible（不能接近）otherwise.

Fly-Fishing

For an excuse to stand in a river enjoying the sounds, smells and scenery of some of the most beautiful places, try fly-fishing. Fishing is a perfect activity to enjoy with children, grandparents or whoever. With enough practice, you may even catch a delicious big fish.

Cycling + Mountain Biking

On the path or the road, spending time on a bike allows you to slow down and take in the scenery around you. Mountain biking can give you the biggest excitement, while road cycling may offer a more peaceful and calming experience. Travel with your bike or rent one at your traveling places, and your possibilities for exploration will increase.

Rock Climbing

For a more physical and challenging experience outdoors, try your hand at rock climbing. Unlike other activities, climbing asks for some skill. Maybe you can get a feel for climbing in a gym, but rock climbing's real rewards lie in putting those skills to use outside. Many popular travel places have great climbing within a day-trip distance.

Like all big cities, Paris has a traffic problem: lots of cars. lots of traffic jams and lots of pollution from exhaust fumes(废气). So the city began a scheme(计划)to improve the situation.

Under the Velib scheme ('Velib' comes from velo liberte, or 'bicycle freedom') people can take a bicycle, use it for as long as they want, and then leave it at the same or another bicycle station. The first half-hour-on the bike is free, but if you don't return it after 30 minutes, you have to pay. But it's only € 1 a day or € 29 a year! The bicycles are heavy (25kg), and they are all grey and have baskets. There are about 20,000 of them in the city, and around 1,450 bicycle stations. So there are a lot more Velib stations than the 298 subway stations!

Paris is not the first city to have a scheme like this. But not everybody thinks it's a great idea. One Parisian said. “These bicycles are only for short journeys. If people want to travel across the city, they won't use a bicycle-they'll still use their cars.”

A city spokesman said, “The bicycle scheme won't solve all our traffic problems, of course. But it might help reduce air pollution. Traffic, together with factory fumes, is a big problem. There aren't any simple answers to traffic problems and pollution in cities. But unless we do something now, there will be more traffic jams and temperatures will continue to rise, so the problems in our environment will get worse. The bikes might help people to lead a healthier life, too. “

Those pretty little brown spots (斑点) on the skin might be common, but freckles (雀斑) remain a bit of a mystery to many — including those who have them. We interviewed three top skin doctors to explain the mysterious spots.

“They get darker in the summertime, when the skin is in strong sunlight, and fade, or lose color, in the wintertime,” says Dr. Joshua Zeichner at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. “The sun’s ultraviolet rays help some skin cells to produce more melanin (黑色素) in the skin.”

Contrary to popular belief, nobody is born with freckles, which generally don’t pop up until adolescence. That is, some young people start to have freckles when they are developing into adults.

“But freckles often ‘run in the family,’ especially in families that have fair (白皙的) skin,” says Jessica Wu, MD, a Los Angeles-based doctor. “People with fair skin and red or blond hair may have the same skin cells as their parents. Such skin cells are more sensitive to ultraviolet rays, so they produce more melanin in those spots.”

The spots themselves are nothing to fear, but those who have freckles are often fair-skinned as well, which in turn makes them more likely to get skin cancer, warns Dr. Howard Murad, who is known as “the Father of Internal Skincare.”

Freckles can be lightened with proper treatment, and new freckles often fade on their own. As with many things in life, prevention is key. “Wear sunscreen (防晒霜) every day as part of your lifestyle, like brushing your teeth, ” says Zeichner. Wu agrees, “I do warn my patients with freckles to understand the necessity of wearing sunscreen.”

Safe sun practice is important for everyone, but having freckles means you need to be extra careful. “You are likely to get more of them — in addition to risk of skin cancer — if you don’t use sun protection,” warns Wu.