1 . Named “America’s Finest City” due to its hospitality, beauty and ideal climate, San Diego is located on the border with Mexico. The residents are so active outdoors that it is called “Sportstown, the U.S.A.”. San Diego’s 70 miles of beaches are a heaven for swimmers, surfers, divers, boaters and sunbathers. Another favourite outside activity is golf. With 100 courses (about 50 of them public), San Diego is a golfers’ paradise. Many San Diego residents came here first as tourists, who were attracted by San Diego’s sunny beaches, nearby mountains and deserts, plus the cultural delights of any big city. The world-famous San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld Adventure Park, Wild Animal Park, museums and other attractions attract visitors from around the world.

The zoo is home to some 4,000 animals, including the world’s largest group of parrots. Animals are displayed in natural settings, and there is a petting zoo for children. By contrast, the Wild Animal Park is a wildlife preserve with an area of over 2,000 acres and more than 3,000 free-roaming (自由漫步的) animals in natural habitats.

In addition to housing the zoo, Balboa Park is home to several museums and attractions, including an aerospace museum, an art and history museum, the Old Globe Theatre, science museums and even a railroad museum. Free concerts are offered frequently. Another popular attraction is the SeaWorld, a 190-acre marine park.

San Diego’s varied attractions, as well as its business climate, offer many opportunities for students to explore the local culture, meet people from around the world, and gain business experience. At San Diego State University, for example, students in the American Language Institute’s study tour program learn English both in the classroom and while sightseeing.

2 . Welcome to “Cash Poor Points Rich”, a new travel blog dedicated to sharing experience with credit card points and miles to help you get big travel but for small spend. With the right planning and maximization of available resources, traveling as a college student may be easier than you think.

Chengdu, China

If visiting a place with happy locals is a priority for you, there’s no better city to hit than Chengdu. It is home to pandas and spicy things. Moreover, the city’s abundance of cultural and historical sights, together with its laid-back lifestyle, make itself one of the most attractive and livable large cities too. Past travelers have spent, on average, ￥158 on meals and about a quarter of that on local transportation for one day.

Con Dao, Vietnam

Tourism is picking up in Vietnam lately, where you can travel for about ¥ 100 per day if you play your cards right. Con Dao Island Nation Park, a group of dramatic tiny islands off the southern coast, is a great destination to see sea turtles and other wildlife while exploring the area on foot. Its thick jungle will give you a good chance to uncover a paradise of your own.

Zakynthos, Greece

If you’re looking for an affordable European summer beach vacation, consider Zakynthos. Food is cheap and mouthwatering. There are plenty of free things to do. although the favorite is spending time on the beautiful beaches edged by electric blue water. There are countless options for swimming in the appealing sea, along with charming villages and museums to explore.

New Orleans, U. S.

New Orleans is an incredibly unique place in the U. S., full of fascinating history, absorbing culture, delicious food, and a constantly buzzing nightlife scene. There are actually a couple of hostels in and near the French Quarter that offer reasonable accommodation rates for students.

4 . My mother is now 90. Thankfully, she is blessed with good health.

I still remember ten years ago when she turned 80, she surprised my brother and me with what she described as “independent birthday”.

One day she informed us she’d booked a seven-night trip to Turkey. Alone. Because she had never been. Of course, that was ridiculous. There was no way my brother and I could allow that. A weak, little old lady wandering the streets of Istanbul on her own, not speaking a word of Turkish, with no knowledge of the laws and customs of the land — it was out of the question!

She paid no attention to us. Off she went. When she returned, she told us it had been a wonderful success. As it turned out, she had barely spent any time alone, after hiring a taxi driver to show her around Istanbul for some days. He took her to all the sites — the markets, churches and restaurants. He introduced her to a blanket seller, “a lovely fellow,” and she bought some blankets. The seller took her address details and promised to ship them to Canada. They would be arriving in three or four weeks. My mother beamed (眉开眼笑) as she told this story. The blanket seller and my mother apparently built a friendship and she told him to drop by if he were ever in Canada.

To our great shock, her blankets did arrive some weeks later, along with a lovely note from the seller Mustafa. To our even greater surprise, the following year Mustafa himself arrived in Canada. He called our mother to inform her he was in Ottawa.

“I invited him over and he came by for a cup of tea. They drink a lot of tea in Turkey,” my mother told my horrified brother and me.

Her trip of independence seems to be thoughtfully based on a realization that life is to be lived. It reminded me of the line from the movie The Shawshank Redemption: “Get busy living or get busy dying.”

7 . The days of having to remember your ID could soon be a thing of the past. The famous tourist town of Wuzhen, China, is now using facial recognition technology to act as its entry pass through the gates of the attraction. The system uses cameras to notice people as they approach the entry, and checks these against a database of registered visitors within a few seconds. The technology is thought to be up to 99. 77 percent accurate and able to distinguish people better than a human.

Wuzhen is a popular tourist town with visitors going there in large numbers to see its stunning river system and museums. Baidu, a web firm often referred to as “Chinese Google”, created the system. When people now check in to their accommodation, they will have their photo taken and uploaded to a central database upon leaving and re-entering the town, the system will re-check that they are still a guest at a hotel, before allowing them back in.

The technology is being used to track the 5,000 visitors that stay in the town’s hotels every day. Yuan Qing lin, director of the Institute of deep Learning at Baidu, told The Verge, “With our technology, you don’t need to give your ID. When you are approaching a gate, it will take a photo of you and compare that photo to the database.” Wuzhen used to monitor its visitors using a ticket-entry system, but this could easily be abused. It was discovered that some people were sharing their tickets to avoid paying.

Baidu’s system is based on neural networks, which can process huge amounts of data-more than one billion faces. As well as recognizing faces, the system can discover facial movements, so it can’t be fooled by holding a mask. Baidu is also using the software for employee entry at its Beijing headquarters.

9 . Welcome to “Cash Poor Points Rich”, a new travel blog dedicated to sharing experiences with credit card points and miles to help you get big travel but for small spend. With the right planning and maximization of available resources, traveling as a college student may be easier than you think.

Chengdu, China

If visiting a place with happy locals is a priority for you, there’s no better city to hit than Chengdu. It is home to pandas and spicy things. Moreover, the city’s abundance of cultural and historical sights, together with its laid-back lifestyle, make itself one of the most attractive and livable large cities too. Past travelers have spent, on average,￥158 on meals and about a quarter of that on local transportation for one day.

Con Dao Island, Vietnam

Tourism is picking up in Vietnam lately, where you can travel for about ￥100 per day if you play your cards right. Con Dao Island Nation Park, a group of dramatic tiny islands off the southern coast, is a great destination to see sea turtles and other wildlife while exploring the area on foot. Its thick jungle will give you a good chance to uncover a paradise of your own.

Zakynthos Island, Greece

If you’re looking for an affordable European summer beach vacation, consider Zakynthos Island. Food is cheap and mouthwatering. There are plenty of free things to do, although the favorite is spending time on the beautiful beaches edged by electric blue water. There are countless options for swimming in the appealing sea, along with charming villages and museums to explore.

New Orleans, U. S.

New Orleans is an incredibly unique place in the U.S., full of fascinating history, absorbing culture, delicious food, and a constantly buzzing nightlife scene. There are actually a couple of hostels in and near the French Quarter that offer reasonable accommodation rates for students.