1 . The Chicago Botanic Garden opened more than 45 years ago as a beautiful place to visit, and it has matured into one of the world’s great living museums and conservation science centers.

♦$41 per person

♦One activity/tour of your choice

♦Private dining area for one hour and lunch

♦35-minute guided tour departs on the hour starting at 10 am

♦Travels 2. 6 miles and shows the entire Garden grounds, including such highlights as 81 acres of lakes, nine islands, and beautiful gardens

♦Maximum capacity of 76 people

♦Available during peak season (April-October)

For $6 more per person, put yourself in a habitat filled with more than 500 butterflies native to South America and North America. From late May through early September, 10 am — 5 pm. This visit takes approximately 20 minutes.

For $6 more per person, add a unique adventure to your package: 15 model trains journey coast-to-coast across bridges, through tunnels, and past miniature (微型的) scenes of America’s favorite landmarks. From mid-May to late October, 10 am—5 pm. This visit takes approximately 30 minutes.

This tour package includes a rare book viewing, a library tour, and an exhibition tour. Maximum 30 people per tour. This tour takes approximately 50 minutes.

On this tour, you will be taken to a garden in full bloom. Areas for touring are determined on the day of your visit and are based on blooms and the group’s capacity to walk. This tour takes approximately 35 minutes.

3 . Nowadays, over 6,000 national parks exist in the world. Of all, these are the ones that have been around for hundreds of years and should be on everyone’s bucket list.

It is surrounded by striking natural beauty and can be explored by land. But the river national park, as the name suggests, is best explored through leisurely boat rides and cruises that take visitors through many canals and ancient towns that come along the way of the river.

While most go to France for the twinkling Eiffel Tower, few tour plans involve a stop at the Calanques National Park, which is made up of both land and sea, with over 140 protected species of animals and plants that reside inside. Because of its topography, the park is unique in that it can be explored through a mix of activities both for those who like waterbodies and those who’d rather stay on land.

Contrary to the popular association of national parks with the wilderness it is filled with winding valleys, hills and villages where over 24,000 people live and work. Yorkshire Dales is also home to several food shops, and the park hosts cheese festivals and farmers markets regularly, so it’s best to go hungry.

It is a delight for those who like a bit of history mixed with the biodiversity of national parks. While it houses thousands of species of wildlife, there’s more to the national park than that.

4 . If you were to rate the most walkable cities in the world, what would you look for? Would it be how shaded the sidewalks are? How many benches there are along the way to your destination? Or maybe how close you are to shops or local attractions?

Well, the researchers at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), located in New York. US, wanted to know which of the world’s cities were the best for pedestrians (行人). So, they did just that.

To determine which cities were the most walkable, they rated cities based on factors such as how close citizens were to car-free areas like public parks, how close citizens lived in relation to schools and hospitals, and how short their journeys were overall.

According to the study, they found that the most walkable cities in the world are London, Paris, Bogota and Hong Kong. Overall, London was at the top of the list, outranking (超过) nearly 1, 000 cities around the world on these key factors.

“In order to provide safety and inviting walking conditions for all city residents, it is essential to shift the balance of space in our cities away from cars, providing more travel options for people,” CEO of ITDP Heather Thompson told the magazine Cities Today. She continued, “We have so much to gain-from cleaner air to better health to stronger local economies and deeper bonds within communities, and we all need that now more than ever. ”

Unfortunately, it seems that very few cities make pedestrians a priority, though.

“Our city streets across the planet are already full of cars. If you really want to see the worst for walkability, it is the really sprawling (杂乱无序伸展的) cities of the US, ” commented Taylor Reich, a research associate at ITDP and the primary author of the guide to making cities more walkable.

So, what can cities do to make their streets friendlier for pedestrians?

“There’s no one secret sauce; there’s no one thing you can do to make a city walkable, ” Reich said. “It’s many decisions that are made at all levels from individual streets all the way up to the city design.”

9 . It’s easy to assume that a vacation to Bali will cost a small fortune. There are plenty of accommodations, food and local transportation, and even the spas offer massages and treatments at value prices. However, you can easily spend a week or two in Bali for under $2,000, without having to sleep on the beach. Here are a few things to consider when planning Bali on a budget.

What is the best time to visit Bali on a budget?

If you’re on a budget, consider visiting Bali during the lower, wetter season, which runs from October through March. The crowds will be fewer, and both hotel rates and flights from abroad are often cheaper, except during the holiday period between mid-December and early January, when crowds swell. The only trade-off for the lower prices is the wet season. This time of year isn’t always ideal for sunbathing, and serious rainfall can make outdoor activities, such as whitewater rafting and visiting waterfalls and rice terraces, less than appealing. That said, even during rainy season, it doesn’t usually rain all day long. Expect bursts of sunshine between the storms.

What is the cheapest way to get around Bali?

The absolute cheapest way to get around Bali is by local bus, but it can take a long time. There are also tourist buses, including hop-on, hop-off options, that travel between different hubs across the island. Bali is well-served by taxis, both of the car and motorbike variety, and the prices tend to be affordable by international standards. Most drivers will offer you a fixed rate for full-day hires or to get from point A to point B, rather than using a meter.

Remember to bargain; doing so is particularly easy when a driver is on his own rather than at a taxi stand.

How much does food cost in Bali?

If you’re into fine dining, you can end up spending a large chunk of your budget on food. Eating at the average restaurant geared towards tourists is the best way to have a meal in Bali on a budget. A good meal should cost you around 100,000 rupiah (around $7), but if you’re willing to subsist mostly off of local specialties such as nasi goreng (fried rice) and eat at local restaurants, you can expect to pay around 30,000 rupiah ($2) to get fed. Best of all, most hotels and guesthouses in Bali come with free breakfast, and many offer heavier options of noodles and meat that may keep you full until lunch.