'Poolside Tanning,' East Boston, Mass. 2012. (Alex S. MacLean) Everything may seem chaotic while on the ground, but from high above the United States, landscapes — from fields to flyovers — appear perfectly organized into grids. This unique perspective is what Alex MacLean’s photo series of aerial landscapes aims to convey. “I try to understand what underlies the patterns within a photograph, which often tells a story about an environmental process or cultural values,” MacLean told weather.com. An architect-turned-photographer, MacLean...

Conquer Your Fear of Heights It takes a heavy dose of fearlessness and nerve to stand atop these monuments and look down. Some of the world's most incredible viewpoints are thousands of feet above the ground in locations most of us will never get to visit. These images can give perspective to a few of the most breathtaking landscapes on the planet. Hopefully, they won't make you dizzy at your desk, but we can't make any promises. Let's get started...

With the approach of summer, plenty of Americans will be hitting the road or taking to the skies for a vacation. In 2013, around 77 percent planned for vacation during the summer, reported the Wall Street Journal. The travel industry provides 14.9 million jobs, impacting one out of nine workers in America, says the U.S. Travel Association. By the sounds of it, Americans should be rather worldly with all the traveling we do. But according to the Huffington Post, most...

Thirteen-year-old Ashol Pan with her eagle. Despite her young age, Ashol had the amazing ability to control and be able to caress her eagle, almost as if she had been with it for years. (Asher Svidensky/ Caters News Agency) When photographer Asher Svidensky embarked on a four-month trek through western Mongolia, his goal was to document the region’s celebrated eagle hunters. He got a big surprise when he discovered a 13-year-old girl practicing the ancient tradition. Ashol Pan, described as...

Santa Monica Beach from Hotel Arcadia, 1893. (Charles C. Pierce (1861–1946, albumen print, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens) The Huntington Library has acquired a treasure trove of original photographs that depict the city of Los Angeles and the beach suburb of Santa Monica from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The rarely seen photos show Los Angeles' early landscapes and structures consisting of beach shacks, hotels and early signs of the city's tourism trade — long...

A California teenager was so desperate to run away from home, he was willing to brave the cold and a lack of oxygen to get out. The 16-year-old climbed into the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines plane and endured the California-to-Maui flight halfway across the Pacific Ocean in an effort to get away. After he was discovered on the tarmac at Maui Airport on Sunday with no identification, he was questioned by the FBI. "Doesn't even remember the flight,"...

A Buddhist monk lights the funeral pyre of Nepalese mountaineer Ang Kaji Sherpa, killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest, during his funeral ceremony in Katmandu, Nepal, Monday, April 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) After an avalanche killed 16 of their colleagues, dozens of Sherpa guides packed their belongings and left Mount Everest's base camp Wednesday, putting the rest of climbing season in limbo. The tragedy brought Sherpa issues back to the surface, as the guides have long been upset...

25. Uruguay Uruguay is known for its beach towns and tourism is an important facet of the nation's economy, but due to high interest rates, it earned a misery index of 23.8, making it the 25th most miserable country in the world, according to the Cato Institute's study. (MIGUEL ROJO/AFP/Getty Images) As some of the world's most popular tourist destinations, Greece, Costa Rica and Spain have many things in common, including sun-kissed beaches, stunning natural wonders and an abundance of...

Where do the Flying Fox and the Honeyeater live together? It sounds like a riddle from a Dr. Seuss story, but both species are endemic to the Ogasawara Islands – also known as the Bonin Islands – off the coast of Japan. The variety of unique species on the islands has earned them World Heritage recognition and the nickname "Galapagos of the Orient." The islands attract visitors from around the world who come to explore the breathtaking landscapes and experience...

The North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii on March 9, 2014. (Kenji Croman) When photographer Kenji Croman realized words can’t describe what it feels to be inside the barrel of a wave when bodysurfing, he decided he would have to show people what it felt like. “I love bodysurfing because it’s just you, the wave and fins, nothing else. It’s so pure,” Croman, who lives in Hawaii, told weather.com. But when he would try to explain the feeling to his...

Middle Eastern airliner Etihad Airways wants you to ride in the lap of luxury, if you can scrape together the cash. The quickly growing airliner revealed plans Sunday to provide first-class passengers with closed-off bedrooms, private bathrooms and even a butler for their highest-paying customers. The cost? About $21,000 for a trip from Abu Dhabi to London. One way. It's the latest example in a worldwide trend for airliners to cater to their customers willing to spend top dollar for...

Travel winner in the Professional competition of the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards. 'Roads of Grains.' (Ricardo Teles, Brazil) More than 100,000 photographers from 166 countries submitted photos into the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards. The subjects range from a series of beautiful Israeli landscapes to a pride of lions stalking across the Serengeti. Now, after several months of narrowing down the selection, the World Photography Organization has revealed American photographer Sara Naomi Lewkowicz as the winner of L’Iris d’Or/Sony...