A chef who works wonders with both words and food believes that cooking and eating local cuisine while traveling the world is a wonderful practice. Alison Roman, a celebrity cook, gives this travel tip to anyone who is considering traveling around the world. She says there are many opportunities for gaining a sense of other peoples’ cultures through food.

When checking into an Airbnb or a hotel, the first thing she tries to find out is if there is a kitchen. If that is the case, she would check out the kitchen and consider cooking there. If not, then the cooking trip becomes an eating trip. When a kitchen is present, the vacation can be used for both cooking and eating.

Head to the Local Market

She also gives another travel tip for people who are considering cooking while abroad – check the local market for local food. At a farmers market or a food store, one can find the food local people buy and use in their recipes.

Opt for Foreign Produce

When she is traveling internationally, Alison always tries to cook with ingredients that are not very familiar to her and can only be found in the country in question. The majority of locals do their everyday shopping at large, open-air markets, which is not as widespread in the US. The ingredients and cultures often vary, but the idea is to use fresh produce, meat, and fish that can all be found in one place.

Get Advice from the Locals

Alison’s favorite thing is to ask the people working at the market for ideas and recipes. Even though she may know how to cook a certain type of produce, the locals are sure to have a unique approach. Nine times out of ten, one can learn something new and really interesting. Alison believes that people inherently want to feed others, teach them their ways of cooking, and talk about their food, thus sharing their culture. Benefiting from this is really a good travel tip.

Paddling around in a kayak is a lot of people’s ideas of a good, relaxing time. In many beach destinations in the world, tourists have the opportunity to rent kayaks in order to explore the water around their vacation destination. But while it may seem harmless, this pic proves that it’s actually a more scary activity than you would think. To us, it looks like this guy has absolutely no idea that there’s a massive shark trailing him!

Here we have a picture of a woman with nerves of steel. It looks like she’s gone down to the ocean floor and decided to push it even further by cave diving. The most insane part of this crazy pic though is that this diver appears to be free diving – meaning that she’s traveling these major depths without the help of a breathing apparatus, like the oxygen tank used in SCUBA diving. Just the thought of it makes me dizzy.

Imagine going for a refreshing swim and meeting this beast! This pic shows the whale shark, which is the largest non-cetacean animal The whale shark is the largest non-cetacean animal in the world. A typical whale shark adult male comes in at a whopping 32 feet long and weighs up to 20,000 pounds! Their mouths are equally huge – almost 5 feet wide and containing up to 350 rows of razor sharp teeth! This is one creature you definitely want to avoid.

Slimy, slithery, and just downright creepy, eels are basically nature’s version of a land snake, but underwater. An adult eel can weigh up to 55 pounds and reach lengths of several feet! They vary in size, but whatever the case, they’re definitely a sea creature that you don’t want to mess with, and would rather just avoid altogether. But this pic from the sea floor shows the predators laying in wait, and you can see just how similar to snakes they are.

It’s pretty rare in life that you can encounter a sign like this. With the Grim Reaper holding a scythe, as well as illustrative victims, this sign doesn’t hold back in warning people not to enter this particularly deadly underground cave. The sign warns daredevils that hundreds of divers die in caves each year, and that they should heed the sign’s instructions not to enter a cave. We can’t think of any other activity on land where you’d encounter a sign like this!

At first glance, the thing that catches our eye is the massive manta ray! Although this creature is generally peaceful, it can be dangerous to humans when it feels threatened. But to us, the most insane part of this pic is that the woman appears to be meditating! She’s got her legs crosses in a Buddhist style with her face appearing calm and her overall demeanor pensive and reflective.

What’s scarier than getting trapped in a cave? Getting stuck in a cave that’s actually under water! Plenty of brave divers risk it all every year to explore what’s underneath the sea, but for us, this looks way too scary. You can see just how small we as humans are compared with the massive world lying underneath the surface’s waves. We’d estimate this cave is several stories deep at a minimum. We can’t imagine ever going that deep!

Shark diving is commonly billed as a safe and fun tourist activity. Divers descend into the water in SCUBA gear complete with oxygen tanks, and from the safety of the steel bars of the cage, they can get up close and personal with sharks that are prowling the area. However, in Mexico things went terribly wrong when one particularly hungry Great White Shark managed to force his way into the cage. Thank goodness the divers weren’t hurt!

Sometimes seeing a massive creature like this whale gives us a reality check about how small as humans we actually are. On land, humans, due to our intelligence, are at the top of the food chain. But all the weapons in the world can’t help us if we’re under water and pitted against a creature that weighs several <em>TONS</em> like this humpback whale. With one shift of its tail, it could completely destroy us. Something to keep your ego in check!

Many of us have experienced the pain that comes from getting stung by a jellyfish. Nothing’s worse when you’re on vacation – relaxed, enjoying the weather and having a splash in the ocean, when suddenly – ZAP! There’s the pain and the unsightly red marks. All this anguish comes from a jellyfish the size of a plastic bag, so we can’t even begin to imagine the damage that this behemoth of a jellyfish is capable of inflicting on a human!

We’ve all experienced it – swimming, and then suddenly feeling something mysterious and slimy brush your calf. Is it a jellyfish? Is it an eel? The panic sets in. Well, you’re definitely relieved when you finally figure out that it’s just some algae covered seaweed. While this seaweed isn’t physically harmful, it certainly looks creepy as heck and feels even worse when it touches your leg. And it definitely looks like the stuff of horror movies in that wave!

On dry land, there’s no way you’d ever walk straight up to edge of a cliff, then peer directly over the edge while perilously teetering on the abyss. But at Jacob’s Well in Texas, that’s exactly what countless visitors do every year. Many divers risk it all to try to make it to the bottom of this chasm, which reaches depths of up to 4,500 feet deep from the surface! A total of eight people have lost their lives while exploring the underwater cave.

Sometimes deep sea fishermen make unexpected catches. This can be a very profitable job, and this guy looks proud of his catch. However, despite the smile on this fisherman’s face, all we see is a massive centipede! We’re not big fans of bugs in general, and this reminds of us of one of our least favorite creepy crawlies, just blown up to an insane size. We don’t even want to start to imagine what the underside of this beast looks like!

One of the scariest things about the ocean is that it is essentially as unexplored to humans as outer space. Despite the attempts of marine biologists and other scientists to map and understand this foreign world, much of it still remains a great mystery to us land-dwellers. There’s also sorts of weird creatures lurking along the ocean floor, who look like the stuff of nightmares, so it’s no surprise that this bizarre -whatever it is- has surfaced without an explanation.

This perfectly timed photo looks like a scene from the classic movie Jaws – but unfortunately, this isn’t a film set. This unfortunate surfer had the scare of his life when he encountered this massive shark while trying to catch a wave. This picture was taken in the Atlantic Ocean off of the coast of Nigeria, which is a frequent site for surfing competitions and unfortunately, shark sightings. Luckily, this guy got back to shore in one piece.

This creature looks like the stuff of nightmares, but believe it or not, is actually a real life animal that lives in the ocean. He’s appropriately named the Vampire Squid. Luckily, this guy is only found in extreme deep sea water, meaning that he’s not coming anywhere near your foot when you’re casually swimming next to the beach. Interesting to note is that he’s actually not very dangerous, especially to humans – but his looks could scare us to death.

At first glance, you probably think automatically that this insane photo is the work of some computer whizz, who edited it on Photoshop. But we can 100% confirm that this crazy pic is the real deal. It was first published in legendary wildlife photography magazine National Geographic. Luckily, the man in this pic is an experienced seafarer and managed to get himself back to the shore without being hurt. Still, this pic is just way too close for comfort.

Tsunamis are one of the most deadly natural phenomenons on planet Earth. The ancient Greeks thought that tsunamis were caused by underwater earthquakes, and it turns out that they weren’t far off from the truth – much is still unknown about what makes these giant destructive tidal waves, but scientists do think it has something to do with shifting of tectonic plates on the ocean floor. Whatever the case is, the destruction caused by the thousands of pounds of pressure of waves is undeniable.

This harrowing still shot is actually from an even more frightening video. The man in the photo is named Mick Fanning and he’s an Australian professional surfer. He was competing in an international contest in South Africa when a shark decided to circle him. He had actually been attacked by a shark just two years prior to this incident but walked away with only minor injuries. Eagle eyed boaters spotted the shark and took Mick to safety.

This is pretty much every surfer’s worse nightmare – waiting to catch some sweet waves and seeing that there’s a shark in the immediate vicinity. Sharks often bite surfers because their boards can look like shark’s favorite prey – seals. The only good thing we can see here is that there’s safety in numbers – there’s a grand total of three surfer dudes that this shark can choose to have as a snack, which comes out to a 66% chance of getting away unscathed.

Sometimes you need to be high in the air in order to appreciate exactly how quickly and majorly the landscape of the ocean can change. We have a bird’s eye view here of just how fast the sand around this paradise -seeming island drops off into a massive under water cliff. Just imagine swimming around this tropical destination and finding yourself unexpectedly bobbing near the surface with such an extreme drop off to the ocean floor beneath you.

Can you imagine swimming and accidentally coming face to face with this guy’s mug? Well, thankfully, that’s fairly unlikely as this unfortunate looking creature – appropriately named the blobfish (for real) – dwells on the bottom of the ocean floor, far away from where casual swimmers roam. However, for some reason, we actually think that this fish is so ugly that it’s done a perfect circle and is actually kind of cute. Still, we wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him.

Everyone loves a dip in the ocean, until you see what’s sharing the water with you. That appears to be one of the world’s deadliest predators lurking just below the surface. It’s a Great White Shark and his mouth is open, ready to take a huge bite out of whatever unfortunate prey passes by, with his razor sharp incisors!

Back in 2004, a massive underwater 9.1 magnitude earthquake rocked the sea floor. This triggered a chain reaction whose effects reached far beyond the surface of the water. After the earthquake, there was a massive tsunami whose punishing waves reached all the way from Asia to Somalia. This photo depicts a village in Thailand being decimated by the water – 170,000 ended up losing their lives in the Southeast Asian country alone. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami is considered the world’s deadliest.

Believe it or not, this isn’t a scene from a horror movie. This is a real life photo of a tidal wave caused by the massive tempest in Puerto Rico in 2018. This picture shows Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis cemetery in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, moments before it was struck by pounding ocean waves that measured over 30 feet high at their peak! When waves this strong and furious reach the shore, they can cause major damage.

Hurricanes are one of the most destructive forces on our planet. Imagine a tornado, but even worse, because instead of just whipping high winds, there’s punishing blasts of heavy sea water to accompany damaging gales! This photo shows 40 foot waves off the coast of Outer Banks, North Carolina, during a major hurricane. This photo shows just how little man-made structures can withstand when they’re pitted against Mother Nature in a bad mood. You better take cover!

Everyone says that Outer Space is the final frontier, and one of the scariest things about it is that “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Well, the majority of us will never travel to space, but there is an overlooked wilderness right on Earth – yup, the vast and unknowable ocean. Some scuba dive to feel closer to the mysteries of the deep – but this pic chillingly shows that also in the water, nobody can hear you scream either.

Imagine taking a dip in the sea, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness, when all of the sudden, you feel something brush your foot. You look down, and realize that you’re face to face with one of the deadliest creatures on Earth – a Great White Shark. The Sharks usually don’t go for humans, but in the last 20 years there have been a recorded 139 human deaths due to Great White Shark attacks. Scary stuff lurking just below the surface.

Although whales are typically gentle creatures, they will not hesitate to act if they feel threatened – especially if its a Mama Whale protecting her precious pups! We’re not sure what exactly set off this particular whale and made it charge at this flimsy fishing boat like a raging bull, but the damage that is inflicted by thousands of pounds of blubber and muscle is simply unimaginable. Luckily, everyone involved in this incident survived – though the boat was totally destroyed.

Many people scuba dive because they’re curious about underwater creatures. But one beast you don’t want to tangle with is a giant Octopus, depicted in this harrowing pic. With his 8 powerful arms, he could easily rip the oxygen pack off your back, your breathing mask out of your mouth, and beat you up – all at the same time! Luckily for us humans, octopi usually leave humans alone – but if they feel threatened, there’s no telling how they’ll defend themselves.

One Australian businessman got more than he bargained for when he scuba dived and a huge eel attacked him! To make matters worse, because of the hole in the side of his mouth, air bubbles were leaking and he was essentially losing oxygen every moment. The businessman somehow kept his cool and safely made it back to the surface, where he was immediately transported to the hospital. He had reconstructive surgery and has made a full recovery, but says he’ll never dive again.

No, this isn’t some computer generated image from a new horror flick and no, it’s not a drawing from Dante’s Inferno about the creatures that a sinner meets in Hell. This is a real life animal that dwells in the deep, dark depths of the ocean, far away from light and thankfully, very far away from human beings. Honestly, it’s hard for us to believe that this creature even comes from the same planet as us.