New Zealand seems to be infinitely photogenic and these unbelievable fjords in Milford Sound are an astounding testament to that notion. Taken by Andrea Schaffer, this image gets me incredibly excited about different ideas for traveling the North and South Islands. I'm now filled with daydreams of jetting off to below the equator and living in a campervan.

You too can have your photography featured here on Gadling as our Photo of the Day by submitting it either to our Gadling Flickr Group or by mentioning us on Instagram, @GadlingTravel, and tagging your photo with #gadling.

[Photo Credit: Flickr User Andrea Schaffer]

Tokyo, Japan, is a city of politeness, cleanliness, culinary enlightenment and notorious expense. This year Tokyo was listed as the most expensive city in the world, with Japan's second city, Osaka, coming in at number two. But Japan being the land of extremes, there are plenty of great thrifty or outright free things to do in the megalopolis – especially now with the yen at the lowest it has been against the dollar in almost four years.

Part of the expense of Tokyo can be allayed by avoiding the excessive niceties of day-to-day Japanese life. Many of Japan's costs come from its quest for excellence in customer service and the desire for perfection. Annual train tardiness is measured in seconds. After purchasing merchandise at a retail store, the clerk will come around from the counter and hand you your bag face to face. Taxi doors open automatically for patrons and drivers have uniforms reminiscent of pilots and butlers, complete with white gloves. You will also experience a cleanliness that will make you instantly feel filthy when you get off the plane in your home country.

The budget traveler, conversely, might consider taking the slower local trains instead of the bullet train to save a few thousand yen. Similarly, a standing room-only sushi restaurant can save some costs on dining. To that end, the food alone is enough to keep the budget traveler coming back to Tokyo. The scene extends far beyond the traditional sushi or Benihana style restaurant, with dirt-cheap ramen, okonomiyaki and udon noodle joints on many street corners and the huge amount of local specialty foods that each city of Japan has to offer.

Just getting lost in Tokyo is a voyage into oddity. Without spending a dime you can ferret out entire streets dedicated to selling kitchenware, high-rise arcades and mega-sized vending machines ready for exploration and a perfect photo opportunity. In fact, some of the best things in Tokyo are absolutely free and with a few inside tips, a trip to one of the most unique cities in the world can be quite affordable.

Seoul has no shortage of unique neighborhoods worth visiting and it is certainly not at a loss for places to go drinking. However, there is only one true place where the youth of South Korea go en masse for so many of their desires and that place is Hongdae. Taking its name from the Korean abbreviation for the local art university, Hongik University, Hongdae is a great place for restaurants, cafes, art, live music, clubbing, lounge drinking and shopping. There are neighborhoods all over the city dedicated solely to each of those activities, but none have all of them, nor at such great accessibility.



Exiting from Hongik University station's exit 9 will give you a face full of Korea's different subcultures. University students wear trendy American-style varsity jackets. Musicians have their instruments strapped to their backs. Club kids will have their frameless glasses and cut-off jeans. Exit 9 is the launching point for everyone's night and on Saturdays it can take minutes to walk up the short flight of stairs.

As the largest religious monument in the world, Angkor Wat is truly massive, taking hours to get just a cursory view of the temple complex. While it is Cambodia's prime attraction, there are still plenty of corners in which to find your own personal space, which is exactly what this sketch artist is doing inside Banteay Kdei. Known as the "Citadel of Chambers," monks still lived inside up until the 1960s. Captured by Lauren Irons, "The Traveling Teacher," and submitted to the Gadling Flickr Pool, this picture shows one man's ability to do what many of us yearn for: find our own moments of peace within spectacular locations.

You too can have the chance at your travel photos being featured as our "Photo of the Day" by submitting it to our Gadling Flickr Pool or via Instagram by mentioning us @gadlingtravel and using tagging your photo with #gadling.

[Photo credit: Flickr user thetravelingteacher]

Cherry blossom season is in full effect in Tokyo. The beautiful, pinkish flowers, sakura in Japanese, are in many ways intertwined with the country's culture. The start of the fiscal and school years falls in line with the blossom season. Virtually all public schools and major company buildings will have at least one sakura tree out front and group pictures are taken at the start of a new session, taking full advantage of the fantastic colors.

It's wildly popular to picnic underneath the trees; it's so significant that the activity even has its own dedicated word in Japanese, hanami. Families will gather, eat and drink together, taking advantage of the fresh spring weather. As seen in this shot by Flickr user whitefield_d, many streets all over Japan are lined with cherry blossom trees, making for amazingly picturesque scenes during the brief two-week flowering season.

Share your own travel photos with us in our Gadling Flickr Pool and we may choose it to be our Photo of the Day. You can also do so via Instagram by mentioning us, @gadlingtravel, as well as tagging your photos with #gadling.

[Photo Credit: Flickr user whitefield_d]

Despite the Netherlands not quite being world renowned for their castles, Castle De Haar is a classic example of one, even complete with a moat. This shot by Dutch native Bert Kaufmann is exactly the kind that you would hope to capture yourself, where it's easy to imagine strolls along the pond and enjoying a nice coffee from inside.

Take your own great travel photos and upload them to the Gadling Group Pool on Flickr and it might just be chosen to be a Photo of the Day. You can also submit photos through Instagram; just mention @GadlingTravel and use the hashtag #gadling when posting your images.

[Photo credit: Flickr user Bert Kaufmann]

In the U.S., there is the art of tipping. In Finland, there is no such thing as college tuition; it's almost completely subsidized by tax Euros. And in Ethiopia, food is eaten only with the bare right hand. Given South Korea's unique history and culture within Asia, there is no shortage of comparisons that can be made between it and the rest of the world. Even though I already reported on "10 Differences Between South Korea And The Rest Of The World," more and more unique cultural curiosities are revealed to me everyday – things I couldn't have possibly conceived of back in Florida.

1. Fan Death
Possibly the most internationally notorious Korean cultural quirk is the belief that if you fall asleep in a closed room with a fan on you will die. Theories include the fans causing hypothermia or even that the fan is removing all the oxygen from the room. Today, the myth is largely dying out with the new generation, none of my Korean friends believe it whatsoever, but they mention that they heard about it all the time when they were younger.

2. Koreans work more
On average, Koreans work 2,057 hours per year, 14% more than Americans, who on average work 1,797 hours per year. That's an additional six workweeks per year. But that doesn't really show the whole story and is probably only the officially reported and paid hours. It isn't entirely uncommon for people to work 6 days a week, clocking in over 10 hours each day for a typical office job, with little or no overtime pay.

The sun rises over boulders, the Tungabhadra River and the ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire's former capital to make a gorgeous golden landscape in today's Photo Of The Day, taken by Arun Bhat. Located in southwest India, this tide of rocks and history are a part of the Hampi World Heritage Site. At its height, the ancient capital was the largest city in the world. Now, it's home to countless temples and historical sites in a beautiful state of decay.

Be sure to submit your own photos for a chance at our Photo Of The Day. You can do so in two ways, submit it via our Gadling Flickr Pool, like Arun did, or mention @GadlingTravel and tag your photos with #gadling on Instagram.

[Photo credit: Flickr user arunchs]

The Roussanou Monastery is undeniably beautiful. This Christian Eastern Orthodox monastery is just one of six that are listed as a part of a World Heritage Site in Meteora, Greece. When the monks settled and began the impossible construction of their mountaintop monasteries in the 15th century, the region was uninhabited. The monks simply wanted to be left to their own devices, something we can all relate to.

Captured by Darby Sawchuck, this photo was submitted to our Gadling Flickr Pool. If you'd also like your great travel photos to be featured here as a "Photo Of The Day" you can submit your photos there or via Instagram by tagging your photos with #gadling and mentioning us @gadlingtravel.