Step into the beauty, culture, history, and lifestyle of capital cities around the world through photography and short story. In this ode to capital cities, the Travel is Life Creators showcase 118 cities from every continent, including Antarctica!  The best way to begin traveling a country is from its capital city. You can get anywhere from the capital. Capital cities are the melting pots of countries that bring their culture and people together from all walks of life. They are where countries unite and history happens. Capital cities are often overlooked and underappreciated on travel itineraries. They become a placemark on a map to catch a connecting flight or a destination in which to spend a night recovering from jet lag after leaving one time zone and entering another. There are countless travel books about where to go after the capital city... like the beaches, mountains, pueblos, wonders of the world, and everything in between. And don't get me wrong -- I love visiting those places and reading those books too. However, I wanted to create a book that explored the capital cities themselves, which are equally special, but don't always get as much attention. This book is my ode to capital cities, but since I've only been to tens of capital cities myself, I asked for help from my friends. In this book, a group of professional travel bloggers and I, collectively called Travel is Life Creators, have showcased 118 capital cities from every continent in the world (including Antarctica). Our mission was not to create a travel guide, but instead, to capture the culture, history, and lifestyle of capital cities through photography and short story. I hope that reading this book will allow you to step into each capital city through the eyes and lens of each photographer and writer so that you can see, hear, touch, taste, smell, and experience that city, even if just for a brief moment, before traveling to the next page. Thank you to the contributors who made this book possible: Aga Goodman Amy & Dave Tull Andrea Wade Tanya & Andy Korteling Anisa Alhilali & Russell Wood Ann S. Anna Deaki & Anthony Royer Barbara Bryan Bonnie Truax Bruna Venturinelli Carol Guttery Cassie Trin Charu Goyal Claire Summers Daniela Koleva Daphne Hargrove Darcy Vierow Deeptha Doshi Derek Hartman & Mike Walsh Dhara Nargundkar Emma Creese Veronika Primm Emma Erichsen Emma Huffam Erika Van 't Veld Erin Mushaway Fiona Lawless & Jerry Scott Hanna Thomas & Boyan Ortse Heather Raulerson Heather Wicksted & Matthew Daw Jacob Laboissonniere Jessica Fergen Joel Marrinan Julie Cao Julie Peters Kat & Chris Butler Keri Hedrick Kesi Irvin Kimberly DeCarrera Lieze Neven Liz Richardson Marcea Cazel Mary Jo Manzanares Matěj Halouska Menty Yu Mona Molayem Nicky Mackenzie Oph�lie Schaffar Pamela Drager Rachel Story & Sasha Savinov Sage Scott Sandra Foyt Sarah Vanheel Patricia & Sergio Sigler Siori & Fermin Longcob Susan Gleissner Trina Phillips Vanessa Ball