Kuşadası is a coastal resort town in the Aydin Province of Aegean Turkey. It has become a popular holiday resort, especially for visitors from Northern and Western Europe. It has about 50,000 residents, although that grows significantly during the high season from May to October. The lovely city caters to tourists, growing to over half a million during the high season, when the large resort fills with tourists (from Turkey itself, northern Europe and the Balkans) plus the hotel staff, bar staff, construction workers, and drivers who are needed to work in the restaurants servicing all these visitors. The hills behind Kuşadasi are built up with big hotels and blocks of holiday flats.

Haifa is the third-largest city in the State of Israel. It is home to the Bahá'í World Centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a destination for Baha'i pilgrims. Built on the slopes of Mount Carmel, the settlement has a history spanning more than 3,000 years. The earliest known settlement in the vicinity was Tell Abu Hawam, a small port city established in the Late Bronze Age (14th century BCE). In the 3rd century CE, Haifa was known as a dye-making center. Today, the city is a major seaport located on Israel's Mediterranean coastline in the Bay of Haifa covering 63.7 square kilometres (24.6 sq mi). The city plays an important role in Israel's economy. It is also home to Matam, one of the oldest and largest high-tech parks in the country. Haifa Bay is a center of heavy industry, petroleum refining and chemical processing. Haifa formerly functioned as the western terminus of an oil pipeline from Iraq via Jordan.