Best Places to Travel in 2024? Who Cares?

Lots of travel social media talks about where the best places are to travel in 2024. Should you care? Should you go to these places? Is there a better way to look at where you might want to travel in 2024? Jay talks about a different way of looking at destinations besides the “must see” and “bucket list” metrics we so often use. See if you agree

Every year about this time travel media and social media is filled with titles like the 10 best places to travel in fill in the blank 2024 where to go in 2024 or the 25 places you must visit in 2024 and so on many of these lists but

Not all encourage you to go to some exotic place that you simply must go to because it’s the latest or newest hot Des destination let me give you some examples CNN travel posted a list recently of their 24 top places to visit in 2024 and why you should go there here

They are sumba Indonesia go there for remote Villages untouched forests ancient rituals and worldclass surf breaks quote it’s a perfect antidote to the crowds of Bali okay that’s why you should go there another destination turkey’s Black Sea Coast region why you should go it’s got cooler temperatures in summer than turkey’s hotter regions

It’s got ancient streets an old Monastery clinging to a cliff and there’s white water rafting and other things you can do there next destination tartu Estonia it’s got culture the country’s oldest university and the Estonian National Museum thaan Taiwan go there because it’s considered the street food capital of Taiwan colorful old

Temples and Scenic sunsets tyan has also become a hotspot on the international stage okay that’s what CNN travel says northwest Michigan one that I probably wouldn’t have thought would be on that list they say Traverse City and Glenn Arbor are highlights and the area has quaint towns and rolling

Countryside how about the trans denar cycle route in the Balkans this 4,000 kmet route links all eight Balkan countries okay this is why you should go there another destination kbra Puerto Rico why visit outdoor activity snorkeling scuba diving kaying and fishing how about Angola go there to experience a

Destination off the Beaten Track portug Colonial architecture and spectacular scenery are highlights okay all reasons to go St John New Brunswick see the Bay of fundi and historic architecture other mustsee destination CNN lists are as where to go in 2024 are South Korea Albania Chile Al Bros Islands in Australia Macedonia in

Greece Panama Galia Spain Singapore’s offshore Islands Merida Mexico Morocco Florida Texas Greenland fera in the United Arab Emirates and usbekistan well one look at this list and one can see that all these destinations are not going to appeal to every traveler culture Museum scuba diving bicycling Colonial architecture they’re

All fun things to do but but how am I going to do them all a far magazine lists the 25 most exciting places around the world to visit next they include a lot of the places you already know about and their top 10 are Fiji Sydney tangir Texas Hill Country Rome Machu

Picchu Martha’s Vineyard lamu Kenya Bhutan and Philadelphia now my apologies to people from Philadelphia but if I had a choice between visiting Bhutan or Philly I wouldn’t have to think too long certainly one’s travel skills would be different in these two places other places the magazine mentions are Detroit Seattle La Toronto

And Tijuana Mexico well something for everybody are you getting kind of an idea about you know some of these things I mean do they just sort of pull them out of the air I don’t know another travel website lists places like Costa Rica Thailand Peru Japan Egypt

Spain and zanzabar among its top 10 for 2024 okay you can see where I’m going with this with certain notable exceptions like maybe Russia or countries in central Africa you might as well just throw a dart at a map to find your next travel destination it’ll probably be on someone’s list it’s easy

To come away from these articles and lists with the feeling that you’ll really be missing out on something big if you don’t go after all how else can you amaze your friends or so you think with how cool you are but it’s almost pointless how can

You get anything out of travel at all if all you’re doing is zooming off to the next cool place today’s video was originally going to be a review of where Tanya and I traveled in 20 in 2023 and what our top three destinations were you’ll see these all over social media

Right now the more I thought about this the more I started to think who cares everybody’s favorite destination is going to be different depending on what they enjoy what their expectations are and where those expect expectations met now I’m not saying it’s bad to put down

What were the best places you saw in 2023 you can get some really great ideas is about that about places to go people who know Tanya and me know that we travel a lot and often ask what is your most favorite place that you’ve ever been for us this is an almost impossible

Question and we often have to answer something like well the last place we were well that answer never seems to satisfy anyone but that’s the best we can usually do the point is there are so many reasons Travelers might want to visit a destination where to find the best beach

Which place had the most interesting culture where was the best food where was the best weather where was the best hotel which destination had the most friendly people where was the best Wildlife mountains and natural beauty do we need to check this particular place off our lifetime travel checklist so

There’s all reasons to go to a place or any particular place the who has the best blank dilemma is pointless because every place in the world has its own personality or attributes and how we react to the destinations and their characteristics can be influenced by so many

Variables for example how was our health or mood on a particular day who were we with how was their mood did we get a good night’s rest the night before was the weather cold or hot when we visited was it raining did we have uh an unpleasant or pleasant experience with

Someone or encounter some some sometime that morning the list can go on and on in over 50 years of travel we have found that even when we revisit a place there’s always something different and so are our reactions to that place sometimes the the reactions were really

Good the first time the second time maybe not so good and the other way around but one thing that we found is that even the most mundane remote or unpopular place in social media to travel has something that makes it worth while you can find something in 2023 we

Traveled for a total of 164 days we visited five continents 17 foreign countries and at least 45 different cities we slept in the Sahara Desert been on three African safaris and walked among the penguins in Antarctica we climbed around the Great Pyramid of Giza we watched a voodo ceremony in benine

And we explored Christmas markets in Germany so this isn’t what you would call slow travel where we could really get into the rhythm of a place we were guilty of the very thing the best of list describes to us some of our destinations like like Egypt and South Africa for example for a

Safari were check the box off destination something that you have to do or you think you have to do before you’re gone but we try to look at every other destination from the standpoint of what kind of connection did we make there how did it resonate with us how

Did each Place connect with us from either a human cult cultural or natural beauty standpoint what Joy did each Place bring how did it speak to us how did it resonate and can we use this Benchmark as a tool for selecting Future travel destinations something you might want to

Think about we just started thinking about that so here’s a few examples from our 2023 trips Antarctica I don’t think anyone can come away from a visit Antarctica without it making a profound personal impact on them the sheer remoteness immensity unspoiled nature there and the literally tens of thousands of penguins and other

Wildlife will leave anyone in constant awe seeing PODS of humpback whales breaching and the lonely giant Albatross who can stay out over the ocean for two years at a time those things are amazing and and and connect with us West Africa we visited The Gambia Ghana Sagal Benin

Togo and Namibia in 2023 all within a relatively short period of time but my chat with a Ganan outdoor storekeeper sharing cooking ideas and the school children visiting her on their break to buy candy was a personal connection that really touched me talking to her about which spices she

Uses and which I use and what what do we get out of that and what we’re we’re we’re cooking and just seeing the wide eyes of the little school kids looking at this old white dude me as if I was from Mars and getting them to share just

A little bit of themselves with me was priceless yada Spain not a place many people would necessarily go to but going to the annual snail Festival chatting with some of the people cooking up food and having a conversation with a couple of students who were visiting from nearby Town experiencing this commun how

This community enjoys getting together for an annual Fiesta centered around barbecuing snails and other stuff was really memorable and it’s something that you know will will stick with us and made a connection my point is is that it really doesn’t matter where you go as long as

It speaks to you in some way and brings you Joy so look at these where to go this year lists as merely ideas or suggestions and look critically at why you really want to go there is it a place that simply needs to be checked

Off a list well that’s okay too I do that I have master checklists of countries and regions and I diligently check them off and see how I’m doing or is a place where you’re going a place where you can make some kind of emotional connection does it speak to you in some

Way we hope we haven’t gotten too far into the weeds in this video but we do hope your 2024 is filled with more joyous travel and more meaningful travel and we look forward to seeing you again in our next video thanks very much for watching have a wonderful 2024 and happy traveling bye-bye