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TravelAwaits

Our mission is to serve the 50+ traveler who's ready to cross a few items off their bucket list.

My 15 Favorite Travel Experiences Everyone Should Try Once

travel xperience

  • Bucket List Trips
  • Types of Travel

Travel opens you up to so many incredible experiences, and while there’s a whole lot more of the world I’d still like to see, and this is certainly not the definitive list of best travel experiences, I’d like to share with you some of my most amazing experiences and those I think deserve a spot on every traveler’s bucket list. 

Sunset out on the waters at Mequifi Beach.

1. Watch The Sunrise In A Really Special Place

One of my most memorable sunrises was on Mequfi Beach at the end of a trip through the Quirimbas Archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the north-eastern coast of Mozambique. My husband and I had traveled the 68 miles of the archipelago by plane, sailboat, traditional dhow (wooden boat), and helicopter. We’d spent 2 weeks on the journey and Diamonds Mequfi Beach Resort was the final stop on our itinerary. Keen to savor our last few hours of beach time before flying home, we were up early and down on the beach just as the sun’s first rays of light started to peek over the horizon.

Author, friends and family white water rafting in intense waters.

2. Do Something That Terrifies You

After it takes a 360-foot tumble over Victoria Falls , the Zambezi River squeezes through a narrow gorge where it boils up into the biggest, and arguably best, white water rapids in the world. This is not for the faint-hearted, and an average level of fitness is required, but if you are feeling brave this really can be an adventure of a lifetime. I have done this trip numerous times and it’s definitely something I would recommend.

Pro Tip: The best time to raft the Zambezi is when the water levels are lower and more rapids are accessible, from August to mid-October. Go with a good operator like Bundu Adventures .

3. Laugh When You Get Caught In A Well-Known Tourist Scam!

Rome is an expensive city. Even a double room in a moderately priced hotel can be pricy. Traveling to Rome as a family with small children, we found the best value accommodation was one of the many convents that take in paying guests. Traveling on a budget and trying to economize wherever we could, we caught the train from the airport into the city. With our luggage and two small children in tow (one in a pushchair), we made the classic rookie mistake – we asked a local taxi driver how much he would charge to drive us to the convent. He named an exorbitant price. Some haggling ensued. Beating him down to a price that wasn’t quite so eye-watering, we climbed into the taxi. He drove for minutes, and around the corner pulled up outside our destination! An expensive lesson learned. All we could do was laugh!

Group of hikers ascend the summit at Mount Kilimanjaro.

4. Climb A Mountain

Climbing mountains is something I have been doing for years. I’ve climbed them, guided them, and taken my husband and my children up them. I’ve also taken clients on trips they tell me have been life-changing experiences.

If you are looking for an achievable, yet challenging, mountain to climb, let me steer you towards Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro , where I have been guiding regularly for years. Whether you’ll rate a climb up Africa’s highest mountain a great “travel experience” depends entirely on when you’re asked! Ask a climber making the final push to the summit and they’ll probably say no! At that moment it’s a tough, cold, nauseating, exhausting hell. But ask them 6 hours later, when they’re grinning from ear to ear, standing on the roof of Africa, and their answer will definitely be different.

5. Fly First Class

I’d love to say I have flown in first class, but that wouldn’t quite be true! Years ago, traveling from South Africa to Australia , I got as close to flying first class as I am probably ever going to get. Our travel agent made a mistake with our booking. When the plane touched down in Perth en route to Sydney , my husband and I got off with all the other passengers for a short layover before reboarding. We were surprised to see our boarding passes had us in new seats. In first class! We said nothing, grabbed a glass of champagne from the hostess, and sat down. The hostess, surprised to see us, asked to see our boarding passes. And that’s when the mistake was noticed. We were on the wrong plane; our travel agent had accidentally booked us on a later flight to Sydney! We were allowed to finish our champagne , and then quickly ushered to a pair of empty seats back in economy. Our time in first class was lovely while it lasted!

Nepal flags blow in the wind with mountain scape in the background.

6. Take An Epic Road Trip, On A Road Less Traveled

The 800-mile, 8-day drive from Kathmandu in Nepal to Lhasa in Tibet , along the China-Nepal Friendship Highway is a seriously memorable road trip. It takes you past the highest peaks of the Himalayas, pristine alpine lakes, incredible Buddhist monasteries, and surreal landscapes.

Pro Tip: The China-Nepal Friendship Highway closed after the 2015 Nepal earthquake, and is now only open for goods transport. The route currently being used is along the Pasang Lhamu Highway, a rough route only advised for very intrepid travelers.

Author, Sarah, gives speech at the Malabar River Festival.

7. Spend Time With The Locals

I traveled with Indian friends to Kodenchery in southern India , where they were taking part in a white water kayaking competition. Not knowing the front end of a kayak from the back, I wasn’t actually taking part in the competition but was somehow persuaded to take on the role of commentator. Kodenchery is not on even the most adventurous traveler’s paths, and I was quite a novelty standing on the river bank, microphone in hand, doing my best to describe the action taking place in the river below. I learned a handful of useful phrases from friendly locals and when I was at a total loss for words, one of the local teachers stepped in as my translator. I somehow made it into the local newspaper and onto the local TV news! I’ve never forgotten my weekend of celebrity in the backwaters of south India.

Green tent in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia.

8. Sleep In A Tent

I’ve slept in many tents in my time, and have many fond memories. My husband, on the other hand, is not a keen camper, only sleeping in a tent when absolutely necessary. Of all the tent experiences I have subjected him to, he tells me the most memorable is waking up one morning in a tiny, ice-covered tent in Ethiopia ’s remote Bale Mountains on a trek through to find the endangered Ethiopian wolf. 

Passengers get ready to board boat for overnight stay.

9. Sleep On A Boat 

My husband and I were traveling to Tanzania ’s Mahale Mountains National Park, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, to trek with chimpanzees. Most tourists coming to Mahale fly in by charter flight. We decided to travel by boat up the lake from Zambia , spending 3 nights on the MV Liemba , a WWI German gunboat that was converted into a passenger and cargo ferry. We’d managed to secure a “first-class cabin,” which consisted of a rickety bunk bed, a plastic garden chair, and a broken fan — I wouldn’t recommend the trip to any other than the most stoic of travelers. Most of the passengers didn’t have cabins, instead sleeping on the deck. The shared bathroom facilities left a lot to be desired – my husband caught typhoid on the journey home! 

You might not want to choose this boat, but find a boat that suits you, and spend a few nights aboard.

10. Eat Street Food

Street food comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors. My “sweetest” street food memory is piping hot, fresh jalebis in India. It was a chilly early morning and I was walking, with a friend, through the narrow back streets of a tiny town in the Indian Himalayas, when we came across a guy deep frying these delicious sweets at a makeshift stall on the side of the road. Jalebis are a distant cousin to the donut, with a flour batter, deep fried in circular shapes, and soaked in sugar syrup or honey – they are delicious.

Iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge on a grey day with green trees and city line.

11. Visit An Iconic Site And Appreciate Seeing It In Person

The Eiffel Tower , the leaning tower of Pisa , the Grand Canyon – there are so many iconic sites around the world that deserve a place on your travel list. For me, it’s the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Growing up in Sydney, I never appreciated “the bridge” and must have crossed it a thousand times in my youth, never giving it a second thought. What makes you appreciate it though is climbing to the top! Dressed in a camouflage climbing suit, you, and your trembling knees, climb 1,332 steps to reach the top (burning 504 calories on the way!). At the top, you are rewarded with astounding views over the city. The view is particularly magical at dawn, watching the bustling metropolis come to life far below.

Pro Tip: book your climb with Bridge Climb Sydney the climb will cost you around $128. 

Sunsets while author sips cocktails, image taken over water and viewing cocktail bar.

12. Sip Cocktails In A Rooftop Bar With A View

There are a million places around the world to sip a cocktail from a rooftop bar with a view. My special place is the chic rooftop bar at Upendo House , in Stone Town, Zanzibar. It overlooks the azure ocean and the historic House of Wonders (built by the second Sultan of Zanzibar in 1883 with a door so wide he could enter the house riding on the back of an elephant!).

Infinity pool with a view of Bumi Hills zimbabwe.

13. Swim In Infinity Pool With A View

Everyone loves an infinity pool . My most memorable is the pool at Africa Bush Camps, Bumi Hills , Zimbabwe, which hovers on the edge of a cliff, looking out over the vast and shimmering waters of Lake Kariba, the world’s largest man-made lake, below.

Ancient architecture of the history of Lalibela Ethiopia.

14. Visit Somewhere With A History So Deep You Will Never Truly Understand It

Lalibela in northern Ethiopia is a place where I’ve stood in awe at the history around me. Known for its distinctive subterranean churches, many of which are joined by tunnels carved out of rock during the 12th and 13th centuries, Lalibela is still a pilgrimage site for Coptic Christians today.

15. Take Local Transport 

My first encounter with public transport in India was taking a sleeper train from Delhi to Dehradun (the gateway to India’s famous hill stations). I was alone and had never been on an overnight train before, let alone one in a different country. I boarded the train just before midnight. Within minutes, my fellow passengers had taken me under their collective wings, finding my berth, teaching me how to fold down my bunk bed, and introducing me to their families. As the train pulled out of the station, in unison they opened their picnic containers full of home-cooked food and offered me all kinds of delicious treats. I’ve never felt so instantly and completely accepted by a bunch of total strangers.

Image of Sarah Kingdom

Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, before moving to Africa at the age of 21, Sarah Kingdom is a mountain climber and guide, traveler, yoga teacher, trail runner, and mother of two. When she is not climbing or traveling she lives on a cattle ranch in central Zambia. She guides and runs trips regularly in India, Nepal, Tibet, Russia, and Ethiopia, taking climbers up Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro numerous times a year.

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Jessie on a Journey | Solo Female Travel Blog

19 Inspiring Travel Experience Stories About Life-Changing Trips

Love inspiring travel experience stories ?

Then you’re in the right place!

Grab a snack and your favorite beverage and get ready to settle in, as you’re about to read some truly inspiring travel stories about life-changing trips.

In this roundup, some of my favorite bloggers share their best travel stories.

You’ll hear about travelers embarking on sacred pilgrimages, growing after a first solo female travel trip, deeply connecting with locals on the road, and getting out of their comfort zones in ways that completely alter the course of their life.

And if you’re looking for a unique travel experience, you’ll likely find it in the short stories about travel below.

Table of Contents

Free Travel Resources

But first…

Make sure to grab free access to my #BeyondTheGuidebook Travel Resource Library:

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Make sure to also connect with me  on Instagram ,  on YouTube , and  on Facebook  to start traveling #BeyondTheGuidebook.

I regularly share about solo female travel, New York City, lesser-known destinations, unique experiences, active adventures, and how to turn your passion for exploring the world into a profitable business through travel blogging.

Click here to head back to the travel blog .

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There is so much included!

Plus, I’m constantly adding new resources, guides, and personality quizzes to help you travel beyond the guidebook!

On that note, let’s dive into the inspiring travel stories .

1. Travel Experience Stories In South America

My travel story takes place in South America, back when I used to travel solo for months at a time.

I was in my mid-20s, and even though I’d backpacked Europe, Southeast Asia, and China and had studied abroad in Australia, the mix of intense excitement and nerves I had leading up to my South America backpacking trip was different.

And despite family and friends warning me that South America wasn’t a place for a solo female traveler , it ended up being my best trip ever.

There are so many interesting short travel stories and unforgettable travel experiences woven into this trip, like:

  • Getting invited to have dinner with my Brazilian plane seatmate and her grandma
  • Having a group of complete strangers on Couchsurfing take me out for dinner and dancing on my birthday in Mendoza
  • Attending a small house party in Argentina and learning about the tradition of mate
  • Getting stuck on a broken-down bus and having an impromptu language exchange with an elderly woman in Peru
  • Having a love interest back home break up with me via text, and then experiencing the kindness of strangers as a woman in my hostel who I barely knew treated me to ice cream to cheer me up
  • Having a romance with a hostel mate in Ecuador and then traveling through the country together
  • Living in a giant treehouse with a group of strangers during a solo trip in Brazil and spending our days exploring hiking trails and swimming and our nights drinking and exchanging stories about traveling
  • Taking a 4×4 from Chile to Bolivia across the Siloli Desert to see otherwordly sites like rainbow lagoons and train graveyards in the middle of nowhere
  • Experiencing some of the world’s most incredible natural wonders, like Iguazu Falls, Torres del Paine, the Amazon River, Uyuni Salt Flats, and Perito Moreno Glacier

At times the trip was also challenging, from dealing with long bus rides and car sickness to flipping over my bicycle handlebars in Peru and getting my body (and ego) badly bruised.

But, I was okay.

In fact, I was more than okay, as the trip showed me how independent I could be and what I was truly capable of. It also showed me the beauty of immersing yourself in cultures different than your own and connecting with locals who want to share them with you.

Years later, when people ask what my best travel experience has been this is the trip that comes to mind.

-Jessie from Jessie on a Journey

A travel experience story about Brunei

2. Traveling With An Open Mind

Many people think of travel as an experience and rightly so. Sometimes, however, you cannot choose the places you travel to.

This happened to me in 2019.

My husband found himself posted in Brunei for work.

Three months pregnant meant that I had a choice:

Either stay with him in Brunei for three months before returning back to India or remain in India, alone.

I chose the former. Not because of my love for the country but because I wanted to be close to him.

Brunei had never held any appeal to me. Whatever research that I pulled off the Internet showed me nothing other than one beautiful mosque.

The flights in and out of the country were expensive so traveling frequently out was not an option either.

I was engulfed by a sense of being trapped in a remote place.

Needless to say, I reached Brunei in a pretty foul mood. I think one of the things that struck me the most even in the midst of that bad mood was the large swaths of greenery that surrounded us.

Mind you, we were not staying in the big city but as far away on the outskirts as you could imagine. I’m not a city girl by any stretch and the greenery eventually soothed my nerves.

It took a week, but I soon found myself interacting with people around me. Fellow expats and locals all went out of their way to make me feel comfortable.

The more comfortable I felt, the more we explored. We trekked (yes, while pregnant!), we joined the board game community, and we enjoyed the local cuisine.

Three months later when it was time to leave, I found myself reluctant to say goodbye to the warmth of the country I had called home for a short while.

I think that my time in Brunei taught me a valuable lesson:

Don’t judge a place by what others say or a lack of information.

Sure, you may not always like what you see, but there will always be something that you will like. You just need to look hard enough to find it!

-Penny from GlobeTrove

A slow travel experience across the Portuguese Camino de Santiago

3. From Half-Day Hiker To Walking Holiday Enthusiast

I’ve always enjoyed walking but never in a million years did I imagine I’d end up walking over 200 kilometers (~124 miles) in 10 days, become a fan of walking holidays, and end up developing self-guided hiking routes in Portugal with a local tour operator as part of my business.

The shift from being someone who was content with an easy three-hour walk to an experienced multi-day hiker began with a brief taste of the Portuguese Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrim trail through Portugal to Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain.

Back in 2013 I did a guided one-day hike along one of the most beautiful stretches of the Camino, north of Ponte de Lima. It’s also one of the most challenging sections so it was hard work, but the views from the top of Labruja Mountain made the climb worthwhile.

My guides were so enthusiastic about the thrill of arriving at Santiago de Compostela Cathedral after the challenges of day after day on the Camino that I began to think I might want to give it a go, despite not being religious.

Fast forward a few years and I set off from Barcelos with a friend of mine to follow the Portuguese Camino de Santiago.

Apart from suffering from chronic back pain, I thought I was quite fit but nothing had prepared me for how utterly exhausted I would feel at the end of each walking day.

This was truly a slow travel experience, as we were averaging about 20 kilometers (~12 miles) per day and by the time we reached our hotel, I would barely have enough energy to get cleaned up and find food before collapsing. I had envisioned plenty of sightseeing but that ended up being minimal.

Quickly, I realized the moral of this unique travel experience:

The Camino was all about making the most of the journey rather than the destination.

For me, that was quite a shift in thinking as I am usually all about getting to where I want to be as soon as possible so that I can start exploring. It was, perhaps, also my first step on the path towards mindfulness.

I will never forget the sense of achievement and progress at the end of each walking day, and the relief and pride I felt when we finally made it to Santiago de Compostela.

We met people who had walked the Camino several times and I can totally understand how it can become addictive. 

-Julie from Julie Dawn Fox in Portugal

A story about traveling the Banda Islands

4. A Story About Traveling & Its Ripple Effect

Tucked away in far eastern Indonesia is a tiny archipelago of islands called the Banda Islands.

Apart from world-class snorkeling and some crumbling colonial buildings, the Banda Islands are mostly forgotten and would be described as a backwater by all accounts.

However, the Banda Islands are possibly the main reason that I am who I am today. 

Well, the Bandas are the original Spice Islands.

Nutmeg used to grow on this tiny group of islands alone and nowhere else. The Dutch colonized Indonesia and promptly became the owners of islands where money grew on trees.

The only problem was that Indonesia was so far away that they needed a halfway stop to and from Indonesia.

That’s where my travel experience story comes in.

The same Dutch East India Company that traded in spice set up a halfway station at the foot of Table Mountain to break up their long journey. As a result, my Dutch ancestors arrived in the southernmost point in Africa , and generations later we are still there.

When I visited the Banda Islands, it dawned on me how something happening on the other side of the world can ripple out and affect people on the other side of the planet.

And I’m not the only one!

The spice trade was so important to the Dutch that they even traded a tiny island in the Banda archipelago for a much bigger island…Manhattan.

Yes. That Manhattan.

Before visiting the Banda Islands I never really knew about this part of my history.

Along with the spice that the ships carried back to Amsterdam, it also carried slaves. These slaves, more often than not, ended up in Cape Town.

Just like my European ancestors, they too became a part of Africa and added another shade to our beautiful Rainbow Nation.

It was in the Banda Islands that I realized how much of my culture, food, stories and even words in my mother tongue, Afrikaans, actually originated in Indonesia.

Because of these tiny islands, I am a true mix of Europe, Africa, and Asia. While I always thought I knew how all things in life are somehow connected, I didn’t really grasp it until my visit to Indonesia.

This could have been a resort travel experience story, as I went to Indonesia to swim and snorkel and relax on the world’s best beaches. And while I did get to do that, I also learned a lot about who I am as a person, my people, and my country…on another continent. 

My visit to the Bandas has sparked a fascination with Indonesia, which I have visited seven times since. I’m already planning another trip to this spectacular country!

-De Wet from Museum of Wander

The best trip ever in Costa Rica

5. Awakening My Spirit In A Costa Rican Cloud Forest

In February 2017, I was just coming out of a decade of mysterious chronic illness that had shrunk my world.

And one of the things that finally helped me to resurface during the previous year was an online Qi Gong course I stumbled upon: 

Flowing Zen .

To the casual observer, Qi Gong looks a lot like its better-known cousin, Tai Chi — the ancient art of moving meditation — but it’s actually energy medicine for healing.

In fact, it’s commonly used in Chinese hospitals.

My daily practice that year made such a difference for me that I dangled a reward for myself:

If I stuck with it all year, then I’d head to Sifu Anthony’s annual retreat in a cloud forest in Costa Rica the following February.

And I did! It was my first trip out of the country for more than a decade.

Just like that, I booked a solo trip — something I hadn’t done since I was an exchange student to Europe 30 years earlier — to San Jose where I met up with a dozen strangers and Sifu Anthony, our Qi Gong master.

We boarded a tiny bus and rode up, up, up around carsick-inducing curvy mountain roads into a magical cloud forest jungle where we finally arrived at The Blue Mountain (“La Montana Azul”) for a weeklong Qi Gong retreat. 

There were no Internet or distractions here — just delicious organic vegetarian meals made with love and shared with the community under a gorgeous open-air palapa.

There were also colorful tropical birds singing in the jungle, as well as the largest arachnid I’ve ever seen in my gorgeous (but also roofless) room for a little extra adventure.

I’d felt a little energy movement during my year of online practice, but during that week on The Blue Mountain, my body began to really buzz with Qi — life force energy — as I Lifted the Sky, stood in Wuji Stance, and practiced Shooting Arrows.

I felt electrified and joyful. 

And that was when everything changed for me.

At home, I had a successful career as a freelance writer, but I decided during my week in the cloud forest that I wanted more from life.

I wanted to explore the beauty, diversity, nature, and culture in every corner of the world.

And I wanted to share this intoxicating joyful feeling of life-giving freedom and adventure with anyone who wanted to come along for the ride.

Shortly after that, at age 53, I launched my travel blog.

Dreams really do come true. They are just waiting for you to claim them.

-Chris from Explore Now or Never

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.

6. From Rome With Love

This wasn’t the way I wanted to see Rome. 

Sure, I was happy to spend Christmas in Rome and stand in awe of the city’s many iconic attractions. But, life wasn’t meant to turn out like this.

I was supposed to go to Rome with my mom back in 2012; however, life had different plans, because a week before our trip, I got a double kidney infection. A condition that required a week of hospitalization.

Although I was annoyed I had missed my trip, it wasn’t the end of the world since I was fine and everything seemed okay…until my mom developed a cough.

A cough that later became a heartbreaking diagnosis of stage four ovarian cancer. 

My mom spent the final months of her life in chemo, desperately trying to fight a horrific disease so that she wouldn’t let her family down.

And she didn’t.

Instead, she showed us how to never give up on life, even if it was a losing battle. 

So, when she eventually passed away, I booked a trip to Rome. 

Sure, it wasn’t the trip I had hoped for. But, I knew that as her daughter, it was my job to live enough for the both of us. 

And that’s exactly what I did.

Was I an anxious, sad, angry mess of a person?

Absolutely. I was still getting used to a world that my mother wasn’t a part of. 

And honestly, you never get used to that world. You just deal with it because you don’t really have a choice.

But I also knew that I wanted my mom to live on through me and that I didn’t want to live a life where the haunting phrases “should of,” “could of,” and “would have” swirled through my head and ate away at my happiness.

So, I went. I packed a boatload of tissues, sobbed my heart out, and attended Christmas mass at the Vatican. 

I also threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, walked through the Colosseum, chowed down on gelato, and spent two weeks doing all the things my mom and I had wanted to do. 

And that’s when it hit me. I had never gone to Rome alone because my mom had always been there with me. Maybe she wasn’t physically there, but I thought of her and felt her presence every minute of every day. 

Her presence also reminded me that life isn’t about the things we buy or the money that we have.

It’s about making memories with the people we love; people that never really leave us since they are constantly influencing our lives in countless ways.

And after my trip to Rome, I finally knew that my mom would always be there because she had forever changed my life in the best possible way. 

-Kelly from Girl with the Passport

inspiring travel stories in Finland

7. Studying In Finland

One of my major life-turning points happened during my exchange studies in Finland.

Until then, I was studying at a university in Prague, had a part-time job at a renowned management-consulting firm, and thought I was on the right path in life.

At the University of Economics where I studied it was notoriously difficult to get on an Erasmus exchange trip abroad since the demand was huge. Everyone wanted to go!

Regardless, I decided to sign up early for my last semester, just to see what the process was like to be better prepared for applying again in a year.

I did make it through all the three rounds and surprisingly got a spot at a University in Turku, Finland! I was ecstatic. The success brought its own challenges, but once you set your eyes on the goal, nothing can stop you.

And I had the time of my life in Finland.

I met the most amazing people, traveled a ton, partied a lot, and bonded with friends from all over the world.

Given I was one of the few people there who really needed to pass all her courses and additionally write her thesis, I managed to run on an impossible sleep schedule of four hours per night. But I made it!

My studies in Finland opened up my horizons, too.

The summer after, I wrapped up my life in Prague and went on to study in Germany and China . The whole time I traveled as much as possible, often going on solo adventures. It was only a matter of time when I’d start my own travel blog.

My Finland adventure led me to a life of freedom made up of remote work, travel blogging , and plenty of traveling. I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. And it gave me one of my favorite true adventure stories that I can now share with others.

-Veronika from Travel Geekery

Travel experience stories in Cuba

8. How Cuba Changed My Life

One of my favorite inspiring stories about travel takes place in Cuba.

I visited Cuba in February 2013 and it changed my life — and I like to think it did so for the better.

Interestingly, I expected a completely different country and was compelled to write about it when I got back home.

But let me tell you more.

I read copious amounts of blogs and travel diaries to prepare myself for the trip to Cuba so I thought I’d go in with a fairly good idea of what to expect. Each and every post I read spoke of marvelous landscapes, pristine beaches, crumbling but charming cities, and welcoming locals.

All of it was true, in my experience — except for the locals.

I didn’t find them so welcoming. At least, not genuinely so. They only seemed to welcome me as far as they could get something in exchange: money, clothes, pens, soap, you name it. 

Each and every day in Cuba was a challenge to avoid the scams, to avoid being ripped off, to fight off each and every attempt of people trying to take advantage of me. I usually managed, but it was exhausting and it left a sour taste in my mouth.

Once I got back home I felt the urge to write about my experience — not for other sites or papers as I’d often do. This time I was afraid I’d be censored.

So I opened my own blog. With zero tech knowledge, zero understanding of online content creation and SEO, I started writing and telling people what they should really expect during a trip to Cuba.

I’d put up the occasional post, but continued with my usual job.

At the end of the year, my contract as a researcher in international human rights law at the local university ended, and I decided to stop pursuing that career for a while.

I packed my bags and left for a long-term trip to Central and South America . I started writing on the blog more consistently and learning, and eventually took my blog full-time , turning it into a career.

As of today, I have never looked back and have no regrets.

The one thing I’ll do, as soon as I can, is travel to Cuba to say thank you — because it changed my life in a way nothing else has ever done. 

-Claudia from Strictly Sardinia

inspiring travel stories in Patagonia

9. A Short Travel Story About Finding Inner Peace In Patagonia

Life in London is hard.

Life in London as a gay single brown refugee is harder.

Juggling between work, my passion for traveling, and the prejudices that I dealt with on a daily basis eventually took their toll on me and I reached a breaking point.

The fact that I couldn’t return home to see my family and being away for them for almost nine years was enough to hammer in the final nail in the coffin.

I almost had a nervous breakdown and in that moment of desperation, which I knew would define the rest of my life, I took a month off and headed to Patagonia.

It was probably the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. The 36 hours it took me to get to El Chalten from London were tiring but Patagonia blew me away.

On my first day there I did a 28-kilometer (17-mile) hike which included a steep mountain climb. It was incredible how moving through the forest helped me clear my mind. And as I stood in front of Laguna de Los Tres, the rain and clouds gave way to sunshine and a rainbow.

I felt at peace.

The countless hikes, great food, and the warmth of locals in Chile and Argentina helped me get back in my skin and find the peace I was missing in my heart.

Nature is indeed the best medicine when it comes to stress relief and I won’t be coy about hugging trees to speed up the process (it did).

Patagonia was life-changing for me.

The beauty of nature struck me at each point and every time I thought it wasn’t possible to beat the view, the next one did just that.

I came back a changed, resilient, and most importantly, a happy person.

-Ucman from BrownBoyTravels

A unique travel experience in Colorado

10. Looking Inwards & Making Connections With Strangers

It was decades before I traveled solo for the first time in my life.

This trip — a six-day escape to Colorado — was the first trip that was not for business or family reasons but just to travel and discover.

As I prepared for it, I had a strange feeling of excitement and nerves at the same time. I had all sorts of thoughts and doubts:

Would it be fun?

Would I be bored?

Would I stay in bed all day or would I bounce with excitement to do the next thing?

I wasn’t sure. Little did I know that it was going to be a memorable journey of self-discovery. 

As a good wife and mom, for me travel is always about the family; always thinking of who would enjoy what. It’s about family time and bonding. It’s about creating memories and travel stories together. It’s all so wonderful.

But on a solo trip who would I connect with? What would I say?

Well, I found that I got to do anything I wanted!

Usually when I travel with my family, if I feel like going on a drive that’s not on the itinerary or getting a snack no one else is interested in, we simply don’t do that.

So it was weird to just go do it. Really, that’s a thing?

As for making connections, it was so easy to meet locals while traveling and also to connect with other travelers. Honestly, I had conversations everywhere — on planes, while hiking, in restaurants, in the hotel lobby.

It was quite an eye-opening experience to meet a mom of 18 kids and hundreds of foster kids, a cookie baker, a professional photographer, a family of Fourteener hikers, and an internationally ranked marathon runner.

The inspiring stories I discovered were amazing and nothing like my wonderful safe life at home. 

In terms of travel safety , I got to go rock climbing, solo hiking, driving up a Fourteener, eating alone.

And it was all fine. Actually, it felt surprisingly normal.

It was was just me, my SUV, and my backpack for a week. Most of all, it was a breath of fresh air that I didn’t know existed. 

It’s wonderful to be back home and know that possibilities are endless and there is so much more out there to explore and be wowed by!

-Jyoti from Story At Every Corner

life-changing travel experience stories in Colombia

11. A Solo Hike To Find Connection

I have traveled solo many times, but I admit I was a bit uneasy booking my trip to Colombia . In part, due to the country’s dark past. But also because I desperately wanted to do the Cocora Valley hike, and if I’m honest, I was terrified.

This hike is located in the Coffee Triangle, an area recognized for its beauty as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It features both rainforest and a stunning green valley speckled with cartoonishly-tall wax palms rising 200 feet or more.

It’s incredibly beautiful.

It’s also a long hike and quite challenging — it generally takes between six and eight hours and there is a steep area with over 3,000 feet of elevation within a quarter of a mile.

I wasn’t in hiking shape, so I was a little concerned. But, worst of all for me were the seven dodgy-looking suspension bridges. 

I’m terrified of heights.

And, I’d be going alone.

I decided to go anyway and I met an incredible woman on the bus to Salento, the town near Cocora. She was also traveling solo and we agreed to hike together.

The town is a backpacker enclave and we met up with a small group of people all traveling solo. As the days passed, our group got larger and it was such a magical experience.

As much as I love city travel, this small town won my heart.

My new friend and I set off on the hike and met two other women who were nervous to do the hike. We all went together.

When we got to the first suspension bridge, I paused. I was embarrassed to admit my fear, but the bridge swayed widely and there was nowhere to hold onto.

When they realized how out of my comfort zone I was and how scared I felt, everything changed. Instead of me dealing with it alone, they were all there to encourage me.

One crossed the bridge to encourage me from the other side and they stayed off of it to limit the sway. Crazy enough, I not only crossed the seven suspension bridges, but I also crossed one an extra time when we went the wrong way on the trail.

I did it! 

I was prepared to be blown away by Cocora Valley’s beauty, but what I wasn’t expecting was what a life-changing travel experience my time there would be.

 -Sam from My Flying Leap

short stories on travel and sustainability

12. How A Pet Sitting Travel Experience Led To A Passionate Career

We wanted to go to the Caribbean but didn’t know much about the islands or how we were going to afford it.

By chance, a friend of ours in Australia mentioned “pet sitting” and that it is something you can do all over the world.

We quickly created an account on a pet sitting website and began searching for options. There were only a couple of sits available in that part of the world, but we tried our luck, sent a request, and to our surprise landed a three-month gig in a beautiful house in the US Virgin Islands — with an infinity pool overlooking the British Virgin Islands.

A month into our sit, we had explored the destination pretty well and so had a lot of time on our hands. We managed to secure another sit in Grenada, so our year was going to be taken up with Caribbean pet sits.

Inspired by a Canadian couple that had previously stayed at our Grenada housesit, we decided to start our own travel blog. We began by writing about The Virgin Islands, highlighting the beautiful beaches and funky bars.

But for every photo of a beautiful beach there were 10 photos of trash.     

It was hard to ignore the plastic pollution issue, especially on such pristine and remote beaches.  So, we began to share photos of the trash we saw and how much we could pick up on our daily dog walks.

The more we looked into plastic pollution, the more we realized the severity of the global plastic pandemic. From that point, we used our platform to create awareness and highlight ways to say no to plastic and travel plastic-free .

We changed our daily routines, our way of living, and even our diets to accommodate more organic foods and little to no plastic packaging.

It’s been over three years now and we continue to do what we can. This journey has led us to some amazing places, working with great conscious brands and even organizing a country-wide beach clean-up campaign in Grenada.

Our aim now is to keep on going.

We love connecting with like-minded people and love the shift over the last few years that brands have made towards creating more sustainable products and services.

It’s been an amazing few years that was sparked by a conversation about pet sitting. Who would have guessed?

-Aaron & Vivien from The Dharma Trails

travel for experience in Uganda

13. Learning To Slow Down The Hard Way

On Christmas of 2017, I was born again.

We like to spend our Christmas holidays somewhere warm abroad, and that year we chose Uganda.

Nature, wildlife, and sunny days were a blessing when it was so cold and dark in Europe. Life was beautiful, and we had a rental car and a busy schedule ahead to explore the country.

This is where this short travel story turns into one of my more scary travel experiences :

At Murchinson Falls National Park, we had a car accident.

I lost control of the car, and it rolled over, destroying windows, chassis, and engine.

But we were alive! My right arm was severely injured, but we managed to walk to our lodge, not far inside the park.

In the lodge, I was happy to learn that there was a pretty decent American hospital in Masindi that was just a one-hour drive from the lodge. Moreover, one of the lodge’s guests was a nurse who cleaned the wound while we were waiting for the taxi from/to Masindi.

The hospital took care of us, and after a couple of injections and stitches, I was ready to head to our new hotel in Masindi; however, my wound required daily dressing and more injections, so we were asked to stay in town for a few days.   

Masindi is the kind of place where you may want to stop to buy some food or water, but that’s it.

The town’s highlights were the market and our daily visit to the hospital, so we ended up looking for the small things, chatting with the medical staff, the hotel staff, the people in the market, and learning more about their customs.

We learned to slow down the hard way.

When we were allowed to leave, we took a road trip south through the country to see something else. We did not care about our travel bucket list anymore — we were alive, and we wanted to enjoy Uganda’s unique nature and its people. 

In the end, our Uganda trip was not about the places that we saw, but the people that we met. It was travel for experience vs sightseeing.

I hope to revisit Uganda one day, with a stop at Masindi for some food, water, and maybe something else.

-Elisa from World in Paris

short travel stories about cycling

14. A Cycling Trip To Remember

During the summer of 2019, I cycled solo from London to Istanbul. This huge bicycle tour took me 89 days and through 11 countries.

As you might expect, it was a challenging yet incredible journey, which saw me pedal along some of Europe’s greatest rivers, pass through some of its best cities, and witness some of its most beautiful scenery.

It’s becoming more and more important for us to think about the impact that travel can have on our environment. This was the inspiration for my bicycle tour; I wanted to find more responsible ways to explore the world and avoid flights where possible.

I discovered that bicycle touring is one of the most eco-friendly ways to travel, as using nothing but a bicycle and your own pedal power you can carry everything you need while covering surprising distances each day.

The simplicity of life and the sheer amount of time I spent cycling alone gave me a lot of time to just think . This really helped me to come to terms with some personal problems rooted in my past and, as a result, I arrived solo in Istanbul with newly found confidence, independence, and liberation. 

Cycling across the entire European continent may seem like an impossibly daunting task, but I assure you, it will make you feel like a new person, just like it did for me.

-Lauren from The Planet Edit

Best travel experience in Jamaica

15. How The Caribbean Shaped Me Into A Fully Sustainable Traveler

One of my first international trips as an adult was traveling around the Caribbean .

I checked into my hotel in Jamaica and asked for a recommendation for a local place to eat. The receptionist told me that under no circumstances should I should go into the town because it was really dangerous, but that — to my luck — the hotel’s restaurant offered wonderful Caribbean food.

I pondered my options:

Did I really want to spend all my time on the beach without getting to know a single local?

I was a very inexperienced traveler and very young, but there was only one answer to my question:

Absolutely not. I was not going to be visiting a new place and staying hostage in a hotel chain. So out I went.

The poverty hit me in the face. After only seeing fancy resorts, the reality was hard to swallow.

A few locals approached me and were super curious as to what I was doing there alone, since most tourists didn’t go there.

I told them I was interested in meeting them and experiencing their culture. And just like that, I was embraced.

We met more people, had some food, and then we danced the night away. They had so little, yet they wanted to share it with me. They wanted to make me feel welcome.

And they undeniably did.

The next morning all I could think about was how all the money most tourists spend goes to big corporations. The locals have to be thankful if they get a job that pays minimum wage, while foreign businesses earn millions.

I have always been environmentally conscious, but this trip made it clear that sustainability goes well beyond nature and wildlife.

It’s also about communities.

From then on I always look for locally owned accommodation, eateries, guides, and souvenirs.

Sustainability, with everything it entails, became a motto for me and changed the very essence of the way I travel.

-Coni from  Experiencing the Globe

Short stories about travel in Peru

16. Lessons From My Students In Peru

One of the most life-changing trips I’ve ever been on was a volunteering experience in the stunning city of Cuzco in Peru.

I spent a month there teaching English and Italian to a group of local adults. And even though my time there was short, the travel experience was so humbling that it changed my outlook on life.

My lessons took the form of active conversations, which essentially turned into a massive multilingual cultural exchange between me and my students. Hearing my students talk about their lives — and realizing just how different they were from mine — made me look at my own life with a fresh new perspective.

One person spoke about the three years he spent living in a jungle with his dad, where they fed off of animals they hunted in order to survive.

Another student told me about her ultimate dream of mastering English so that she could become a tour guide and have a more stable future.

For me, these stories were a reminder of just how small I am in this world and how much we can get consumed by the small bubbles we live in. 

Most of all, my students showed a passion and appreciation for life that I’d never witnessed before.

This is true for the locals I met in Cuzco in general. The quality of life in Cuzco is very modest; hot water is scarce and you learn to live with little.

But the locals there do way more than just that — they spontaneously parade the streets with trumpets and drums just because they’re feeling happy, and their energy for the simple things in life is incredibly contagious.

It was impossible to not feel inspired in Cuzco because my students always had the biggest smiles on their faces, and the locals showed me again and again that simply being alive is a blessing.

I went to Peru to teach, but ended up learning more from my students and the locals there than they did from me.

Ever since I got back from that trip, I made it a goal to slow down and not take the simple things in life for granted.

Every time I get upset about something, I think about the Peruvians in Cuzco parading their streets in song and pure joy, and I tell myself to stop complaining.

-Jiayi from  The Diary of a Nomad

inspiring traveling stories about overcoming obstacles

17. Braving Travel With Chronic Pain

Santiago de Compostela is a beautiful city with a prominent cathedral positioned centrally within the city.

While the historical cathedral attracts numerous visitors, even more well-known is the route to Santiago de Compostela, Camino de Santiago –- the world-famous pilgrimage route that has a plethora of trailheads and ends in Santiago. 

Home to locals, students, English teachers, and those on a spiritual pilgrimage, personal conquest, or a great outdoor hiking excursion, Santiago is a magical city.

My introduction to Santiago de Compostela doesn’t begin on the pilgrimage route, yet ends with a spiritual awakening analogous with those other unique pilgrimage stories.

It was my first solo trip abroad teaching English in Spain, a country that’s always been on my travel bucket list. A small town outside of Santiago was selected as the school I’d be teaching at for the year.

Unknowingly, this teach abroad program chose the perfect city for me to live in. 

A year prior, I suffered a traumatic brain injury that left me unable to function normally and complete average tasks. Migraines, headaches, and dizziness became my body’s normal temperament, a hidden disability invisible to the naked eye. 

Braving travel with chronic pain was the first lesson I learned during the trip.

The vast green outdoors and fresh dew from the morning rain enlivened me daily and reminded me about the importance of slowing down so I could enjoy traveling with my hidden disability. 

I also learned to stop often for daily tea breaks and to embrace the long lunch hour,  siestas , with good food, company, and a nap to rest.

Meeting locals , indulging in local food, and learning Spanish allowed me to connect deeply with the beautiful culture of Santiago. After all, my dream was to travel to Spain, and I more than accomplished that dream.

Difficult or not, I learned to own my dream and I was more than surprised with the results.

Who knew that a year after my injury I’d be traveling the world with chronic pain, and for that, I’m eternally grateful.

-Ciara from Wellness Travel Diaries

travel experience stories in China

18. A Blessing In Disguise

2020 has been a wild year for all of us and foreign students in China are no exception. As soon as the malevolent virus began to make its rounds in China, our university sent us home for “two weeks.”

However, within a short time, countries began to shut their borders and these “two weeks” turned into months, a full year even.

Crushed by the burden of online lectures and virtual labs, my boyfriend and I packed our bags and caught one of the first flights to his home country of Pakistan.

I had always been an over-ambitious traveler. I believed numbers were everything — the number of countries I visited, the number of hours I spent on a plane, the number of international trips I took in a year. These numbers were what defined me.

My feet were constantly itching and I never liked to spend more than a few days in a place before heading to the next country. Revisiting a place felt superfluous to me.

That’s why I was hoping to spend a month or two in Pakistan and then continue to check new countries off the list — after all, my online classes finally granted me the freedom to “work on my numbers.”

But as is usually the case in 2020, things turned out quite different from what I had expected. Borders remained closed and worldwide infections stayed rampant. At this point, I have already spent nearly half a year in Pakistan.

During this peculiar time, however, an amazing thing happened:

My mindset about travel started to change and I began to look at my long stay in Pakistan as perhaps my most valuable travel experience ever.

I may not have visited dozens of countries like in previous years but my experiences were deeper than ever before.

From trekking to one of the world’s tallest mountains to sharing tea with heavily armed officers at nearly 5,000 meters altitude to exploring hidden beaches in the most secluded regions to spontaneously being invited to village homes, my adventures in Pakistan couldn’t have been more incredible. They opened my eyes to the sheer diversity of many countries and completely transformed my idea about traveling. 

It took me nearly a full year of heavy restrictions on international travel and a few months in one of the world’s most fascinating countries to give up on my superficial ideals and become a more mature traveler.

This time will always have a special place in my heart.

-Arabela from The Spicy Travel Girl

short travel stories about life-changing trips

19. What The River Taught Me

My travel story takes place in the summer of 2017 — the final summer before I graduated university — as it continues to play a significant role in the person I’ve become.

When I say that, people ask me if it was the portion of the summer I spent solo backpacking in Europe . And to their surprise, it wasn’t. It was actually the latter portion of the summer where I stayed closer to home.

For July and August I worked as a canoe guide leading whitewater canoe trips on remote rivers in Canada. It was here that I got to canoe the powerful and iconic Missinaibi River, a river that continues to influence me all these years later.

The Missinaibi River flows from the powerful Lake Superior to the even more powerful salty waters of James Bay. Here, I led a group of eight teenagers through dozens of whitewater rapids over 500 kilometers (~311 miles).

With no cell service for 25 days, we were forced to disconnect from anything other than the river.

During this trip I learned two important lessons:

First, I learned to be confident in my own abilities as a leader and problem solver.

There were a few rapids where my campers’ boats flipped and I had to rescue the campers and the canoes. One rescue saw two boats flip on a mile-long rapid. It took six hours to make it down the rapid, and during this time I managed stuck canoes and crying campers.

And while this was one of the most difficult rescues I’ve done, I was amazed at how calm I was throughout it. I gave clear directions, prioritized effectively, and kept my campers safe throughout the entire experience. Following the rescue, I had a newfound sense of confidence in my abilities.

The second lesson I learned on the Missinaibi was the power of disconnecting from society and connecting with the people around you.

A wild river commands all of your attention. Each day, you and your group must take down camp, load canoes, paddle up to eight hours while navigating both rapids and portages, get to a new campsite, set up camp, cook dinner, and go to bed.

And without the distraction of technology, your attention has nowhere else to be. You focus on the river and your teammates.

As someone who had wrestled with anxiety and depression prior to this summer, I felt at total ease on the trip. Now I seek societal disconnection and human connection as much as I can. 

Sometimes the most profound, life-altering trips are the least expected trips closer to home.

-Mikaela of  Voyageur Tripper

More Short Travel Experience Stories

25 Crazy Travel Stories You Need To Read To Believe

23 Inspiring Travel Stories Sharing The Kindness Of Strangers

17 True Short Adventure Travel Stories To Inspire Your Next Trip

38 Inspiring Travel Love Stories From The Road

16 Short Funny Travel Stories That Will Make You Laugh

20 Embarrassing Travel Stories That Will Make You Laugh & Blush

21 Travel Horror Stories About Scary Travel Experiences

Do you have any inspiring travel experience stories about life-changing trips to share?

Enjoyed these inspiring stories about travel? Pin them for later!

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These stories are so much fun to read! Thanks so much for putting a post like this together. It’s great to be able to check out other people’s blogs and read about other people’s experiences!

Always great to read about travel experiences of others. Some great stories to read over coffee. I’ve Pinned your post for future reference and to share with others. Will check out each story author’s blog as well. Great Job! 🙂

Amazing story for new traveler like me thanks for your contribution

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Take a Glow-in-the-dark Tour of an Australian Forest, Enjoy Teatime in Japan, and More With This New Virtual Travel Company

Beeyonder offers more than 350 virtual travel experiences in nearly 50 countries.

Jessica Poitevien is an international storyteller and regular contributor to Travel + Leisure.

travel xperience

The idea of connecting with people and places online is nothing new, but virtual experiences have undeniably gained a higher level of popularity since the pandemic forced almost everyone around the world to stay home. Familiar companies like Amazon and Airbnb began offering online tours, classes, and other digital travel experiences, but new names also sprung from the hardships over the past year.

Beeyonder is one of them.

Launched in December 2020, Beeyonder brings people on virtual adventures around the world, exploring nearly 50 countries, plus Antarctica. And though the company was established in the midst of the pandemic, its inspiration and purpose stems from its founder's experience as a bilateral amputee.

"While being a bilateral amputee doesn't prevent me from traveling, I do have joint issues that prevent me from walking long distances without a significant amount of pain," Beeyonder founder Brittany Palmer told Travel + Leisure . "I thought how wonderful it would be to be able to see things I may never get to see in person through virtual experiences."

She also thought of her husband, who suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm in 2013 and spent weeks in the hospital and several months at home in recovery.

"Based on [those] experiences, I started looking into how many people in the U.S. have disabilities and other conditions that prevent or inhibit travel, and found that there are [more than] 40 million people in that category — limited mobility, hospital/homebound, those who have degenerative diseases, agoraphobia, a fear of flying, those on parole," Palmer explained. "I wanted to provide the ultimate equal access to travel."

With that, Beeyonder was born. Now, anyone can sign up for the company's 350 virtual experiences, which include glow-in-the-dark tours of an Australian forest to see biofluorescent and bioluminescent wildlife, fungi, and leaves; a dive into the world of the Vikings in Norway; and teatime in Japan. Beeyonder offers both private and group options, each led by a qualified guide. The experiences are also interactive, so guests will be able to speak with their guides and ask questions.

According to Palmer, the response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive.

"We've had families from across the country, a rehabilitation center for adults suffering from brain injuries, a nonprofit working with adults and kids with developmental disabilities, and many more, all of whom have had wonderful experiences," she said.

And although countries are reopening their borders and travel is picking up again, Palmer believes that virtual experiences are here to stay .

"Based on surveys we've conducted, most people plan to continue to do virtual tours, even after the pandemic subsides. There are millions of people in the U.S. alone that have disabilities that prevent or inhibit travel. They will still need virtual tours to see the world."

Jessica Poitevien is a Travel + Leisure contributor currently based in South Florida, but she's always on the lookout for her next adventure. Besides traveling, she loves baking, talking to strangers, and taking long walks on the beach. Follow her adventures on Instagram .

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The 25 Travel Experiences You Must Have

A pair of internationally minded writers, a chef, an architect and a landscape photographer made a list of the most extraordinary adventures a person should seek out. Here are the results.

By Alwa Cooper ,  Ashlea Halpern ,  Debra Kamin ,  Aileen Kwun ,  Miguel Morales ,  Dan Piepenbring and Michael Snyder

One July morning, a five-person jury — including the writers Pico Iyer and Aatish Taseer , the architect Toshiko Mori , the chef and food scientist David Zilber and the landscape photographer Victoria Sambunaris — gathered over Zoom to debate what, exactly, constitutes a “travel experience” and how some might rise above the rest. To get the conversation started, each panelist had nominated at least 10 selections in advance of the call; their job now was to slash that list from 55 to 25.

The participants were all polite, often deferring to whomever they deemed an expert on a particular subject: Zilber, who worked at Noma and co-authored the Copenhagen restaurant’s 2018 book about fermentation, on outstanding restaurants; Sambunaris, who traverses the country several months a year by car to capture her images, on the spectacular topography of the American West. They were also quick to sacrifice their own darlings, particularly if they felt they were too familiar (Petra, Machu Picchu), too obscure (Alvar Aalto’s Muuratsalo Experimental summer house in Säynätsalo, Finland — a Mori selection), too personal (driving the Karakoram Highway connecting Pakistan and China — something Taseer heard about from his father) or too commodified (a Nile River cruise, most hotel stays ). As Iyer put it, “Hotels offer luxury and comfort, but they rarely touch my soul.”

Some panelists rescinded nominations for experiences they hadn’t had themselves, despite having dreamed for years about what it might be like to, say, hike through Japan’s remote Yakushima Island National Park , the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki ’s “Princess Mononoke” (1997) . (“I feel like I don’t know if going there would destroy or enhance my fantasy,” Mori said.) Others opted to keep in the mix selections to which they couldn’t personally attest — proving how powerful our collective imagination can be. If something seemed too easy, they worried it might not be special enough. At the same time, not every experience chosen is rare or difficult to access: Sometimes it’s just a matter of opening your eyes (or mind) to whatever magic a place has to offer.

The panel considered safety, too, with some participants concluding that what might make a destination “dangerous” is largely, though not entirely, shaped by personal history and worldview. Others wanted to be sure readers were asked to conduct their own research before deciding whether or not to set out for a certain place, as situations on the ground can change rapidly. At the time of publication, the U.S. State Department had issued its strongest possible warning — Level 4: Do Not Travel — for four of the destinations on the following list; several others have been categorized as Level 3: Reconsider Travel. But most of the panelists agreed, time and again, to include politically, ethically and ideologically fraught locations . “War-torn countries and places in conflict right now haven’t always been and might not always be,” said Zilber. “I don’t think [their current status] should negate their inclusion.” (In the months between when this panel met — on July 20, 2022 — and the list’s publication, the world continued to shift: the Russian war with Ukraine deepened; Iran erupted in protests following the arrest and subsequent death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman accused by the country’s morality police of violating their hijab law; and Ethiopia and the Tigray Defense Forces, a paramilitary rebel group, agreed to a cease-fire after two years of ruinous civil war.)

The final lineup, which is grouped geographically but not ranked, includes experiences of art and architecture, food, history and religion. There’s something for every whim and every kind of traveler — even those who may never leave their armchairs. — Ashlea Halpern

This conversation has been edited and condensed.

Ashlea Halpern: I’m curious to hear how each of you defined the word “experience” when you sat down to make your list.

Pico Iyer: I asked myself, “Which are the moments that most stay with me 30 years on in my life? Which are the most moving and also the most unexpected?” I wouldn’t include seeing the Taj Mahal by moonlight, because most Times readers would be aware of that. So something slightly different, but something that still reverberates inside me half a lifetime later.

Victoria Sambunaris: I defined “experience” as a journey, because that’s what I do in my life: I’m on the road for months at a time, immersing myself in the landscape. I’m interacting with people and learning about the [local] culture, history, ecology and geography. No reservations anywhere, being spontaneous, camping under the stars — there’s a great sense of adventure.

Aatish Taseer: I veer toward man-made things — cultural and civilizational complications. When a natural experience leaves me with a sense of wonder that I didn’t expect, it breaks the mold. Everyone travels with a sense of what they’re going to see; no one is completely blank. Then, occasionally, there’s a real element of surprise. That’s what I looked for.

David Zilber: “Experience” is really broad; everything is an experience. Binge-watching Netflix while sick is an experience, though I can’t remember what I binge-watch when I’m bedridden at home. But I do remember my 45-minute drive through the mountains of Crete to eat at this man’s biodynamic farm with his kids running around — and I probably will when I’m 75.

Toshiko Mori: I thought of natural wonders, because we forget how small we are, and of being able to observe animal life in a habitat without interfering with it. With Instagram, everybody posts awesome images; [the depicted locations] become huge attractions and it’s destructive to the environment. Also, I thought of certain civilizations and places that have had challenging pasts — like Kurdistan after ISIS retreated. It’s essential for us to engage in experiences like this, because we are incredibly privileged and protected. I didn’t want to forget places that really need attention.

A.H.: Let’s start with Europe. Spain received four nominations from four different panelists — more than any other country on your initial longlists.

1. Taste Wood-Smoked Sorcery at Asador Etxebarri in Spain’s Basque Country

The chef Victor Arguinzoniz was raised amid the rolling green hills of Atxondo, a small village in Spain’s Basque country where, when he was a child, his family kitchen had neither electricity nor gas. Perhaps that’s why the open hearth can produce such magic for him. He has no professional training but for 30 years has overseen a temple to smoke and flame at the Michelin-starred Asador Etxebarri, a rustic restaurant minutes from his childhood home. Arriving there, with its view of cattle grazing in the foothills below, is like stopping time. But in the kitchen, the clock has inched slightly forward: The six custom-made grills, designed by Arguinzoniz and adjustable via pulleys, are tools of culinary alchemy. The chef prepares his own wood coals in special ovens that are cranked up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit. For each protein, he pairs a fuel with the precision of a sommelier, selecting holm oak for delicate shellfish and turning to heartier vine wood for red meats. There’s only one service — at 1:30 p.m. — and one menu per day. The meal, served in 15 courses, is a symphony that builds, plate by smoke-kissed plate, to a crescendo: first the smoked goat butter with Périgord truffle; then the salted, home-cured anchovies on grilled bread; then the beef chop with its crisp black sear and lustrous purple center; and finally a coda of smoky-milk ice cream with an infusion of sweet beets. This is fine dining in its purest, most unpretentious form. — Debra Kamin

D.Z.: Meals are some of the stickiest memories around, and this is definitely in the top three of my lifetime. It goes without saying that the Basque Country of Spain revolutionized food in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the repercussions of that have been felt around the world. I started cooking in 2004, and all the techniques that I’ve learned came from that region. We can talk about Ferran Adrià and his El Bulli and all the progeny who are still cooking today in Barcelona and Madrid, but Etxebarri best encapsulates what this region is about and its deep connection to the land and its people. There’s no one who comes out of that restaurant who doesn’t leave deeply touched.

2. Search for Muslim Spain in Al-Andalus

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From the eighth to the 11th centuries, the Iberian Peninsula, then under Muslim rule, was one of the world’s most important intellectual and artistic hubs. In the region of southern Spain known as Andalusia — the name a Hispanicization of Al-Andalus, as Islamic Spain was known — that heritage remains visible everywhere: in the crimped vocalizations of flamenco music; in the elaborate geometric friezes of Seville’s Alcázar Palace; in the infinite recess of the red-and-white archways of the Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba; and, above all, in Granada’s storied Alhambra, the last Moorish stronghold on the European continent, where it glitters in honeycomb muqarnas and moonlight-washed, waterway-threaded gardens. During the so-called Reconquista, as the centuries-long process through which Catholic kings gradually eroded territories accumulated by successive Muslim dynasties has been historically misnamed, the great cities of Andalusia became spectacular palimpsests of divergent faiths superimposed on top of each other. In Seville, the 15th-century cathedral — the largest Gothic-style building in Europe — stands on the footprint of an Almohad mosque whose graceful minaret was repurposed as a church tower, while in Córdoba, a Renaissance cathedral bursts from the austere, rhythmic heart of the mezquita , itself built atop the remains of a sixth-century Visigothic basilica. After experiencing these spaces, one finds that the influence of Islamic aesthetics throughout Spain — and, indeed, throughout the Americas, devastated and remade under Spanish colonial rule — reveals itself everywhere. Beyond its beauty, Andalusia is a tribute to the indelible marks that cultures and communities leave on one another across time and space. — Michael Snyder

A.T.: Nothing in the world prepares you for the strangeness of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba [Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba]. I’ve grown up in places where there are the mosques on the bones of temples on the bones of Buddhist viharas, but this business of church upon mosque upon church, where you walk in and see the remains of a Visigothic church but you’re in one of the most beautiful mosques in the world [and since the 13th century a church again], it’s like an act of reclamation — or historical revenge. Even the minaret is buried in the belfry of the church. It’s a theme that I love — layers upon layers of history — and just one of the reasons I thought it was absolutely marvelous.

P.I.: I was the one who suggested the Alhambra, so it comes down to whether we want a zoom lens or a wide angle. I chose the Alhambra for all the reasons that Aatish was mentioning: the overlapping of cultures, the historical significance and also the fact that the Alhambra is fairly well known. On nights when it’s open after dark, you’re getting a familiar place in a relatively unfamiliar context. So our question, really, is whether we want to introduce everyone to that entire region or just a microcosm of it.

A.T.: There’s a development I like in a broader trip, where you come to Seville, see the Giralda, which was originally built as the minaret of the old Almohad mosque, now part of this cathedral, and then you’ll journey a little farther and go to Córdoba and see this stunning mosque that has been turned into a church, and then finally it culminates in this last gasp of Islam in Spain, the Emirate of Granada, which then obviously results in the Catholic monarchs and the end of Muslim Spain. But Pico is absolutely right: The Alhambra is the epicenter — the Moors’ last sigh.

T.M.: I like this idea of a journey. This exposure to Muslim culture is so much more interesting than a single place.

3. Venture Into the Norwegian Night in Search of the Northern Lights

​​Spotting the aurora borealis, the elusive natural phenomenon colloquially known as the northern lights, involves careful coordination of time, place and, yes, luck. Like a digital rendering or laser beams projected above an after-hours rave, the unpredictable show illuminates the sky with dancing streaks of saturated yellow, pink, purple and green, a tangoing of solar gas and Earth’s magnetic field rendered in Technicolor. Locales roughly 66.5 degrees above the Equator, where the Arctic Circle begins, are considered prime viewing spots; cottage industries across Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia have sprung up to sell package tours and overnight accommodations to aurora hunters. Lofoten, an archipelago off Norway’s northwest coast, offers one of the most picturesque backdrops for witnessing this mercurial sight. There, a coastline framed by jagged peaks, sweeping fjords, sandy beaches and rorbu , old fishermen’s cabins painted cherry red and pine green, makes for a serene visit, day or night. Winters on the archipelago are long (November to April) and dark (for five weeks in December and January, the sun doesn’t even rise), so consider them a prime time to settle down on a north-facing beach (Unstad and Gimsøy are particularly beautiful) or sink into a hot tub at a heritage fishing lodge, neck craned skyward — and wait. The anticipation is half the fun. — Aileen Kwun

D.Z.: The northern lights are one of those earthly phenomena that don’t make sense — I don’t think that my brain could fully compute what it was like until I saw it in real life. And Lofoten is just extremely picturesque: It’s hard to get to but very rewarding once you’re there. But I don’t know. Maybe the northern lights are the Mona Lisa of the natural world?

A.H.: Anyone else seen the northern lights in Norway or elsewhere?

T.M.: Yeah, I have, because I’m in Maine and you can see it in northern Maine, but I don’t think it’s anything like what Dave is talking about. Lofoten is on my wish list.

A.T.: I saw them in Iceland but I’m 100 percent pinching David’s idea.

P.I.: I was really excited as soon as I saw this [on the list]. I’ve been up to Fairbanks, Alaska, to see the northern lights, and I know people go to Churchill in Manitoba. But the combination of the northern lights and this remote setting sounds irresistible.

4. Journey Across Two Continents and Eight Time Zones on the Trans-Siberian Railway

Traveling to Russia now, as its war with Ukraine continues, is virtually impossible: Nearly all international flights have been suspended, and the State Department has recommended that Americans steer clear of the country. How or whether Russia’s relationship with the rest of the world, not to mention its tourism industry — a frivolous concern compared to the immense suffering of the Ukrainian people — will recover remains to be seen. But in more peaceful times, riding the Trans-Siberian Railway and its shorter connecting lines is an unparalleled experience — a tour through the many and varied cultures that make up the largest country on Earth. The 5,772 miles of track from Moscow to Vladivostok, built at the turn of the 20th century at the behest of Emperor Alexander III, constitutes by itself the longest continuous railway in the world, and before the pandemic and then the war interrupted its international reach, sleeper cars could take you from most major Western European capitals to Moscow in two or three days. From there, you can make it to the other end nonstop in seven days, but arranging layovers along the way allows for a variety of side excursions: Hop off at Yekaterinburg to see the Soviet-era architecture of Russia’s fourth-largest city, for example, or Irkutsk to visit the UNESCO World Heritage site of Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest and deepest freshwater lake. Better yet, switch at Ulan Ude to the Trans-Mongolian Railway, which extends through the capital of Ulaanbaatar and into the Gobi Desert, ideal for fossil hunting and camel riding, before arriving in Beijing. — Alwa Cooper

V.S.: OK, I know Russia is controversial right now. But this is the longest [direct] train journey in the world. You’re going through ancient cities, deep forests, breathtaking mountains and Siberian outposts. You’re seeing a lot.

A.H.: How does the panel feel about including Russia?

A.T.: I feel absolutely fine. Russia existed before Putin, and Russia is going to exist after Putin. I mean, how could I, with a straight face, eliminate traveling through Russia and then go scurrying down to my Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy? I have a firewall between this idea of Russia as a culturally rich nation and the political reality that one can speak critically of. Lots of nations that we love will come to be ruled by bad people.

P.I.: I agree with Aatish. Political complication, historical complexity and texture are really what make these places something more than sites.

5. Savor an Unforgettable Lunch at Ntounias in Western Crete

It takes a 45-minute drive from Chania, Crete, through the Greek island’s White Mountains to reach this mecca of homespun cooking in Drakona. Through scenic Therrisos Gorge, with occasional stops for sheep crossings, the journey is best made with the windows down, cooled by the hillside breeze and dazzled by the sun winking across limestone mountain caps. Expect a warm greeting upon arrival — the view from the terrace of the valley below will make up for any bumps in the rugged and twisty road — but don’t expect a menu. Along with his wife, Evmorfili, Stelios Trilyrakis, the chef, farmer, shepherd, butcher, owner and maître d’, takes care of all that. The daily bounty comes from an organic garden, part of the tavern Trilyrakis took over from his parents in 2004 after years of working as a chef in Chania. Guests are invited to tour the grounds and the nearby apiary as well as the wood stoves and ovens in the kitchen, though the meal rightfully remains the primary attraction. There might be a village salad (horiatiki), farm-baked bread and freshly churned butter, stuffed vegetables cooked in a traditional clay pot, potatoes fried in olive oil for close to an hour, goat sizzling in its own fat and house wine made on-site. In a country known for its cuisine, Ntounias stands apart. — Miguel Morales

D.Z.: This man used to be a chef in Chania and then seemed to think, as I did, that the world of restaurants is just not where it’s at. So he left and founded a little biodynamic farm. He has this plot of land that overlooks a verdant gorge, and he cooks everything on an open fire. You get snails, lamb stew, whatever is in season. It’s not complicated food; it’s never going to be in the Michelin Guide or on the “World’s 50 Best” list. But it’s the closest I’ve tasted to soul food.

T.M.: I love Crete. It’s a very beautiful place and it still has a certain authenticity about it. The roads sometimes dead-end, and when I was there, you needed at least three maps to figure out where you were. It’s a real physical landscape.

D.Z.: The island itself is one of the oldest continually inhabited civilizations in all of Europe. It has a crazy history, and just going there and eating this food, the way that he cooks it, it’s so honest.

6. Join the Faithful in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a Different Kind of White Christmas

There is no Santa Claus in Ethiopia, no halls decked with holly. Christmas, which in so much of the Western world is a commercialized affair, is an intensely spiritual day here, observed not with gifts but with community, incantation and candlelight. The majority of Ethiopians are Christian and most worship freely, despite a history of extremist attacks on churches across the country. The nation follows a solar calendar, and Christmas, known as Genna, is observed on Jan. 7. The holiday begins with fasting on Jan. 6, when, at dusk, devotees head into the streets. In bustling Addis Ababa, a hush falls as thousands of men, women and children, all dressed in white and many wrapped in the traditional cotton robes called netelas , file to church like slow-moving snowdrifts. Many will worship all night, traveling by foot, lit candles in hand, from one church to the next until the small hours of morning. Ethiopia is home to some of the oldest and most beautiful churches in Africa, all of which are filled to capacity on Christmas Eve. (Visitors are welcome to observe.) In the capital, these include the Medhane Alem Cathedral, with its turquoise domes and columnar facade, and the Holy Trinity Cathedral, with its grand murals, jewel-toned stained glass windows and granite tombs in which Emperor Haile Selassie and his consort are interred. Some of the world’s oldest known human fossils have been unearthed from Ethiopian sands. On Christmas Eve, a nation that continues to endure famine and ethnic violence pauses for a prayer of peace. As worshipers pass one another and declare, “ Melkam Genna! ” — “Merry Christmas” in Amharic — the streets all but vibrate. — D.K.

P.I.: I seem to be haunted by places of spiritual intensity, from Lhasa to inner Australia. But I’ve seldom found anywhere to rival the power and magnetism of Ethiopia. It is, by some accounts, the oldest Christian country in the world, and when you drive through it, you feel like you’re going through the biblical books of Kings. But it comes to its culmination on Christmas Eve, when it seems like everyone in the capital is dressed in white, gathering around what look like mangers while these burning-eyed, bearded priests are rocking back and forth with little Bibles that fit in the palms of their hands. I’m not a Christian, but you look around and feel you could be in Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Jesus and that so little has changed in the past 2,000 years. Part of the poignancy is that life tends to be very difficult in Ethiopia, [teetering] between political uncertainty and impoverishment. So there’s this real sense that the religion and the moment mean even more than they might in Madrid or Paris. Although I was there 28 years ago, I’ll never forget walking through the night from church to church, seeing these people with tears in their eyes, gathered in the darkness, holding their candles and singing.

7. Traverse the Blossoming Oases and Ancient Desert Towns of Morocco’s Draa Valley

In precolonial Morocco, the imposing grandeur of the Atlas Mountains marked the boundary between the bilad el-makhzen — land under the rule of the Alaouite sultan — and the bilad el-siba , or “region of anarchy.” Today, to drive the circuitous route through the Atlases and into the Draa Valley is to exist on that line: It’s a liminal place where verdant gardens and soaring minarets open onto the vast barrens of the Sahara. Departing from Marrakesh, head southeast to Ouarzazate, or “the door of the desert,” and then onto M’Hamid, whose Dar Paru hotel exemplifies Berber architecture, with its rammed-earth walls and geometric parapets. From there, follow the N9 and N12 roads to hew close to the Draa, a river that runs along the Algerian border, nourishing a landscape of riotous color: The mountains’ ochers, umbers and emeralds cede to rippling oases of blue palms, olive groves, fields of golden barley and sun-baked adobe casbahs. Once home to a bustling trade route, the region bears the marks of Morocco’s imbricated faiths and folkways. Fragrant date palms, first grown by Arabs who arrived in the seventh century, freckle stretches of arable land hemmed in by sand dunes. Towns such as Tissint draw their influences from the Berbers, who have lived in North Africa for more than 4,000 years. (“Tissint” is the Berber word for salt, another early commodity.) Further southeast, in Akka, more than 300 miles from Marrakesh, are the remains of a community of Jewish merchants and silversmiths who plied their trade in the area as early as the second century. Their homes — made of mud brick and stucco, with walls now jagged or altogether missing — stand as monuments to the Draa’s rich, syncretic past and to the enthralling boundlessness of its present. — Dan Piepenbring

A.T.: I’d been to Marrakesh; I’d been to Tangier. Morocco, for me, was a known commodity. Then I did this journey south a couple of years ago. This is an Arabic place, and yet there’s this very profound other culture that’s always under the surface. The most startling moment came when I arrived in a town where there was an old Jewish quarter of silversmiths and we went into a house that felt like it had been abandoned yesterday. It was just one of those moments where suddenly all of the pieces fall into place and you get a window into another vein of culture or civilization and how it interacted with this Arabized Muslim state of Morocco. I also have to say, landscape-wise, it’s the only place other than Yemen where you’re driving through and you have these discrete, scarified mountains on either side, and every now and then there’ll be, like, a flowering tree against the desert. It’s stunning stuff.

8. Come Face to Face With a Rare Marine Mammal Off the Coast of Southern Mozambique

Sea pig, sea cow, sea camel — the dugong’s epithets aren’t particularly evocative, but its serene presence is the highlight of any dive trip. The 200 or so animals that scientists estimate live in the protected waters of Bazaruto Archipelago National Park constitute the largest remaining dugong population on the East African coast. To experience them, you must fly into the nearest international airport, in the town of Vilankulo, and then organize a helicopter or dhow ride to one of the archipelago’s many resorts and lodges. There are numerous diving and snorkeling spots along Bazaruto’s famed Two-Mile Reef, which offers unusually clear visibility and a thriving coral population. Found in the shallow coastal waters of as many as 40 countries, the large and placid dugong (imagine a manatee with a wider, shorter snout) is intensely shy, and its population is considered “vulnerable,” according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. Its hearing is sharp but its vision is poor; moving in slowly, silently and respectfully is key. Even so, only the luckiest Bazaruto divers will ever spot a dugong — often from a distance of several meters — drifting alone or in pairs. — A.C.

A.T.: When I’m obliged to write about the natural world, I get kind of nervous because I think, “Oh, am I going to feel something? Am I going to know how to translate that feeling in my writing?” By April [2022], I had become very scared of travel: the pandemic, the restrictions, the fear that you were going to be stuck somewhere and not allowed back. All of this was weighing on my mind, and I’d almost lost that sense of wonder, that willingness to leave home. And in this place, which is the basin of the Indian Ocean in that part of the world, the plane tilted and I saw the sand flats push through this ancient archipelago and I thought to myself, “Of course, this is why one leaves home!” I hadn’t scuba-dived in 15 years, and here I was with blacktip reef sharks and sea turtles swimming into the raking light with plankton. Dugongs are incredibly rare, but as we came up from this dive, we saw one. It was a kind of emotional state brought on by the pandemic — a fear of leaving home running smack into that total excitement to be out in the world again.

A.H.: Many other lists like this would probably include an African safari; it’s refreshing not to promote a more traditional safari experience.

T.M.: The African safari has a checkered history because it’s related to hunting animals. There’s a balance now between conservation and infringement, but how those animals are really protected or may not be … there’s a lot we don’t know. So I’m definitely sensitive about not recommending a safari as an experience.

THE MIDDLE EAST

9. discover paradise on earth in the secret courtyard gardens of yazd, iran.

The very concept of paradise was born in Iran around 550 B.C., when Cyrus the Great, in the days of the Achaemenid Empire, oversaw the construction of a spectacular walled oasis called Pasargadae — a place of symmetry, flowering trees and calming waters — setting an example of how man might bend nature in pursuit of ultimate beauty. So deep do the Iranian roots of nirvana run that even the English word “paradise” comes from paridaida , the Old Persian term for walled garden. For those wishing to commune with Eden today, there’s perhaps no better place than Yazd, a 1,600-year-old Iranian desert town that was once a critical stop on the Silk Road. Here, the garden hotels of the city, which today is home to 530,000 people, pay homage to the Iranian legacy of paradise with their hidden courtyards. From the lush Kohan and the majestic Moshir Al Mamalek to the family-run Dad Hotel, the accommodations range from humble to luxurious. For guests who step through the door and out into the enclosed garden, hushed earthly delights of fountains and flowers — soft calla lilies, tulips and desert roses — await. — D.K.

P.I.: In all my traveling life, Iran is definitely the richest, most sophisticated, most surprising place I’ve been. And it’s the one I’m always urging my friends in California to go to — partly because I worry, as with Cuba or with other Middle Eastern places, that we’re reducing them to one-dimensional stereotypes from afar. And I’m so keen for people to experience the human reality firsthand. Sometimes friends will ask me, “Is it safe to go?” Well, I’m sitting here near Los Angeles, which for most of the planet is a really scary place.

Before I went to Iran, I was told by people who had been there that you only have to worry about two things: Everywhere you go, you’re going to be swamped with more friendliness than you know what to do with, and everyone’s going to invite you to dinner. The only reason that didn’t always happen to me was that people took me for Iranian, so they weren’t as excited as if they’d seen a more visible foreigner.

A.T.: I loved Yazd. I have to say that I did run afoul of the authorities in Iran and was turfed out with 48 hours to leave and probably couldn’t go back, but I completely second what Pico said. Up until that point, I had been met with nothing but hospitality and friendship, and Yazd was one of the highlights of that trip.

10. Swim in a Desert Oasis in Oman

Many of Oman’s wadis, or desert valleys, dry up in the scorching summer months, but at Wadi Bani Khalid, wide pools of water glisten year-round. You drive through the desert and suddenly there it is: a cliché of a gleaming desert mirage. But this is no illusion. Above the pristine pools, date palms sway in the breeze, and the rocky white cliff sides of the Hajar Mountains reveal canyons and caves; if you hike into them, you can see shimmering waterfalls. Thousands of tiny garra fish flash beneath the surface of these pools, ready to nibble at the dead skin on your toes. Wadi Bani Khalid is a three-hour drive from Muscat, making it an ideal day trip, although there are lots of budget hotels and desert camps in the area. Many visitors stop first at the sandy outpost of Al Wasil for camel rides and an overnight stay in a Bedouin-style tent. From there, the mountain road winds through fishing villages until the vast expanse of Wadi Bani Khalid, with its nearly 12-mile stretch of water, appears on the horizon. Its natural beauty is as intact today as it was when Oman’s Bedouin tribes relied on it, and a visit here offers an instant connection to the region’s deep history. The Oman government has helped develop the site in recent years, too, bringing with it a paved parking lot, bridges and public restrooms. — D.K.

T.M.: I share Pico’s notions that people should travel to the Middle East. The geographical diversity is incredible, and Oman is a peaceful and stable place. It’s absolutely gorgeous, the air is clear, the food is great and the climate is wonderful. It’s so easy for people to go here, yet Dubai takes all the tourists.

P.I.: I’m so happy to see Oman on the list. I think of it as the Bhutan of the Middle East because it’s so tastefully developed and preserved.

11. Delve Into 6,000-Plus Years of History at Erbil Citadel in Iraq

The longest continuously inhabited settlement in the world, Erbil Citadel lies at the heart of the modern-day capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. To the north, the Zagros Mountains beckon. The Kurdistan Regional Government has been developing trails there to promote hiking across a range that rivals the Alps in size — an impressive backdrop for one of the cradles of civilization. The 6,000-year-old fort sits atop a tell, a 100-foot-high mound the size of 19 football fields made by generations of Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities that built on top of one another. Courtyard homes constructed with oven-fired brick, said to be inspired by the ring of tents nomads once formed around their cattle, nestle inside the citadel walls. Their plain facades conceal branching floor plans that gave privacy to the extended families who once lived there. Visit the citadel with a guide in the late afternoon, when its brick walls turn the color of amber, and then drop by the bustling Qaysari Bazaar, one of the oldest covered markets in the world. Dating to the Ottoman era, it houses stalls of jewelry, textiles, crafts and sweets. Erbil and its citadel have withstood waves of conquest by Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Achaemenids, Greeks, Parthians, Romans, Sassanids, Muslims, Timurids, Mongols and Ottomans. To repair and preserve the settlement, the High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization was formed in 2007; the Kurdistan Regional Government has allocated more than $30 million to the undertaking. But just as the citadel was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014, the rehab stalled temporarily owing to the rise of ISIS. Work has since resumed; the ancient tell remains open; and, despite centuries of conquest and long spells of neglect, the citadel stands: a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. — M.M.

T.M.: Kurds will say, “We have no friends but mountains.” This is one of the world’s largest stateless populaces and it’s constantly in danger, sandwiched between Turkey and Iran. The citadel is still going through reconstruction. I wouldn’t say it’s beautiful, but it gives you a real sense of place and what it’s like to live in a region that has had to defend against ISIS attacks. It’s not a safe choice, but Kurdistan is a strong and resilient community that has survived ongoing and periodic attacks. There are prominent politically progressive women in the government and there are many untouched archaeological sites.

12. Marvel at the Threatened Mud-Brick Skyscrapers of Yemen

In an ancient Semitic world as yet undivided by modern faiths, long before the rise of Christianity or Islam, the cities of what we now call Yemen emerged from the desert as their inhabitants made their fortunes on frankincense and myrrh. As trade between southern Arabia and the Mediterranean flourished, beginning around the third century B.C., these new urban centers sprouted along the so-called Incense Route , their occupants developing, over time, ingenious systems of irrigation and urban planning that are as remarkable today as they were a thousand years ago. In the 2,500-year-old historic center of Sana’a, the capital of modern Yemen, residents adorned the ocher walls of their multistory homes with garlands of gypsum plaster, while in the town of Shibam, which emerged in its current form in the 16th century, rammed-earth towers rose as high as seven stories from a cliff’s edge overlooking the Wadi Hadhramaut, a vertiginous landscape that blurs the boundary between the natural and the man-made. For decades now, these ancient settlements and the people who reside within them have suffered crisis upon crisis — floods and famines and a years-long civil war that, since its beginning in 2014, has precipitated mass starvation, even as historic neighborhoods are shredded by U.S.-backed Saudi bombings. Among the most extraordinary human settlements on earth, the tower cities of Yemen — and, more important, the communities that have for millenniums called them home — are in grave danger of disappearing for good. — M.S.

A.T.: Singularly, without a doubt, this was the most incredible trip I’ve done in my life. This is a rare, stuck-in-the-past kind of country: Like pre-Islamic Arabia, it felt Semitic in the deepest sense. Yemen, for me, was that one place where there was no creeping globalization; it was unbelievably pure. There were some dangers then, too, but not like there are now. I hesitate to recommend it because of the safety situation.

P.I.: I was thrilled to see it on the list. And if we have to single out one element in Yemen, those skyscrapers would be the place to start: Anyone who’s seen them is never going to forget them. I think we shouldn’t worry about safety. It is one of the great countries on Earth and, as Aatish was saying, not like anywhere else.

V.S.: Yes, I agree. We should keep it. Just Aatish’s description — I’m ready to go.

13. Follow the Silk Road Through the Caravan Cities of Uzbekistan

Step back in time with a visit to three of the most important stops on the Silk Road, each city a distinctive meld of Greek, Turkish, Mongol, Muslim and Russian cultures. In the tiled expanse of the Registan, ancient Samarkand’s public square framed by three madrasas (Islamic schools), stand transfixed beneath the grand portals, patterned minarets and ornate cupolas. A little down the road to the west lies Gur-e-Amir, the resting place of the Turco-Mongol conqueror Tamerlane. Resplendent with intricate tile work and crowned by a heavenly blue dome, the mausoleum inspired the Mughal master craftspeople of the Taj Mahal. A leisurely walk northeast, past new developments and century-old buildings, calls for a stopover at Siyob Bazaar, where you can wander the food stalls selling pomegranates, dates, halvah, naan and more. A few hundred paces away is Bibi-Khanym: One of the largest mosques built in the 15th century, the structure was restored to much of its former glory in the latter half of the 20th, its grand azure dome and four minarets suspended against the backdrop of the iwan. There are no direct flights from Samarkand to Bukhara, so take the scenic route by train, past rippling red sands, the oases that punctuate the bleached-out plains of the Kyzylkum Desert and Poi-Kalyan, the sprawling mosque complex, where the baked brick of minaret, madrasa and mosque glow pink at sunset. And though all three cities have centuries-old caravansaries — the famed inns where Silk Road merchants stayed — Ichan-Kala, a remnant of the ancient Khiva oasis, checkered with medieval Islamic buildings, appears completely untouched by time. Countless others have walked these walls before, and now you have joined your steps to theirs, grounded together in the richness of the past. — M.M.

A.T.: I mean, unparalleled, the most wonderful Silk Road trip you can do. Stunning monuments, red desert, old Persianate culture mixing with the culture of the steppe and then, obviously, the Soviet empire. I would recommend it very highly.

14. Tour the Lofty Potala Palace in Lhasa, a Sacred Repository of Tibetan Artifacts

Rising out of a cliff face more than 12,000 feet above sea level, Tibet’s Potala Palace feels like a lavish retreat, a religious sanctuary and an impregnable fortress all in one. The climb to the top of the 13-story building is breathtaking in every sense of the word; make sure you’ve acclimated to the altitude before you attempt it. And the palace’s sloped red-and-white facade — repainted annually with a mixture of honey, milk, brown sugar and saffron — is as inviting as it is magisterial. (Frank Lloyd Wright found it so inspiring that he kept a photo of it in his drafting room.) Completed in 1649, the palace’s two divisions, one red and one white, together comprise at least one thousand rooms that encapsulate the vibrant multiplicity of Tibetan history. Guided tours, lit by traditional butter lamps, take you through rooms crowded with hundreds of murals, works of porcelain and jade, intricate carpets and Buddhist scriptures; the world’s longest scroll of Tibetan calligraphy, measuring 676 feet in length, has been housed here since 2014. Also on display are astonishing gilded stupas — wooden towers of concentric rings inlaid with jewels, each crowned with a sun and moon — containing the remains of eight Dalai Lamas. The Potala is a tribute to Buddhism and an embattled people; located on a mountaintop in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, or “place of gods,” it has survived numerous attempts at looting and destruction since Tibet was annexed by China in 1950. Its resilience is reason enough to go. — D.P.

P.I.: Tibet is a really important place for people to visit culturally and politically because it’s so imperiled. Ladakh is more beautiful and Bhutan is more protected. But Tibet, the center of this rich culture and religion, is being destroyed very quickly, and anyone who goes there suddenly feels deeply invested in its protection.

15. Explore the Architectural Syncretism in South India’s Deccan Plateau

The vast highlands stretching between the eastern and western coastal ranges of the peninsular subcontinent have seen the rise and fall of countless kingdoms, each of which has left behind architectural remains as proof of its former glory. Nowhere is that immense cultural wealth more evident than in the temple towns and former imperial capitals of northern Karnataka, near the Deccan Plateau’s semi-arid heart. Beginning in the sixth century, the Eastern Chalukya dynasty, a vast and culturally diverse empire, turned its successive capitals in the now-sleepy villages of Aihole and Badami and the ceremonial center of Pattadakal into hubs for experimentation in religious architecture, assembling free-standing temples from elaborately carved stone that drew influence from both North and South India and excavating and erecting sites of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist devotion. In the 14th century, the Muslim Bahmani kings introduced Persianate domes and crenellated walls at the fortress capital of Bidar, while in Bijapur, roughly six hours southwest, the skyline bristles with minarets and domes left behind by the Adil Shahi sultans, who ruled there in the 16th and 17th centuries. Farther south, the subcontinent’s last great Hindu empire blossomed in the city of Vijayanagar, built over the course of 200 years, then abandoned in 1565 after its defeat by the sultanates of the northern Deccan. Now known as Hampi, that great city marks the pinnacle of Dravidian architecture, with its soaring temple towers and colonnades. Taken together, these cities and towns, clustered in the northern districts of Karnataka state, represent a practically endless trove of architectural treasures at least as rich as the Mughal mosques and Rajput temples of North India’s well-trodden tourist circuit. More important, they speak to the long tradition of syncretism that has always defined India, a tradition that contemporary politics increasingly — and tragically — aims to erase. — M.S.

A.T.: I went to school in South India, and the Deccan is very far from the world of the Taj Mahal and North Indian Islamic architecture. It was this unbelievable trail with beautiful temples in Aihole and Badami. Then you come to Hampi, which was once the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire, and it’s a site like Angkor Wat: absolutely stunning. Then you carry on to Bidar and Bijapur [Vijayapura] and you see mosques — it’s one of the most interesting, beautiful meeting points of Islam and Hinduism, but in the south of India as opposed to the north.

P.I.: I’ve been to India quite a few times and I’ve never heard about those wonders. It’s a fresh, eye-opening suggestion.

16. Hike Japan’s Lore-Steeped Kumano Kodo Trail

South of the ancient cities of Kyoto and Nara, Japan’s Kii Peninsula offers dramatic ocean vistas and dense old-growth cedar forests. Its flickering shadows, creeping mosses and shrouds of ethereal mist have enraptured pilgrims and seekers since antiquity, and the region’s awe-inspiring tranquillity has come to embody the long commingling of Shinto and Buddhist traditions. Every year, as many as 15 million people hike the Kumano Kodo, a network of trails more than a thousand years old and totaling more than 600 miles, whose cobblestone stairs and long wooden footbridges lead to three grand shrines: the Kumano Hongu Taisha, the Kumano Nachi Taisha and the Kumano Hayatama Taisha, all prized for their ability to heal and purify. (That last one is said to date to A.D. 128, when it was built for gods who’d descended to Earth.) Comprising seven routes around the peninsula or through the heart of the Kii Mountains, the Kumano Kodo is so sprawling that no two journeys will ever be alike, though all are formidable; its Kohechi trail, a four-day, 43-mile hike over three mountain passes, includes vertiginous ascents of more than 3,200 feet and is renowned for its difficulty. Those who make the strenuous climb will find weathered milestones, natural hot springs and a hand-operated cable car suspended over a riverbank. Visitors can seek shelter for the night at designated campsites or at minshuku, guesthouses scattered along the route. Further on, at the Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine, a stately three-tiered pagoda overlooks the 436-foot Nachi no Taki, Japan’s tallest single-drop waterfall, long considered a sacred entity, which has enveloped generations of travelers in its awesome roar. — D.P.

T.M.: I like the idea of Shinto mountain worship: It’s a challenging but incredibly cleansing experience — like the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.

D.Z.: I know two people who’ve done it, both after their fathers died. They said it was transformative.

T.M.: It’s arduous, and that makes it a strange spiritual experience unlike anything else.

17. Spend the Day in the Womblike Emptiness of the Teshima Art Museum in Japan

Before the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of travelers visited the art islands of Japan, a collection of some 20 former fishing and industry isles turned art havens scattered across the Seto Inland Sea, just over an hourlong flight from Tokyo. They made the trek via a combination of train, ferry, car, bus and bicycle, some with visions of Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin” (1994), a polka-dot yellow fiberglass pumpkin positioned at the end of a pier, in their heads. That sculpture was responsible for much of the foot traffic at the Benesse Art Site on Naoshima, a small island with several museums designed by Tadao Ando, until it was swept out to sea during a typhoon in 2021. (The work was eventually recovered, restored and, last month, put back on display.) As Japan slowly reopens, the Art Islands continue to attract pilgrims. Inujima, Shodoshima and Megijima host installations and art fairs in once-abandoned buildings, but it’s Teshima Island, home of the Teshima Art Museum, that travelers most need to experience. Designed by the Tokyo-based architect Ryue Nishizawa, the museum’s low-lying concrete shell is a feat of engineering and a work of art in itself. Inspired by the bulbous curve of a water droplet resting on a sheet of glass, it appears to emerge organically from a forested hillside overlooking the sea. Inside, two open-air oculi frame shifting scenes of water, sky and sunlight alongside the museum’s single permanent installation, 2010’s “Bokei” (Matrix), by the Hiroshima-based artist Rei Naito. The contemplative work features beads of water that emerge from, pool atop and are reabsorbed into pinholes perforating the floor. To enjoy a few hours in its engulfing silence, watching the light change with each passing hour, is to surrender to time itself. — A.K.

P.I.: I’ve been really impressed by the art project around Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea and how it has developed over the past 30 years. Though I would recommend the entire Naoshima project, the most piercing place is Teshima. You take a bus across a quiet island, end up on a hill and step into this vast empty space, which is the museum. There’s nothing there except two openings in the roof and drops of water being made to emerge from the ground. And somehow it’s transfixing — like a James Turrell Skyspace doubled and taken in an almost feminine direction. So many people, from billionaires to meditation teachers, have told me this is the single most moving place they have ever been.

THE AMERICAS

18. take the ultimate road trip: drive the pan-american highway from argentina to alaska.

Roughly tracing the path that early man followed after crossing the land bridge over the Bering Strait, the Pan-American Highway runs at least 19,000 miles from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska to Ushuaia at the edge of Tierra del Fuego, a subantarctic territory split between Chile and Argentina. Crossing 14 countries and interrupted only by the ecologically fragile forests of the Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia, the highway — really a collection of interconnected freeways splintered across various routes — traverses the tundra of western Canada and the peaks of the Rockies, the deserts of northern Mexico and the pampas of Patagonia. Options for detours along the way are almost endless. You might weave through the national parks of the American West. In Mexico, depending on which route you take, you might feast on roasted goat in Monterrey or raw seafood in coastal Mazatlán. You could wander colonial cities like Antigua, Guatemala, or Granada, Nicaragua, and bird-watch in the rainforests of Costa Rica. In the valleys between Colombia’s triplicate Cordilleras, you could sip coffee among green hills in the department of Quindío and salsa dance in the lowland city of Cali. Following the Andes south, you’ll gaze upon the gilded extravagance of Ecuador’s whitewashed capital, Quito, or hike in the highland planes below the snow-dusted dome of Cotopaxi, that country’s highest active volcano. You could deviate from the main road to lose yourself in the endless white expanse of Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, then follow the spine of South America through regions of Argentina and Chile punctuated by vineyards and lakes. To drive the Pan-American Highway is to glimpse the immensity of the Americas and the unthinkable marvels of a world both ancient and irrepressibly new. — M.S.

V.S.: You’re driving through at least 14 countries including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. There’s surfing, jungles, swimming, birding, colonial towns, the history, the culture, glaciers, caves, blue lakes, beaches, hot springs in Mexico — it gives you everything.

19. Behold the Natural Wonders of Chile’s Atacama Desert

Ranging from the Pacific Coast to the Andean Altiplano and locked in the rain shadow of the world’s longest mountain range, the Atacama Desert, located mostly within northern Chile, is among the most alien landscapes on the planet. Pink flamingos gather at the edges of salt lakes the color of lapis or topaz or garnet. Perfectly conical volcanoes loom over salt flats and desolate plains where guanacos, elegantly proportioned cousins of llamas, and viscachas, which resemble long-tailed rabbits, drift through prickly wisps of ground-hugging vegetation. Jets of steam slip through the arid turf in some of the highest geyser fields, and rocky hills drop into the frigid blue waters of the Pacific. Uncontaminated by light or clouds or moisture, the night sky explodes with stars, recorded and studied by some of the most advanced telescopes on Earth. Covering a swath of 70,000 square miles and contiguous with similar biomes in neighboring corners of Argentina, Peru and Bolivia, the Atacama is so extreme in its atmospheric conditions that NASA used it as a test site for its Mars rovers in 2017. Until civilian space travel becomes a reality, the Atacama, with its spectral beauty, will remain perhaps the closest one can get to an extraplanetary experience. — M.S.

V.S.: The Atacama is the driest nonpolar desert on Earth. And I love extremes, obviously. I felt that this would offer a remote and diverse experience with lunar landscapes, salt pools comparable to the Dead Sea, sand dunes, rock formations, hiking and incredible stargazing.

T.M.: You can have an amazing time looking at stars, and it’s incredibly dry, so the atmosphere is very different. A truly visceral experience.

20. Feast on the Cuisines of Oaxaca City, Mexico

The state of Oaxaca has long been a focal point of Mexican culinary identity. But in the past few years, the namesake capital’s limestone buildings and dazzling evening light have attracted unprecedented numbers of visitors, upending the equilibrium between its Indigenous identity and the constant demands of tourists for elegant restaurants and luxury hotels. Yet growing awareness of Oaxaca’s cultural wealth and diversity has also made it possible for chefs with local roots to open revelatory new businesses in spaces as simple as they are unforgettable. At Levadura de Olla, for instance, the chef Thalía Barrios García prepares food straight out of the remote hill country south of the city where she grew up. Bowls of black beans fragrant with wood smoke or, in season, tacos made with the brilliant crimson flowers of the pipe tree are the closest thing to country cooking you’re likely to find in any major city. Outside the center, the chef Jorge León has turned the tranquil garden of his family home into a restaurant called Alfonsina, where he serves an ambitious, adventurous tasting menu that draws on his experience as a cook at Pujol, the high-concept gastronomic temple in Mexico City, while his mother and aunts turn out a parallel menu of traditional dishes like a meticulously prepared hoja santa-scented mole amarillo. Every corner of this wondrous city and its surrounding countryside contains its own culinary jewels — from market stalls selling steamed tamales swaddled in banana leaves and crisp corn tlayudas folded like envelopes around sheets of chile-rubbed beef, to relaxed mezcalerías and market halls redolent of barbacoa cooked overnight in underground pits. The newer restaurants aim neither to replicate nor supplant these spaces but, rather, to honor them and, in their down-to-earth manner, expand their reach. — M.S.

A.T.: A lot of food scenes can be quite fussy. What was moving to me here were restaurants like Levadura de Olla, with a woman who’s come from the hills of Oaxaca to bring the cuisine of her home to this restaurant. Besides the food being wonderful, it seemed like a real break from the sort of fine dining you find elsewhere.

21. Dance Until You Drop at Carnival in Cuba

Cuba’s massive Carnival celebrations have been held in some form or another since the 17th century. As a series of winter events tied to the Catholic Church’s calendar, Carnival was largely reserved for Cubans of mostly Spanish ancestry, while its summer counterpart, the Mamarrachos, allowed laborers and the lower classes (mostly enslaved Africans and their descendants) a period of riotous release after the sugar cane harvest. Many other Carnivals across the Caribbean are still observed in February, before Lent, but Cuba’s Carnival has evolved into an exuberant summer event that is celebrated across the country. The most famous parties, held in Havana in August and in Santiago de Cuba at the end of July, have preserved the vibrant spirit and Afro-Caribbean influences of the original Mamarrachos. Spangled and feathered groups of dancers called comparsas perform in the streets between giant effigies of religious figures and celebrities, decorated floats and conga performers. The mainstreaming of festivals that originated from marginalized communities hasn’t been entirely seamless, with periodic attempts by conservative Cubans to sanitize them, but the omnipresent rhythm of the Carnival drums is a permanent reminder of their roots in resilience, triumph and pure joy. — A.C.

P.I.: Cuba is one of the most powerful places I’ve been and Carnival is a wild concentration of its energy, music and spirit.

A.T.: That’s a great way to do Cuba — because it’s atmospheric. Going there is one of those experiences that, 20 years on, I can’t stop thinking about.

22. Take In the Magnificent Scale and Immutable Geology of the Colorado Plateau

The high desert of the Colorado Plateau covers 150,000 square miles, stretching across the Four Corners region in an arid, empyrean expanse including not only its namesake state but parts of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, as well as the whole of the Navajo Nation. From its massive sedimentary rocks rise gnarled, sweeping geological marvels that seem to defy gravity and dwarf the human concept of space: Here are the mesas, petrified forests, monoliths, pinnacles and hoodoos that define the rugged archetype of the American West. The Ancestral Pueblo people, who lived on the plateau until around A.D. 1300, left ruins in the form of kivas — circular subterranean chambers often used for ceremonies — adobe pueblos and intricate dwellings built into the sides of cliffs. These are enshrined among the plateau’s eight national parks and 18 national monuments, which together constitute some of the greatest, most diverse terrain in the United States. In addition to the Grand Canyon, there’s Bears Ears, a pair of burnt-sienna buttes revered by Indigenous groups; and Grand Staircase-Escalante, an imbricated series of ascending rock layers punctuated with canyons and cliffs. The plateau, in its vastness, offers many opportunities for hiking, cycling, rafting and birding, but the best way to experience it is to camp there, watching as its endless horizons become a vault of stars. — D.P.

V.S.: This area of the country is physically magnificent and encompasses so much of what I find engaging in the West: the Kodachrome red rock formations; the sweeping views; the canyons, mountains, valleys, deserts; the 600-million-year-old geologic history of the plateau and the culturally significant sites of Ancestral Puebloans, reminding us of what was here before. It’s an awe-inspiring trip that will remind you of our fleeting time here while you experience the grandeur where past and present converge.

23. Witness a Solar Eclipse in a Sleepy Fishing Village in Newfoundland, Canada

The next total solar eclipse in North America will occur on April 8, 2024. Among the many scenic vantage points on its path of totality is Bonavista, a town of some 3,000 people on a bucolic peninsula in Newfoundland. There are plenty of remote places here from which to take in the atavistic spectacle: a sublime, disquieting experience, full of renewal and destruction, that shatters one’s sense of magnitude. When you’re not watching the moon engulf the sun in a rite of astronomical passage, you can enjoy more earthly pleasures at the Bonavista lighthouse, which looks out onto a seascape of unsurpassed beauty, featuring calving icebergs, breaching humpback whales and ambling colonies of puffins. Nearby are the Dungeon, a collapsed sea cave warped by erosion into a natural archway, and the Ryan Premises, a set of white clapboard buildings from the 19th century, striking in their simplicity, and once the locus of the town’s thriving cod-fishing industry. (Their slogan: “Where cod is culture.”) Bonavista takes its name from the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto, often Anglicized as John Cabot, who is said to have exclaimed, “O buona vista!” upon glimpsing its shores in 1497. A full-scale replica of Cabot’s ship, the Matthew , floats in a harbor near the village center, where visitors can rent kayaks for whale-watching excursions. — D.P.

D.Z.: The one experience where I’m like, “I will die on this hill for this,” is to observe the next [full] solar eclipse in North America from the path of totality. I’ve never had the chance to [do this] myself, but I will be traveling to Toronto with my son — he’ll be two then — and I want to “ Lion King”-style raise him into the eye of the moon when this happens. It’s something our ancestors have built entire mythologies around: a way of keeping track of celestial bodies and realizing there were powerful forces far beyond our own imagination. With the association eclipses have historically carried with the end of the world, it’d be fitting to witness it from what’s colloquially known as the end of the world: Newfoundland. The province [Newfoundland and Labrador] doesn’t get a lot of credit, but it has some of the most beautiful coastal wild nature in North America. April is also iceberg season, which will only compound the viewing experience.

24. Labor on an Organic Farm in New Zealand

Travel can be alienating, expensive and bad for the environment. WWOOF , or World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, was started in England in 1971 by Susan Coppard as “a way of getting back into the countryside.” The first weekend she spent on a biodynamic farm spawned a global movement with a simple premise: Volunteers lend a hand on organic farms in exchange for food, lodging and an introduction to agriculture. WWOOFing in New Zealand, particularly in Northland, the milder, less-urbanized agrarian hub that spans much of the North Auckland Peninsula and is renowned for its white-sand beaches and giant Kauri forests, pairs this enterprise with a fairy-tale atmosphere. More than 100 farms here accept volunteer workers throughout the year, letting you experience nature and tend to it at the same time, living alongside New Zealanders, learning firsthand about their way of life and finding a way to give back to the picturesque landscape. Farm life often requires rising with the sun, but chores, whether pulling redroot weeds or tending sheep, usually conclude by lunch. Afterward, grander adventures can be had as well: backpacking Northland’s Great Walks, where you can rove through remote subtropical forests, or canoeing down the Whanganui River. But the most rewarding and memorable aspect of the trip comes from forging a bond with the earth and the resilient people who work it. — M.M.

D.Z.: Working on a farm is something everyone alive should do so that they understand where food comes from. WWOOFing is a great way to do that.

A.H.: It’s interesting in that it touches upon a recent trend toward voluntourism but in a less expected way.

T.M.: I have a miniature farm, but it takes all seasons and years to really understand a cycle. It depends on when you go, but you might see the planting, you might see harvesting; you might only get to do weeding.

D.Z.: It’s not a hotel; you can’t come and go as you please. But I don’t think the fact that you don’t get to completely embed yourself in agriculture over the course of multiple years or seasons negates the importance of learning what it’s like to farm.

A.H.: Why New Zealand specifically, David?

DZ: New Zealand, which is absolutely otherworldly for its natural landscape, is also an island nation that is super self-reliant thanks to the work of its farmers. If you chose to, say, help locals regenerate their surroundings by planting food forests, harvesting fruits in an organic orchard or rewilding land to create more habitat for native and endangered species, you would also get to reap the benefits of spending your off hours exploring Middle-earth, finding yourself a short drive from amazing landscapes like Spirits Bay [Piwhane] at the very tip of the North Island or the Te Paki sand dunes. Plus, I mean, who wouldn’t want to see a Kiwi bird in real life, crossing your path as you work in the field?

25. Float in a Zodiac to the Edge of Human Experience

The only continent with no permanent residents, Antarctica is synonymous with isolation. A two-day cruise through the notoriously rough Drake Passage (or a two-hour flight over it) from the tip of either Argentina or Chile brings you to the planet’s southernmost landmass. Once you’re there, the sights are simultaneously imposing and palpably ephemeral; the grandeur of miles-high glaciers in an exquisite spectrum of blues and greens is only heightened by the fragility of the climate that supports them. Antarctic sea ice is melting less quickly than that of the North Pole, but the vulnerability of the frozen sheet that contains more than half of the Earth’s freshwater supply has never been more difficult to ignore. Earlier this year, Antarctic ice was measured as at a record low (though it fluctuates from year to year, in contrast to Arctic ice, which has been consistently shrinking for decades). If the world’s governments fail to limit warming in the coming years to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, as seems increasingly likely, ice sheet collapses in the Antarctic could cause a catastrophic rise in sea levels over the next several centuries. Still, Antarctica’s sublime beauty persists. In addition to its penguin colonies, best encountered from November till January, the whale watching is revelatory. Go in February or March, when receding ice allows the dozen or so passengers in the inflatable Zodiac rafts of expedition cruises to get up-close views of blue whales, orcas, humpback whales and other cetaceans. Travel to Antarctica remains heavily regulated: Unguided landings are forbidden, and the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1991, instituted “leave no trace” guidelines designed to limit the human impact of tourism and scientific exploration alike. Before you go, do some research to identify the most sustainable way to explore . — A.C.

P.I.: I’m not very sensitive to nature, but this was beyond anything I’ve imagined or experienced, even in nearby Patagonia. It awakens you to the environmental concerns of the world, which are probably paramount in most travelers’ minds these days; being exposed to such majesty and beauty and also to the underlying frailty, you go home with important questions for your conscience as well as radiant memories.

At top: Footage of the World/Getty Images, Nick Ballon, Andrew Rowat, Iwan Baan, M’Hammed Kilito, Fernando Maquieira, Michael Turek (3), Nick Bondarev, Salvatore Di Gregorio, @SteMajourneys (2), Sjo/Getty Images, Luca Donninelli, Felix Odell, Stefan Ruiz (2), Grant Harder (2), Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images, James Thompson, Kelly Cheng/Getty Images

Research Editors: Mario Mercado and Alexis Sottile

Copy Editors: Diego Hadis, James Camp and Polly Watson

Photo Editor: Katie Dunn

Ashlea Halpern is a Contributing Editor for T Magazine.

An earlier version of this article rendered incorrectly the name of a city in Cuba; it is Santiago de Cuba, not Santiago del Cuba.

An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of a city in the Achaemenid Empire; it was Pasargadae, not Parsargadae.

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Nuestro viaje familiar a Berlín organizado por Travel Xperience ha sido fantástico , desde el inicio con los preparativos y luego allí en destino con los traslados

Este viaje a Tromsø nos ha permitido llegar a sitios y hacer actividades que no habríamos podido imaginar: ver las auroras boreales en un cielo estrellado a casi -12ºC, contemplar las ballenas en

Nuestro viaje familiar a Noruega, organizado por Travel Xperience, ha sido un un éxito. Todo ha estado organizado cronométricamente, desde traslados y hoteles a los viajes en barco.

A través de este medio quería dejar mi comentario sobre la excelente logística que diseñó Travel Xperience para que mi hijo Conrado lograra el gran objetivo de recorrer el Camino de Santiago de Co

Para mí fue un servicio muy acorde a mis necesidades además, ustedes siempre estuvieron muy atentos a cualquier consulta que necesitáramos.

El viaje , el país, los paisajes, la gente, todo genial y precioso, nos han cuidado en cada momento y detalle, los hoteles son impresionantes,

La atención ha sido estupenda durante todo el proceso, al tratarse de un viaje privado para mi y mi mujer todos los traslados los hicimos en coches, al más mínimo problema

Tailandia era uno de los viajes que desde siempre tenía en mente y he vuelto encantado de la vida, he alucinado.

Nuestra experiencia ha sido inmejorable. La atención que nos brindaron Abdeljalil y Khadija en el Riad fue al más puro estilo 'padres', siempre cuidadosos, cari

Nuestra experiencia con Travel Xperience fue muy positiva , desde el inicio de los preparativos del viaje atendieron cada una de nuestras inquietudes, solicitude

Agradecer una vez más a Travel-Xperience por su trabajo y profesionalidad. Organización diez, tanto en aeropuertos, estación de tren, asistencias, hoteles y material.

Hola Belén buenos días! Ya volvimos ayer y hemos descansado un poco, quería agradecerte el trabajo que hiciste ya que el viaje ha salido de 10.

La organización de mi viaje a la India fue excelente, los hoteles estaban bien elegidos, el guía y el conductor cumplieron con su cometido.

Uno de los sueños de mi esposa y mío , casi desde el día en que nos conocimos era poder visitar a Egipto .

Ha sido una semana inolvidable en Niagara y Toronto (Canadá) cumpliendo un sueño después de haberlo tenido que anular por el COVID-19 en el año 2020.

Después del accidente, ha sido muy complejo y difícil organizar viajes.

El viaje fue sobre ruedas desde un principio, no pensé que viajar en avión en sillas de ruedas eléctricas sería tan sencillo.

Sinceramente disfrutar con la familia y la tranquilidad que nos dáis en Travel Xperience es lo mejor del viaje. Sin problemas y con la confianza plena en que todo iba a salir bien.

En general: súper súper súper bien! Habitación bien adaptada , gente muy amable y dispuesta, guias y tours muy adecuados.... y todo muy bien organizado! Así da gusto..!

Era mi primer viaje en avión, elegí como destino la ciudad de la luz, París. Y no me defraudó. Fue una semana increíble, desde la ida, en Sevilla, hasta la vuelta.

Acabo de llegar de Malta y el grupo de wasap no deja de sonar, con fotos o con comentarios sobre como lo hemos pasado.

Si tienes movilidad reducida o eres usuario/a de silla de ruedas o sillamóvil y te da miedo viajar porque no sabes con las barreras que te vas a encontrar, ponte en contacto con

El viatge a Estocolm amb l’organització de Travel Xperience ha estat un èxit total. Des de els consells per poder portar les bateries de liti a l’avió, sort del que ens ha

Queremos daros las gracias por el viaje que nos habeis organizado. Ha salido todo muy bien y hemos disfrutado mucho.

Gracias a Travel Xperience por hacer de Costa Rica un estupendo destino accesible para las personas con movilidad reducida.

La escapada a París organizada por la agencia Travel Xperience ha sido fantástica por lo completo de la información recibida, por la total accesibilidad del hotel, por la comodida

Viaje a Jordania con extensión a Dubai, jamás pensé que podría ver sitios como Petra, el desierto de Wadi Rum, Mar muerto, ha sido una experiencia maravillosa que he podido comp

Hace cinco años empecé a tener problemas de movilidad (debido a la columna), no aguantaba mucho tiempo caminando y me tenia que sentar cada pocos metros.

Una vez más hemos vuelto a depositar nuestra confianza en Travel-Xperience para asegurarnos, con total seguridad, de unas vacaciones accesibles. Nuestro destino el

¡Hola equipo de Travel Xperience ! Ya estamos de regreso. Fue un viaje maravilloso.

Ha sido mi primer viaje con Travel Xperience y la experiencia no ha podido ser más maravillosa , todo facilidades y amabilidad desde el minuto uno.

Resumir este viaje en pocas palabras:  MAGNÍFICO Y BIEN ORGANIZADO . Os daré más de detalles, porque la experiencia lo vale.

Viajar con Travel Xperience supone, en nuestro caso, poder planificar nuestro viaje desde el principio adaptándolo a nuestros gustos y necesidades sin preocuparnos de esas gestion

Desde México nos decidimos a realizar un viaje por Europa pero una de nosotras cinco, Soledad, necesita de servicios accesibles ya que tiene problemas para cami

Es la segunda vez que cerramos un viaje con Travel Xperience y la verdad que todo perfecto, gente seria que se preocupa por hacer de tu viaje algo fácil y sencillo.

Cuándo terminas un viaje y el resultado de él ha sido tan magnífico,  es difícil expresar los sentimientos que aparecen.

Desde hace unos dos años utilizo silla de ruedas. Desde entonces nunca había viajado fuera de España.

Gracias Travel Xperience  por  vuestro trabajo, la atención personalizada, sin tener que preocuparnos  por casi nada, en poder visitar este gran pa

Encantados de haber viajado de manos de una empresa tan profesional . Ha sido la primera pero volveremos a repetir.

Quiero agradecer a la agencia Travel Experience por hacer posible esta experiencia inolvidable y única.

Estaba desesperada porque ninguna agencia se adaptaba a mis necesidades y necesitaba organizar mi viaje de bodas.

Acabamos de llegar de la India nuestro segundo viaje con Travel Xperience un destino aparentemente complicado por su falta de accesibilidad y que decir si a par

Tras alguna mala experiencia con agencias no especializadas nos hemos encontrado con Travel Xperience .

"He estado una semana en Berlín , a través de un amigo me puse en contacto con Travel Xperience ya que me habló muy bien de ellos.

“Este verano hemos estado visitando la ciudad de París, y Disneyland Paris. Venimos encantados, lo hemos pasado en grande.

Excelente y serio el trabajo del equipo de Travel Xperience.Muy profesional, respetando siempre los deseos del cliente y asesorando de manera muy acertada.Una excelente organiza

Una vez más confié en Travel Xperience para organizar nuestro viaje a Copenhague.

En Septiembre del 2017 viajé con Travel Xperience a Berlin, el viaje fue tan bien que decidí repetir con ellos, esta vez quise cumplir el sueño de ver una Aurora Boreal.

Tenía 5 días disponibles y no sabía muy bien qué hacer.

Un sueño cumplido que jamás pensé que podría realizar en silla de ruedas. Habitaciones geniales, la gente volcada con nosotros y un Safari maravilloso.

Soy Romina, viajé por primera vez a Europa y recorrimos Barcelona, París y Amsterdam, gracias a la ayuda de Travel Xperience fue todo armonioso, con su asesoramiento se facilita

Costa rica!! Un país precioso donde mi discapacidad no ha supuesto problemas porque donde no han podido adaptar el sitio lo han superado con su voluntad y empatia. En definitiva un gran viaje!

Encontré Travel-Xperience por casualidad, tras mucho buscar por internet.

Nuestro viaje a Kenia ha sido una experiencia inolvidable por varias razones.

Hemos viajado a Londres unos días, una buena experiencia junto a Travel-Xperiencie. Nos gestionaron los vuelos, la asistencia, el hotel y nos informaron sobre la cuidad.

Costa Rica es uno de aquellos destinos que siempre había visto inalcanzables en silla de ruedas. Travel Xperience nos ha demostrado que no es  cierto.

Estambul es una joya, que se muestra al mundo con sus brillantes mezquitas, museos, iglesias,palacios, cada una te hace explotar de emoción.

Sabíamos que el nuevo reto que proponíamos a Travel Xperience no era sencillo, visitar Suecia y Noruega sin conformarnos con ver las capitales, ¡Queríamos disfr

El pasado mes de Marzo salimos desde Galicia en coche con destino Andorra para pasar unos días disfrutando de la nieve en familia.

Un trato excelente en la elaboración de todas las propuestas de viajes adaptados que tuvimos que realizar al contar con un presupuesto muy ajustado.

Hemos tenido un viaje fantástico, los transportes y los guías perfectos no hemos tenido ningún problema ni con la góndola, lancha taxi y el vaporetto.

“Un viaje increíble a la bella Argentina hecho posible gracias a Travel Xperience. Naturaleza a lo bestia!

Teníamos ganas de hacer un buen viaje. Después de mucho buscar, mi amiga Marisa dio con Travel-Xperience.

"Agradeceros la paciencia que tuvisteis con mis temores a no encontrarme el viaje adaptado a mis necesidades.

"Experiencia muy bien gestionada por TravelXperience. Solo hizo falta comentarle mis necesidades y ellos ya se encargaron de todo: autocar, hotel y grúa. Todo perfectamente adaptado.

Si hay sueños que se pueden realizar, Travel Xperience los hizo posible.

Me alegro mucho de haber contactado con vosotros. Todo ha estado genial!!. Y lo he disfrutado al máximo!!. Estaremos en contacto... Saludos!!

Queremos agradecer la paciencia y dedicación de Travel Experience para preparar nuestro viaje adaptado a la Costa Oeste de Estados Unidos .

Espectacular el viaje a Argentina. Fuimos mi madre en silla de ruedas y yo. Siempre había alguien dispuesto a ayudarnos con el equipaje o la silla. Los argentinos son super amables y atentos.

“Toda mi vida he intentado que el hecho de tener que desplazarme en silla de ruedas nunca fuera una limitación.

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Xtreme Xperience

SONOMA TRAVEL EXPERIENCE

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SUPERCAR TRAVEL EXPERIENCE

NAPA & SONOMA

AUGUST  10-13, 2022

SPEND FOUR DAYS IN LUXURY WITH THE BEST OF NAPA AND SONOMA

Spend four days enjoying an expertly curated vacation that combines the finest luxury accommodations, bespoke experiences, and gastronomic wonders woven in with a unique driving tour in a selection of world-class supercars. On this unforgettable travel experience, you will explore San Francisco’s undeniable attitude and beauty, drive on sweeping roads perched beside ocean vistas, and drive though miles of rolling hills dotted with vineyards and Michelin Star-rated restaurants. Cap off your once-in-a-lifetime experience with an adrenaline-fueled track day at the legendary Sonoma Raceway behind the wheel of the world’s best supercars. Hone your skills and maximize the performance of these vehicles with premier, one-on-one access to professional driving instructors.  From the serenity of an ocean-side drive to the thrill of the racetrack, this luxury getaway is the ultimate expression of automotive utopia.

SPEND FOUR DAYS IN LUXURY WITH THE BEST OF NAPA SONOMA VALLEY

Spend four days enjoying an expertly curated vacation that combines the finest luxury accommodations, bespoke experiences, and gastronomic wonders woven in with a unique driving tour in a selection of world-class supercars. On this unforgettable travel experience, you will explore San Francisco’s undeniable attitude and beauty, drive on sweeping roads perched beside ocean vistas, and drive though miles of deeply forested, rolling hills dotted with vineyards and Michelin Star-rated restaurants. Cap off your once-in-a-lifetime experience with an adrenaline-fueled track day at the legendary Sonoma Raceway behind the wheel of the world’s best supercars. Hone your skills and maximize the performance of these vehicles with premier, one-on-one access to professional driving instructors.  From the serenity of an ocean-side drive to the thrill of the racetrack, this luxury getaway is the ultimate expression of automotive utopia.

TRAVEL EXPERIENCE ITINERARY

You’ll start your journey in the quaint coastal town of Half Moon Bay at one of the region’s finest 5 Star oceanfront hotels. Enjoy views of deep green meadows that mingle with a rocky coastline that’s teeming with life. Ocean fog lifts the senses, as you enjoy a cocktail on the open terrace and watch as the sun dips below the horizon.  Your gastronomic journey begins with a meal at one of the hotel’s incredible restaurants. Prepared with a unique regional focus on organic,  locally sourced ingredients, you’ll taste the best of Half Moon Bays’ bounty. Settle into your luxury accommodations and enjoy the waning hours of the evening as the waves crash in the distance. This is just the beginning.

Waking after a blissful night, begin the day with an energizing breakfast, before departing Half Moon Bay and heading east over the rolling switchbacks along the coastal foothills and past Crystal Springs reservoir for a blast up the highway into iconic San Francisco.  Travel through eclectic neighborhoods like the Mission, Lower Haight, and Cathedral Hill and begin your journey across the span of the Golden Gate Bridge. Next, it’s time to open up the throttle and prepare for a winding journey across the Marin Headlands, as you follow Highway 1 past Mount Tamalpais, Muir Beach, and more. End your day by succumbing to the driving bliss of rolling hills lined with oak and into the Sonoma Valley for a journey’s end.  Enjoy Wine Country style accommodations that will pamper your heart with tranquil surroundings and your stomach with gastronomic creations. Enjoy a curated regional wine selection that showcases the best of the Sonoma Valley. 

Begin your morning with an invigorating drive through the best of Napa Valley’s dynamic landscape. Take to iconic Highway 128, piloting supercars through quaint wine-country towns like Oakville, St. Helena, and Calistoga. Once you exit onto Highway 29, it’s time to open the throttle and push the handling limits of the fleet of supercars at your disposal. Winding roads careen past wineries, deep forests, and natural preserves that are a sensory experience you’ll never forget. Snake past beautiful Lake Berryessa and into the heart of Napa Valley. Wind down your afternoon with uniquely Wine Country experiences like a hot air balloon ride over the vineyards or a personalized spa experience that will soothe your soul.  Your accommodations for the evening will bring the very best of the region’s renowned hospitality together with a style that is uniquely Napa Valley. Enjoy a meal that will transport your taste buds to another dimension at one of the finest restaurants in the world. Cap the evening off with a cocktail or glass of regional wine around the firepit with other travelers or escape romantically with your significant other. 

After an evening of rest and relaxation, grab the keys to the supercar of your choosing and head through the beautiful Napa and Sonoma Valleys to Sonoma Raceway. Now that you’ve spent a few days with engaging supercars on public roads, it’s time to trade peace for passion by pushing the limits of these machines where they were born and bred: the racetrack.  Meet professional driving instructors ready to assist you in maximizing your speed and teaching you how to extract the maximum amount of performance from these pinnacles of supercar expectation. Elevation changes, intense braking zones, and some of the trickiest corners on any circuit in America will push your limits while igniting joy inducing-adrenaline in your soul.  Once you’ve wrapped your supercar track experience, conclude your escape from reality spending one last world-class meal with your fellow enthusiasts, passionately recalling favorite moments of the trip before departing for home, sealing the trip as an unforgettable memory.

15 MILE TOUR

This tour will leave you needing more! Experience 15 miles of tight canyon curves and over 100 twists and turns in your favorite supercar on this 25 minute drive. *Starting $199.

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You’ll start your journey in the quaint coastal town of Half Moon Bay at one of the region’s finest 5 Star oceanfront hotels. Enjoy views of deep green meadows that mingle with a rocky coastline that’s teeming with life. Ocean fog lifts the senses, as you enjoy a cocktail on the open terrace and watch as the sun dips below the horizon.  Your gastronomic journey begins with a meal at one of the hotel’s incredible restaurants. Prepared with a unique regional focus on organic,  locally sourced ingredients, you’ll taste the best of Half Moon Bays’ bounty. Settle into your luxury accommodations and enjoy the waning hours of the evening as the waves crash in the distance. This is just the beginning.

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Begin your morning with an invigorating drive through the best of Napa Valley’s dynamic landscape. Take to iconic Highway 128, piloting supercars through quaint wine-country towns like Oakville, St. Helena, and Calistoga. Once you exit onto Highway 29, it’s time to open the throttle and push the handling limits of the fleet of supercars at your disposal. Winding roads careen past wineries, deep forests, and natural preserves that are a sensory experience you’ll never forget. Snake past beautiful Lake Berryessa and into the heart of Napa Valley. Wind down your afternoon with uniquely Wine Country experiences like a hot air balloon ride over the vineyards or a personalized spa experience that will soothe your soul.  Your accommodations for the evening will bring the very best of the region’s renowned hospitality together with a style that is uniquely Napa Valley. Enjoy a meal that will transport your taste buds to another dimension at one of the finest restaurants in the world. Cap the evening off with a cocktail or glass of regional wine around the firepit with other travelers or escape romantically with your significant other. 

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” There is no trip like this one. The combination of driving supercars through some of the best roads in California with luxury during every moment that we weren’t in a car was even better than anticipated. “

★★★★★ – Nora O.

“There is no trip like this one. The combination of driving supercars through some of the best roads in California with luxury during every moment that we weren’t in a car was even better than anticipated. “

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BEST DRIVER’S CARS

Experience a handpicked selection of the world’s best supercars including the most desirable offerings from Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes, Porsche and Corvette.

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BEST DRIVING ROADS

All roads are not created equal which is why we found the best roads in America for you to enjoy. From switchbacks to sweepers and open straights to stunning vistas, your senses will be fully engaged.

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SHARE THE JOURNEY

Bring a loved one, friend, or colleague on an adventure of a lifetime. Passenger and co-driver options available.

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LUXURY ACCOMODATIONS

Escape into a life without concern as our team becomes your personal concierge, satisfying your every need during your journey.

Open road map

PRE-PLANNED ROUTES

Routes have been scouted by professional drivers for the best driving dynamics and spectacular views.

Open Road

PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE

Our guides leverage extensive backgrounds in motorsports, racing and driving instruction to help you get the most out of your drive on the open road.

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The supercars at your disposal, ready to transport you through four days of luxury and across stunning highways, winding byways, and unparalleled vistas.

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Ferrari 488 GTB

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Huracán Spyder

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Porsche GT3 (992)

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Corvette C8 Z51

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Mercedes AMG GT R

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EXOTIC CARS WORTHY OF THE JOURNEY

Experience some of the best in the world with our handpicked selection from the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and more. From performance to luxury, every moment behind the wheel will be rich with pleasure.

THE DRIVE OF A LIFETIME

All roads are not created equal which is why we assembled roads to ignite your senses. From switchbacks to sweepers and open straights to stunning vistas, these roads are worthy of the supercars at your fingertips.

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HARNESS HORSEPOWER

Whether you are a practiced driving aficionado or on your maiden driving trip, experience the most of every super with our professional team of driving experts.

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RELAX LUXURIOUSLY

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TRUSTED EXCEPTIONALISM

From airport black car service to a bespoke request, our world-class team is ready to provide for your every vacation expectation. 

YOUR JOURNEY STARTS HERE

Our team is standing by to ensure you experience your dream luxury motoring holiday. Touch base today and get ready for an extraordinary supercar tour.

Join Us On The Open Road

Join the Open Road waitlist to learn about our latest announcements, updates, and journeys. 

THE SUPERCAR FLEET

ENJOY THESE AMAZING SUPERCARS ON THE OPEN ROAD

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Lamborghini Huracán Spyder

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Porsche 911 GT3

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Available Event Dates

APR 1-11, 2022

OCT 20-31, 2022

Enjoy these amazing supercars on your OPEN ROAD experience

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**Affirm Financing: Your rate will be 10-36% based on credit, and is subject to an eligibility check. Payment options through Affirm  are provided by these lending partners:  affirm .com/lenders . Options depend on your purchase amount, and a down payment may be required. Example: A $500 purchase might cost $42.40/month over 12 months at 15% APR.

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From Russia with Love | Moscow Prices

  • Home   /   Europe >>   /   Eastern Europe >>   /   From Russia with Love | Moscow Prices

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Many of my friends and travel guides had warned me about the stiff prices in Moscow, but somehow I failed to prepare for it because I could not associate any Russian city to the same level of priciness of Scandinavia. Right before my trip to Russia, I spent 3 weeks in the Caucasus Georgia and Armenia where prices were very low. In my budget plan, I put down about 8 euro per day for food in Moscow and less elsewhere. A Russian friend of mine took one look of my budget and dismissed with “What do plan to eat there? Bread?”; I increased my food budget to 10 euro per day and off I flew away..to the most expensive city in Europe.

Moscow isn’t the kind of city which can impresses first-timers with imposing skyscrapers, beautiful facade or sparkling clean streets to convince people of its wealth. It has none of them. Moscow is, to me, just another city in eastern europe. I only realized how expensive the city was when I shopped for vegetable. I bought a medium-sized tomato for 60 ruble ~ 1.5 euro. Another tourist forked out 1400 ruble / 35 euro for a grocery list consisting of just fruits and vegetable. He couldn’t read Russian thus accidentally picked imported stuff. Sample prices 4 small tomatoes: 240 ruble / 6 euro a bag of 5 frozen carrots: 700 ruble / 17 euro 1 onion: 84 ruble / 2 euro 1 garlic: 54 ruble / 1-1.5 euro

It was way more expensive to buy grocery and prepare food than to eat out in a cheap restaurant. Recommended by the people from the hostels and the Lonely Planet, I found My-My, a good Russian cafeteria chain selling Russian dishes and sushi. I ended up eating there whenever I was in the city center. You can chose from grilled fish, shrimp, meat, fried rice, potatoes, pancakes, different kinds of salads, soups and sushi. Unlike Scandinavia and Western Europe where everything cost a lot, not all were expensive in Moscow. A metro ride was only 27 ruble / 0.5 euro. I watched an opera at the historical Bolshoi theater for only 100 ruble / ~ 2 euro. Probably there is a lot more if I lingered in Moscow long enough. We often associate USA to capitalism having a huge wave gap among the rich and the poor. In reality, the capital of the former communist mecca had surpassed New York to have the world’s highest number of billionaires. The richest woman in Russia is the ex-wife of Moscow’s former mayor Yury Luzhkov. At the same time, Moscow’s minimum wave is about $350 per month.

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I'm a motivation explorer, personality type hacker, behavioral investigator and storyteller. I help startup founders, entrepreneurs, and corporate managers to understand themselves, the people they manage and how to get the best of their people. Specialty is in psychological personality types and brain-based methods. When I don't do the above, I hop around planet Earth with TravelJo.com to learn the Art and Science of people from everywhere and to give you all the free travel and tips and advice in many cool destinations.

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Get inspired with online classes and broaden your horizons with virtual tours at online xperience.

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Online Xperience, whether it’s for online classes or for virtual tours, offers the more affordable alternative to your aspirations. The classes range from cooking to coffee-making, arranging flowers to photography, and many more. For those who miss traveling, you can explore the various bucket-list destinations with virtual tours. With the taglines “Find a Fun Way to Learn”  and “Explore the World from Home” there are some benefits you can get by joining online courses and virtual tour at Online Xperience:

Exclusive and interactive Online Experiences

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Ready to gain new skills in Online Xperience? Or itching to explore new destinations? Broaden your horizon with virtual tours and explore online classes now! Good luck, stay safe and have fun.

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Princess makeovers and $18K dinners: How to spend a fortune at Disney

For a cool $500,000, you too can have an ultra luxury disney honeymoon, complete with a custom gown and carriage.

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For some Disney fans, waiting in ride lines and dining with the masses at the theme parks just won’t do.

Those seeking a lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous experience can be ushered through lines by a dedicated guide for as much as $900 an hour; watch fireworks from a private boat for $450; or spend three hours sampling food and wine in the kitchen of a fine-dining restaurant for $635 a person. Not pricey enough? There’s always the $18,000 private dinner experience.

Plenty of people are paying for these experiences; in some cases, demand is so high that there’s a waiting list.

“There are a number of people out there where money is no object,” said Greg Antonelle, co-owner of the travel agency MickeyTravels . “I’m a little jealous.”

He said a five-day trip with VIP access, fancy food and luxury accommodations could easily add up to $30,000 to $40,000.

The Walt Disney Company has made headlines for exorbitant prices, including the now-closed $5,000 Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel and role-playing experience and $115,000 private jet excursion to every global Disney park. Even entry-level visitors complain about ticket prices, food costs and the relatively new expense of skipping lines .

The company offers more budget-friendly options, with the cheapest ticket priced at $104 or $109 in California and Florida respectively. In low season, a value-priced hotel room at Disney World runs for about $155 a night.

“Like other vacation destinations, we give our guests lots of options to customize their Disney experience,” Disney spokesperson Avery Maehrer said in a statement.

Still, some fans complain that a Disney vacation has become so costly that it’s out of reach for the middle class, even without luxury upgrades. Between tickets, hotel, food and souvenirs, even a penny-pinching trip can set a family of four back more than $3,000.

For those who have never pinched a penny in their lives — or just saved for a special-occasion splurge — Disney provides a host of options . The extras range from pricey add-ons to truly aspirational indulgence.

$450-an-hour VIP tour

Consider some of the most annoying aspects of a Disney trip — parking, hiking to the gate, queuing to get in, then standing in, line for rides all day. Now imagine avoiding all of that. That’s the promise of a VIP guide who will pick you up, sweep you through backstage entrances and usher you onto rides with minimal or no waits.

The convenience doesn’t come cheap. At Walt Disney World, the tour costs between $450 and $900 an hour, depending on the time of year, with a minimum of seven hours and maximum of 10. Ten people can be part of the group. Park admission is not included — and neither is a tip.

Antonelle said his company has clients who will book 10 days at Disney World and opt for VIP tours for seven of those days. He said it’s not uncommon to see a plaid-wearing VIP tour guide carry a family’s food trays at restaurants or push strollers with the group.

Cara Goldsbury, president and founder of the luxury Disney travel agency Glass Slipper Concierge , said the guides also share stories, trivia and history, and provide access to special viewing areas for parades and nighttime shows.

“That’s the only way to do it as far as most of our clients are concerned,” she said.

$185 photo package

Photographers are stationed all over Disney World parks to take photos of guests, but those snapshots aren’t free. To get downloads of all the pictures from an entire trip, including from rides, the “Memory Maker” package costs $185 if purchased in advance, or $210 during the vacation.

For those who want more time with a photographer, or don’t want to wait for six other families to get that shot in front of the castle, Disney offers private 20-minute photo sessions for $99.

Staci Kimball, a travel adviser and vice president of GSC World Travel , a sister company to Glass Slipper Concierge, said clients care more about memories and experiences than merchandise.

“We really do always recommend either a private photo session or certainly buying the Memory Maker photo package so they can capture all of those memories,” she said.

$250 custom lightsaber

Mickey Mouse ears, popcorn buckets and bubble wands are always in demand, but some travelers want to have a role in making their souvenirs.

Kimball said she helps clients book the Savi’s Workshop experience, where Star Wars-loving visitors can custom-build their own lightsaber. It costs about $250 at Hollywood Studio s in Florida and $220 at Disneyland in California .

“That is a really popular, popular activity,” she said. “That can also be hard to get.”

Another in-demand interactive gadget: a build-your-own droid for about $120 in Florida and $100 in California .

$449 fireworks cruise

Don’t want to brave crowds for fireworks? There are a number of ways to get a better view — including from the water.

Starting at $449, a private fireworks cruise at Disney World can seat up to 10 people and includes snacks and drinks. Chartered boats set sail from several hotels to view the fireworks show at Epcot and Magic Kingdom.

“What we’ve learned is people that are spending exorbitant amounts of money on their vacation, they don’t like waiting in lines, number one, and they don’t like being 20 rows of people back for fireworks,” Antonelle said. Sure, fireworks are overhead, but who really wants to camp out for a good spot and look at hundreds of other necks craning if they can avoid it?

$450 princess makeover

Kids who dream of being royalty, or just looking like the product of a fairy godmother’s magic wand, can visit Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Magic Kingdom or Disneyland Park .

Packages start at $99.95 for the princess treatment in both locations or $19.95 for a knight’s look in Florida and $49.95 in California. The most expensive option, starting at $450, includes a “signature Disney Princess gown,” crystal tiara, garment bag, hairstyling, makeup, sash, face gem and nail polish.

“I just did Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique with my 5-year-old granddaughter,” said Goldsbury, who wrote “ The Luxury Guide to Walt Disney World Resort .” “It was the most darling experience.”

$7,900-plus a night hotel

Goldsbury said her company prefers to book clients at Disney World’s priciest, most conveniently located — or “deluxe” — resorts, especially those connected by monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Some rooms have “club level” designation with lounges and free food, she said.

A search of available inventory shows a club-level two-bedroom suite at the Grand Floridian for $3,597 a night in early April of 2025. The Polynesian’s King Kamehameha suite is listed for $3,320 in late August of 2025, a typical slow season.

In California, the two-bedroom Mickey Mouse suite at the Disneyland Hotel is going for about $5,025 in June of this year, and the two-bedroom Mount Whitney suite at the Grand Californian is listed for a whopping $7,984 a night in June.

For some travelers, deluxe hotel prices pose zero problems. Antonelle said he books a “royal family from overseas” at a Disney World deluxe resort.

“They’ll book out literally dozens of rooms because they’re bringing their nannies, they’re bringing their security,” he said.

$18,000 private dining experience

Disney parks are full of budget-stretching drinking and dining options. But three-course dinner inspired by “Beauty and the Beast?” Get ready to shell out $70 per adult. A tequila tasting with a “certified Tequila Ambassador” costs $180 per person. The Chef’s Table at Victoria & Albert’s, a restaurant at the Grand Floridian Resort, is a hot ticket at $635 a person for wine and food.

21 Royal, a private dining experience situated atop Pirates of the Caribbean in California, may take the cake. It costs $18,000 for a group as large as 12 and promises transportation, a reception, opportunity to explore the apartment-type surroundings, a meal on gold-plated dinnerware and balcony dessert with a view of evening entertainment.

AJ Wolfe, owner of the Disney Food Blog , has eaten at 21 Royal twice.

“It was luxurious for sure — the food was wonderful, and I felt like a VIP,” she wrote in an email. “Also, for a Disney history nerd it’s amazing because you know that Walt was integral in thinking about that space — maybe not the decor necessarily, but the layout.”

$95,000 top-floor hotel buyout

The Four Seasons Resort Orlando, near the theme parks, allows guests to rent out its entire 16th floor , which includes balconies with a view of fireworks at Epcot and Magic Kingdom. While the hotel isn’t operated by Disney, advisers say it’s a good fit for luxury travelers who are used to five-star service.

According to the resort, the cost for the top floor is $95,000 a night, plus tax. On a smaller but still extremely expensive scale, prices for the Presidential Suite start at $19,000 a night and $22,000 a night for the Royal Suite.

$500,000 honeymoon

Jennifer Kozlow, a travel adviser and vice president of Glass Slipper Concierge, said she had clients who spent their five-week honeymoon at Disney World. The trip included transportation to a special event in a carriage, a custom gown, private dining as the characters from “Beauty and the Beast” danced, a special fireworks viewing and VIP tours every other day for the five-week stretch. The couple stayed in presidential suites at four different hotels.

Another client managed to spend the same amount of money in a much shorter stretch: four days. Kozlow said the group — a family of 37 — bought out the top floor of the Four Seasons to celebrate the matriarch’s 80th birthday. The family had private meals delivered to their suites so relatives could come and go. The group did daily VIP tours using four guides.

“They flew in on a private plane just to see the resort,” Kozlow said.

There is one thing money can’t buy, she said.

“People do ask: Can they get a character to come to their suite? That you definitely can’t do,” Kozlow said. “They don’t tuck you in at night.”

More about Disney

Outsiders banned: Disney theme park trips cost a lot — more every year — and take heaps of planning to pull off. But the company has recently banned some independent tour guides from helping visitors navigate the parks, citing “unauthorized commercial activities.”

Next-level fandom: For some Disney fans, donning a pair of Mickey ears isn’t enough. In a practice called “ Disneybounding ,” they create entire character-inspired outfits that don’t run afoul of rules that ban costumes for adults. Disney food fans had a reason to celebrate when a beloved snack, Dole Whip , came to grocery stores. How does it stack up to the parks version?

Political crossfire: The most magical place on earth has gotten political , thanks to a battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). While several observers have suggested Disney World move out of the Sunshine State, experts say it’s a goofy proposition. Fan sites have been forced to add coverage of lawsuits to their standard lineup about rides, churros and characters.

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The best luxury cruise lines for an extraordinary experience

Consider these luxury cruise lines for your next trip.

Amanda Teague

Setting sail on a luxury cruise is a dreamy escape that promises comfort, indulgence, and adventure. If you are thinking about heading out to sea, choosing the right cruise line can make all of the difference. From extravagant amenities and world-class cuisine to personalized service and gorgeous destinations, the best luxury cruise lines redefine the notion of a vacation at sea. Whether you seek relaxation, adventure, or a blend of both, these are the finest offerings of the high seas. 

The benefits of taking a luxury cruise

The best luxury cruise lines, book a trip with one of the best luxury cruise lines today.

The difference between a luxury cruise and a regular cruise extends beyond varying price points. A regular cruise often comes with all of the standard amenities and service levels, while a luxury cruise takes the experience a step further by offering an unparalleled level of opulence and refinement. Luxury cruises often include gourmet dining experiences, unique amenities, and VIP privileges, including priority embarkation and access to exclusive events.

Additionally, luxury cruises tend to focus on an adult market, with smaller, more intimate ships that often come with spacious and elegant suites or staterooms for guests. The smaller size of these vessels allows them to visit unique places that larger commercial ships cannot. 

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These are just a few of the best luxury cruise lines, in no particular order.

Oceania cruises.

Setting itself apart from other cruise lines with its intimate and elegant ships, Oceania Cruises captivates passengers with a blend of impeccable service and exquisite culinary offerings. The cruise line offers personalized service, promising to treat all of their guests like family. 

Oceania offers several unique travel options , including a 180-day “Around the World” cruise that visits South America, the South Pacific, Asia, and Europe. The ships at Oceania range in size, holding anywhere from 670 to 1,250 guests and 400 to 800 staff members.

Viking Ocean Cruises

Viking Ocean Cruises epitomizes the pinnacle of luxury travel on the high seas, seamlessly blending Scandinavian elegance with high-quality service and innovative design. With its fleet of state-of-the-art ships, Viking Ocean Cruises offers spacious accommodations, refined amenities, and several fun onboard activities. The company’s fleet is one of the youngest luxury fleets in service, with gorgeous 930-passenger ships that cater to adults 55 and older.

Viking Ocean Cruises offers a wide range of destinations, and you can choose from trips to Scandinavia, the British Isles and Ireland, North America, the Caribbean and Central America, South America, the Mediterranean, Asia, and Australia and New Zealand.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., Regent Seven Seas is one of the best luxury cruise lines, offering travelers a sophisticated cruising experience. Regent Seven Seas Cruises is the only truly all-inclusive cruise line, with thousands of excursion options included in the upfront price of your cruise. Carrying no more than 750 guests, the line’s luxurious ships explore more than 500 different locations, including Miami, Tokyo, Lisbon, and Bali.

Paul Gauguin Cruises

Paul Gauguin Cruises takes travelers to some of the world’s most pristine and exotic destinations in Tahiti, French Polynesia, Fiji, and the South Pacific. This award-winning small-ship cruise line offers spacious suites with private balconies, Polynesian-inspired cuisine, and complimentary 24-hour room service. 

Nearly every voyage on Paul Gauguin Cruises stops for a day at the line’s own private islet, Motu Mahana, where guests can enjoy snorkeling, watersports, a barbeque, full bar service, and Polynesian hospitality.

Silversea Cruises

With over 900 destinations to choose from, Silversea Cruises is one of the best luxury cruise lines around. This all-inclusive cruise line has a staff-to-guest ratio of nearly 1:1, offering guests an unparalleled level of customer service. The ships at Silversea Cruises range from 51 to 364 suites, ensuring that guests find a fair balance between choice and intimacy. 

Silversea Cruises offers luxury trips to popular destinations in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, as well as unique locations such as Antarctica and Greenland.

Seabourn Cruise Line

With ultra-luxury ocean cruises to the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, and Alaska, Seabourn Cruise Line provides travelers with a one-of-a-kind experience. The cruise line considers the preferences of guests, providing customized, hand-selected itineraries. A few of the amenities you can enjoy when traveling with Seabourn Cruise Line include intimate ships with a yacht-like atmosphere, ocean-front suites, complimentary caviar, and extraordinary entertainment experiences.

Now that you know all of the best luxury cruise lines, it’s time to set sail. The world of luxury cruising provides travelers with unforgettable experiences, and each luxury cruise line presents a unique blend of incredible service, top-notch amenities, and carefully curated itineraries. So, whether you are dreaming of relaxing on a warm beach, exploring ancient ruins, admiring glaciers, or indulging in delicious cuisine, let the best luxury cruise lines whisk you away on the trip of a lifetime.

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Are you trying to be a more organized traveler? Packing and unpacking can be stressful unless you have the right traveling gear like packing cubes. If you know the last time you packed, your suitcase was not neat and organized, avoid all the tumbles and aimless searching on your next trip with tidy packing cubes. You won't have to deal with losing your items or the endless piles of clothes on the hotel room floor.

With one of the best packing cubes on your side, you can optimize your packing. A packing cube is one of the best travel accessories for long flights, road trips, and organized travel. Packing cubes are designed to separate and organize clothing, protecting them from wrinkles and offering optimum luggage organization. The organizer in you is going to love the way your clothing and accessories stay put, and you won’t be embarrassed to open your suitcase in front of someone else. Our recommendations for packing cubes

If you're planning a trip to the Bahamas, one of the first things you'll need to sort out is your travel documentation. As a U.S. citizen, you generally need to have a valid passport book or passport card to enter the Bahamas by air or sea. While it's close to the United States, it's not part of the U.S. or a U.S. territory. As such, you'll need to meet the same entry requirements as you would for any other foreign country.

What you should know before traveling to the Bahamas There are some details to keep in mind when it comes to the required travel documents for entering the Bahamas. Can you use your driver's license to go to the Bahamas? No, a driver's license alone is not sufficient for entry into the Bahamas. Even though the Bahamas is a relatively short distance from the U.S., you'll still need to present a valid U.S. passport book or passport card when arriving by air or sea.

Jamaica offers an eclectic experience for the modern traveler. As the recognized birthplace of reggae, the island country lets you hang loose and feel the beat. Natural wonders like the Luminous Lagoon dazzle the senses. Unique, flavorful cuisines like rich stews and fresh seafood entice and satisfy. But first, you have to get there.

Typically, traveling to another country requires a passport. But if you're new to the island nation, you might wonder — do you need a passport to go to Jamaica? Here’s what you need to travel there and back so you can experience an island nation like nothing else.

healthcare ontario

Many expats say they prefer healthcare and life in Mexico over Canada

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Many Canadians have chosen a life in Mexico for cheaper housing or better weather, but some new data suggests one of those reasons is a superior healthcare experience.

Sheryl Novak is one of those Canadians who gave up her life in Canada to live in Mexico over a decade ago.

She said that there are several ways healthcare is an improvement in Mexico.

"I had a problem with my back and had the MRI done, and it was back at the doctor’', and they were doing treatment within two hours."

For that MRI, she paid the Canadian equivalent of $400 and called her time in the system "outstanding."

And she's not the only one who thinks it's a better experience.

Canadians are seeking healthcare options in Mexico

We spoke to Rudra Chauhan, someone experiencing a "complex and rare" health situation that was "not being tended to adequately in Canada."

"I was literally scared and decided to make the move to Mexico to figure out what's going on."

Chauhan told us he was coughing and spitting up blood, which the Canadian healthcare system had no answers for.

"I would have saved money in Canada, but what would I have sacrificed?"

Chauhan was told that he’d have to wait one and a half months to get a CT scan to check his throat for a tumour.

"That’s a really long time to be waiting for a CT scan, in my opinion, if you're coughing up fresh blood multiple times a week."

Chauhan seems to have settled on making Mexico his new home.

"My current preference is to try and rebuild my life here, try to earn enough to buy good private insurance and save up to be able to cover costs of healthcare here rather than go back to Canada."

This Toronto influencer moved to Mexico during the pandemic for a less stressful life https://t.co/nqJqYS02yz #Toronto #Mexico — blogTO (@blogTO) February 27, 2021

Is the Mexican experience preferred?

Claire Newell, with Travel Best Bets, said that her company has booked trips for many Canadians looking for medical treatment in Mexico, which includes various types of care.

Newell suggested it's happening more frequently than you might think.

"It is actually quite common, particularly for MRIs, buying medication, dental work like root canals and dental implants," Newell told us.

"Even for plastic surgery."

Far Homes, a real estate agency that helps connect people to homes in Mexico,  published a report  based on surveys about how Canadians and Americans feel about healthcare in Mexico.

In some cases, visitors prefer the experience in Mexico.

One of the main reasons for that is wait times, which has Canadians "increasingly seeking care alternatives in Mexico."

Based on the survey respondents, Far Homes acknowledges that the Canadian healthcare system is often "lauded" for being free and nationalized but that wait times and "bureaucratic red tape can frustrate Canadians."

Novak had many thoughts on how life in Mexico compares to Canada, like the cheaper housing or cost of living, but also made it sound like getting treatment in Mexico was way more convenient. Novak suggests that the one-stop shop is far better than getting the results at a later date. She also says it's cheaper.

In her experience, Novak said, "most people don't even get insurance" to pay for things like dental or glasses in Mexico.

Far Homes points out that it has become so common to find treatment outside of Canada that the Canadian government has even created a guide for Canadians seeking medical care abroad, which includes some risks and tips on planning.

"Language barriers can also lead to misunderstandings about your medical care, including proper aftercare," is one of the warnings the guide offers.

It also suggests that some countries have different standards for risk and infection.

Wait, just a second

According to  a report  from the Fraser Institute, Canadian physicians have reported a median wait time of almost 28 weeks between the point of a referral from a general practitioner and the actual treatment. That's around a six-month wait.

What about general satisfaction with the system, looking at it outside of just the lens of wait times?

A recent report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information  placed Canada dead last  among 10 affluent countries regarding access to primary healthcare.

According to the survey, 86 per cent of Canadians aged 18 and older reported having a designated doctor or medical facility for regular care in 2023. This marks a decrease from 93 per cent in 2016, leaving an estimated four million Canadian adults without access to primary healthcare last year.

Far Homes' survey of expats paints a picture of how satisfied travellers are with Mexico's healthcare system.

healthcare ontario

Graph showing the results of Far Homes' survey of expats in Mexico and their feelings on healthcare there.

A portion of American and Canadian expats surveyed in Mexico found that many found their health to improve or remain about the same. Only about 1 per cent of respondents said they felt less healthy in Mexico.

While there are reasons to suggest that someone who is ill would likely avoid getting on a plane or taking a very long drive to a foreign country, for those feeling up for the trip, more than most agreed that it was a healthier option than their home country

"For many Americans and Canadians seeking affordable, accessible, and high-quality healthcare, Mexico presents a viable and increasingly attractive option," Far Homes states.

Newell also said that most people are happy because, as Far Homes suggests, wait times are minimal, and prices are affordable.

"The level of service exceeds their expectations," Newell added.

So, while you might be getting a cheaper experience in Canada, depending on what ails you, it seems to be a fairly common experience that you'll get a quicker answer in Mexico.

Steve Design /Shutterstock

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Vonn: Adding Moscow to travel experiences

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SOCHI, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 18: (FRANCE OUT) Lindsey Vonn of the USA takes 3rd place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Downhill on February 18, 2012 in Sochi, Russia.

MOSCOW — We’re in the Russian capital for a parallel slalom that will be held tonight on a course built on scaffolding at the Olympic Park. I had never been to Moscow before, and it’s an amazing city.

The architecture and monuments are incredible. There are some skyscrapers built in the Stalinist style called the “Seven Sisters,” just enormous and beautiful.

This city is very unique. It’s also very cold. But it’s really cool.

It’ s pretty surreal to be in a place I’d only read about in history books. It’s a place I thought about visiting, but never imagined actually seeing. It doesn’t seem real to me.

It’s kind of silly, but when I was a kid I always thought Red Square looked like gingerbread houses, and it kind of still looks like that to me now that I’ve seen it in person.

When we travel around the world, we get to see a lot of amazing things, but Moscow is an experience I’m really glad I get to have in my life.

Before coming here we raced on the downhill course where the 2014 Sochi Olympics will be held, and I really liked it. I didn’t know what to expect. The men’s track looked so incredibly challenging when I watched them race there the week before on television.

The women’s course has everything you would want in a downhill. There are some very technical sections, there are sidehills and traverses and jumps and flats and terrain. It’s really, really cool.

There has been a lot of debate in recent years about whether downhill courses are good enough for the Olympics. The course for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics was pretty good — it had some big jumps. But there was a lot of debate about the 2006 Turin women’s downhill course, whether it was challenging enough. I thought it was a little too easy, and they tried to make something out of nothing by tricking it up. One of those tricks ended up putting me in the hospital.

The course for 2014 is very appropriate for the Olympics. I’m really excited we’re going to be competing there. It’s exactly the kind of course you would want for the Olympics.

Vonn, a three-time World Cup overall winner and Olympic downhill champion, reports regularly in collaboration with Denver Post ski writer John Meyer

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Barbie dreams come true: Kansas is getting a new Mattel theme park, like Arizona

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A new Mattel Adventure Park is headed for Kansas.

Mattel Inc., whose brands include Barbie , Hot Wheels and Fisher-Price, announced the plans on Wednesday in partnership with Epic Resort Destinations.

“Mattel Adventure Park Kansas City will bring our iconic brands to life with epic roller coasters, family-friendly attractions, an immersive theatre, themed dining, and so much more,” Mattel’s Chief Franchise Officer Josh Silverman said in a statement. “We are thrilled to expand these themed entertainment destinations and invite new fans to experience the world of Mattel in all-new ways as they create lasting memories with loved ones.”

It’ll be the second such park in the country. The first Mattel Adventure Park is currently being built in Glendale, Arizona, and is expected to open late this year.

Here’s what travelers and Mattel fans should know.

When is Mattel Adventure Park Kansas City opening?

The park is expected to open in 2026. Mattel plans to break ground later this year.

Amusement park season is here: 2024 opening dates to know

Where will Mattel Adventure Park Kansas City be located?

The park will actually be located in Bonner Springs, Kansas. Mattel says it will be an “an all-new entertainment resort destination.”

What’s planned for Mattel Adventure Park Kansas City?

The new park will feature the same attractions as Mattel Adventure Park Glendale, Arizona:

  • A “larger-than-life Barbie Beach House” with a "flying theater," interactive Barbie Dream Closet Experience, and rooftop restaurant and bar
  • Hot Wheels Bone Shaker: The Ultimate Ride and highly anticipated Hot Wheels Twin Mill Racer roller coaster
  • Five “experiential attractions” themed around Thomas & Friends: World of Sodor
  • He-Man vs. Skeletor Laser Tag
  • Mini-golf inspired by Mattel games
  • An oversized UNO climbing structure

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