Do I travel enough? Clearly, it is nowhere near the scale that I would ultimately like, but at least I have re-settled into a habit developed for many years of the BC era (“before covid”): spending my entire yearly paid time-off allowance on foreign travel. Similar to last year, I visited 5 countries in 2024 (Portugal, Peru, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Dutch Caribbean), of which one was an extensive first-time exploration of a magnificent country that also doubled as my very first time in the southern hemisphere. There was also a business trip within the US that allowed me a couple of hours of touristic pursuits, and my better half spent time with a group of friends discovering a remote part of Portugal that I need to add to my future targets. Reasonable.
Only 7 new World Heritage sites made it onto my visited list – I simply did not prioritize a sufficient number of destinations with a critical mass of WH properties in my traveling plans. That could improve in the new year if a couple of conceptual ideas eventually become concrete plans.
So far, there are two fully booked foreign trips in the coming months. They are structured around returning to places that we’ve been to before and remain very partial to. For all of my frequent protestations that we love going to new destinations, I am unlikely to visit a new country anytime soon. We’ll see how the plans evolve.
Continuing with the established tradition, here are a few of my favorite perspectives from 2024. For these purposes, the period is defined as everything that I processed and published during the year, so the last trip of 2023 is included herein, while most of the last two trips of 2024 will be up for inclusion in January 2026.
The amazing Mayan frieze at Xunantunich, Belize.
The panoramic view over Gran Plaza at Tikal, Guatemala.
The tranquil beach of Hopkins, Belize.
The Porto Cathedral presiding over the old city precincts.
The love locks by the Bridge of Luis I in Porto with Ribeira in the background.
The medieval defensive walls of Porto with another historic district underneath them.
The colorful Santa Catalina Monastery in Arequipa, Peru.
The cloudy first impression of Machu Picchu.
The bright expanse of Cuzco’s main plaza.
The exquisite balconies of Lima.
The delicate Liberty Bridge across the Danube in Budapest.
We’ll be back to regular programming momentarily.