It is really fun looking back at all the places we have been this year and thinking about our favorite spots. We went to some amazing places, but we also went to some places that we probably won’t want to return. We visited 11 countries on 3 different continents with 6 of those countries being new to us. There were 2 long stays in Mexico for a total of 4 and a half months. We have now been to 16 out of the 32 Mexican states. I flew on 27 planes which seems like way too many. M actually flew on 2 more because she had a trip back to Seattle for a memorial service. We also visited airport lounges 27 times so we really have gotten our moneys worth from our airport lounge passes. We spent a lot of time in Central America and South America which don’t have the trains, ferries or buses like some other parts of the world so we didn’t have much choice about our number of flights. We hope to be flying less in 2025 because we are planning more time in Europe. Looking back at the numbers, as well as remembering our favorite places, help us in our travel planning for 2025 and 2026.
We started 2024 in Guatemala and 3 of those stops ended up my Top 10 list for 2024 (at the end of this blogpost). We are surprised at how much fun we had in this country and how we liked it better than Costa Rica, where we spent the end of 2023. Tikal was our favorite ruins site of the year and we saw a lot of ruins this year. Antigua was our favorite colonial town and we saw a lot of colonial towns this year. We also really enjoyed Lake Atitlan and hope to get back there soon.
After Guatemala, we flew to Colombia with stays in Bogota, Cartagena, Minca and Medellin. I liked the small town of Minca with the trails, dirt roads and birds better than the big Colombian cities. Cartagena with its Caribbean beach, old city walls and colonial buildings was my fav city. We liked our time in Colombia but I don’t think we plan to be returning any time soon.
Our plans then had us heading to the mountains in Ecuador but there was a gang revolt going on in early January and we weren’t sure it was going to be safe. So we switched up our plans and spent a week on Aruba and a week in Curacao. In both places, we were unable to rent a car so we relied on the meager bus system on both islands to get to the beaches. We still had fun but both islands seemed to be focused on the cruise ship crowd and it wasn’t really our vibe. I preferred Curacao over Aruba because of the Dutch colonial buildings in the capital of Willemstad.
The highlight for both of us in 2024 was our next stop – The Galapagos Islands. We were able to have long stays on 2 separate islands and we enjoyed the wildlife as well as the small Ecuador towns that we stayed in. We decided to not pay for the more expensive liveaboard cruises and instead did a lot of day boat tours to see the animals on both islands. We had enough time to really experience this special place and it is definitely a trip we’ll cherish forever.
After the Galapagos, we spent 3 days seeing Panama City before heading to Mexico. Panama City is one of those places that I am glad I saw, but I don’t expect I will ever return. We then stayed in Bucerias for 5 weeks. This is our 4th year of staying over a month in this town and it acts as our home away from home. We were able to have our family visit for a few days to make it even more special.
We then flew to Mexico City to start a bus tour through Puebla, Orizaba, and ending in Oaxaca. All of these places had a lot to see and had some of the best food in Mexico. We really enjoyed Puebla and so much fantastic food. Our Airbnb in Orizaba did not have air conditioning so our stay was not super comfortable. Despite our limited sleep, I still thought that the weird tourist attractions in Orizaba made it a really fun stop. M does not agree with me, she though it was sorta interesting and also kinda meh. Our final stop Oaxaca was hampered by a teachers strike that took over most of the downtown. We need to go back when we can walk through town without the tents and tarps everywhere.
We spent the summer getting our house ready to rent out. Our son moved out and we were able to move our personal stuff into one locked bedroom so we could rent out most of the whole house in the fall. We also spent a lot of time at the family beach house on Stretch Island. We spent a lot of time with friends and family and got our travel batteries recharged.
In September we returned to Europe with 3 days in Paris to absorb the jetlag before we took a train to Saint Malo to start our first multiday hike. We have been thinking about the Camino De Santiago for a while and wanted to try thru-hiking while staying in hotels. We did a 5 day hike from Saint Malo to Mont St Michelle that was an excellent introduction to European through hiking. We then took a train to the other side of France to do another 5 day hike through the Alsatian wine region. We had a great time and we will probably do some more hiking in the future. Both hikes gave us time to see the real French countryside while getting some exercise and not just feeling like a perpetual tourist.
After the hikes, we spent a few days rural France in Beaune and Dijon as well as looking for some of my family roots along in Eastern France. We then took our first overnight European ferry to get to the island of Corsica. It is still France but we really enjoyed our time in both Bastia and Bonifacio on Corsica. I can see us returning to Corsica in the future. We then took a short ferry to the Italian island of Sardinia. Our time in Olbia was not as memorable but we really enjoyed our few days in Cagliari before flying to Greece.
We have been in Greece before but we have never been to the Peloponnese peninsula. We rented a car and were able to visit Delphi, Olympia, Stoupa, and Nafplio in our October in Greece. We had friends visit us and we ended up staying in Ermioni and visiting the island of Hydra before returning to Athens. It was a fantastic trip and it just makes us want to return to Greece again. We really loved Stoupa and can envision a much longer stay.
We have been playing the credit card points game pretty hard the past couple years and we have built up some point/mile reserves. We found a fantastic flight from Athens to Mexico City through Istanbul using miles to fly in lie flat business seats. M has been dreaming about this for years and I was so excited to make it happen. Unfortunately, at the end of the flight she had to return for Seattle for a memorial service for a few days while I started our 2nd Mexican adventure of the year.
I spent 3 days in Mexico City during Día de Los Muertos. I have heard about this celebration for years so it was fantastic to actually experience the costumes, decorations and parades. I then went by myself to Villahermosa, Tabasco for a few days before meeting back up with M in Palenque. I learned that solo traveling is not as good as being with a partner. I really missed her and was glad she was with me to continue another Mexican city tour.
We saw ruins and towns in Palenque, Campeche, Merida and Valladolid to understand more of the cultural aspects of additional Mexican states to add to our list. We finished up our time in Mexico with 11 days on the island of Holbox and then 11 days on the island of Cozumel. Both of the islands gave us some relaxation time and a break from the cultural tourism that we did on the first of our few stops in Mexico. We are now feeling like veterans of Mexican travel after our 16th state. It was now time to return back to Seattle to see our friends and family for a couple of weeks before we start our 2025 mega adventure.
My top 10 for 2024
- Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
- Stoupa, Greece
- Brittany France hike to Mont St Michell
- Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
- Minca, Colombia
- Tikal and Flores, Guatemala
- Bastia, Corsica, France
- Puebla, Mexico
- Antigua, Guatemala
- Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
- honorable mention- Orizaba, Mexico
M’s top 10 (in no particular order)
- Antigua, Guatemala
- Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
- Galapagos Islands
- Puebla, Mexico
- Saint Malo, France
- Hike through Brittany, France
- Bastia, Corsica
- Stoupa, Greece
- Nafplio, Greece
- Isla Holbox
It is really fun to see all the places we have been to in just one year. It is so hard to pick our favorites because we really enjoyed ourselves in every single destination. Some places just seem to be a little more special.
Coming up in 2025. Below I have embed our travel map video plans for the first few months – Asia and then Eastern Europe. After another short Seattle summer, we will return back to Europe to do Spain/Portugal and then to Mexico or somewhere warm in Central America for November and December.