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Newsletter #6: January 2026
One of the most common questions I get asked as a traveler is, “where is your favorite travel destination?” Answering this is like trying to pick a favorite child. While I know that my parents like me because I am responsible, my brother is much more fun. So how can I choose a favorite city or country or place? The answer is simple: I cannot.
However, in 2025, despite my intention to mostly slow travel, I went to 26 different countries if you include the U.S. Some places I had been before, but many of them were new to me, and overall I found that I enjoyed them all, and so will share a few of the places I found with you, in superlative form.
BEST DUO FOR LIMITED TIME: Amsterdam & Brussels
If you are limited on time and you want to see two great places in one visit, these two cities are only a couple of hours apart by train. Both are wonderful cities full of history, beautiful architecture and good food. If you are into beer, both places also have a thriving beer culture, and if you are a man (or I suppose if you are a woman!) after you drink your beers, you can go use a public urinal in the middle of the street! Oh and if you want to see the Anne Frank house, be sure to make a reservation in advance!
If you have more time, I highly suggest checking out some of the outlying neighborhoods in the Netherlands (Leiden, the Hague, Haarlem etc.) as well as the North Sea beaches; you can ride a bike there and feel very Dutch! In Belgium, there are plenty of smaller towns worth checking out as well. The only issue with both of these places is that out of all the countries I went to in 2025, both of them were among the highest cost per day.
2ND PLACE: Glasgow & Edinburgh (45 min train ride)
PLACE THAT SURPRISED ME THE MOST: Georgia
It’s not that I thought Georgia would be bad; I just did not know that I was going to like it as much as I did. Tbilisi was easy to navigate, the prices were reasonable, the people were friendly, the food and the wine were delicious and there were good expat and running groups (and bars with trivia etc.). You can get to the mountains, lakes, rivers, wine region and hot springs within a couple of hours (or a few more in some cases) without difficulty, and the outdoor activities are plentiful. Whether you are into history or nature or food and wine, there is something in the country for you.
2ND PLACE: Bosnia & Herzegovina
PLACE WITH THE BEST COMMUNITY: Bansko, Bulgaria
I arrived in Bansko and I immediately felt at home; I met a friend before I even arrived, I met up with her and she told me about a cycling race, so I rented a bike and did the race. Afterwards, I had a great time meeting people and learning about the area. I found a running buddy, and I ended up meeting up with various people for dinner, hikes and runs for the entire month I was there. Even when you are just sitting at the local pub, you end up finding people to talk to. Even if you are not into outdoor sports, you will probably find likeminded people here, but if you are, you will really feel at home!
2ND PLACE: Lyon, France
THE BEST PLACE TO MEET SOLOS: NCL Pearl
To get home, I took a repositioning cruise from Barcelona to Miami on the NCL Pearl. NCL has a great solo program, where they actually have an organized get together every night, so that you can meet people and have someone to go to dinner with or hang out with if you want. I ended up meeting a great group of people, and despite my thinking I was going to have a lot of down time, I ended up being quite busy socially!
2ND PLACE: West Highland Way hike, Scotland
THE MOST INTERSTING HISTORY LESSON: Former USSR Countries
I found it absolutely fascinating to learn more about this period of time by being in the countries themselves. I went to Georgia, Armenia, Latvia and Lithuania one right after the other and hearing the stories firsthand really made an impact on me. I also read a very interesting historical fiction book about Georgia right afterward which really was even better due to the fact that I had just been there. You can find it here, but I warn you, it is a very long one, but it is packed with a lot of information!
2ND PLACE: Former Yugoslavia Countries
JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM
(1) TRAVEL:
Packing news! One thing I brought with me last time and am not packing again is my jeans. I found a good pair of lightweight semi good looking black travel pants, and so far, they are working well! They have an elastic waist, good for those eat-too-many-pastries-in-France days, they have a couple of zip pockets that fit my phone, and they scrunch up into a pretty small ball. I have only worn them for a few weeks, but so far, I think they are good!
(2) FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE:
I’ve been doing a deep dive on my credit cards to figure out what to keep or not to keep and I was reminded that the IHG Premier Rewards card has an annual $50 United Airlines travel credit! The fine print is that it comes in two $25 increments, and they do expire, BUT there is a small window of about 5 days where you have them both in your account and you can get the $50 credit all at once! If you do get value from this and you add this to the one free night hotel stay, the card is well worth the $99 a year price tag (and that is not even including the sign up bonus, free fourth night, platinum status or TSA credit). This is definitely one that I am going to be keeping.
(3) EARLY RETIREMENT:
I was recently asked how I felt when new people that I met asked me what I did for work. I told him the honest truth, the same as I will tell you, that I sometimes feel a bit like an imposter, and that I feel strange saying the words “retired” out loud. As if I didn’t plan it, and make decisions accordingly, and didn’t work for it. It can definitely be difficult trying to get your head wrapped around the concept, and learning to be proud of yourself, but I am still working on that. Needless to say, there is a emotional aspect to early retirement that people don’t always talk about.
TRAVEL TIP OF THE MONTH
I always bring a Sea to Summit 13L dry bag with me on every trip. It can be used as a laundry bag (put the clothes in, put in a laundry strip and water and shake, shake, shake!) or my laptop fits inside of it if I need to carry my bags in the rain. I also use it to segregate dirty laundry, or I put it inside my favorite packable Osprey daypack when I am hiking or walking around town in case I need to protect things from the rain.
Also, it’s not all about me! If you feel comfortable, please click the comment button below and share with us: what is one of your favorite places to travel and why?
In case you missed the last few videos, you can find them here, but if you only have time for one, here is one of my recent favorites!
Seven Slow Travel Cities in Europe With Staying for a Month
Great stuff! And thanks for pointing out the IHG card perk with the United Airlines credit. I've had this card for a few years and loved it, but completely forgot about this one.