What a thrilling year of travel it was in 2024, for me both personally and professionally, as well as for the travel industry.
Looking back on the year, I traveled to new and familiar places, made wonderful new friends, ate some incredible food and produced a bunch of fun content. Here’s a look at my favorites from 2024:
- Favorite destinations: It’s tough to pick just one place, so we’ll go with one international and one U.S. domestic favorites along with some honorable mentions, because why not?
I loved seeing a new part of Portugal this year when I reported on the 2024 Portugal Travel Marketplace from the Grande Real Santa Eulália in Algarve, Portugal. Southern Portugal was absolutely beautiful! And the golf courses were fantastic too. Honorable mention goes to the Dominican Republic from my time covering Future Leaders in Travel and the 2024 DR Social Ambassador Fam.
And here in the U.S., I’ll give a shout out to Portland. It’s a city I visited in the past, but revisiting it now as a parent gave us a total new perspective. Our family visited in early September and had such a fantastic trip together. There are a plethora of family experiences in Portland. Honorable mention goes to Isle of Palms, S.C., which made for a splendid weekend getaway for our little family.
- Best hotel I stayed at: Picking a favorite hotel was an easy choice for me. Cayo Levantado in the Dominican Republic was unlike anything I had ever experienced.
The resort is on its own private island. We took a ferry boat to arrive and fully immersed ourselves in the wellness all-inclusive resort. From yoga to sound healing sessions to breath-work classes and so much more, Cayo Levantado felt like it’s own secluded part of the world. It’s an unforgettable resort and one that I highly recommend everyone experience.
Honorable mention goes to PDX Suites in Portland, which managed to blend the Airbnb home like feature combined with the elegance of boutique hotel experience.
- Best meals while traveling: If you know me well, you know my love for food. I’m game to try pretty much anything while traveling too, like that one time in Morocco when I ate sheep’s head.
It’s hard to pick just one meal to highlight from the year, so here’s a few that stand out.
First, we’ll start with what’s fresh on the mind and that’s the best things I ate from my recent trips last month. The shaved ribeye tacos at San Angel Inn in EPCOT blew me away, and the enchiladas on the new Disney Treasure cruise ship’s Plaza de Coco restaurant was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten at sea.
Other food highlights on the year include the fusion sushi I ate at Cayo Levantado, all the pasta I ate in Italy on the Epicurean Expedition with Atlas Ocean Voyages, and the short rib meal I ate the only time I flew first class in 2024 on Delta.
- Biggest wow moments: For my top wow moment of 2024 we go all the way back to January to my first trip on the year covering the launch of Royal Caribbean’s new Icon of the Seas cruise ship. From the first entrance onboard in the Pearl atrium to walking around the world’s largest cruise ship to watching Lionel Messi christen the ship plus experiencing it all with my wife and kids on my daughter’s birthday — it was a hard one to top.
Some moments on the year came close though, like watching my kids filled with excitement meeting characters at Disney World’s new private island, Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, traveling around Cinque Terre with my wife for our first kid-free trip since my son was born, and discovering a resort’s beer I fell in love with cost $30 for a six pack!
- My favorite travel video: I produced several videos for TravelPulse throughout the year — from traveling in the Mediterranean Sea with Atlas Ocean Voyages to experiencing the new wonders in Dominican Republic and touring a couple brand new massive cruise ships.
But my favorite travel video of 2024 goes to the TravelPulse Trivia — Future Leaders in Travel edition. Quizzing travel advisers and Willie Fernandez of Rental Escapes while on the beach in the Dominican Republic was such a fun time, and the video was a hilarious hit at the event. I look forward to producing it again at the 2025 Future Leaders in Travel event in Alaska!
