My 2020 Travel Wishlist

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These posts are another of my favorite yearly traditions. I love thinking about where I might end up, I love leaving hints about places that I’ll likely end up, I love more than anything, to daydream about trips that I probably won’t take at all.

Read my 2019 travel wishlist post here.

Read my 2018 travel wishlist post here.

The last two years have been absolutely jam-packed with travel.

Thanks mostly to the growth of this blog, I’ve been able to take more time away from the computer to really immerse myself in my trips, which I hope in turn allows me to create better articles for this blog.

Last year I visited only one new-to-me country, Belize. Besides that, I traveled around the US and its territories and around a whole heck of a lot of Mexico.

This year, well, I have absolutely no idea.

My hope is to continue to spend more time exploring Mexico. I have a few plans for new-to-me places around Mexico, but only one flight is actually booked.

The truth is, I was so burnt out, so tired and stressed and anxious for the last half of 2019 and I really don’t want to happen this year.

I want to spend more time at home, here, in my apartment in Mexico City. I want to explore more of the mountains around Mexico City. I want to take day trips or short weekend trips. 

I want to avoid taking as many flights as I’ve been taking in the last few years. 

I likely will spend the first half of this year not traveling very far from home and I’m really excited about that.

Here’s what I have in mind.

New York

My first planned trip of this year that I’m 100% sure I’m taking is a trip back home to visit my family.

I have spent the last two years trying to figure out how the heck to use travel points and I was finally able to fly round trip from Mexico City to New York for less than the price of a taxi from JFK to downtown Manhattan.

I’ll be spending just over a week hanging out with family and friends and I am so excited about it.

Cuba

I was meant to take a trip to Cuba towards the end of last year, but like I mentioned above and in my end of year post last month, I was so overwhelmed with work and life that I ended up canceling.

I’m hoping to make up for that this year by heading there with Luke. It’s so insanely close to Mexico (less than 3 hours from Mexico City on a direct flight) and I would really love to learn more about the history and culture there.

Los Cabos

I’ve avoided this region of the country for a long time, mostly out of snobbery and thinking that it would just be another Cancun.

But then I went to a conference last year about tourism in Mexico and I talked to people who live and work in Baja Sur and it got me excited.

There’s so much more to this part of the country than just resorts and I’m really looking forward to showing that to you. 

Puerto Vallarta

Okay, I’ve been to Puerto Vallarta before, but I’m hoping to head back to this beach town this summer because 1) I think they have some of the best seafood in the country and 2) I want to learn more about it because, after Mexico City, it’s the place I get the most questions about.

I would love to explore more of this coast in general. 

On my last trip to Puerto Vallarta, I literally sat on the beach for a week and did zero sightseeing.

I’d love to spend more time there this summer taking food tours, hiking up in the jungle, and seeing more beaches.

Copper Canyon

This place has been on my travel wishlist every year that I’ve written them.

It’s a place that I want to go to so much, but simply haven’t been able to make the time for.

It’s a place that I know deserves at least a week, if not more time and making that time with Luke’s work schedule has just been a little bit complicated.

I’m really REALLY hoping to change that this year. I want to make it a priority to visit the canyon, to ride the train, to stop in the different towns and to get hiking.

Guatemala

Guatemala was on my list last year, but I didn’t make enough time for it when we went to the Yucatan and Belize. 

I’d really love to get down there this year and explore Lake Atitlan, Antigua, and the Maya ruins that are littered around the country. 

I was listening to the Rolf Potts podcast a few weeks ago where he interviewed Tim Leffel. Time said something that I haven’t been able to get out of my head.

He said that Lake Atitlan is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. 

That sold it for me and I’ve been Googling how to travel around there ever since.

Iztaccihuatl

This volcano has been on my Mexico bucket list for years and it has taken me about as long to figure out how to go about hiking around it.

One of my resolutions for 2020 is to get outside more. I live in a city surrounded by mountains and I never make the time or put in the effort to get out and explore them. I want to change that this year.

Nevado de Toluca

With the above idea in mind, I’d really love to hike this mountain this year.

I only learned about Nevado de Toluca last year and have been attempting to get myself in decent enough shape in both body and mind to hike it.

It’s the fourth highest peak in the country and one of the few you can do in the summer (before wet season starts) without any climbing gear required.

I plan to do it with an experienced guide because it’s quite a huge jump in altitude from where you start to where you finish, but it’s high on my priority list this year.

Thoughts on Travel in 2020

My happiness where travel fits into my life has shifted a lot over the last year. 

I used to think that near full-time travel was all I could ever want. 

I spent 6 months doing that in 2015 and I couldn’t wait to have a home base.

I thought monthly travel would make me happy, but after a year of traveling once or more a month, I knew it was too much for me.

I keep finding myself back in situations of near constant-travel even though I know it makes me tired and anxious.

So this year, I’m really going to listen. This year, my list of where I want to travel is far smaller than previous years and I am going to do my best to keep it that way.

I will still travel a ton around Mexico City and no doubt around the rest of Mexico, but I’m hoping to keep the trips shorter and closer to home.

Where do you want to travel in 2020?