Where to travel in 2017

The world is so much bigger than anyone can even consider.

Even the most seasoned traveller will never reach a point where they can pack up their bags, claiming to have been everywhere and done everything.

As you enter 2017, it’s wise to consider what destinations would make for the perfect destination – even if you’ve been there before. Let’s consider what these are.

Ruaha National Park, Tanzania

Imagine a place that had an African country’s largest national park and some ten per cent of the world’s lions, but had few visitors annually. This is the Ruaha National Park in Tanzania. As the site indicates:

“Located at the heart of Tanzania, Ruaha is the ‘other park’ on the Southern circuit.  Ruaha’s relative inaccessibility means it gets far fewer tourists than the Selous and less than any comparable park in the Northern circuit.  The rewards of travelling this far are a wild landscape with baobab studded hills and rocky escarpments, with superb wildlife; Ruaha has reliably exciting predator concentrations, huge elephant and buffalo herds and a cross over of game from southern and Eastern Africa.”

This means you don’t need to worry about being crowded out, though it does mean you should book early and during the best, warmer seasons.

Cape Town, South Africa

Named as a top destination consistently over the year, 2017 will be no different for the pride of South Africa. Cape Town’s incredibly diverse landscape, within a small location, offers plenty of activities and a range of experiences. You can climb Table Mountain and even look at sailing courses in Cape Town. Expect high quality service and incredible activities anywhere you want to go. Indeed, everything from the hotels to the sailing schools in Cape Town are of world-class quality – ideal for foreigners given the exchange rate for everyone in the Northern hemisphere.

After all, as News24 points out: “the 2015/2016 Telegraph Travel Awards chose Cape Town as the Best City in the World for the fourth year running, dusting out Vancouver and Venice, which took second and third place respectively in the Best City category.”

Bermuda

Often used to portray exotic island beauty, Bermuda is a key destination for any traveller. Indeed, Forbes has an entire article about why this should be a top destination in 2017. For one thing, it will host the America’s Cup, the historic sailing competition. This is such an important event, there’s been an increase in tourist accommodation and attractions. Visitors also have the chance to chase the Winter sun.

“As the cold months draw in across Europe, Bermuda might well be your answer. It’s cooler than the Caribbean and locals think it’s chilly, but after London, it’s a dream, with temperatures not tending to drop below 16 degrees. Even better, you can fly direct from London with British Airways– or take a few days detour to soak up some Big Apple life in New York first – the transfer is only two hours.”

Chile

Taking numerous World Travel Awards, Chile has slowly come up in the world to take centre stage. Winning the World’s Leading Adventure Tourism Destination 2016 and South America’s Leading Adventure Tourism Destination 2016, it was nominated in many other categories. And the reasons are obvious. Despite being 4,200 kilometres long, it is never more than 240 kilometres wide – and, somehow, it is still filled with various ecosystems, biodiversity and topographies. Within this area, there are 36 national parks and the environments are some of the most extreme in the world. As Expat Focus notes:

“Chile is an extreme country. The climate in the North is dry and arid. Rainfall is practically zero and temperatures can reach the mid 30s. Night time temperatures are very low in the north of the country. The Central Region boasts the best climate-long, dry summers and short, chilly winters when the temperature can reach 0c overnight but very rarely less. In the South of the country summers are short and rainfall is frequent throughout the year. Winters are very cold and very wet.”

How to travel

Getting plane tickets, time off and accommodation is all very costly. The best way to travel is if you have contacts in specific countries willing to let you stay rent-free. Friends and family are obviously best. You also have to eat and acquire necessary items, meaning spending foreign currency. This is easier if you work in richer countries, since the exchange rate benefits you. However, you could be from African countries, where it is much harder and the cost of living is miles above what you might be used to. People manage to travel, even if they’re not rich – it’s a matter of saving and being smart. Yet it can be done.