2024, Won't See You No More: Closing the Door on a Year Loaded With Travel Galore

Stop me right now if you’ve heard this before, but, hand to god(s), we had another major, major year here on the blog, shattering records all over the place. I mean, are you ready for these percentages? I don’t know if you are. I think you’re gonna have to convince me. “Uhh, how the heck am I gonna do that?” you ask, staring blankly at your phone/tablet/laptop screen as you read these words. Well, it’s simple, Fred: all you have to do is read the following quotation about the subject that’s brought us all here, that lovely, glorious, worldview-expanding, cranium-opening, beautiful, wondrous, amorphous, multi-adjective-inducing thing — travel!

General TravelLogan T. HansenJanuary 8, 2025travel, travel guide, travel guidance, travel advice, travel blog, travel blogging, travelogue, travel diary, travel writing, travel recommendations, travel reviews, travel tips, travel ideas, travel inspiration, travelspiration, travel planning, travel photography, travel appreciation, travel junkie, travel logistics, travel bucket list, year in review, year-in-review, happy new year, All Things Wanderful, Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations, No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach, Travel Channel, Sally Field, northernmost point, Minnesota, Northwest Angle, Ireland, England, Cork, Galway, Dublin, London, Europe, European vacation, Eurotrip, Euro trip, United Kingdom, Africa, cheap flights, find cheap flights, airports, Arizona, Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Dodge Challenger, Sleepy Hollow, New York, Hudson Valley, Hudson River, Headless Horseman, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Mitten State, The Mitten State of Mind, Michigan, Michigan travel, Oklahoma, Flint Hills, Kansas, Route 66, Historic Route 66, U.S. Route 66, Hoover Dam, Clark Griswold, Wally World, South Rim, Grand Canyon South Rim, Google Maps, Google, Lake Mead, Mount Rainier, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, Washington State, Crystal Mountain, Crystal Mountain Resort, Mount Olympus, North America, gondola, gondola rides, Iceland, Israel, Jordan, Longmoore Street, Westminster, Airbnb, Blarney Stone, Blarney Castle, Blarney Castle & Gardens, Wicklow Mountains, RMS Titanic, Titanic, Ed Sheeran, Merlin Castle, Chicago Bulls, Limerick, sheela na gig, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Nancy Hands, Nancy Hands Bar & Restaurant, Guinness, Guinness beer, Guinness Storehouse, Hex Girls, Sphynx Tattoo, beach volleyball, volleyball, Chicago, North Avenue Beach, Windy City, Oak Street Beach, Oak Street, beach, beach life, beach day, beaches, Lake Michigan, Barcelona, Barcelona El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport, Dublin AirportComment

Ready to Give the Middle East a Chance? 5 Destinations Worth Scouting Out

There are 17 countries (including the partially-recognized state of Palestine) that are typically categorized as part of the Middle East, and while some areas are dangerous for travelers, there are also many, many places that would be worthy of any travel bucket list.

Middle EastLogan T. HansenApril 18, 2019travel, travel inspiration, travelspiration, travel guide, travel advice, Middle East, wanderlust, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Unsplash, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Petra, Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock, Garden of Gethsemane, Western Wall, Wailing Wall, Holy Land, holy sites, Bahrain, bazaars, desert, deserts, Yemen, Gaza Strip, West Bank, civil unrest, Luxor, Egypt, Thebes, Africa, North Africa, Nile River, River Nile, Karnak, West Bank Necropolis, Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, ancient ruins, A Couple Ventures, ancient city, wonders of the world, 7 Modern Wonders of the World, Al Khazneh, The Treasury, The Monastery, Nabataeans, nomadic people, Nomadic Matt, Wanderlust Chloe, Salalah, Oman, monsoon, monsoon season, Saudi Arabia, khareef season, Fodor's Travel, Arabian Sea, Dubai, Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world, skyscraper, shopping festival, shopping, marketplace, The Shuk, open-air market, bucket list, travel bucket list, itraveljerusalem.com, Old CityComment

7 Places I've Been That I Couldn't Have Imagined Traveling to a Decade Ago

I have experienced a number of twists and turns during my 24 years on this earth so far, and many of those twists and turns have been pleasantly unanticipated. Many of them have also involved me traveling to destinations far and wide that I truly could not have imagined myself journeying to a decade ago — heck, even five years ago in some cases.

These Middle East Travel Experts Will Take You on a Discounted Tour of Israel

For 12 years, booking-tours.com has been helping travelers find their way when it comes to Israel, Jordan, and other Middle Eastern destinations — places I know a little something about, as longtime readers of this blog may recall

Wadi Rum: The Jordanian Desert That's Out of This World

Being serenaded in Arabic by a blind man playing the oud in a Jordanian desert was not a memory I ever suspected I’d make.

Israeli Days/Jordanian Nights: Day 17

Two final activities awaited us on the last full-fledged day of #Israel2016, the first of which was a trip to the Orchard of Abraham's Children in Jaffa. The Orchard is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2011 by Ihab and Ora Balha; its primary mission is to create a sense of community and connectedness between Israelis and Palestinians.

Middle EastLogan T. HansenMay 20, 2016travel, Israel, Tel Aviv, Orchard of Abraham's Children, Jaffa, Mediterranean Sea, Middle East, shawarma, PeacePlayers International, Peres Center, Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, NazarethComment

Israeli Days/Jordanian Nights: Day 16

Due to scheduling snafus and the fluidity of our schedule in general, we were able to drive back toward Masada this morning and climb the beast in much better weather (only in the 70s this time around). To do so, we left the hotel in Jerusalem right around 5:30 AM and made our way southeast for about an hour and a half into the Judaean Desert where Herod the Great's solitary fortress stands.

Middle EastLogan T. HansenMay 19, 2016travel, Israel, Masada, Judaean Desert, Jerusalem, Mahane Yehuda Market, Snake Path, Herod the Great, Titus Flavius JosephusComment

Israeli Days/Jordanian Nights: Day 15

Today began on a somber note with a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust remembrance center. We were given audio tour guide devices and headphones, and then let loose to examine the exhibits in the Holocaust History Museum — one portion of Yad Vashem — at our own pace.

Israeli Days/Jordanian Nights: Day 14

As opposed to the previous day, Day 14 was chock full of sightseeing and activities. In the morning we set out with our ever-faithful, ever-trumpet-toting tour guide Yair to the Mount of Olives, where a grand view of the city of Jerusalem can be enjoyed by the eyeballs. The Mount of Olives, named as such due to the olive groves that in times past graced its slopes, is, according to the Acts of the Apostles, the place where Jesus ascended into Heaven forty days after he rose from the dead.

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