Travel Destinations

Fast breakdowns and travel tips for countries and cities that I’ve already been to. All the good stuff, with no fluff.

Cinque Terre – quick travel guide

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A row of 5 beautiful colorful Italian beach towns, each with their own unique beach landscape and waterfront play areas.

Cinque Terre is no longer the “secret” it once was 20 years ago. It’s now one of the most popular (and crowded) tourist spots for good reason. By staying at just one of the towns, you are in close proximity to easily explore the other 4. It’s fun to explore the towns, take photos of cute colorful buildings, hangout by the water, eat and drink at Italian-esque places with water views, even go hiking between the towns for amazing “wow” photos.

You could technically do it all in 2 days (dedicating one to hiking) but I’d like to put 3 to relax and enjoy the beaches and night restaurants/bars more. My first visit was in 2009, second in 2014, and third in 2022. And I think I’m never going back. I’ve seen enough and it only got worse each time…more crowded and touristy and coastal hike trail closed. I’d personally go elsewhere with those days.

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Venice – quick travel guide

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Colorful & chaotic Italian tourist city of crowded canals and narrow streets.

Venice is an absolute madness of a city full of tourists taking postcard-worthy photos from every corner. Colorful buildings, bridges, shops, walkways from every angle. Buildings, boats, waterfronts, squares, and people everywhere.

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Krakow – quick travel guide

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Colorful charmy Eastern European charm.

Krakow is a definite European highlight in Poland. Cheap-er, colorful, cozy, picturesquely beautiful and fun. Easy to explore within a couple days and plenty to do (mostly all within walking distance). Still close enough to Western Europe but should get you curious to see more of Central Eastern Europe.

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Italy – quick travel guide

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Warm Italian hospitality with its familiar food and culture that you’ve seen in movies, restaurants, and pop culture references everywhere.

Italy is both exotic yet familiar at the same time. Making it an easy and popular destination for first-time travelers. I know Italy so well since my mother’s family lives here. So I spent lots of time doing tourist things but also local things.

It’s a tiny country with so many must-see destinations. You can hit 3-4 main ones in 10 days…or spend a month and really live it.

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Guanajuato – quick travel guide

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Colorful hilly Mexican town with lots of culture and museums.

Guanajuato is a perfect-sized town. Small enough to feel like you saw all the main parts in 2 days. Big enough for you to discover more and more should you decide to live there. It’s a hill city with lots of angled streets and corners to wander around. On the hills you can see colorful views of houses and buildings on the other hills.

There’s also a full range of “real Mexico” life here. Nice and fancy shops/restaurants as well as more cheap local shops/eateries. It’s fun, it’s beautiful. And worth exploring from the usual beach-side Mexico.

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San Miguel de Allende – quick travel guide

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Beautiful picturesque little town with the Mexican Disney castle.

One of the lesser-known towns in Mexico by foreigners (who usually opt for beach destinations). San Miguel de Allende is a popular vacation destination for Mexicans (usually rich ones), despite many of them dismissing it as “fake Mexico”. The label is somewhat true and IMO makes it more impressive as a travel destination.

What does this “fake Mexico” town have that sets it aside from everywhere else?

It’s pretty, it’s posh, it’s popular. And artsy, and great food and cafes. Just a really nice, super nice, postcard nice place to be.

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Salvador (Brazil) – quick travel guide

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Popular tourist stop, but generally disliked by most native Brazilians. But has hidden charms.

Salvador is widely known as a dangerous big city, ugly, with annoying sellers at the beaches. Most Brazilians will say you should visit only the old town part to take some tourist photos and immediately go off to other (better) cities in the Bahia region/state.

And I agree with half of it. That yes…Salvador does have a “nice” colorful old town area with tourist value, and is super dangerous. And that yes, the beaches have tons of annoying sellers who come by every minute.

But I would also say that Salvador DOES have its charm if you know where to go. The people who DO like Salvador are usually locals who grew up here or people from big city Sao Paulo who like the warm people and accessible beaches here (Bahia region in general). They prefer it over the more excessively contrasty (and “superficial”) Rio de Janeiro.

While the old town Pelourinho can be seen in 2 days, to enjoy the everyday local life in Salvador…you’ll need to spend a couple more days at least.

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Itacare – quick travel guide

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Beautiful raw “roots” type of beach-town with dozens of amazon beaches and the best magical beach vibe in the world.

I don’t know how to begin describing it. And part of me doesn’t want to because I’m hoping you won’t find it and ruin it. After seeing what happened to Tulum (Mexico), I’m deathly afraid of that happening here. Itacare really is one of the most perfect places in the world. I’ve watched people come here and get stuck…extending their stay 3 times and constantly changing flights and crying when they had to leave. It’s THAT GOOD.

You can try to book 5 days, but hahaha…trust me. You’ll probably get stuck and want to do at least 2-3 weeks. I highly recommend not being silly and planning anything less than 5 days. You will absolutely regret it with every bone in your body.

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Olinda – quick travel guide

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Small cute colonial town in Northeast Brasil.

Go here because it’s got some personality and vibe, rather than the big city Recife nearby. It’s relatively safe, cheap, and some interesting viewpoints. Easy to spend just 2 days to see all main parts…or spend 3 or 4 if you want to relax.

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Northeast Brasil – quick travel guide

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My own personal idea of what’s worth seeing in north-east Brasil.

I didn’t go everywhere so you shouldn’t take my word for it. But from my researching and also firsthand experience of places I’ve already been…this is how I felt:

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Sao Paulo – quick travel guide

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Sao Paulo is a big livable non-beach city (Brasil’s biggest)…loved by some, hated by others.

Haters say it’s boring, no beach, no “vibe”, nothing to do, they hate the sprawling. Those who love it (like myself), appreciate that it’s very safe (not dangerous atmosphere like Rio), has many livable neighborhoods to explore, so much more partying (numerous streets of fun bars/clubs unless sporadic lone spots in Rio), feels more local and not full of tourists, feels like everyone enjoys the city (not like a haves-vs-havenots in Rio).

Not only that but there’s just more people in Sao Paulo. Even the people who live in SP (but hate it) can’t help but still live there as it’s nice to live. Those who don’t like Rio can easily leave immediately because it doesn’t offer much other than naturally-beautiful scenery of beaches and rock mountains.

2 days is enough to visit some highlights. 4-5 days if you want to do all tourist things. But generally, everyone flies into Sao Paulo and leaves immediately for a beach area.

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Semuc Champey – quick travel guide

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Semuc Champey is a national park in Guatemala (deep in the mountains/jungles) between Antigua & Flores. Features beautiful turquoise pools, river rafting, caving, and other nature-based activities.

As beautiful as Semuc Champey is…there really isn’t much to do. And the whole logistics of getting here and planning where to stay can be a mess. For this reason, many people say it’s overrated and I totally agree. A lot of hassle to get there and there isn’t that much to do unless you absolutely want to do some nature things or party in a jungle hostel with your clothes off. Of course…they try to invent little activities to make you feel like it’s a theme park but there really isn’t much. Maybe a young college kid would see all this as adventure. As for myself…I’d prefer spending extra time in creature comforts in Antigua or even Lake Atitlan.

Still insist on going? Ok fine…let’s cover some tips for getting the most out of your visit here.

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Acatenango & Fuego Volcano – hike tour guide

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Beautiful overnight hike up one volcano to get you incredible views of other surrounding volcanos and then back down safely to the real world.

Let’s cover some basic information you should know so you don’t gotta read a hundred sites to get all the info I share here.

  • What to expect
  • What volcano tour companies to choose
  • What gear you need
  • Logistics to plan (weather, travel)
  • Other helpful tips

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Lake (Lago) Atitlan – quick travel guide

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A beautiful lake with many cute towns along the water, each with their different personalities.

Enjoy a relaxing waterfront with plenty of nature (hikes/tours), partying, bars, and restaurants to keep you occupied. This is a top-3 popular destination in Guatemala that’s easy enough to see within 3-4 days but keep you occupied if you want to be here for a month. Oh and it’s cheap!

Many people (usually Europeans) say it’s their most favorite place on earth, with all the wild nature and proximity to the water. I personally preferred the cuter city comforts of Antigua. To each their own.

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Guatemala – quick travel guide

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A country of raw wild jungle and mountains, feels like a less-developed Mexico (sharing language and food similarities, as well as overlapping Mayan cultural history).

Guatemala is an uncommon travel destination for casual tourists, but common destination for off-the-beaten-path hardcore travelers. Hardly no Americans here since they’re scared by its danger reputation, but super popular destination for British (especially in the 18-22 age range). It’s cheap and nice partying.

Guatemala is a small easy country to visit. You can see everything in a month, and some people even fall in love (with its chill wildness) and stay 2-3 months. You can go here because you love it or because you need to do a visa run to renew your Mexico visa. I also notice many people who like Guatemala also like Nicaragua (beautiful wild landscapes and super nice local people).

I’d say British find Guatemala’s wild undevelopedness more enchanting whereas Americans and others may prefer countries with more infrastructure and common 1st world luxuries like hot water, electricity, working internet.

Get the scoop on where to go and how to get around. Find out why going off the beaten path to Guatemala is worth it.

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Antigua – quick travel guide

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Cute colonial town in Guatemala, perfect for relaxing with food and nightlife, or more adventurous activities like volcano/nature hikes.

Antigua is definitely a common destination in Guatemala. Only 1-hour from the nearby Guatemala City (GUA) airport, handful of fun unique activities (like the Acatenango volcano hike), and other nearby-ish cities like Lago de Atitlan (3hrs) and Semuc Champey (9hrs).

While most people come here mainly for the volcano hike, I kept discovering more and more hidden gems in this place (with each passing day). Lots of great restaurants and shops, interesting architecture, and spots to sit around town and people watch. Also it’s super safe. Antigua is awesome and more than just a convenient volcano viewpoint. You can definitely live here!

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Brazil – quick travel guide

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Big exotic paradise of nature, friendly people, food and vibes.

Brazil…a huge and beautiful country in South America that is more relatively untouched by US influences than others. I love how exotic it is…the wide range of landscapes, food, culture, music, and people. Love that they mostly only speak Portuguese, no English or even lesser so Spanish. Very authentic local experience.

The minimum time to get a sense of Brazil about 10 days, and you can hit 3 places. Probably some combination of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and some small vibey beach town or colonial town in between Rio & Salvador. If you just wanted a taste and are already nearby…3 days in Rio de Janeiro might just do the trick. But you could easily spend a month in Brazil and feel you barely scratched the surface.

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Rio de Janeiro – quick travel guide

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Big beautiful beach city with rock landscapes, and also a bit dangerous…

For others, Rio de Janeiro is a magical place…full of beauty, wonder, and festivities. And it certainly seems that way when you look at the beautiful beaches with rocky islands and towering mountain silhouettes in the distance. There’s no other major beach city I’ve seen like this, with towering rock formations in the distance. As with everything Brasilian, it’s always sexy!

But for me, Rio was bittersweet. It is a beautiful place and fun…but it is not safe. I hated having to look over my shoulder constantly. Having to not bring my phone to certain areas because I didn’t want to risk getting robbed. Also it not being a good place to wander around solo (which I often like to do). It was easily the most dangerous feeling of the 20 countries I visited during that year. So let’s cover all the highlights in the safest way possible.

3 days is enough for main tourist highlights. 5 days if you want to enjoy more beach days and night life, also hikes.

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Mexico City (CDMX) – quick travel guide

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My favorite city in Mexico. Big city charms mixed with warm pleasant Mexican vibes.

Big, beautiful, eclectic, amazing restaurants, partying, multiple neighborhoods to live and explore. What made me stay in CDMX over 3-4 months was this super comfortable vibe. You’re not on vacation…you’re home!

There’s tons of things to do, people to see, lovely spots to chill at when you’re not living the epic party life like you would in other cities in Mexico. Let’s go over all the gems I found.

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