5 destinations that made 2019 a unique travel year

Full disclosure: 2019 was not my typical travel year. Where I travelled, how I got there, how frequently I hit the road – everything was different. In no small part, because I spent the year either pregnant or caring for a newborn.

By January, the globe had shrunk down to places where the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had no active Zika classification – in other words, a handful of options outside Europe. In March it shrunk further, when I was no longer allowed to fly. (How does a travel editor survive?) Finally, in the first two months of my new daughter’s life – up until her first vaccines – I practically fenced myself into the neighbourhoods around my home. It was an exercise in appreciating the treasures in my own backyard rather than the far-flung spots that have typically struck my fancy.

It was surprisingly lovely, but it didn’t last. My baby had her passport before she was four months old. (Yes, she had to go to JFK for an “interview” screening. It was ludicrous.) And I’ve already broadened her world across the Atlantic. Next year will be promising for both of us; we plan to travel together every month until at least June, mostly internationally. One day, I hope, she’ll look back and realise how lucky she was. (Perhaps when she loosely retraces our footsteps in her own adulthood.) Right now, here are the five places that I’m most grateful to have explored this year.

1. Brooklyn, New York

Drop your eyebrows. People from around the world come to see what all the fuss is about my home turf, and it’s easy to take that for granted when life moves at a punishingly fast pace. But the six months I spent on maternity leave were full of slow, leisurely days pushing a stroller up and down every block within a three-mile radius, from the old Italian neighbourhood of Carroll Gardens to touristy Dumbo, from brownstone-filled Clinton Hill to the elevated waterfront promenade of Brooklyn Heights. After discovering a handful of tiny hidden streets flanked with stunning historic homes, I took to Google Maps and charted out every minuscule lane, place, or mews I could find, then beelined there while my baby dozed in her snug seat. (These adventures often included one-handed treats, like dirty chai lattes and croissants from Bien Cuit or chicken teriyaki onigiri from JuJu, a no-frills Japanese bodega in Cobble Hill.) What I found were troves of history, unusual architecture, and tons of secret gardens — an idyllic, picturesque, and little-known Brooklyn that’s worth seeking out. 

2. St. Barts

I’ll never forget what it felt like to sit down in the lobby of Villa Marie and look at photos of the same room in the same hotel, months earlier, when it had no roof and windswept furnishings were strewn about. St. Barts is a place that I hold dear, and I’m hardly alone in the sentiment — it’s the rare island of which my sun-phobic husband approves, and its varied topographical charms give it far more dimension than your typical fly-and-flop beach retreat. This time around, my visit was equal parts sobering and inspiring. I mourned the loss of small beachside businesses that were blown away by Hurricane Irma and celebrated the rebirth of iconic spots like Nikki Beach and Eden Roc, which were all coming back better than ever. It was a lesson in resilience that left me more optimistic and hopeful than any other trip I took all year.