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.

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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.

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3. The Bahamas

It feels ironic now, in hindsight, to compare the Bahamas to St. Barts in 2019. While the latter’s Irma-inflicted wounds didn’t become mainstream media fodder, the Bahamas took a far harder hit from Hurricane Dorian, and the damage to its tourism economy ended up fully in the public eye. Yes, US$8 billion in damage was caused by the storm, mainly in the northwestern Abaco Islands. But most of the archipelago was unharmed, something most travellers have failed to understand. As a result, tourism has plummeted, right when it’s needed most.

I visited in February, five months before winds of 185 miles per hour swept through. My destination: Kamalame Cay, a relaxed private island resort off the coast of Andros. Getting there negates the easy-access appeal of Nassau; after landing in the capital, you have to take another short flight, get driven to a ferry dock, then sail across a channel before arriving on the property. Being there is one of the most relaxed experiences anywhere. Luxury here means getting to know staff on a first-name basis, finding tidy breakfast baskets outside your room before sunrise, leaving your bungalow door unlocked, “hijacking” the resort puppies for in-room cuddles, and watching rays zoom through the clearest waters you’ve ever seen. It’s less like being at a fussy, five-star oasis and more like visiting your wealthy friends at their home away from home.

4. The Berkshires

When I first learned about Tourists Welcome, a converted motel in the tiny town of North Adams, Massachusetts, I tried hard not to roll my eyes. Despite being a reference to the signs once donned by the area’s roadside inns, the name pained me, and the fact that it was owned by Wilco’s bassist and his friends made me sceptical of how it might deliver on anything other than Instagram bait. But I was curious, and a location within driving distance – plus last-minute availability over the Fourth of July – made it ideal for baby’s first holiday.

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It took less than an hour to toss aside my assumptions and start drinking the Kool-Aid. Tourists Welcome brims with summer camp conviviality: Between outdoor cookouts, an indie-folk soundtrack and a canteenlike front desk, it’s chill in all the right ways. It fosters an atmosphere where it’s easy to strike up conversation with strangers – and where families with children of all ages can coexist seamlessly with weekending couples and celebrities. In the spirit of the place, I’ll stay mum on which major television star we ran into. The service was unbuttoned but not slow; the design was comfortable but endlessly photogenic; and the saltwater pool was so warm, I watched my 2-month-old fall asleep in it (while lounging in a flamingo-shaped baby float). Plus, there’s loads to do. We hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail one day and ogled giant Sol LeWitt murals at Mass MoCa the next.

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5. Mallorca (and Barcelona)

While I initially thought a destination in a nearby time zone would make sense for our first big trip as a family of three, my desire to expose our daughter to Spanish – my first language­ – and love for Europe set us on a more ambitious track. Now Mallorca is the place I can’t get out of my head. Its rocky, Tramuntana mountain range cuts along the northwest coast, and within its craggy peaks are nestled tiny, cobblestoned villages that look like Van Gogh paintings washed in Mediterranean light.

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We split our time between Deia, a picturesque speck of a town where the spectacular Belmond La Residencia is based, and Port Soller, a slightly larger coastal village that is popular with German beach-going families. At the former, we took lazy walks through olive groves and bought orange jam from a woman’s front porch — made with fruit from her own citrus trees. At the latter, we spent pool days at the clifftop and family-friendly Jumeirah Port Soller, ate paella by the sea, and watched a charming, 100-year-old tram pass by the esplanade a few times a day.

The trip also marked baby’s first missed flight, thanks to an hours-long weather delay on our return flight to New York. Getting stranded in Barcelona may have been the biggest blessing of all. We’d already spent a few days there at the start of our trip, happily cocooned in luxury at the spectacular new Almanac Hotel. But our delay coincided with the city’s biggest annual holiday, La Mercè, and all of the bustling streets we’d strolled were shut to car traffic and filled with all sorts of festivities from concerts to parades. In a stroke of serendipity we witnessed competitions for traditional sardana dancing and gigantic human pyramids outside the city’s namesake cathedral. For a planning-obsessed new mum, it was a refreshing reminder that the best things in life are often unscripted.

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