🌎 Travel Diary

The easiest way to organize countries would be to have them divided between the 4 main world regions, so that's what I'll do here.

The banner above is a custom Google Maps I use to track all the hotels I've stayed at, that's the easiest way I found to mark things up. I'd strongly recommend you do this as well, I started with less than 3 places and the more I add, the more motivated I am to travel around. You can set one up by going to Google My Maps and just adding pins to your own personal map.

Running total: 35

The Americas:

🇧🇸 Bahamas (#5)

Went to Nassau twice but need to go back for the sole purpose of swimming with the pigs on Exuma Island.

🇧🇷 Brazil (#35)

New Years in Rio has by far the best fireworks show I've ever seen. There's like 2-3 million people on one long stretch of beach and when it hits midnight these floating barges off the coast blast off a surprisingly well coordinated fireworks show that can be seen up and down the beach.

🇰🇾 Cayman Islands (#8)

Swam with stingrays on a shallow sandbar called "Stingray City" which is somehow terrifying and wholesome at the same time.

🇨🇺 Cuba (#1)

Was born in Cienfuegos, and have only ever revisited Cienfuegos. I'd love to go to Havana one day take a road-trip throughout, especially to the keys, but have yet to figure out a good way to go about this.

🇩🇴 Dominican Republic (#2)

Lived here for a very short bit and have not been back, at least for now. Do not remember much honestly, but it still counts right?

🇭🇹 Haiti (#16)

Only visited through a cruise ship for a single day so did not see much unfortunately.

🇯🇲 Jamaica (#7)

On my first visit I got food poisoning and a not-so-fun plane ride back home. Second visit saw a really bad car accident happen. Not sure if it's just my bad luck but I'm willing to give Jamaica another go, third time's the charm right?

🇲🇽 Mexico (#4)

So far have only been to the Mayan Riviera/Cancun areas, and while I'm sure Mexico has a lot more to offer, those all-inclusive resorts are so relaxing it's hard to pass them up. This is by far my most visited country.

🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos Islands (#6)

Grace Bay here is THE best beach I have ever been to, super soft white sand + almost 0 waves. A very close second is Whitsundays in Australia which is similar, just a lot more secluded.

🇺🇸 United States of America (#3)

Have lived in Florida, New Jersey, and Louisiana. Outside of that, I've traveled to Texas, California, New York, Washington D.C., and Colorado. The USA is huge but since I live here it tends to be placed in the back-burner when compared to other countries. Figure I can travel here more when I'm older and not willing to go on long plane rides.

Europe:

🇦🇹 Austria (#18)

Went to Vienna right after Prague so it felt huge but I didn't love it as much as Prague. It was less cramped to walk around though so that's a bonus, but I preferred Prague. Might be just me.

🇨🇿 Czech Republic (#17)

100% coming back just for those Trdelnik pastries. Outside of that, I really vibe with Prague's gothic architecture, especially since it inspired one of my fav video games: Bloodborne.

🇫🇷 France (#14)

The Mona Lisa is a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but on the bright side since everyone is looking at it the rest of the Louvre is not very packed. Would recommend having breakfast in the Eiffel Tower and also exploring the Catacombs of Paris. If being surrounded by skeletons deep underground in cramped tunnels with barely any lighting does not freak you out, props to you.

🇬🇷 Greece (#11)

Athens is worth visiting just because of The Parthenon, I love how it's visible from almost anywhere in the city. Santorini is something else entirely though, nothing beats the view. It's so good that I'd consider it in my top 5 fav places.

🇭🇺 Hungary (#20)

THE most underrated place I have been to and has my all-time favorite restaurant in the world: Caviar & Bull. Why this restaurant does not have 3 Michelin stars I have no idea, but it is not too expensive and extremely high quality. If I could get catering to Miami I would.

🇮🇪 Ireland (#23)

The Cliffs of Moher are a must, it's impossible to capture the massive scale of them in pictures. Side note, the view of the cliffs from a boat is not worth it unless you want your entire group to get horribly seasick. I didn't even get to see the cliffs from the boat because I spent the entire time looking at the floor praying for it to end.

🇮🇹 Italy (#9)

Rome holds a special place in my heart as my first international trip outside of the Americas. Italy in general is also of my favorite countries because it has so much preserved history that anywhere you go there is something to see, and honestly, even the tiny towns are beautiful.

🇳🇱 Netherlands (#12)

The biggest shock to me was that Anne Frank's house was a lot bigger than I pictured while reading the book, definitely a must see. The sheer abundance of waterways was also a surprise, Amsterdam being "The Venice of the North" is no joke considering it has more canals than Venice itself.

🇵🇱 Poland (#31)

Didn't think I would enjoy this one but was pleasantly surprised. Auschwitz was a very somber experience but I'm very glad I went and saw it for myself.

🇵🇹 Portugal (#22)

Somehow Lisbon was as hot as a desert and the beach was still ice cold, I don't understand how that's possible. Massive fan of Portugese tarts and octopus so this place was a dream come true.

🇸🇰 Slovakia (#21)

Did a day trip from when I was in Budapest to Bratislava, the capital. It's a very small place to walk around in but I don't think it was nearly enough time to enjoy it. I'm sure I'm missing a lot here and want to come back.

🇪🇸 Spain (#15)

I love Spain specifically because my experience as a Cuban visiting Spain is equivalent to an American visiting England due to the accent differences.

🇨🇭 Switzerland (#24)

Visited before I got super into watches and since then I've been dying to go back to the home of watchmaking. - Edit: Went back and the mountains did not disappoint. Also spent a good time window shopping some watch stores.

🇹🇷 Turkey (#28)

The coffee was great, the food is very affordable, and the city is very walkable. Saw on Reddit about a scam where a shoe cleaner would walk by you and drop their supplies, you help them out of kindness, they shine your shoes as a "thank you" and then demand payment from you. Not 10 minutes later I saw this play out in front of me. Don't let that be you. Also, personally not a fan of the Bazaars, to each their own.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom (#13)

Went to London twice. First visit was ok, didn't really like it that much. Second visit completely change my perspective and now I'd genuinely love to go back.

🇻🇦 Vatican City (#10)

This is the smallest country in the world so if you go to Rome, you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone by visiting it. Don't take pictures of the Sistine Chapel or you will get yelled at.

Middle East/Africa:

🇲🇦 Morocco (#29)

The best raw oysters I've ever had were here. Would not recommend this place to first-time travelers though. Was warned by a guide to not take pics with monkeys as they were trained to steal from tourists? That's crazy. Same as with Turkey, not a fan of the bazaars especially the one in Marrakesh which is easy to get lost in (and not in a good way). Would go back for the oysters.

🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates (#19)

Please try to avoid visiting in the summer, it's so hot and humid you actually ask yourself "is this real life?" because it can't be. Nowhere should be that hot. Before coming here I didn't know what to expect because the middle east gets a bad rap, but as long as you follow the rules it is legitimately one of the safest places you can go. Also, at least for Dubai, it's quite literally a shopaholic's dream.

🇪🇬 Egypt (#32)

Home of the world's best drivers and jaywalkers, took a day or two of extra high blood pressure to get used to how the traffic works. Spent my time in Cairo and then Giza to see the pyramids. I think for next time, a river cruise through Luxor is the goal. While I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I did have to be a lot more aware of my surroundings than usual, would not recommend to a first time traveler.

Asia Pacific:

🇦🇺 Australia (#25)

Somehow got sunburned a lot just by walking around, ate some kangaroo, and saw the New Years' fireworks display in Sydney from a boat. Overall 10/10. Kind of crazy to think that Australia is almost as big as the entire USA in land size, it really does not feel that way for some reason. <– Wrote that before living here for 2 years lol

🇯🇵 Japan (#30)

This is my favorite country to visit and the only place (so far) that I would consider permanently moving to. I like that nature is highly respected and the old Japanese architecture to me is just so aesthetic. Everything is clean, organized, efficient, and there is anime everywhere. I literally could not ask for more.

🇳🇵 Nepal (#34)

The closest I got to the Himalayas was Nagarkot near Kathmandu where in the early morning we could see the mountains going on forever, as if staring at the ocean. It makes you feel very small since it's this ginormous jagged plane staring you down. I made a promise to come back here relatively shortly in hopes of making it to Mt. Everest base camp so finger crossed.

🇳🇿 New Zealand (#26)

Wellington did not feel like it gets a lot of foot traffic, at least compared to other places on this list. Also, it took forever to get here but I would do it all over again to have some Six Barrel Soda, it is the superior dark cola in my humble opinion.

🇸🇬 Singapore (#27)

Like the Dubai of Asia. Very strict rules on everything, for example, gum is illegal. A rule I am 100% ok with as my shoes love gum. It also feels like being in the city of the future because it combines greenery and skyscrapers very well.

🇹🇭 Thailand (#33)

Most entertaining part of Bangkok was going through the canals and seeing it from the water. I did go to Krabi as well and that was my favorite part of the trip, the beach was nice but the very tall islands making up the landscape is what makes it worth going.