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Intro
This post is scheduled to go/have gone public on April 24th, 2023. That’s not an arbitrary date. No, that date represents 5 years from the very day I started my first solo trip. On April 24th, 2018, I waltzed into Oakland Airport. I was none the wiser that I was about to become a travel addict. 5 years later I feel it’s the perfect time to discuss my top ten countries in this pretty little world. View it as a sort of commemoration. When I traveled alone for the first time, I assumed it was going to be a one-and-done thing. That was nary the case. Now, look at me. I use the word nary in a sentence. That’s that #charactergrowth.
Disclaimer
Evidently talking about top ten countries needs to come with some disclaimers. It should go without saying, this is my opinion. It’s my personal list based on my opinions and experiences. I feel stupid having to say that but oh well. I want to clarify more that as previously stated, this is sort of a commemorative occasion.
This list will almost all be comprised of places visited in my solo travels over the last five years. As an adult, I felt the most capable to fully experience and appreciate what those countries have to offer. Obviously, I haven’t been to every country in the world, far from it. You can check here for a list of the places I’ve been. So, if you don’t see a particular nation here, chances are I may have never been there.
always believe in yourself
Additionally, ranking countries and rating whole parts of the world is very difficult. It’s especially more difficult when I assert that it’s my opinion and opt to lose impartiality. However, I feel this is the only justifiable way to approach the topic. Therefore, it’s very much attached to my feelings and bias. At the end of the day, many things are considered. These include the country’s sights, people, food, culture, and fun memories I had there.
Personally, a lot of my favorite travel moments came from making friends overseas. However, I figured that wouldn’t be such an interesting post. Who wants to learn about friends I made who are total strangers to all readers? So, I figured I will briefly touch upon friendships made but not dwell too long on them for brevity’s sake.
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Nonetheless, the last obvious theme is going to be the length of time spent in a nation. Generally, more time in a country allows for more exploration and a deeper sense of attachment to that country. It’s not always the case on this list but will definitely be a theme so keep that in mind. I think that’s all the spring cleaning needed. I promise the actual list will be more fun than these ramblings. But, however, although, yet, meanwhile, insert conjunction, though, nevertheless, let’s begin but not start with some lovely honorable mentions!
Honorable Mentions
GERMANY
Long time readers of the blog will know, unless that is, that I’ve never mentioned it, that I am of German descent. While I’m American first and foremost, being born and raised in the US, my father is from Germany and so growing up, I’ve visited numerous times to see the rest of his side of the family that remains there. Germany was probably the first foreign nation I ever went to as a baby and holds a very special place in my heart.
If I were to have ranked this whole list differently, using different criteria, Germany could have even been #1. I’ve had amazing and memorable family vacations there since I was a kid all the way until adulthood. However, these were just that, family vacations. I didn’t travel alone to Germany until 2018 and that little slice wasn’t enough to nudge it into my top ten countries countdown. However, Deutschland wird immer the most honorable of honorable mentions sein.
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MEXICO
I visited Mexico very last minute, basically as a means to escape the cold and Covid of Canada at the time when I went there. As a result of this trip not being planned very well, it was only a week. It’s a shame for a country as massive as Mexico as normally I would have loved to visit for at least a month. My trip there was quite thrilling though as I got to see Mexico City and the Mesoamerican wonders of Teotihuacan and the Yucatan. Favorite moments include visiting Uxmal on a tour from Merida and watching a performance of the traditional Mayan Ball game in the city square after, visiting Chichen Itza, wasting a whole day trying to get to the Island of the Dolls at Xochimilco and diving into several Cenotes outside Valladolid.
keep on going
CANADA
Canada is in a similar situation to Mexico. I’d planned a much longer trip there but went at a poor time where Covid restrictions were becoming harsher, limiting my available activities. Additionally, it was in January and the Winter proved to be more challenging than I predicted. Still, it was a fun experience. I’d long decided to focus in on Quebec as I had been learning French for years and got to reach the Great White North traveling over the US border at Niagara Falls.
Mexico would be a little ahead of Canada just for culture alone. Canada, while unique, seemed a lot more close to home, coming from the US, which also prevents it from climbing any higher. Nevertheless, I had some undeniably memorable moments like nearly freezing to death in Montreal, eating bombass shawarma poutine in Toronto and getting lost in the winter wonterland of Quebec City where the people were so friendly they didn’t even make me pay for the bus.
obstacles are made to be passed
SPAIN
Going years back, Spain was the last nation I visited on my first trip in 2018, centered on Western Europe. I feel, like many of the destinations of that first trip, it suffered from me really really being alone on a solo trip whereas the ones after I was pretty much constantly capping and would meet people. As a result, it felt a little hollow in terms of cultural immersion.
However, Spain’s landmarks more than made up for any social shortcomings I encountered. I was most drawn to Andalucia and the cities of Sevilla, Cordoba and Granada did not disappoint ya boi. Sevilla especially had me all hot and bothered. I watched a bullfight there where I didn’t actually know they killed the bulls going in, something which should have been obvious but thereafter proved a shocker to my little brain. A lot more of the memories are more personal and minute like listening to Big Pun at the Alcazar in Seville or Kid Cudi while walking down the streets of Barcelona. I listened to Xxxtentacion in Barcelone too, which would have been just a month or so after he died, so yeah, rest in peace.
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ITALY
I recall being blown away by Italy. It remains one of the weird travel choices I made in these early trips. I didn’t go to Rome! Or the South! Why? Why was I so dumb? Nevermind that. Instead, I saw Genoa, Florence, Pisa, and Venice and those alone blew my mind. I used Couchsurfing for the very first time in Genoa when I arrived. During that time, I recall eating dinner, pasta of course, and have a woman talk to me in hand gestures. I felt like my Italian dreams had come true.
Truthfully, Italy was the first new country I’d visited alone, and the first where I didn’t know any of the language. It was a place where one could just walk and walk and be thrilled with whatever you ran into. Genoa, Florence, Venice, all of them just carried so much color and beauty in every corner. I fell in love so fast! I’m sorta rethinking now. Why did Italy not make my top ten countries list again? Somebody explain it! But you can only use your hands!
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Alright, those were all beautiful, sexy, uh, college-graduated countries! But sadly, none made the real list! So, I bet you’re wondering, what the devil could have made the top ten? Well, wonder no more. Like a beacon of light in the vast darkness that is the world without this blog, I shall answer your prayers! In 3…2…10!
10
THE UNITED STATES
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- CITIES VISITED:
- (A lot, since I live here, but for this list, we will just mention places visited during trips in the timespan mentioned)
- Flagstaff, Arizona
- Sedona, Arizona
- Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Taos, New Mexico
- New York City, New York
- Niagara Falls, New York
- New Orleans, Louisiana
I guess it seems a bit odd to put the USA on this list, as it is my home and not really a travel destination. That being said, within these aforementioned 5 years, I have done a good deal of my solo travels within the USA, as well as various Family Vacations too, which I put over Germany partially just because I was an adult when they took place. I’m from California and so during my trips, I ventured out to the East and South, namely New York and New Orleans. I had a blast each time and those experiences opened my eyes to the diversity of the country.
it won’t matter if they believe in you or not until you believe in yourself
One of the obvious benefits to traveling around the US, something only realized after visiting so many foreign countries, was the ease of everything. I guess I overlooked how much understanding the language and most cultural norms can help you feel at ease while traveling. In all these destinations, the little things like asking for directions, tips, food or whatever was much easier since I didn’t have to try speaking in another language and embarassing myself miserably.
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What keeps the US lower in this top ten countries outfit is similar to what I said about Canada. Normally, exotic and foreign cultures are part of the appeal of travel and as an American, the US just wasn’t as exotic to me despite the various differences state by state. That being said, the grandeur of the man-made and natural beauty across the nation really can’t be overstated. Naturally, I came into visiting these locations with a lot more background knowledge than other destinations which helped too. I had a lot of fun times meeting other foreigners, celebrating New Year’s in Times Square, taking tours to the Bayou and trying delicious cajun food in New Orleans. Learning about Native American cultures in New Mexican museums and standing in awe of Arizona’s landscape all added to a sense of wonderment here.
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Expect the US to possibly climb if I make another list in another five years or so. It’s a big nation and states like Hawaii and Alaska are definitely ones I want to check out. Alternatively, regions like New England, the Old South, and territories like Puerto Rico are on my list too. For now, though, 10 is a comfortable spot for the US. It feels like the perfect nation to open this list. It’s less sentimental than later entries but just as awesome in its raw beauty.
9
FRANCE
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- CITIES VISITED:
- Paris
- Dijon
- Grenoble
- Aix en Provence
- Chartres
- Bordeaux
- Sarlat
- Saint-Emilion
- Carcasonne
- Marseille
- Grasse
- Nice
- Toulouse
Ahh France, this is the country that started it all. It was the first nation I ever traveled to alone. I’d finished high school and work for months to save the money. My father suggested France after I’d spent all my high school years learning French and I definitely didn’t regret it. As mentioned briefly with the honorable mentions, my first trip is hard to rank compared to the later ones so a lot of the Western European tourist juggernauts won’t rank as highly for me personally as they would for others.
As a whole, I just wasn’t as experienced at traveling during this time, and faced a lot of issues like missing buses, losing cards, getting lost and the like. Additionally, I was new to apps like Couchsurfing and less inclined to open up to people I met at hostels, meaning these trips were the most alone I ever was traveling. Nevertheless, of all those countries from the first trip, France was the one I spent the longest in and, given I could speak the language to some extent, the one I felt slightly more attached to.
never let your inner voice bow to outside pressure
That being said, had I stayed in Italy or Spain as long as I had in France, either of those nations probably would have eclipsed it in these rankings, based on what I enjoyed in those countries. That’s not to take anything away from France though. it’s a beautiful and rustic nation filled with astounding monuments and historically rich cities. I feel as though the cities I ended up enjoying the most in France were the ones I expected the least from, like Marseille, Carcassonne and Bordeaux. Though, the heavyweights like Paris, Nice and Lyon did also live up to their billing.
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France makes the top ten countries list for the uniqueness of my trip there. It’s built on a sentimental foundation but buoyed off my experiences WWOOFing for the first and so far only time there. That’s the organic farm working program available for travelers looking to save money on food and shelter while abroad in return for their labor. You can read more about it here. This alone made my time in France stand out more than in other countries and allowed me to see a side of the nation I just never got in other trips. For better or worse it made me grow too both physically and mentally, in my understanding of what French people really were like as opposed to stereotypes.
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I traveled around France for about six weeks in total and had a lot of great moments along the way. I got to practice a lot of French to mixed results. Sometimes I’d be proud of my abilities. Other times I’d be drowning in shame as a result of my language skills languishing in levity. I recall seeing the light show around the Chartres Cathedral, some random guy peeing on me from a balcony in Carcassonne (okay not really the best moment), looking down on Lyon and Marseille from the respective hilltop Notre Dames, flexing my Americanness with sunglasses and donuts on 4th of July in Provence and getting accused of robbing a liquor store in Grenoble (also not necessarily a best moment).
8
GEORGIA
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- CITIES VISITED:
- Batumi
- Kutaisi
- Mestia
- Pona
- Tbilisi
Georgia was, for a while, what I would consider the weirdest country I’d ever visited. It’s a hard thing to quantify and so I’m not sure if I would still say that. I visited it during my third solo trip abroad in 2020 (before the lockdown). I came from Turkey to Georgia and immediately felt confused with what I was seeing. It was my first former Soviet state and the influence shown everywhere. There was a lot more poverty than I expected but beneath that shone a rich and extremely interesting culture.
become the rock you need to stay grounded in your life
Of all the countries on this list, I feel like Georgia, has to be the least known or understood nation to the casual American traveler. As a result, when I went and told people back home, it got constantly confused for the American state of the same name. Saqartvelo is the local Georgian name and it follows the theme I noticed with a lot of Georgian words being incredibly hard for my uninitiated tongue to pronounce. To top it off, Georgian uses its own alphabet which, while being very aesthetically pleasing, is something I tried and failed to learn. What I did learn before coming was about Georgian cuisine, primarily khachapuri, khinkali, and the glorious Chacha. Speaking of the latter, my days in Tbilisi became a Chacha fueled haze, as I reached probably my life’s peak in alcoholism, drinking during all hours of the day for the first time.
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I really ended up in Georgia in the first place for questionable reasons. I was a big fan of the Civilization game series. Months before this trip, the latest game Civ VI just released the Georgian Civilization under its leader Tamar. I played as them and that gave me the idea and interest to visit the nation. Nothing more nothing less. Well, a bit more, cuz as time went on I did research into Georgia and grew interested that way. But it’s still one of the weirder reasons I ever went somewhere. As I said, weird was a theme in Georgia, from my opening days in Batumi to me trudging through the glacial mountains near Mestia and using Google Translate to navigate my way cross country in beat-up minivans. Weird was evidently never very far.
Nevertheless, Georgia was an incredibly fun place to go to. I’d say because the culture was so unfamiliar to me, it added to the sense of awe I felt visiting. You always get that traveling abroad but in a place like Georgia, there was always a sense that you didn’t know what could come next. Georgia was the first place in which I tried the program Workaway, as mentioned, it’s a work and travel program akin to volunteering more than straight-up working for the man though.
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The experience was physical and isolated but it had its moments. I entertained everyone with my drunken stupor as we burned wooden effigies out in the field. I planted trash roses all around a field then hid in an outhouse. This was because I was convinced chickens were about to attack ya boi and catch me lacking. That’s right, I also took a hit from what I would say is a makeshift bong for the first time. They just called it ‘Russian device’. Finally, the bong hitter in question became a good friend afterwards. Thus, we traveled together for the rest of my Georgia trip, after the Workaway. With him, I even hitchhiked for the first time too!
7
TUNISIA
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- CITIES VISITED:
- Tunis
- El Kef
- Monastir
- Sousse
- Houmt Souk
- Tozeur
- Hamamet
Tunisia packs a lot of heat into a relatively small package! I’d say next to Georgia, it’s probably the least known location on this list! However, it really shouldn’t be! And, chances are, you already know some thing about Tunisia without knowing that you know them and answering with no when I ask if you know anything. For instance, Tunis stands today over the famous ancient city of Carthage, whose ruins you can still visit today! Go deep into the country’s interior and you find the small village of Tataouine, one of many amazing rock carved desert villages the nation houses. As the name suggests, this one was used for filming the original Star Wars films! And there are many more like it!
thank yourself when no one else will
I visited Tunisia during a greater North African excursion and I must say that Tunisia is distinctly its own place as well! It’s a more liberal country than others like Egypt, with its capital Tunis specifically very cosmopolitan with a strong Mediterranean feel. The food is classic fare with the added secret weapon of Harissa, special spicy sauce that will set your tastebuds on fire, apply douse them in cold blanketing water and then boil them again. Tunisia had some of the best kebab I’ve found, including in unique places like the island of Djerba, a place that feels wholly outside any other region of the country. Then there’s places like Tozeur with their engrossing desert architecture and mazelike medinas. There’s so much here, it’s really to die for!
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I struggled most with placing Tunisia on this list. Despite being an undeniably fun and memorable trip for me, it doesn’t really stick as strongly in my memory as others on this list. I’m not sure why that is, only assuming it’s because my trip to Tunisia was sandwiched between two much larger and longer trips to bigger countries in Morocco and Egypt. Still, Tunisia stands tall all by itself. It’s here I felt probably the most secure in speaking French I ever did, using it successfully over and over again to save my skin when I was lost, which I was quite often. I spent a lot of time on louages in Tunisia, their minibuses, as they were a cheap and easy way to get around with a little bit of French thrown in there.
Beyond speaking French, Tunisia stands out to me as really the time when I got good at Couchsurfing. Perhaps by then, after using it sparingly in Italy, France, and Morocco, I’d built up enough references (reviews) to be trustworthy enough, but by the time I reached Tunisia, I was getting the most chances to meet and stay with people I’d ever gotten to that point. They weren’t always positive but as a whole made a huge difference to my Tunisian trip, providing lasting friendships and eternal memories.
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Due to my increased success in Couchsurfing, I met many people from all different backgrounds; young and old, and for the first major time, both men and women. Subsequently, through talking with these people, I broadened my understanding of Tunisian society. Visiting Muslim countries like Tunisia, I feel like people from Western countries come with preconceived notions about how women are treated in society, so it was enlightening to meet some and learn things from their perspective. In Morocco, the first Muslim country I’d visited, I primarily met men through Couchsurfing so it was enlightening to receive this other perspective. That being said, meeting so many people in general, helped me see how much we all have in common rather than have apart when it really comes down to it.
6
RUSSIA
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- CITIES VISITED:
- Moscow
- Puschchino
- Saint Petersburg
- Pskov
Onto number 6 and we have the biggest country on Earth, Russia. First things first, I was lucky to visit Russia in 2020, leaving right as Covid was taking the world by storm. So everything currently going on politically with Russia and Ukraine has no impact on my feeling on the country based on when I visited it and how it’s made my top ten countries in the world. It does segway nicely into one of the reasons I enjoyed visiting Russia though. More than any other country I visited, going to Russia taught me the valuable lesson of separating the people from the state. It’s imperative in a country like Russia, with such questionable political leadership. However, I found incredible hospitality when I visited and enjoyed meeting a befriending a slew of fun and thoughtful people.
sadness always comes to an end
Russia was the hardest country to get to legally. I needed a visa and the process took ages. Some say it began when the last dinosaurs dropped. Like Georgia, this trip came into my head very randomly. Flying back from Egypt the year previous, I stopped in Moscow’s airport for my connecting flight and from there just decided the next trip needed to include Russia. When I arrived in Moscow’s airport myself I was lucky to have arrived near enough to Christmas and New Year’s that the city was still lit up and flush with lights, lanterns and other decorations. My hostel was close to Red Square and the Kremlin, making visiting Moscow’s most iconic tourist sights easy work! And boy did I indulge myself!
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Moscow was without a doubt my favorite of the Russian cities I visited but Saint Petersburg packed a mighty punch as well with a completely different vibe from its larger neighbor. Similarly to Tunisia, I used Couchsurfing quite a bit in Russia and the nation has likely both my best and worst experiences on the platform, though we don’t need to get into that hehe. When I visited Russia, it was spring but still dreadfully cold, especially in Saint Petersburg, so I struggled greatly not to implode under my myriad of layers.
Thankfully though, my hostel was close to one of the great landmarks of Saint Petersburg, KFC, so I was always able to heat up with some fried chicken if the worst came to worst. Speaking of which, one time a girl came to my table at KFC and started talking, begging, and crying about something. I told her I couldn’t understand her and so she told me in English she needed food. She was starving. So, I gave her my bag of fries but she just took one single fry and left. It was weird!
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Russia isn’t as weird as you may think though. As mentioned, the people were very welcoming and down to earth and I had many a great moment visiting Red Square, the Kremlin, several art galleries, Gorky Park, and the Izmailovo Kremlin in Moscow. Then later, the Hermitage, several museums, Peter and Paul’s Fortress, the Church of the Savior on Spilt Blood, Nevsky Prospekt, and more in St Petersburg. Both cities were amazing and I felt as though I was able to get a deep insight into the Russian way of life through the various Couchsurfers I met. It’s those interactions more than anything that put Russia so high up here so it’s hard to really explain it. Those interactions with a side of the massive landmarks and scope of Russia’s great cities, with vodka and blinis too of course!
5
NEPAL
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- CITIES VISITED:
- Kathmandu
- Patan
- Bhaktapur
- Sauraha
- Lumbini
- Pokhara
- Ghorepani
This is, as of now, the most recent entry on this list. Nepal represents this humble author’s peak thus far as a traveler. Meaning this trip was the most prepared I was for all the ins and outs of traveling. I packed more than the essentials and adapted to issues with my phone battery, sim cards and photo ops. That alone doesn’t say much for the country though but fear not, Nepal packed enough of a punch to stand up for itself.
I would say, compared to other countries before or after Nepal on this list, it’s not as much carried by social moments. I made friends there but the appeal of the nation came more in its history and natural beauty over that. It was my first time in South Asia so Nepal stood out as wholly different from any other country I’d visited. It’s blend of Hinduism and Buddhism, rich architecture and cuisine and amazing hospitality allowed Nepal to climb so high so quickly.
don’t let the journey blind you to the goalpost
I remember feeling overwhelmed when I entered Kathmandu. I stayed in Boudha and would spend mornings visiting the large Boudhanath Stupa nearby to my hostel. Just the experience of walking around that area overwhelmed me. It represented Nepal in a microcosm, a wide rainbow-esque array of sights and sounds, flush with color. The exoticism of Nepal as a destination carries it high for me. I learned a lot about Buddhism and Hinduism visiting the various temples of Kathmandu, Pokhara and Lumbini. All the way, I was helped out by the amazing friendliness of the locals. I lost my debit card on my first day in Nepal and the people I met, friends or even strangers, went out their way to help me find it, going above and beyond for my sake when they didn’t have to.
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Beyond getting helped out by locals in Nepal, sharing dinners, lunches or just milk tea suppers with them was a blast too. The cuisine of Nepal is rich and powerful with flavors. After a while, I got used to the most popular dishes I’d see like Momo and Dal Bhat and my tummy grew restless at the thought of another morsul. I want to get to the nature of Nepal but I must see the historic architecture really did a number on me. It has no equivalent in the Western imagination. Those moments walking through the Durbar Squares where times when it’s really best to just let your mind wander and allow yourself to bask in the ambiance of the moment.
Nevertheless, Nepal is a trekker’s nation. I will admit I wasn’t into doing this beforehand as many others are and so I only did a two day trek to Poon Hill. However, those two days were a blast, rewarding me with amazing mountain views over winding ravines and snowy peaks galore!
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In total, I spent just two weeks in Nepal, so I was a little more strapped for time than would have been completely ideal. However, within the limited time I got to see the three ancient cities of the Kathmandu Valley; Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. I got to visit Mount Everest via a plane tour. I ventured into a safari in Chitwan National Park, being lucky to see wild elephants, rhinos and sloth bears. Then I visited Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, Pokhara, the tourist heart of Nepal, and ventured into nature for the Poon Hill trek. All in all, I felt richly rewarded with the gifts Nepal just kept on giving over and over and within just about two days, I’d already fallen in love with this little Himalayan nation.
4
MOROCCO
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- CITIES VISITED:
- Fez
- Rabat
- Sale
- Kenitra
- Chefchaouen
- El Jedida
- Moulay Idriss
- Meknes
- Tangier
- Casablanca
- Safi
- Essaouira
- Agadir
- Marrakech
- Tafraoute
- Merzouga
Alright, now before continuing in, I need to say a few things. This top four is really when we reach the big guns of this list. You’ll see from here on out how much the amount of time spent in a country can really impact how deeply you enjoy it. For better or worse, the time spent does give these next nations an edge over the ones before. At any time previously, i probably would have said either of these top four were my favorite nations. However, I decided upon this order when diving deeper into the details. Still, these are now really really my favorite, most beloved travel destinations I’ve had the luck to visit in my five years of solo travel.
Morocco has always stuck out in my memory as the country I visited with the most nostalgia attached to it. It was my second trip abroad, after the Western European trip mentioned earlier. Morocco began my North African adventure and 4 of the 6 weeks I spent there were in the country’s capital, Rabat. I took language classes there for both French and Arabic, stayed with a Moroccan host family, and made several friends among the other students. This experience bred the nostalgic effect in me I believe. Rabat is now attached to the memory and the afternoons spent exploring the Kasbah des Udayas, walking along la plage and down avenue Mohammed V cannot be forgotten. But Morocco gave me so much more than just a good school experience, and so much more than Rabat.
every journey starts from loving yourself
First off, my French served me much better in Morocco than in France. Maybe because I was learning at the same time or because for most people there it was also their second, or third language, but I found it much easier to understand people. And speaking of people, the Moroccans were so friendly and hospitable wherever I went. Morocco was my first Muslim nation I visited, and first outside the US or Europe, so unfortunately I came in with a degree of fear and nerves. However, as soon as those were overcame I managed to enjoy the amazing culture all around me. From the medieval medinas littering most Moroccan metros to the mazelike souks one could get lost in, the nation was alive in every sense of the word.
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My trip there began in Fez, where I flew in, before transitioning to Rabat for the month of schooling. As a result, It’s Rabat I got the deepest insight into. However, I used the school breaks over the weekends to visit the blue city of Chefchaouen, and the quaint coastal town of El Jadida during the first two weeks. During the third and fourth weeks, I visited Kenitra, Meknes, Moulay Idriss, the Roman ruins of Volubilis and Tangier, Morocco’s great northern city. After school finished I ventured southward to the picturesque cities of Essaouira, Safi and Agadir. I enjoyed Tafraoute for the amazing mesa like landscape as you encroached ever closer to the Sahara and the Amazigh influences became ever stronger.
Then there was Marrakech, a city I was scared to enter but one that became my favorite in all of Morocco. It was the first time I did hashish! And, uh, that’s all you need to know… No, Marrakech has a well deserved reputation for being the tourist hub of Morocco. It’s brimming with history and culture like no other place. From the raucous Djemaa al Fna to the pristine Bahia Palace, there is something for everyone.
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From riding camels into the desert to sharing a huge tajine with my wonderful hosts, slurping it down with immaculate mint tea, Morocco fills me with memories. It’s hard to explain exactly what makes it one the top ten countries for me other than the obvious sights and sounds of the African nation. It’s more than that. I feel that your favorite countries are those to which you end up developing an attachment to. Whether from the people you met, the things you did or just the moment in your life it represents, it sticks with you.
Morocco is like that for me. While it only ranks fourth here, it came before the top 3 and therefore set a standard for me as a traveler. It was the first time I broke away from the familiar, the Western world, and realized the potential traveling offers as a whole. In many ways, I made a lot of mistakes while in Morocco, out of fear or naivety or shyness, that would be ameliorated by the next three trips. But, I can’t deny that Morocco laid the groundwork for me to fall in love with traveling itself.
3
TURKEY
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- CITIES VISITED:
- Istanbul
- Bursa
- Denizli
- Eskisehir
- Ankara
- Goreme
- Gaziantep
- Sanliurfa
- Kiziltepe
- Mardin
- Diyarbakir
- Amasya
- Trabzon
From the moment I had my first Doner Kebab in Karlstadt am Main, Germany, I knew I had to go to Turkey. When those flavors hit my tongue, my brain became full of the image of Janissaries going into battle across the Balkans. Okay not really but as with many trips, the idea came from a random place and then turned into a lot of research that generated genuine excitement for visiting the country. Turkey was the main country I visited during my third trip abroad in 2020, and my first trip taking place in the Winter time (coming in January). I’d, until that point, always preferred spring or Summer travel but the decision to go in winter time gave this trip a sense of ambiance and character no others had to that time. That and, Turkey is just without a doubt a heavy hitter.
you deserve the best every time
From Istanbul to Amasya, Turkey blew me away. There’s the history and architecture you find in Istanbul’s iconic Aya Sofya and Blue Mosque. Also, in Amasya’s river lining Ottoman style homes. There’s the delicious foods going beyond kebab to include the spiced lahmacun I tried in Ankara, the thick curdy Ayran I tried in Sanliurfa, and the pistachio-filled baklava I devoured in Gaziantep. Then there’s a natural beauty. Turkey can feel like a whole other world when your tip-toeing around the cool waters of Pamukkale or surveying the thousands of cave homes and cave churches carved into the canyons of Cappadocia. It really is a nation that can hit you in any department you want it to. I visited in the winter of course, so no beaches for me, but it’s famous for that as well.
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I can’t forget the people of Turkey too. As in other top ten countries on this list, hospitaly goes a long way. I met a lot of amazing people that made my journey a whole lot funner. This was around the peak times of Couchsurfing for me, right before Covid sorta gutted the app, and I benefitted from receiving several amazing hosts while meeting kind travelers too. Of all the people I’d met traveling, I would say the Kurdish people of eastern Turkey were the most hospitable. One after the other, I was invited into their homes and served delicious and extravagant meals, introduced to their families and treated warmly. Turkey has a lot of issues, especially with marginalized groups like the Kurds. However, moments like those I shared with them reminds one of the humanity we all share despite our differences.
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I can’t not mention nargile too, I enjoyed it a lot in Turkey. In Turkey I smoked cigarettes for the first time too, though I enjoyed that considerably less. I went horseriding in Cappadocia, scaled the top of Mardin’s historic cityscape and indulged in many a mosque along the way, even dressing up as an Ottoman sultan. Turkey sticks out to me as another peak experience traveling for me. It was one of the countries I became most excited to visit and one that didn’t disappoint in the slightest. It may lack some of the gravitas of the next two entries but carried itself with a confident swagger that was irresistible. My time in Turkey was another defining trip of mine and one of the first times I thought about what it must be like to live in a country I traveled to.
2
EGYPT
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- CITIES VISITED:
- Cairo
- Giza
- Alexandria
- Ain Sokha
- Dahab
- Siwa
- Aswan
- Luxor
- Hurghada
Egypt holds contention with Morocco for the altogether dubious title of most nostalgic trip for me. They are two sides of the same North African journey. Morocco was the first country I visited on that trip. Egypt was the last. At two months spent there total, my trip to Egypt was also the second longest I ever spent in a nation. Similarly to Morocco, I spent a month there in school. From the same organization entitled Sprachcaffe, I spent two split up weeks in Cairo and then two in Luxor learning Arabic.
As mentioned, that breeds a stronger attachment to the nation. bigger than that though, I’d convinced my friend from the US to join me for three of the weeks I stayed there, giving this trip another edge as I got to enjoy the country with someone else. The secret ingredient however, was the random coincidence that I had unknowingly booked my flight to Egypt to occur during Ramadan. Ramadan is something I knew of obviously but never experienced. At first, my friend and I feared the timing would ruin our trip. Instead, it did the opposite.
don’t let good luck be good luck
I arrived a few days before the official start of Ramadan. Flying into Cairo around 5am, I remember vividly the surreal image in front of me. Looking out the window, I could see the Pyramids looming, next to a giant, extensive city, and then desert, desert and more desert. The combination of the three made my heart leap, that feeling that culture shock is incoming. It hit me more as I drove in via taxi to my hostel, looking over the city of the dead and Cairo’s many mosques. I was overwhelmed by Cairo at first. Everything seemed huge and out of this world. When Ramadan began, I felt even more like a fish out of water.
To be clear, I only actually observed Ramadan fully like twice. Me and my friend couldn’t go without drinking water in the heat of Egypt very often. However, Ramadan made the city quite during the day and less daunting to traverse. At nights, it lit up with excitement as everyone came out, the city decorated in lanterns and feasts occurring everywhere. A lot of my favorite experiences came from weeding through the giant crowds that filled the city in the wee hours of the night, trying to get our hands on delicious sobia and other Ramadan beverage staples.
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I also got a chance to do a ton of shisha as the hostel owner we stayed at in Cairo offered it to us about every night for unexplained reasons. The reasons were clear later on, that familiar hospitality. I enjoyed it abundantly in Egypt even beyond Cairo. For instance, I remember staying over a friend’s home in Luxor in order to visit the Valley fo the Kings in the morning. I recall being introduced to the delicious delicacies of koshari on my last day in Cairo after visited Christian monasteries carved into caves.
No matter where I was in Egypt, the people gave me a warm and welcome stay as I indulged new experience after new experience. I skiied for the first time in Cairo (in a mall). I went snorkeling for the first time in Red Sea by Dahab. Most amazingly, I tried scuba diving for the first time in Hurghada. And, all that was between visiting ancient temples, monuments that were thousands of years old and exploring the ambient mystery of the desert sands that were never too far away.
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Egypt changed my views on traveling and of myself as a traveler. Following this trip, I got the idea to make this travel blog or at the very least do something with traveling. I felt as if I’d grown up a lot already at the end of this trip. I could no longer looking at these trips as mere trips but more experiences in my life, home to some of my happiest memories. My stay in Egypt lasted beyond the month of Ramadan but that experience alone made it magical.
Through that, learning Arabic and meeting so many wonderful people, I felt as if I gathered a deep look into the heart of the country. There were many funny stories with scammers and strange happenings I will hopefully write about at some point but for now I’d like to appreciate the country for what it is at its core. It’s a beautiful country with beautiful people, both externally and internally, which has forever left its mark on me as a travel boy and as a person.
1
INDONESIA
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- CITIES VISITED:
- Jakarta
- Yogyakarta
- Magelang
- Denpasar
- Ubud
- Seminyak
- Senggiggi
- Gili T
- Kuta
- Semarang
- Surabaya
- Malang
- Banyuwangi
- Makassar
- Rante Pao
- Sengkang
- Manado
- Bandung
- Bandar Lampung
- Padang
- Bukittinggi
- Medan
- Parapat
- Samosir
- Surakarta
Finally, we reach number 1. I’m not going to beat around the bush. This was a very hard decision. I stayed in Indonesia longer than any other country at five months. In that time I had a lot of amazing moments. I also had a lot of horrible moments. The whole basis for this trip was a relationship that ended up going sour. Due to that, a lot of my worst memories are from this trip so I struggled where to rank it.
However, looking beyond personal feelings and grievances, I could not hope to deny Indonesia its rightful spot. Not only did the good moments make it deserving of the number one spot but the country itself just has too much going for it to ignore. So, I won’t mention the relationship thing and strive to explain why Indonesia tops the list of top ten countries in the world for me.
don’t be scared of success
Indonesia is a country with a huge scope. I say that in the broadest terms. It’s diverse in everything; people groups, languages culture, nature, food, animals, religions. Those things alone allow it this top spot. With five months, I was able to explore not the whole country, but enough to grasp the immense diversity the nation offers. I visited in 2021 during the peak of the Covid Pandemic so travel was tricky and somewhat exclusive. However, I succeeded in having an incredibly enjoyable trip nonetheless. I spent most of my time in Yogyakarta in Java and used the city as a base to explore the rest of the country as much as I could. Within that time, I visited east and west Java, Bali, Lombok, the Gili Islands, Sulawesi and Sumatra. Each area is vastly different and offers unique cultural experiences and activities to people who come there.
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As a food lover, I greatly enjoyed the myriad of flavors I found in indonesia. From the destructive spices of sambal to the savory mie ayam, nasi padang and sate, Indonesia undoubtedly had the best food of any nation I’ve traveled to. What’s more each island has its unique cuisines, even each region within the island. The pork dishes of Bali were vastly different than the seafood I enjoyed in Sulawesi. This diversity extended greatly to the people I met on my trip. I met Muslims, Christians, Atheists, Conservative-minded people, liberal-minded people, no matter where I went.
Indonesia feels like you’re visiting many countries in one and I didn’t even see it all. From witnessing the funeral ceremony of the Toraja in Sulawesi to sipping tuak with the Batak People of Lake Toba, the opportunities for cultural activities are boundless. I searched for orangutans in Indonesia, rode horses in Indonesia, visited volcanoes in Indonesia, went rafting in Indonesia, just to name a few. I saw dunes, jungles, mountains and more. And all the way, it was my first time in a tropical country, south of the equator, so everything nature-wise stood out tenfold.
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It does play into my bias, as other countries on the top ten countries list do, that Indonesia is very exotic for an American like me. This undoubtedly made me enjoy it more. My first country in Asia visited (unless you count Turkey and Georgia) blew me away with the vast sights of sounds associated with continent. There was the zipping of motorbikes as I strolled around crowded cities with their version of uber. There were heaps and heaps of rice paddies and other vegetable fields dotting the countryside as I toured Central Java to visit century-old Hindu temples.
Speaking of temples, there were huge monuments too, from the iconic Borobudur to the mosques of Medan and Makassar. I purchased wayang and shopped for Batik as I, unfortunately, wasn’t able to the Gamalan played at Yogyakarta’s Keraton as I had hoped. All of those things, while incredibly foreign to me, enriched me beyond words as I drowned under Indonesia’s summer sun. I had to get used to sweating profusely and the rain feeling like the Gods pounding our heads in like wack a mole. However, once I accomplished that, I was gifted an incredibly fascinating destination to sink my teeth into.
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So, Indonesia brings itself to the number one spot by sheer force. Well, more than that. The social side can’t be underestimated too. I made amazing friends in Indonesia and was welcomed by a slew of incredibly kind people, with whom I shared countless moments of fun. I want to say that it’s hard to remove personal feelings from travel memories. You may visit a place and experience some bad times, pain, or trouble and want to judge the whole place but it’s never wise to do that. As mentioned, Indonesia contains both my best and worst travel experiences but that doesn’t subtract it from being the best country I’ve ever visited. If anything, it adds to that.
Traveling is not always going to be sunshine and rainbows but it’s wise to take the positives out of every destination. In my case, my relationship failed but gave its fair share of great experiences to the heap of them on this trip. Beyond that, Indonesia was a great nation to spend so long in. Without that, I wouldn’t have been able to meet so many people and dive so deeply into the different corners of the country. For everything i look for in a travel destination; culture, nature, architecture, people and food (the big five I made up just now) Indonesia hits harder than any nation I’ve had the pleasure of visiting.
Conclusion
This was a post I’d been dying to make for a long time but one I also struggled with greatly. I believe at the end of the day, especially when traveling alone, what countries and experiences stick out most to you, really have to do with you as a person. My list reflects that. Each trip represents you at a certain time and what you take from it reflects that.
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For that reason, I know it may be hard to relate to my reasonings but I hope you still enjoyed reading this post. For those wannabe travelers or experienced world trekkers reading this, I want to know if you share my views on what makes countries stand out most to you. Maybe it’s totally different depending on the person. Maybe ranking is inherently worthless to you, a wasteful endeavor. Either way, I did it, it’s done and you read it. I hope you enjoyed and took something away from this piece more than my ramblings. I put my heart into it. Now go get yours and pack it with your passport. There’s a world out there for you to explore!
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