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TOP COOLEST PLACES YOU CAN’T GO
“If a missionary website didn’t galvanize the young American to seek out the Sentinelese, he might have found inspiration in Fodor’s or Reader’s Digest. Both outlets (among countless others) have run variations on a “top coolest places you can’t go” article, with North Sentinel Island listed alongside the Lascaux caves and the Svalbard seed vault as some of the world’s trendiest forbidden places.” My weekly newsletter on travel, adventure and culture typically covers destinations and experiences that I come across that I think are worth sharing with a select group of fellow travelers. In this case, I’m sharing an article about places we can’t go to visit, probably ever. And it should remain that way. From The Walrus: “Where not to Travel in 2019, or Ever.” This verse by the poet Christian Wiman summarizes it well: “Once more I come to the edge of all I know / And believing nothing believe in this: ”
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HEY GRINGOS
Fair warning: the hero image in the article link itself is disturbing. As for Tulum, I must admit that over the last five years that I’ve known about it, I kept thinking with every passing moment: “I should go now or I’ll miss it.” Well, it seems like I’ve officially missed it! From The Cut’s article Who Killed Tulum? Greed, gringos, diesel, drugs, shamans, seaweed, and a disco ball in the jungle: “But seaweed was only one of Tulum’s problems, and before the dark wave distracted him, Barbachano had been detailing a list of other plagues: failing infrastructure, overzealous developers, drugs, too many DJs.”
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TAHAA-AAAMAZING
Wow. This newsletter took a turn for the worst with those first two blurbs. Sooorry. I’ll try and make it up to you. I’ll attempt to make a comeback with incredible French Polynesia. I feel like I’m on vacation just checking out these pics! From Coastal Living: “5 Incredible Islands in French Polynesia That Aren’t Bora Bora.”
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MANHATTAN TO MANHATTAN
Not quite Manhattan to Manhattan Beach, but, the US has just created one of the coolest trails it has, from coast to coast. It’s not a first. Other countries have similar trails like the Grand Sentier de la Côte Bleue in Southern France, or the Route of the Parks of Patagonia in Chile, but nonetheless, from Travel+Leisure: “According to My Modern Met, the nearly 4,000-mile trail will begin in Washington, D.C., and end in Washington State, attaching to several gateway trails such as Capital Crescent Trail, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, the Panhandle Trail, the Hennepin Canal Parkway, the Casper Rail Trail, and Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail.” It shall be called: “The Great American Rail Trail.” We’ll work on the naming part.
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NOW FOR THE ADVENTURE PORTION OF YOUR ITINERARY
I’m not talking about the adventure of trying to figure out what kind of coffee to order at one of the world’s 24,000 Starbucks. I’m talking about walking to the edge of life to make you feel most alive. CNN puts together a pretty nice list of ideas here: “The Most Extreme Adventures on Earth.”
Thanks,
Joe Naaman
Managing Editor, Waywinds
Keep Exploring!