50 Before 50: August ’24 Update

La Buena Vida, Akumal Mexico, March 2024
Iceland in April, 2024
Beers in Reykjavik, April 2024

Although the 50 Before 50 travel plan came about in November 2023, it’s going to be over a full year before I add one new country to my paltry list of 17 countries. We had a family vacation to Mexico in March, which was a repeat country for both of us. Things are looking slightly more promising for Bill, who gained one new country (Iceland) in April of this year, edging him slightly ahead of me with 18 countries. Conveniently coinciding with my 50 Before 50 goal is Bill’s newly-established 55 Before 55 goal – both of which we aim to complete by the end of 2032.

In order to stay on track, we have to average four new countries per year. And we are waiting until the last possible moment to cram those four in before the end of 2024. Initially, the plan was to fly down to Panama right before Christmas and then onto Leticia, Colombia, a town that shares a walkable border with Peru and Brazil and serves as the gateway to the Amazon. I then read a review of an Amazon guesthouse that mentioned hand-sized cockroaches, spiders and scorpions found IN PEOPLE’S BEDS and started to second guess everything. On top of that, I was helping weed the yard over the weekend and a creepy crawly beetle-type bug somehow crawled UNDERNEATH my leggings and was wedged in between my skin and my lululemon’s for who knows how long. One nervous breakdown later, the Amazon and its bugs were officially off the table.

So, we traded bugs for beaches in our newly-dubbed “Christmas in the Caribbean” itinerary through the Eastern Caribbean island nations of Barbados, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Dominica.

Trying to rack up countries quickly in the Caribbean comes with its challenges, mainly: it’s pretty expensive to island-hop between most countries (if you can find a flight or ferry, which aren’t as comprehensive as you’d think) and a lot of those islands aren’t even countries (ie. Sint Maarten, Turks & Caicos, Anguilla, Guadeloupe, Martinique, etc)!

After a little research, we found a non-stop flight to Barbados, which is a good hub to get to Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago. But the best flight onward to St. John  (where we need to meet friends after Christmas) was from Dominica. So after Barbados and a quick 24 hours in Grenada (an obvious pick for a short stay thanks to the airport being only 10 minutes from Grande Anse, one of the best beaches in the entire Caribbean), Saint Lucia is our next stop before Dominica. It’s tempting to try and add Saint Vincent to the count since we’re so close, but ultimately, we didn’t want to spend hours in the airport and four new countries total was perfectly acceptable. Five would have just been greedy.

So, for those keeping score, the end of 2024 tallies will be:

  • Bill: 22/55
  • Amelia: 21/50

And after our March ’25 honeymoon, we’ll be:

  • Bill: 30/55
  • Amelia: 27/50

 

Share:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *