6 incredible South America journeys

A first-class passenger said American Airlines overbooked his flight back to the US and gave his seat away, leaving him stranded in Europe.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Morgan Duram, a full-time content creator who moved from Michigan to Madrid. It has been edited for length and clarity. 

After taking annual vacations to Europe for over a decade, I followed my dream and moved abroad right after my 32nd birthday. I initially did a six-month stay in Bordeaux, France, before heading to Barcelona, Spain, in early 2020.

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I'm no contender for summiting Everest, but I've done quite a bit of hiking in my day, both as a solo hiker and as part of guided group hikes.

Traveling by train in Peru is not just a practical way to move between major destinations, but also a fantastic way to soak up the incredible landscape. Train travel in the country has a nostalgic feel and allows riders to view nooks and crannies that they might not otherwise get to see when traveling by car. And one of the best train routes in Peru is the popular journey to Machu Picchu, starting from either Cusco or Ollantaytambo. Sure, trekking to Machu Picchu is a bucket-list experience, but taking the train is, too — it’s certainly not your average commuter train.

Mexico’s colonial history is best represented in one immense and ornate building: The Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral. It was the first cathedral to be built in the Americas by the conquering Spaniards who wanted to show their domination and that of their culture and beliefs over those of the indigenous Aztec people. And they did so by building this large religious complex near Templo Mayor, the main temple where the Aztecs used to worshipped their gods. Today, the largest and oldest cathedral in Latin America remains a symbol of religious and colonial power, but it is also an impressive piece of architecture — and it is very much worth visiting.

On July 25, 2023, Colombian-born celebrity chef Juan Manuel Barrientos’ Michelin-starred Elcielo Miami will open its second location at the SLS South Beach. This marks another milestone for the restaurant’s growing expansion— in addition to Miami, Elcielo currently has locations in Medellín, Bogotá, and Washington, D. C., the latter of which was the first Colombian restaurant to have attained a Michelin star— as well as for SLS South Beach’s portfolio of culinary destinations. The new restaurant will be located at the space previously occupied by The Bazaar by José Andrés, which was reimagined by designer Philippe Starck.

The Carretera Austral – Chile’s Southern Highway – begins nowhere and leads nowhere. Over 1000km in length, it was hewn and blasted through the wettest, greenest and narrowest part of the country. This sliver of Patagonia is a majestic land of snowcapped volcanoes, Ice Age glaciers, emerald fjords, turquoise lakes and jade-coloured rivers, set among lush temperate forest where giant trees seem to drip with rain the whole year long. The Carretera was built with the very purpose of settling this damp, secluded sliver of territory, but the only way to reach it from the rest of Chile is by boat or plane or overland from Argentina. Few roads can feel more remote.

You can’t expect to fit everything South America has to offer into one trip – or two or three or four, to be fair – and we don’t suggest you try. For those taking a big, extended trip around the continent you could join a few together, but remember that the distances you’ll be covering can be vast. Plus, there's lots to discover off the beaten track.

With eternal summer, thousands of kilometres of beaches and affordable prices, Southeast Asia is the perfect destination if you're planning a trip around nightlife.

It’s hard to encapsulate the full depth and variety of the USA – any nation that can marry cities as life filled as New York, San Francisco and LA with landscapes as breathtaking as those of Alaska, Arizona and Hawaii is beyond easy summary. Its rewards come in droves, from all-American icons like baseball, blues and bourbon to the unbridled spectacles like Mardi Gras in New Orleans.