Tourists wanted! European destinations that are still welcoming visitors and digital nomads

I've traveled around the world and to 15 countries in Europe, but I've yet to come across a place as special as Estonia.

The word Elgin may conjure an infamous set of Greek marbles, but this small town of the same name in Morayshire, in the northeast of Scotland, has solid links with another treasured commodity: cashmere.

Dec 16, 2024 • 11 min read

A group of tourists was taken to the hospital after drinking cocktails at a five-star resort in Fiji.

In March 2023, Tim Wong and Andrew Q. Tran took an impactful trip to Asia: The Bay Area-based couple, who began dating in 2020 after meeting through Andrew’s sister, attended a friend’s destination wedding on Balesin Island in the Philippines and went on to visit South Korea and Japan. Tim proposed to Andrew in Osaka, and then Andrew proposed back, at their next stop in Nara. The pair had dinner with their newlywed pals once they’d all returned to the US, and it didn’t take long for Tim and Andrew to become convinced they needed to have a destination wedding, too.

A new gift idea for the traveler who has it all just landed.  Luxury tour operator Abercrombie & Kent recently unveiled two new private jet itineraries for 2026, and updated two existing ones. The programs will take travelers on curated journeys to off-the-grid, or hard to reach destinations. The firm operates the month-long excursions in February, May, September, and October and they sweep through multiple counties and destinations around the world on a private jet. 

Interest in digital nomadism only continues to grow, and for many, Brazil is a top destination. In 2022, the country launched a digital nomad visa and is famous for its communities that are dedicated to attracting foreign talent, such as the beach town of Pipa. And this October, the country's capital, Brasília, was just named the best city in the world for digital nomads by the travel insurance comparison site, InsureMyTrip.

The annual Google Year in Search was just released, chronicling the major sports, news, and pop culture trends of 2024. With over 8.5 billion searches per day, Google is privy to heaps of data on what people are looking for on the internet—including the top trending travel destinations of 2024.

The cost of gas this week has dropped near the lowest price it has been in three years just in time for travelers to head out on holiday road trips.

I start out by washing my face with my line’s cleansers, the clearing oil and cleansing water. Then I use my plumping lotion; it has these gold specks in it and it really does something nice to your skin. I use Clearstem’s Hydraglow stem cell moisturizer before I put on my foundation, and then at night I’ll put on their Clearity serum with vitamin C and mandelic acid as well as their CellRenew serum. The beauty product most nostalgic to me is red lipstick. It’s something I started to wear once I moved to New York, because my mom didn’t let me wear lipstick as a teenager. I’ve been using Anna Sui Cosmetics the longest; we’re going on 25 years of that. We always do a red lipstick, number 400, that I wear. I also like the Nars lip pencil in Dragon Girl that I put underneath my lipstick. And I always wear my Perfect eyeliner. I use this eyeliner brush that’s Thierry Mugler, and it’s thick — it gives me that wide eyeliner look that I like. I wear my signature winged eyeliner everywhere, even when I go to the gym, even when I go to the drugstore. I love going to Bigelow [in the West Village] because they have a bubble bath that I like, Mistral in Lychee Rose Floral. I realize that bubble baths must not be popular now, because it’s really hard to find. But I like those bubbles. I guess from old movies, you always see the glamour pusses in the bathtub with all the bubbles. Garren New York, he’s cut my hair forever and nobody cuts hair like Garren. I get so many comments like, “You have such a great haircut.” I get my hair cut maybe three times a year, but I trim my own bangs in between with whatever scissors I have on hand. I wash my hair with R+C Television shampoo and conditioner or the Primary shampoo and conditioner and masque from their Bleu collection. I always use a Denman brush. Every time I go to London, I buy some from Boots. I also just bought a Dyson flat iron. I guess I copy my mom because she always wore fragrance, Chanel No. 5, and lipstick. I wear fragrance every day. I’ve been wearing our new Electric Whisper. I love the black currant and lychee, which give a slight fruitiness, but then the pink pepper patchouli and vetiver add a spiciness. And of course the hint of rose. Again to the gym, to the drugstore … it’s just natural for me to wear it all the time like my mom. The other thing I always wear is nail polish. My favorite color is Seafoam Green. I hate chipped nails, so I usually do my own, twice a week.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Brandon Chia, 31, a nurse in the South Island of New Zealand. Chia moved from Singapore to New Zealand in 2022. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

During a six-month trip around Europe, I embraced the "slow travel" mindset, which encourages travelers to spend quality time in each destination they visit. This was important to me because I really wanted to get to know the places I was staying in.