5 of 2018's Best Vacation Destinations

Each year experts look at the world's destinations to choose the most overlooked places that should be on your list. Whether they are affordable, tourist-low, or have awesome landmarks that you must see on your travels, these 5 destinations are amazing, fun and worth a trip in 2018. 

Put some new stamps in your passport and find new places to spend your vacation days. Even if you don't get to them this year, do get to them.

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Chile

Argentina and Peru have been on the top of lists for decades, but Machu Picchu is crowded with tourists and hiking, while Chile is cosmopolitan, charming, historical and has a killer wine region. With the addition of a new airport expansion, traveling the region is much more convenient. Pack your dancing shoes and your hiking shoes, because you can do all the awesome stuff you can do in other destinations all in one trip. 

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Montenegro

While not large, Montenegro offers big fun and luxury, which you can get in bordering Croatia, but with smaller crowds. Enjoy the mountains and the beach in one vacation, along with cool road trips full of tiny seaside towns, boutique hotels and shops, plus awesome nightlife. 

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Nashville

Known mostly for producing the majority of country music superstars, Nashville might surprise you as being a metropolitan city with so much more to offer besides Taylor Swift and the Dixie Chicks. Did you know that it is also the hometown of Kesha? It’s true! You’ll find amazing southern history around Nashville, including Civil War plantations. These grandiose homes are both awe-inspiring and educational. There’s no better way to learn about significant times in American history than to go right to the source. You can top off your days with down-home southern meals out and a vibrant nightlife full of all types of music.

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Madagascar

Climate change is rapidly impacting some destinations, including Madagascar, so you're going to want to visit it sooner rather than later. This island is one of the most bio-diverse on earth. You'll see the largest selections of animals, get eco-conscious education, and enjoy some of the best photos you'll ever take on vacation. Make sure you go snorkeling in the clear blue waters of Nosy Be, see the lemurs and even admire the majesty of the Baobab trees.

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Haiti

Caribbean vacations are evolving and now Haiti is becoming more popular. Though it's often overlooked, and people still remember the devastation of the country a few years ago, but the unpolished and wildness of it is what makes it so appealing. It's not a place you're going to go and have a big city sightseeing vacation. Discover the land and all it has to offer on your own or on an organized group tour. You'll find gorgeous mountainsides, bustling cities and almost deserted beaches. 

Runner up: Oregon coast

I may be a little biased, but the Oregon Coast is super beautiful and is virtually tourist-free outside of the summer. Of course, it's also pretty cool year-round and requires covering up a bit more instead of donning your swimsuit. The seaside towns of Oregon have some funky attractions, like the Undersea Gardens, Ripley's: Believe It Or Not?, the West Coast Game Safari Park, and the Prehistoric Gardens. If you're looking to visit in the Summer, know that Portland is one of the top family vacation destinations. And the beach is only 90 minutes away!

Where will you be traveling in 2018?

My Portland Coffee Tour - Part 10

December's a lovely month to hit up coffee shops. Everyone's getting all cozied up with a hot beverage and working on their laptops or catching up with friends. I like to people watch while pretending to read emails, and also actually read emails and scroll through Facebook and Instagram. 

This might be the last coffee post of the year, but that doesn't mean it's the last coffee post for this blog. Absolutely not. I love coffee and I adore doing these posts, but I'll be bringing them to you from my travels as well. There's a coffee shop in Vegas called Illumilatte, and with it's punny name, I'll definitely be checking it out to tell you if I learn any secrets of the Illuminati or The Order of The Coffee or whatever else is going on in there. Here's where I've been visiting around Portland though:

Costello's Travel Caffe

I've been following them for a bit on Instagram. Their photos and reposts are lovely and, of course, I love their travel theme. When you place your order, they give you a little flag for your table instead of a number. I was Canada while I waited for my food and drink.

The inside and outside of Costello's actually has a lot of seating, unlike many of the coffee shops in the Portland area. They serve breakfast and lunch, pastries, and a variety of coffee drinks. I asked for a recommendation, letting them know I pretty much like anything with coffee and milk (or not milk), so the nice man at the counter suggested a double cortado ($3.50), which is basically a hot espresso cut with warm milk to cut the acidity, served in a larger shot glass. I also ordered a ham breakfast croissant ($7.50). While not cheap, was pretty fantastic and worth every penny. 

Costello's resembles a cute European cafe and even has travel videos playing to give you some inspiration. There are daily specials as well, like a soup of the day and a daily sandwich, so you really can't get sick of the menu, even if you tried. This is one of those shops that I'd take friends to, after enjoying a trip to the salt spa a few blocks away, or some unique shopping in the Hollywood District.

Saint Simon Coffee Company 

Sometimes you just find yourself a neighborhood gem. St. Simon is a tiny little shop that has warm woods and a cozy atmosphere. It feels like your typical hipster shop in Portland, but I didn't feel out of place there. I, again, asked for a recommendation and was prompted to get the Salted Caramel Latte ($5.00), as it was one of their seasonal specials. I also looked at their delicious pastries and had to take home a pumpkin apple hand pie ($4.25), because when else will I find such a thing?

While I waited, I looked around at this quaint little shop. Everyone looked so comfortable, even though seating is very limited. The minimalist look is working for them and everyone seemed to be a repeat customer. 

I enjoyed my coffee while walking back to my car and was so surprised by the flavor. It was kind of the perfect combo of salt and caramel, without being overpowered by either. Later in the day, I split the hand pie with Eric and was in love. So much so, that I may consider adding apples to my pumpkin pasties for our annual Harry Potter party. It gives it the sweetness that it needs and complements the taste of pumpkin perfectly in a way that butternut squash puree just can't do on its own. This shop knows how to pick a good pastry that isn't the run of the mill croissant or cookie that you can get at a dozen other shops 3 blocks away.

Edge Coffee

Eric found this shop and wanted to take me there on Small Business Saturday. And who am I to say no to coffee of any sort? I'm also always happy to help out a small business any time of year. Edge is actually in Beaverton (out in the Portland suburbs) and they use local roasters, Sauvie Island Coffee Company, for their beans. In fact, the beans we were getting were roasted only a few days before we showed up. That's fresh! You can't get that at many other shops in the area. 

We stopped by for breakfast, so picked up an English muffin breakfast sandwich and something unique to drink. I found it in The Cure ($5.30 for a large). This latte drink marries three types of chocolate - white chocolate, dark chocolate, Mexican chocolate - with cinnamon and orange zest. I couldn't make that up if I tried and I figured if nothing else, it would boost my immune system. 

The shop is large, but still feels intimate, with different types of seating around the dining area. You can also find local artwork on the walls for your enjoyment, and also for sale. The sandwich I ordered came heated up - The Lumberjack Breakfast sandwich ($4.75) has ham, cage-free eggs, and sharp cheddar on a multigrain muffin. It was really quite delicious, made by Molly's Grown to Eat of Seattle, that uses as much organic, sustainable and humanely-raised foods as possible from farmer co-ops local to them. So if you feel like nearly $5 for a breakfast sandwich is little high (I don't), feel good about spending a few extra pennies for good food from a good company. Since this place isn't too far from my house, I'll absolutely be back. 

Do you have a favorite coffee shop at home or from your travels that you think I should make a point to try? Please let me know in the comments!

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Looking Ahead to 2018

Can you believe that 2017 is already over? I can't. The year seems to have flown by and I've been looking forward to all the good that 2018 is going to have in store. As always, I like to look back at the past year and share some of my favorite pics of our travels.

This past year I ended up in Las Vegas three times and am looking forward to another trip (two, actually) soon. I'll be there in February and July and will hopefully bring you all some awesome travel goodies from my first visit.

In February, my mom and I took a trip to Vegas and did a bunch of sightseeing and eating. Because it wasn't hot, we were able to do more outdoor things than we had in the past. I took her to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory that Eric and I had only ever gotten to see the outside of. The cactus garden is a lot more pleasant when it's not 487 degrees outside.

We ate. A lot. My mom likes the options of a buffet, so there were quite a few plates that looked like this one (don't worry, there was also real food and vegetables).

Some of our outdoor things were taking a bus tour, wandering downtown and hitting up the Neon Museum. There was a lot of art on our short trip, which was awesome. You can't imagine how much free art is all over the city, so keep your eye out when you're wandering around outside.

On our annual July trip to Vegas, we had awesome foods as well. If you're eating crummy food in Sin City, you're definitely doing it wrong. We hit up my favorite coffee shop, Bad Owl Coffee for breakfast more than once. Their waffles are amazing and there are so many delicious coffees to choose from. If you're new, or you missed my last two or more posts on this excellent coffee shop, it's a magical little space that's Harry Potter themed. (See what I did there?) They are opening a second shop in Vegas in March and they also have espresso flights now that come in House colors. Guess who's getting that? 

Our friends found a great Mediterranean joint in a strip mall that we loved so much, we took family back later in the week. It was phenomenal and these stuffed squid were some of the best seafood I've ever had. It was perfect place for a family get together.

Before they had to go back home, our friends did a bit of sightseeing with us. I drove them downtown to check out the Container Park and happened to stumble upon this great free art bus tour sponsored by Lyft and Zappos to promote Las Vegas's downtown art showing called Life Is Beautiful. It was a sweet find for sure.

In October, we were supposed to head to St. Thomas, but the tragic hurricanes brought that to a screeching halt. We would have still gone to do disaster clean up had we still had a place to stay, but our resort was damaged as well and closed until sometime next year. So, after many calls, I was able to change my flights to a new destination. I'd strongly suggest getting travel insurance if you're ever going out of the country, even if it still counts as part of your country.

So, no St. Thomas, but we were able to spend the week in San Diego instead, which was almost just as good. We've never really been to San Diego before, making it a brand new destination for us. We hit up Legoland our first day, and if you've never been, it's really fun with or without kids (I assume, since we don't have any). Because most children are under 5, they have a very short attention span and lines are blessedly short, meaning you can get to a lot of rides in a day. 

This was our first time we've taken a train on vacation in the U.S. We didn't rent a car on this trip, so instead, we took the train to and from Carlsbad from San Diego to visit Legoland and then pretty much walked all over the city, because we were in the middle of it all.

Our vacation rental was right across the street from Balboa park, giving us easy access to all the activities and attractions inside. We hit up quite a few museums, the zoo, and eating establishments. It was an excellent week full of exercise to walk off all the delicious food we found, and seeing the city in a new way, interspersed with getting some insider tips from Uber drivers when we just couldn't walk anymore.

What did you love about your travels in 2017 or are you most looking forward to in 2018?