For many years, The New York Times has been delivering a solid, -thought-out list of the 52 best places to go in the world for any given year.
For 2025, their list includes a few of my fave places in the world, including Western Australia, Sydney, New York City and the Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario, Canada, where my wife and I piloted a 42-foot craft from Le Boat on our own last June (and survived). Also making the list was Detroit, which the Times noted has undergone a remarkable renaissance, something I witnessed on a visit in July of last year. “Michigan Central Station, the once-abandoned Beaux-Arts train depot built in 1913, re-emerged last year as a start-up tech hub thanks to a $950 million restoration project by Ford Motor Company — fitting for Detroit’s comeback tale,” The Times said. I visited the station during my three-day stay and thought it was magnificent, as is the Detroit Institute of the Arts.
Kalbarri National Park, Western Australia. JIM BYERS PHOTO
I love Sydney, but everyone who visits says that. If I had my druthers, I’d choose to spend more time in the vast state of Western Australia, where I’ve been twice in the past four years. It’s a remarkable place; a huge chunk of real estate the size of the western United States but with only three million inhabitants. And most of those are tucked into the southwest corner in Perth and in the Margaret River region. Some of my fave spots are Esperance and Kalbarri National Park. On my list for WA? The stunningly beautiful Kimberleys region and the Ningaloo Reef, which seems to have just as many species of fish and just as much lovely coral as the Great Barrier Reef but is only a few yards from shore; not two hours away by boat.
Other fave spots of mine that made the cut are Montserrat in Spain (just outside Barcelona), the museums of New York City, Stockholm’s archipelago (majestic), Aix-en-Provence in France (so beautiful), Washington D.C., Amsterdam and New Orleans, which is still reeling from a terrible terrorist attack last week.
NEW E-VISA RULES FOR UNITED KINGDOM NOW IN EFFECT
Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. E Mens/Unsplash Photo
Starting yesterday (Jan. 8), visitors to the UK, including Canadians and Americans who previously didn’t need a visa for short stays, will need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA). This new system applies to travellers from non-European countries. It aims to improve border security and prevent misuse of the immigration system.
According to my friends at Open Jaw Network, the cost is about $13 USD or $18 CAD and allows multiple visits to the UK for up to six months at a time. It’s valid for two years or until your passport expires.
MOLOKAI FERRY RETURNING TO HAWAII?
The Mokio Preserve on the island of Molokai. JIM BYERS PHOTO
There’s talk of bringing back a ferry between Maui and Molokai. Amen to that, I say.
The Molokai Dispatch recently carried a story that said island of Molokai residents had a final chance to voice ideas and feedback on bringing back the Molokai ferry. The Maui County Ferry Feasibility Study began over the summer, with the idea of creating a publicly run ferry system for Maui County.. The Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which helps plan transportation projects for Maui County, will put forward the proposal to the county council early next year.
Following a community meeting and survey back in July, the Maui MPO was back on Molokai recently to share results and attain feedback on potential proposals.
“What we heard is that ferry service is vital,” said Kaunoe Batangan, executive director of Maui MPO. Summarizing some of the 1,700 survey responses, Batangan explained that travel from Molokai is currently “difficult, expensive and unreliable.”
That’s for damn sure. My wife and I and my sister and my Dad and his lady friend, took a trip to Molokai in October of 2023 and had to rely on Mokulele Airlines. It was an unmitigated disaster, as flights were continually cancelled, often for an entire day, leaving us to continually adjust schedules and forcing us to spend extra money on flights and stay the night in Honolulu. The airline reimbursed us for some of our costs, but the constant adjusting of schedules and phone calls and mad, online searches for flights (or even emergency charter boat service) was exhausting.
I know that not everyone on Molokai loves tourism, but surely residents would want more reliable service to Maui for time when they want to shop, visit relatives, or attend important medical appointments.
