Thanks for sharing how you chose the list. I think it is fine. You wisely chose not to call your list "Best 52 places to visit".
Perhaps I suggest to remove numbering as well. It suggests a ranking order of "how good or interesting" a place is.
It is what it is; a list of places travel editors, which I accept as kind of an authority" in the matter, find interesting.
5
I’m a bit surprised to see you are doing the 52 Places Traveler again. I really enjoyed reading Jada Yuan’s columns and following her adventures over the past year. But doing it again now feels more like a gimmick - a reality TV show - than sound journalism. It’s simply too much ground for one person to cover in a year and still maintain their sanity (and health?) and simultaneously provide NYT-grade coverage of each place. Jada pulled it off but I think you are pushing your luck. If you insist, how about two 26 Places Travelers?
11
Your paper repeatedly calls out the impending harm of climate change. Airline travel is one of the biggest contributors as well as the thing least likely to survive any effort to combat climate change. All those airports, airplanes, etc are going to become stranded assets and repurposed for other things - or the planet will face a multi-degree rise in temperatures just this century.
Walk the talk: send this year's travel writer to 52 places they can reach from their home using only electricity, bicycle, foot, and sail. Show what a travel year would look like as affected by the need to combat climate change.
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Flying is bad for the environment-one of the worst things, actually. Is there another way to report on these locations apart from having someone fly all around the globe while adding to carbon emissions?
14
Traveling is wonderful, mind and eye-opening for most. But with growing carbon emissions, affluent populations wanting to experience all the wonders of endangered places and species and near 8 billion of us on earth, it would be worthy to remind ourselves that remaining home and helping to make our daily places special to be part of a list of worthy places for it's own reasons and travel to faraway places virtually might help retain the wonders of the planet and cultures. I know it well, growing up in several of the places in past lists, yet those places look nothing like they did decades past having been trampled upon by thoughtless travelers visiting a list they read in print now filled with carbon copy activities and lifestyles imported. I now have a growing phobia to the idea of globetrotting, opting to minimize the damage I already partook in my youth, yet helped hone my sensitivity to what the common travelers' activities can turn any precious place into. It's worthy to travel, but equally worthy to weight the cause and impact to reasons for traveling and be mindful travelers, whether physically or virtually.
18
When do you decide on featuring a city vs a country vs a region?
5
An added note about overtourism: Greenville, SC is still touting its inclusion on the 2017 list in TV ads. I'd imagine the effect is still minimal, and I personally love this list, but it's something to think about.
1
I can only hope your list will be more open to the rest of the world. In your 2018 list 11 destinations out of 52 were in the USA, that's 21%. I know the NYT is an American newspaper but with the aspiration to be an international one.
3
Regardless of where or if you travel, the simple act of imagining unfamiliar places brings us closer to understanding our global humanity. I love this list and the possibilities it inspires!
8
I'm sure it will be a fine list as would a list I or many readers could come up with. Americans love lists and then arguing about why some person, place, or thing is included or excluded.
5
How does one get a job like this? I'd like to apply...I'll pay you.
6
I've loved this list since it came out, seeing places I've been and places I'd love to go. So I've been awaiting for the 52 places to go list in 2019 since the New Year. Looking forward to Wednesday morning!
10
The 52 places list is one that feeds fantasy and inspiration for avid travelers, and for those who can only travel virtually. Following Jada Yuan on her mind-blowing journey this past year brought me great pleasure each week from my living room in Seattle. I'm excited to see the places included on the upcoming list, and to see who is crazy enough to attempt this journey in the upcoming year.
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