By Larry Olmsted

When I stared in travel writing almost 25 years ago, the world seemed a much bigger place, and editors constantly turned down pitches by saying “that’s too exotic” or “no one will ever go there” – about places like Bali and Patagonia. Far off destinations like Australia or South Africa were deemed once in a lifetime trips because of the distance, but with more non-stop flights and much faster routes to Asia, that is no longer the case – in 2015 I went to South Africa twice in a 5-week span. It’s as fast for people on the East Coast to go to Hong Kong or Tokyo as it is for West Coasters to visit Europe, and the length of the trip to Europe never stopped anyone from visiting.

There are more great options than ever before, but the problem is you can only take so many vacations in any given year. To help you narrow the field and give you inspiring ideas, I’ve rounded up the hottest travel trends, the things you might want to consider doing right now, in 2017.

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