Top 10 Countries I'll Visit Post COVID-19

Last week, I discussed what countries I’ll return to first after COVID-19 abates. As much as I’m looking forward to returning to some of my old favorites, I’m also looking forward to counting new countries as well. These next 10 countries are some that I’ve had on my list since 2020 when I thought I’d be traveling full-time for the entire year. Let’s get started.

1. Belize

Each year, my older brother and I take annual trips together. Year 1 began in 2016 when we went to Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. Following this trip, I made a fun “rule” that we must use our passports at some point during each trip. I loved the international element that Vancouver added to the trip, and I thought that going to a country neither of us had been to previously would keep us on our toes.

In Year 2 (2017), we upped the ante and went to Cuba. He traveled to Europe in Year 3 (2018) where I was studying abroad in London. Together, we visited Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. For Year 4 (2019), we went to Luxembourg on a whirlwind weekend trip and walked a marathon across the country from the Belgium border to the German border in the pouring rain.

Surprisingly enough, Year 5 (2020) didn’t disappoint. While you may have expected COVID-19 to have canceled this expedition, we just so happened to squeeze it in right before the world shut down. Unbeknownst to us, COVID-19 was silently beginning to rage in late February 2020 when we traveled to five different countries in Africa: South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Kenya.

As Year 6 approaches, we’re still waiting for the right time to travel. We’re optimistic that modern medicine will return the world to some semblance of “normal” in the next several months. We have our eyes locked on a Caribbean destination like Belize or Jamaica. These countries currently have their borders open to Americans and have late peak seasons, which means going in November or December would be ideal. Hopefully, at least some portion of the world will have been vaccinated, and we’ll be inching closer and closer to herd immunity.

Plus, aside from its practicality, Belize has long topped my travel list. I mean, just take a look at the GREAT BLUE HOLE. Who doesn’t have that on their bucket list?

2. Egypt

Egypt is another country that I’ve talked about visiting for years. My boyfriend and I have talked about visiting Egypt since we met, and I actually flew through Cairo on March 16, 2020, when I was returning to the US before the world officially lockdown. What a tease, right?

Further, in September 2019 on a yoga retreat in India, I met a lovely friend, Nouran, who is from Egypt and currently in law school there. I’d love the opportunity to reconnect with her and see if she could help provide a more “local” context to a country with such a neat history.

All that said, the anticipation around a trip to Egypt has been building for years, and I absolutely expect to travel there within the next couple of years!

3. Poland

Poland is an interesting country to me because of all the history it holds. I’ve had the opportunity to visit Poland previously due to proximity, but I’ve never felt I had the time that the country truly deserves. I don’t want to spend just three days in the major city and cram in visits to historical sites. I want to really spread out my time here, visit concentration camps, learn about the impact of the Holocaust, and truly give it the time it deserves. I know it’ll be a sad and somber trip at times, but I’m committed to visiting this country to soak up it all up. I’m okay if it takes weeks to do that.

4. Laos

If you’ve read my blog Top 10 Countries I’ll Return to Post COVID-19, you’ll know I already have a Southeast Asian adventure up my sleeve. In fact, the next two are the only two countries that I have not yet visited in all of Southeast Asia itself. I’m not quite sure why Laos wasn’t on my original itinerary for post-grad travels. My travel buddy, Caroline, and I never really discussed it. We briefly heard about it from other travelers and considered it as an afterthought but never as a destination that we should seek out.

Now, as an experienced traveler, Laos excites me. I’ve been to numerous locations (Myanmar, Timor-Leste, Andorra, North Macedonia, etc.) that are not on the typical path of other tourists. I know that a country that does not attract tourists or is not commonly raved about as often as the next is not necessarily empty. It’s just often less trafficked and more alluring for other reasons.

5. Bangladesh

The final country I have to complete in Southeast Asia and one I am determined to visit following the pandemic is Bangladesh. Unlike Laos, I have actually made plans to visit this country and instead visited Myanmar. That said, compared to Myanmar, Bangladesh requires more planning and has a more extensive visa process, which I wouldn’t have been able to complete where I was when I was traveling, and thus I wasn’t able to go.

However, now that I am stateside, I feel confident that I would be able to acquire the visa in advance and make it a five-stop trip (Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Laos).

6. Slovenia

I once mapped my European travel with an online “fill-in” map and saw that I have visited nearly all Western Europe. I had one small empty country and that was Slovenia. Aside from my quest to “fill in” my personal map, anyone who has searched this country on Google Images knows that it’s a breathtaking destination. In fact, only since the pandemic began have I wondered how I’ve never seen Slovenia in pictures and planned a trip here. For my next trip to Europe (one that certainly includes some Neapolitan pizza), Slovenia is surely on my ticket!

7. Israel

Why Israel? Why not! Israel has fascinated me for a few years now, and I can totally see it getting added on to a trip to Egypt (along with Jordan). There is so much history in the Middle East, and while I haven’t gotten a chance to explore it yet behind the United Arab Emirates and Oman, I think it’s only a matter of time before I seek a more in-depth look.

8. DRC

Ah, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Probably not a country you expected to see on this list. This is yet another country that I feel I was “cheated” out of because of COVID. When the world was beginning to shut down, I was in Kenya. However, I had already planned out two additional countries that I was going to – Uganda and the DRC. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my trip to the DRC after I had already booked everything. My tour company was courteous enough to refund me 85-90% of the money I had spent, but the trip is still very much on my bucket list!

If you're still thinking, "Why on Earth were you going to the DRC?! It's so dangerous!" you're not wrong. If you're going to the wrong area, the DRC can be incredibly dangerous. It’s one of the countries that the U.S. government recommends against for tourists. For this reason, I’m interested in going to the DRC specifically for Mount Nyiragongo. Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of 3,470 meters. It’s located in the Virunga Mountains, and it’s currently still active. Nonetheless, local tour companies still lead tours from Uganda into the DRC to see this very volcano. You can sleep at the top and pair it with a trek to go see mountain gorillas in Uganda. Totally worth it in my opinion!

9. Argentina

As one of our annual trips, my brother and I are hoping to go on an Antarctica cruise. These cruises are typically at least $7,000-$8,000 depending on who you cruise with (although, you can get luckier with cheaper deals). They typically start from Ushuaia, Argentina, which puts this country in my top 10. I think we both have this trip in mind for the next few years when we both have a bit more disposable income.

10. Brazil

I can’t see myself going all the way down to South America and only doing one country. If I’m heading to Argentina, why not tack on Brazil? I feel like the fact that I haven’t done Brazil already is a bit of a gap in my travel history. Nearly 70 countries and not one in South America…seems odd! I’ll need to fix that as soon as possible.

Final Thoughts

Where’s the first stop on your travel list? I know many are anxious to see friends and family members who live in the same country – let alone heading abroad – but it is fun to daydream about the travel possibilities. During the last year or so, I’ve felt like I’ve had nothing but time to think about where I could be traveling when the world eventually returns to normal.

Interested in hearing more about my annual trips with my brother? Stay tuned for my annual trip series where I’ll feature stories from each. 

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