Travel Newsletter: 29 December 2023
Putting the awe in awesome travel, the biggest travel trends for 2024, movies and travel, the controversial Maya Train, and more travel reads.
Hello from Bangkok, and welcome to the last newsletter for 2023. It’s business as usual here (no Christmas or Boxing Day holiday) and I have been wandering all over the city collecting photos for future articles at Nomadic Notes and Future Southeast Asia.
Thanks for subscribing to this newsletter, and I hope your 2024 is a good one!
Travel reads
• Travel is awesome, but how can we experience real awe? By
“That feeling of deep connection and wonder is elusive and fleeting, but we can create the circumstances where it's more likely to strike.”
• The biggest travel trends for 2024, as predicted by industry insiders
• Following up on the Walk and Talk articles in last week’s newsletter, Craig Mod (the Walk and Tak planner) has put together a concise guide on how to plan a Walk and Talk.
“How a corporate duopoly ruined skiing.”
• What’s in my bag, 2023 by Matt Mullenweg of WordPress.
• On your next trip to Mumbai, add 'become Bollywood extra' to your itinerary
I was offered to be an extra in a Bollywood movie when I visited Mumbai. The recruiters hit up the backpacker area so I guess there is a better chance of being asked there. I spent a day on set, but nothing came of it. I got paid a small fee and got an interesting experience in the process. I was also an extra in Thailand, but my scene fell to the cutting floor.
• ‘I left the cinema, walked home and announced I was moving’: films that made people emigrate
In 2001 I was sitting on the fence about if I should move to Ireland for a year. One night I watched Waking Ned, and the movie inspired me to apply for a working holiday visa. The movie was actually filmed on the Isle of Man, and I spent most of my time in Dublin and not an idyllic Irish village, but the movie was enough to make my decision.
• The places you can’t visit in 2024
• Romania and Bulgaria to join Schengen border-free zone by air and sea
💻 Nomad news
• South Korea is launching a digital nomad visa. Here’s why you should visit in 2024
🚆Train travel
• First section of Mexico’s controversial Maya Train opens
• Europe’s best and worst railway stations of 2023
…
[Chao Phraya River @nomadicnotes.]
James Clark – Bangkok, Thailand.