My 2024: 24 Photos from 12 Countries

Laos, Turkmenistan, China, Argentina, North Macedonia, Vietnam, Mexico, Britain, and beyond

In 2024 I was fortunate to visit 12 countries, so I thought I’d share a “24 of 24” post: 24 photos from 2024, with each country shown by day 🌞 and by night 🌚!

1. Laos 🇱🇦

At the beginning of the year, I took a trip to East and Southeast Asia. One of my stops was the little-visited country of Laos.

The highlight of Laos is the city of Luang Prabang, known for its many Buddhist temples and beautiful setting at the confluence of two rivers.

I also went to the capital, Vientiane, whose icon is the Patuxai monument.

2. Vietnam 🇻🇳

The Imperial City of Hue is a walled city with lots of pretty historic buildings and structures.

The city of Hoi An has a nice historic center that becomes especially colorful at night with its many lanterns.

3. Thailand 🇹🇭

I loved how Bangkok has lots of canals winding through the city!

One fascinating thing about the elevated metro lines in Bangkok is that some of the stations have walkways directly under the tracks that extend beyond the stations, allowing you to continue walking right above the street.

Note how there’s a station in the right half of the picture, but the walkway then extends to the left—taking you to exits to other streets, allowing you to avoid having to cross streets at ground level (and generally creating an interesting walk).

4. China 🇨🇳

I went to both Hong Kong 🇭🇰 and Macau 🇲🇴, which are special administrative regions of China. Their political status is complicated, but for country-counting purposes they’re universally counted as part of China. (I haven’t been to mainland China yet, but hope to visit, which should be easier now that visa rules have been loosened.)

Macau is fascinating because it’s a former Portuguese colony. The city center features lots of classic Portuguese architecture, and you see signs in Portuguese everywhere—despite very few people speaking it.

One fun activity in Hong Kong is strolling the Temple Street night market.

By the way, one thing I liked about Hong Kong was how their metro system uses pictures to help people find the right exit for major attractions. See more:

Use Images to Help People Navigate [Photo Tour]

5. Japan 🇯🇵

I walked around Tokyo early in the morning. It was cool.

I can’t post about Japan without mentioning the trains! One of my favorite things was all of the musical jingles they play both in the stations and onboard.

6. Mexico 🇲🇽

With Mexico I’ll mix things up and share two photos that could be considered daytime or nighttime, depending on your perspective!

I went to Durango for the total solar eclipse in April. It was cool—although I honestly found it a bit underwhelming, as I was expecting some sort of dramatic event that was going to shake my world. Still, I would probably travel to see another eclipse.

Look closely at the sun. It’s covered by the moon!

I also went to Querétaro, which is famous for its historic aqueduct. The city is nice around sunset—or really at any time of day or night!

One thing I love about Mexico is the way that city and state government administrations brand themselves. See what I mean:

Mexico’s Approach to Branding City and State Administrations

7. United Kingdom 🇬🇧

A friend was able to get me access to some of the courtyards at the University of Cambridge!

In London, I love walking along the Regent’s Canal, which connects many neighborhoods. Camden Lock is a particularly cool area.

8. Turkmenistan 🇹🇲

Sometimes known as the “North Korea of Central Asia,” Turkmenistan is a relatively closed country that gets very few visitors. But I’m one of them!

Its capital, Ashgabat, is known for its long rows of white marble buildings lining wide streets with little traffic.

Turkmenistan’s coolest site in the Darvaza gas crater—sometimes called the “Gates of Hell”—which is a crater that has been burning natural gas 24/7 since the 1980s. It’s especially cool to see at night! A typical visit there involves staying overnight in a yurt.

I’ll share more about Turkmenistan in a future post. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it!

9. North Macedonia 🇲🇰

I wasn’t really sure what to expect in North Macedonia, but I ended up liking it.

In the south of the country, by the border with Albania, lies the picturesque Lake Ohrid.

Meanwhile my first impression of the capital, Skopje, was that it had clearly seen better days and was kind of run down. Yet as I explored, I ended up discovering that it was full of life. I loved it and actually extended my stay there.

10. Turkey 🇹🇷

One of the best activities in Istanbul is to take a ferry, especially around sunset. The city has many hills, making beautiful views on all sides.

The Grand Çamlıca Mosque opened in 2019 and is the largest mosque in Turkey. It lies on top of a hill, so can be seen from many parts of the city.

11. Argentina 🇦🇷

One lovely feature of Buenos Aires is the purple jacaranda trees, which bloom in November. (Mexico City also gets them in March.)

The Teatro Colón is a historic opera house in the city center. Supposedly its acoustics are among the best in the world.

12. United States 🇺🇸

And at last, home sweet home.

I went to Redwood National Park in California. Its trees are very tall!

For my last photo—the 24th of 2024—I’ll leave you with a view heading off to the next adventure:

Which one of these countries would you like to see more about in a future post? Where were your highlights of 2024? Let me know in the comments!