Healthcare for Expats, Slow vs. Fast Travel, & Where to go in 2025...

Welcome to 2025!

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Expats and Slow Travelers
January 23, 2025

Where to Travel in 2025?

If you are looking for new destinations to consider for your 2025 travels, check out the lists below:

Several lists mention Greenland. Sounds like the next hot tourist destination. Make that the next "cool" tourist destination. Get there before it becomes the 51st US state, becomes overwhelmed with tourists, and has to build dozens of McDonalds and Marriotts. This is the current list of TripAdvisor's 10 best hotels in Nuuk. No Marriott on that list yet.

Since those articles seemed to often include somewhat eclectic choices, I asked AI to search publications for the last 5 months and identify the top 20 destinations for U.S. travelers to visit in 2025, based on the frequency of mentions in the media.

Here is what it returned:

  • Brisbane, Australia - Highlighted for its growing cultural scene and proximity to natural attractions like the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. Celebrated for its vibrant dining and nightlife options.

  • Moab, Utah, USA - Known as the gateway to Utah's "Mighty Five" national parks, it's praised for its red-rock scenery, excellent for hiking, mountain biking, and rafting.

  • Toulouse, France - Described as "Paris in miniature," it's noted for its art galleries, excellent food, and scenic riverbanks. The reopening of Musée des Augustins in 2025 adds to its allure.

  • Vanuatu - An island escape with rich heritage and diverse cultures, known for its jungle, beaches, and volcanoes, but less touristy, offering a unique experience.

  • Trinidad and Tobago - Celebrated for the vibrant Carnival in 2025, birding, hiking, and a culinary scene reflecting a cultural melting pot.

  • Nepal's Terai Region - Offers wildlife experiences in Chitwan National Park, Buddhist heritage in Lumbini, and tea garden tours in Ilam.

  • Lithuania - Recognized as the European Green Capital of 2025, it's praised for its natural landscapes, history, and cultural attractions in Vilnius.

  • Turks and Caicos - Noted for its beaches like Cockburn Town Beach and the increase in flight searches indicating growing interest from U.S. travelers.

  • Quepos, Costa Rica - Known for sport fishing, its natural beauty, and a significant increase in flight searches, making it a trending destination.

  • Siwa Oasis, Egypt - Part of Vogue's itinerary for its unique desert landscape and cultural richness.

  • Black Forest, Germany - Recommended for its natural beauty, spa town Baden-Baden, and the new era of luxury at Brenners Park.

  • Ryukyu Islands, Japan - For those seeking less touristy areas, these islands offer pristine beaches and cultural experiences, with new luxury accommodations opening in 2025.

  • Romania - Its rapidly growing economy, cultural and gastronomic scenes, and historical sites like Transylvania make it a notable destination.

  • Alaska, USA - Celebrated for its centennial celebrations of Glacier Bay National Park, Native-led adventures, and the Iditarod race.

  • San Juan, Puerto Rico - Noted for its culinary scene and recovery from past challenges, hosting a new food festival in 2025.

  • Space Coast, Florida, USA - Offers unique experiences like witnessing rocket launches and bioluminescent kayaking.

  • New Orleans, Louisiana, USA - Hosting a record-tying Super Bowl in 2025, enhancing its appeal as a cultural and event destination.

  • Washington, D.C., USA - Will host World Pride 2025, attracting global visitors for its cultural and historical attractions.

  • Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA - A romantic getaway known for its beaches and quaint towns, making it a top spot for domestic travel.

  • Hawaii, USA - Continues to be popular for its beaches across all islands, offering year-round warm weather and scenic beauty.

Some interesting choices here, and some old favorites. But keep in mind that travel writers are likely burned out on the old favorites, and looking for new off the beaten path destinations that can capture clicks.

So don’t rule out the traditional destinations. They all still have a lot to offer.

The UK government has paused the requirement for an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) for passengers who transit airside through UK airports without passing through UK border control.

 A temporary exemption was announced following feedback from the aviation industry (likely due to 10s of thousands of passengers choosing to fly through AMS instead of Heathrow to avoid the fees).

This exemption only applies to those who remain airside and do not go through immigration checks. Passengers who must go through UK immigration control to transfer to their onward connecting flights are still required to have an ETA.

You can read about on an official GOV.UK website (scroll down to the bottom of the page).

In more travel restriction news, you will need a REAL ID as of May 2025 to fly in the US.

Starting May 7, 2025, U.S. travelers must have a REAL ID-compliant driver's license or another acceptable form of identification to board domestic flights and access certain federal facilities.

All 50 states now provide REAL ID compliant licenses, and you should probably already have one, but if you license is old, it may not be compliant, so give yours a quick look. REAL ID compliant licenses are marked by a star in the upper right corner, indicating compliance with the REAL ID security standards. If your license does not have this star, it is not REAL ID-compliant, and you will need an alternative form of ID to fly domestically after the deadline.

If you do not have a REAL ID-compliant driver's license, you can use other forms of identification such as a valid U.S. passport, U.S. passport card, DHS trusted traveler cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST), U.S. Department of Defense ID, including IDs issued to dependents, or an acceptable photo ID issued by a federally recognized Tribal Nation/Indian Tribe.

Be sure to subscribe to this Expats and Slow Travelers Newsletter to keep up to date with issues that can make your travels more successful.

Be sure to also check out Kristen's Notes from the Road newsletter, that helps people navigate the challenges and transitions of life over 50, including retirement, health and fitness, empty nests, and more. Her newsletters look much better than mine, but she has been doing it much longer. I will catch up soon.

A Brief Introduction to Healthcare Abroad: A Guide for Expats

A major challenge and worry for moving abroad as an expat is the challenge of understanding and navigating a new, foreign healthcare system. Each country has its own approach to funding healthcare, ranging from universal coverage to systems heavily reliant on private insurance.

This brief article provides a quick general overview of the healthcare systems in Portugal, Panama, Thailand, and Mexico, to provide some general insights into how expats can access care, along with cost estimates to help plan your healthcare budget. We will get into health care more deeply in upcoming issues, since it is such a major concern for expats and slow travelers. We will have an article on health insurance for slow travelers in the next issue.

Portugal: A Blend of Public and Private Care

Portugal operates a high-quality healthcare system that combines public and private sectors. The Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS) is the national health service, offering universal coverage to residents. However, due to long waiting times in the public sector, many expats opt for private care for quicker access and more personalized service

Accessing Healthcare: 

  • Expats must register with the SNS to receive a health number, which is crucial for accessing both public and sometimes private services.

  • Many expats purchase private health insurance to avoid waiting lists and for greater access to English-speaking doctors.

Cost Estimates: 

  • Public Care: A visit to a general practitioner in the public system might cost €5-10, with specialist consultations around €15-20.

  • Private Care: General consultations can be around €50, while specialist visits might cost €90-150. Hospital stays in private facilities can range from €200-€500 per night, depending on the treatment and facility.

Some expats have reported that while public healthcare was affordable, the waiting time for a non-emergency specialist appointment was too long. So many opt for private insurance, which can cost approximately €1,200 annually, but allows immediate access to specialists when needed.

Panama: Public Efficiency and Private Quality 

Panama’s healthcare system includes public services funded by the Ministry of Health (MINSA) and the Social Security System (CSS), along with a robust private sector known for its high standards.

Accessing Healthcare:

  • Expats can use public facilities, which are less costly but can have longer waits and fewer amenities.

  • Private hospitals are known for their comfort and English-speaking staff, and are popular among expats. Obtaining private health insurance is advisable due to higher costs.

Cost Estimates: 

  • Public: A basic consultation might be as low as $2, but with minimal privacy and potentially long waits.

  • Private: Consultations can start at $50 for a general doctor, with specialists at $100 or more. Emergency room visits can begin at $100, with costs escalating based on treatment.

Many expats chose private insurance after experiencing the crowded conditions of public hospitals. A monthly premium is about $150, but this gives you access to modern facilities like Hospital Punta Pacifica, where an MRI cost him around $500, significantly less than in the US.

Thailand: Affordable Excellence for Expats

Thailand's healthcare is renowned for its quality and affordability, even attracting medical tourists who visit the country to take advantage of the lower costs for procedures. The public system under the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) is mostly for Thai nationals, leading expats to often prefer private hospitals.

Accessing Healthcare: 

  • Public Hospitals: Good for basic care but language can be a barrier, and waiting times can be long.

  • Private Sector: Offers top-tier services with English-speaking staff, making it the choice for most expats.

Cost Estimates:

  • Public: Outpatient services are very low-cost, with consultations at around 100-300 THB ($3-$10 USD).

  • Private: Specialist consultations might start at 1,000 THB ($30 USD), with inpatient care ranging widely based on treatment but generally much cheaper than Western countries.

Many expats living in Thailand can manage routine healthcare cost even without insurance. However, for peace of mind, you may want to obtain an inpatient-only insurance plan with a deductible, costing about 30,000 THB ($900 USD) per year, ensuring coverage for serious health issues.

Mexico: Cost-Effective Medical Care

Mexico has both public and private healthcare sectors. The Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) serves employees, while expats often opt for private insurance or direct payment due to broader access and higher quality.

Accessing Healthcare: 

  • IMSS: Available to expats with residency, but it excludes many pre-existing conditions initially.

  • Private: Offers quicker service, more comfort, and more English-speaking professionals.

Cost Estimates: 

  • IMSS: Monthly premiums range from $63 to $93 based on age, offering comprehensive care once enrolled.

  • Private: A consultation can be as low as $25, with private hospital stays varying greatly but generally affordable, with emergency visits starting at $100.

For example, an American retiree in Mexico may subscribe to IMSS for basic coverage at $89 per month. But for more specialized needs, you may use private clinics where many procedures can cost a fraction of what he or she would pay in the US.

Navigating healthcare as an expat involves understanding the local system, researching insurance options, and potentially balancing a mix of public and private services based on your needs and budget. Each country will offer a unique mix of cost, quality, and accessibility, so it is important for you to do thorough research or consult with local experts to make informed healthcare decisions abroad that is tailored to your specific situation.

We will be covering health in more detail in upcoming issues, including options for slow travelers who will not become residents of the foreign country, so make sure you subscribe.

Here are some reference links for each country, focusing on healthcare information for expats. Always check for updates as healthcare policies and costs can change:

Portugal:

Panama:

Thailand:

Mexico:

Slow or Fast Travel?

We were recently taking a train from Amsterdam to Brussels, to catch a flight the next morning from Brussels back to the US. We had been traveling for a bit over 2 months, and had spent the last 3 weeks in the Netherlands, staying in Utrecht, the Hague, and Leiden, with a final week in Amsterdam.

We got into a conversation with a couple in front of us from the US. They had been traveling for the last few weeks, and had a long list of the places they had visited on their trip. Last night was Amsterdam. They had arrived the previous afternoon on a train from Germany, checked in to their hotel, had dinner, walked around in the city near their hotel in the evening, checked out in the next morning, and we now headed south to check Brussels and Bruges off of their list.

That conversation made me think about different travel philosophies. About taking a series of quick focused visits to different places versus longer stays at fewer places where you take time to wander around and see a place in more depth. It made me think about how long someone should visit a particular destination.

What's the optimal duration of a visit? Spending a few hours in the evening walking around central Amsterdam is obviously too short to really experience the place, but a person could get a fast impression that would be lasting and memorable. A few hours to experience the canals, the housing, the whole sense of place, that would leave someone with a vivid mental picture that would be a lasting experience. A person could use that type of short experience to better understand a place.

Like visiting Manhattan for an long afternoon and evening. Get off the train and walk around midtown, loop up through the southern end of Central Park, Times Square, maybe catch a cab to Greenwich Village or battery park. You’d leave the next morning with a vivid mental picture of the city that would help round out your experience of the world. But you would also have just scratched the surface. Like sitting on top of one of the red tour buses on its route past the major attractions. You can say you visited for a few hours, saw a lot, but that’s about it. You can’t really get any deeper knowledge or understanding of a place from that kind of brief visit.

The answer will be different for each person. Some may want to quickly experience the main attractions, others may want to add a tier of more subtle experiences. And that can extend out indefinitely depending on what you’re looking to get out of your travels.

We used to allot three or four days when visiting a new place. Arrive after lunch on the first day, and check into the accommodations in the afternoon. Take two or three full days to look around. Then leave the morning of the last day. We could cover a lot of ground with that schedule. The departure day usually consisted of a three or four hour plane or train journey to get to an entirely new place where we would do the same routine again.

On one trip we flew into Zurich and visited the Alps in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland for a 4 nights, Bern for 3 nights, drove to Geneva and caught a high speed train to an apartment in Paris for 3 nights, then a high speed train to Amsterdam for a 4 nights on a houseboat, before flying to Tallinn for 4 nights. We covered a lot of ground, saw an incredible amount, but looking back it was bit too rushed. We had been to Paris and Tallinn before, so the sightseeing pressure was off in those cities, but we still had a list of things we wanted to see and do on this trip, which created some pressure to keep to a schedule.

Of course, it was an amazing experience for which we are profoundly grateful. We covered a lot of ground, and had a wide range of amazing experiences. The memories will last us a lifetime.

We left planning to eventually return to Switzerland and stay much longer. Settle in for a few weeks. The longer the better. Renting a furnished place for a month usually gets you a descent discount, and gives you the time to get in sync with the life in the place. It would be a less ambitious agenda with minimal stress. The freedom to wander around and do what you feel like each day. More relaxing. Less pressure. More enjoyable. Different from the fast sightseeing trips.

Maybe the slow trips work better for us now because we are older. Traveling too fast is becoming too much work. Days where we checkout and travel to the next destination use up a lot of energy, and we don’t have the stamina we used to. And now we have more free time to spend on a longer trip. Less pressure from work and kids in school. The luxury of not having to squeeze everything into a short fast trip during the kids school vacations. Now we can travel off season, when the crowds are gone, lines are shorter, the restaurants have seating available, the prices are lower, and the pace is slower.

There must be some sort of calculation that gives you the optimal time you should stay in a specific area. Like adding up the number of pages in a travel guidebook devoted to the place, multiply that by the number of hours that you have spent browsing sites on the internet to dig deeper, add the number of local restaurants and some additional points for the day trips or hikes that you want to take, and divide by the daily cost of a monthly apartment rental. Maybe a programmer can come up with a viable algorithm. Too many factors to calculate.

What we usually do is spend some time learning about an destination, find the things that interest us, figure out how long we need to stay to see what we want, add some time for afternoons sitting at cafes, then add 50% or so to that amount, or maybe 75%. It's not a very formal process. But it seems to work for us.

Part of the calculation depends on what you are trying to get from the experience. Slowing down to match the pace of an island beach village takes a different effort than exploring the history of Vienna. And each can take a while to accomplish.

Maybe the best approach is to think of your initial visit as a trial run at living in the location, and determine what duration would give you an adequate experience of the resident life. Smaller places could work at two weeks. Or maybe you need longer to slow down and get in sync with local life. Others places may seem like you need two months, but for some reason you sync up pretty quickly.

Maybe it depends on how different the lifestyle is from your home life. The pacing, the scale, the environment. Going from living in a big western city to a foreign big western city may not require much time to adjust. Going from big western city to a rural seaside village could take you a while to get in sync.

So, choosing between slow travel and fast travel basically depends on your goals, preferences, and circumstances. Let's compare some issues to brainstorm how to determine which approach is right for you at a specific destination:

  • The first question is usually about budget. How much can you spend to visit the destination? Slow Travel can be more economical if you stay in one place longer, since you can usually find better rates for long-term accommodations, and can cook your own meals. Fast travel can involve more costs for transportation and require more expensive short-term accommodation options. But in the end the overall cost can even out since you will travel for a longer period as a slow traveler, so the cost can end up being basically the same.

  • How much time do you have available to travel? Do you have work, family, or other commitments that limit the time you can be away from home? Can you get around any limitations? For example, can you work while you are on the road?

  • What are your Personal Preferences about traveling? Do you enjoy leisurely exploration, learning about a destination at a more relaxed pace, or a focus on hitting major highlights and seeing as much as possible in a short time, and don’t mind a busier schedule. This also involves the pace of Life at the destination. A destination with a slower, more relaxed pace may take longer to visit, since life moves at a slower pace.

  • Do you prefer to plan out trips in detail, or are you more flexible and spontaneous? Fast Travel usually requires more planning and a need to stick to a schedule to maximize your itinerary, while slower travel usually gives you more flexibility to change plans based on what you discover along the way and explore unplanned opportunities.

  • What kind of Travel Style do you prefer? Fast Travel can mean frequent changes in location and is best suited for those who enjoy a high-paced, energetic travel experience, but it can be tiring. Slow Travel suits people who prefer to settle into one place and avoid the stress of constant changes in locale.

  • What types of accommodations do you prefer? Fast traveler usually means stays in a hotel, which provides a more predictable and consistent experience, and a decent level of comfort. Slow travelers usually rent a furnished apartment and settle in, but the level of quality and overall experience can be unpredictable, since these rentals are usually offered by private parties.

  • What kinds of activities and attractions do you like? Does the destination require you to spend a longer time to fully engages in those activities? For example, does it take half a day to get to an attraction that you want to visit? That means a longer stay may be necessary.

  • Are there any special events, festivals, or seasonal activities that you’d like to experience. This may influence the ideal duration of your stay. But that can impact your budget, since events can attract large numbers of travelers. We like the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh which takes place for most of August, but lodging prices are crazy t that time of the year.

  • How about your health? Are you in good health and able to manage the duration of your stay. Look at factors like local healthcare services and any health precautions.

  • What is the nature of your desired destination? Fast Travel is great for destinations with numerous major attractions or when traveling between multiple cities or countries. Slow Travel works well in destinations where there’s a lot to explore at a relaxed pace, such as regions rich in culture and history. Also factor in the Size and Scope of the destination. In a large city or region, you might need more time to explore. For smaller towns or villages, a shorter stay might suffice. Or a longer stay if you are seeking a slower experience. Transportation options within the destination also matter. How easy will it be to get around? Well-connected areas might allow you to explore more efficiently, while more remote places with limited transport options might require more time.

But ultimately, the preference for slow or fast is about what aligns best with your travel goals and personal style. If you value depth over breadth and prefer a more relaxed approach, slow travel might be your choice. If you want to see and do as much as possible in a short time and don’t mind a hectic schedule, fast travel is the way to go.

Both approaches can be just as rewarding.

Be sure to subscribe to this Expats and Slow Travelers Newsletter to keep up to date with issues that can make your travels more successful.

Be sure to also check out Kristen's Notes from the Road newsletter, that helps people navigate the challenges and transitions of life over 50, including retirement, health and fitness, empty nests, and more. Her newsletters look much better than mine, but she has been doing it much longer. I will catch up soon.