My wife and I are looking to do some travelling in the future. About a year from now we’ll be in a financial situation where world travel is a possibility.
She has done a lot of travelling in her life but I have not. She’s been to Brazil and all over Europe. I went to a friends’ wedding in Tulum, Mexico about 10 years ago, and that was the first and only time I’ve left the USA. I can’t say I’m all that adventurous; I’m perfectly happy just sitting at home with a beer, but my wife wants to see the world and I don’t have any real objections as long as I can do it comfortably.
We’ve been around the USA. We have plans to visit Canada at some point (we have friends peppered across The Great White North). What are places we can go outside the USA that are safe and easy? Looking for places where English is commonly spoken, easy to navigate, and zero risk of getting kidnapped and beheaded?
I realize how broad the question is, but hopefully you understand what I’m looking for; I just don’t want to have to deal with a lot of bullshit. I’m a travel novice who wants to ease into it, let’s put it that way.
If you are limiting yourself to English speaking countries you are missing out on most of the world.
If you want to see a fascinating place try Perú. I have always loved South America. Your spouse has been to Brazil. There is a lot to see in South America, and most of it is quite safe.
Is she interested in history, art, beaches, beautiful scenery, castles, hiking, scuba diving, fishing, food? Which of those are you interested in?
If you’re looking for an easy start the Caribbean is close and depending on what you want there is an island that’s good for almost everything (Skiing is rough to find). It’s an easy starter trip, but if you can provide some more parameters I bet you’d get some amazing recommendations.
My biggest issue with my travel list is that I’m running out of years to fit in all of the amazing places on it.
Australia and New Zealand are far away, but should be relatively low-stress. Everyone speaks English in Singapore, and it is a very easy, clean, comfortable place to visit.
What exactly do you mean by “English is commonly spoken”?
Do you want engage random strangers in lengthy philosophical debates? If so, that limits your choices a bit.
Or do you mean just being able to check into your hotel room, buy food, get around, that sort of thing? If so, that really is literally most places, or at least most places that most people ever want to visit. You’ll get a long way down on the list of popular travel destinations before this even begins to be an issue.
You like history, and she likes the outdoors. When you decide on the countries, find the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Sites to see if any of them might be of interest to you both.
Not “lengthy philosophical debates,” but yes, I’d like to be able to engage the locals.
I like to get the flavor of a place by talking to people who actually live there. If I encounter an artist on the street, or someone selling handmade crafts, or vendors in a market, I want to be able to ask questions and have a conversation with them.
NZ would be my first choice - great hiking, excellent climate, well formed infrastructure, English-speaking. It’s a long flight but an easy place to spend a few weeks.
Or just fly to London for a long weekend to get your feet wet. Once you get in the habit of travel it’s much easier to push your comfort level and explore further afield.
The odds are that the locals you will engage in the overwhelming majority of vacations are the folks you are paying in one respect or another: taxi drivers, your guides, waiters, people selling you stuff in the area of major attractions, and so on. It isn’t like people go on vacation in order to spend a little time at the library and chat with folks in the reading room. Depending on where you go, odds are high that you’ll find someone on the street who understands English well enough to give directions.
So by that measure, there are a huge number of options for you. Basically all of Europe (though a place like Turkey will be not as easy as Sweden), lots of South America, significant portions of Africa… Now tht I think about it, the places you ought not go if this is a top criteria is way smaller than the places you can go.
If you want to dip your toe in the shallow end of the pool, just pick a few countries in Europe. There’s many to choose from, all have a lot to do, transportation is even easier than the U.S. Without knowing more about what you’d like to see other than “not so much art” it is hard to give a specific recommendation, but it is hard to go wrong there.
Based on this, I’d suggest you do some kind of group tour. You can stay with your tour-mates and guide to be safe and still see some cool things. Going off on your own is really better for adventurous and/or experienced travelers.
English is commonly spoken in lots of western and central Europe. This is especially true in common tourist destinations. My brother and his wife haven’t done a lot of traveling and they really enjoyed taking a Viking river cruise down the Danube. It was structured, but allowed for some free time and while it was a cruise, it didn’t feel like one of those cheezy cruise ships. It might be a good intro to world travel.