Some travel destinations are more urgent must-sees than others. How so?
Well, for one reason or another, many places are changing so quickly, or are so subject to sudden change, that they will be entirely different, or perhaps even inaccessible, if you wait too long.
An obvious example is the Maldives, which — I am sorry to say — may not even be there in decades to come, due to rising sea waters.
For different reasons, many experts are suggesting Cuba is the ideal destination for fear that its unique way of life (albeit probably for the better for those who live there) will change entirely now that American sanctions have been lifted.
Of course, some events are unpredictable. I’m glad I crossed Checkpoint Charlie and visited East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, was in Hong Kong before the handover from the United Kingdom to China, and had a good look at Turkey and Egypt before the recent spate of violence in those countries.
But I wish, like some older friends of mine, I had travelled in Afghanistan when is was safe for tourists to do so, or visited the historical sites of Palmyra before the extremists of ISIS destroyed them.
You never know what might happen, so if there is somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit and you can manage to do it, do it now.
