January 20, 2018

Best Lists

By roadsrus

Way back in 2016, Katrina Brown Hunt wrote about a readers’ vote for America’s favorite city in Travel + Leisure.  I kept the results because the #1 choice was Buffalo, New York.  America’s FAVORITE city?  Another poll (destinationtips.com) asked people to name the most beautiful city in the world.  Venice was #1.  Media and travel websites love lists.

In 2017 Travel + Leisure asked the same question it did the year before and Norfork, Virginia, was #1, New Orleans was #2, and Buffalo slipped to #3 even though it had the reputation for best pizza and ice cream.

In its February/March, 2018, issue National Geographic Traveler rated America’s best small cities and sang the praises of Pittsburgh.  New Orleans placed 2nd.  Pensacola, Florida, was voted “most dog friendly”.  If you go there, watch where you step.

WalletHub, a personal finance website, asked people last year to name the best cities for families and Overland Park, Kansas, won despite the fact that New York had the most playgrounds.  When rating the best cities for family vacations, TripAdvisor advised parents and children to go to Anaheim, California, and Washington, DC, came in 7th.  However, Parents Magazine ranked Washington #3, and they should know.  #2 for Parents was weird Portland, Oregon, and #1 was San Diego.  Travelpulse.com chose Washington, DC, #1.  I tend to agree with Travelpulse.

The Hub Team (hub.united.com) tackled America’s most underrated cities.  Providence, Rhode Island, was #1.  I was very pleased that St Louis came in 2nd followed by the other and non-weird Portland (the one in Maine).  I’m from St. Louis and return frequently.  I agree that it’s underrated by travelers.  By the way, its Gateway Arch and Grounds reopen on July 4, 2018, after an extensive refurbishment that took a couple of years.

I was once asked, “If you had to spend the rest of your life in one city, what would that city be?”  It took me 2 hours to mentally move to Melbourne, Australia.

Hank

 

About roadsrus

Since the beginning, I've had to avoid writing about the downside of travel in order to sell more than 100 articles. Just because something negative happened doesn't mean your trip was ruined. But tell that to publishers who are into 5-star cruise and tropical beach fantasies. I want to tell what happened on my way to the beach, and it may not have been all that pleasant. My number one rule of the road is...today's disaster is tomorrow's great story. My travel experiences have appeared in about twenty magazines and newspapers. I've been in all 50 states more than once and more than 50 countries. Ruth and I love to travel internationally--Japan, Canada, China, Argentina, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, etc. Within the next 2 years we will have visited all of the European countries. But our favorite destination is Australia. Ruth and I have been there 9 times. I've written a book about Australia's Outback, ALONE NEAR ALICE, which is available through both Amazon & Barnes & Noble. My first fictional work, MOVING FORWARD, GETTING NOWHERE, has recently been posted on Amazon. It's a contemporary, hopefully funny re-telling of The Odyssey. View all posts by roadsrus
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