Each year the New York Times creates travel urges across a whole swathe of the planet’s richest humans.

Planes are—of course—usually involved.

For 2021, however, they write:

“But in this pandemic year, creating our usual list was out of the question. For one thing, there were the logistics: We usually deploy a small army of photographers in search of those perfect images. That was clearly impossible. Beyond that, our list is built on a journalistic imperative: What’s new? What makes a place so exciting and different — hotel openings, new museums, an expanding food or cultural scene — that it jumps to the top of the list of places to see now? But the pandemic has put a hold on most of those newsworthy developments.”

For their 2020 list, it was clear they’d had at least a sniff of the oncoming environmental shitshow, using phrases like, ‘An island chain devastated by hurricanes rebounds with an environmental bent’, and, ‘The small town of Rurrenabaque is the gateway to a lush and thrillingly beautiful part of northwestern Bolivia that offers a twofer for tourists passionate about supporting efforts toward sustainability and protecting endangered species.’

Passionate enough about sustainability to go overland from New York to Bolivia?

Cripes, even going overland from Bolivia to Bolivia is pretty intense.

The 2021 blurb continues:

“Instead, in 2021, we face a year of uncertainty. With vaccines newly available, perhaps the travel industry — which supplies millions of jobs and is a crucial part of the global economy — will start to revive. But it’s hard to know when and where that rebirth will begin. And a list that seems to encourage people to rush back onto planes when so many are suffering felt unconscionable.”

I think they got the reason for not encouraging people back onto planes wrong.

Here’s what they ended up doing:

“Instead of turning to our contributors and correspondents, we turned to another group of passionate travelers, our readers, and asked them to tell us about their most beloved places, and why they deserved a place on our list, as well as to share their photographs.”

So, basically, create wanderlust involving flights at a later date, rather than flights right now.

Perfect!

Here’s the list they came up with.

Americans could get to 11 of the 52 without flying, in theory. More, of course, if they have a sailboat.

In the end, a lost opportunity for the New York Times to present 52 places you can train and bus to from North America. Though I guess their international readership was a factor in this decision.

Why not do both?

[Cover photo: Carrie Dovzak, whose story is on of the 52 ‘Places to Love’ for 2021]