Our editors covered diverse ground in 2025—landing wahoo in the turquoise waters off Bermuda, castle-hopping in Dublin, savoring jazz-filled evenings in New Orleans, and spotting Bigfoot (statues) in the North Georgia mountains. Below, they reflect on standout adventures and the places they can’t wait to explore next.
David DiBenedetto, editor in chief
2025 highlight: I’ve yet to find a view in Bermuda that didn’t knock my knee-high socks off. Okay, I haven’t quite donned the native look, but I can’t get enough of the colors of the ocean as it stretches out from the island. It doesn’t hurt to take the scenery in from the Loren hotel, where the ocean rolls just beneath your room. A tour of the Bacardi headquarters did not disappoint and neither did an outing aboard the Paradise One, which resulted in a number of big wahoo.
Photo: David DiBenedetto
Visiting Verdmont, one of the oldest homes in Bermuda.
Travel plans: Maybe it’s the recent back-to-back cold snaps, but I’ve started planning a trip to Vermont, which is a Breeze (see what I did there?) given the direct flight from Charleston, South Carolina, to Burlington. I’m no stranger to the Green Mountains, having attended the University of Vermont, and I can’t wait to introduce my kids to the joys of mountain and lake life.
CJ Lotz Diego, senior editor
2025 highlight: I kicked off the year with a trip to one of my favorite cities in the world, New Orleans, to launch G&G’s NOLA issue. I loved seeing my friend Peter Patout, who shared his gorgeous bayou country home in our pages; devouring a muffuletta at Napoleon House; and partying with so many G&G readers and fans at the Ritz. Our host for that joyful event was the legendary jazz trumpeter Jeremy Davenport, who, like me, grew up in St. Louis. We had fun drawing connections between that city and New Orleans, which are forever linked by history and the Mississippi River.
Photo: cj lotz diego
Lotz Diego recreates the cover of G&G’s New Orleans issue.
Travel plans: As much Amtrak journeying as possible. I love riding the train from Charleston to see my family in Central Florida, and I’m hoping to take a jaunt by rail to Richmond in a couple months. Fingers crossed, I’m also dreaming of an international trip to Switzerland soon—the Swiss are top tier when it comes to comfortable and efficient train adventures.
Amanda Heckert, executive editor
2025 highlight: For the first time ever, my husband and I hosted my elementary-age nephews for “Camp Hecky,” a weeklong staycation during which we sucked the marrow out of summertime Charleston: a day giggling as big waves smacked our backs at the less-busy stretch of Folly Beach known as the Washout; a boat ride with Coastal Expeditions to Bulls Island and the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, where we spied loggerhead tracks at the boneyard beach; and a sunset seafood extravaganza at Bowens Island, where both boys tried oysters for the first time to hilarious effect (we still watch the video of the eldest struggling to keep his down whenever we need a laugh). And of course, a tour de ice cream (my favorite: the Dole Whip dupe at soft-serve heaven Turbo Cone).
Photo: amanda heckert
Sea turtle tracks at the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge.
Travel plans: Copying and pasting my best-laid plans set out in this space last year; what can I say, sometimes life doesn’t cooperate! “For several years now, I’ve felt drawn to Santa Fe. Is it the prospect of red-and-green-chile-sauced ‘Christmas’ enchiladas? The indescribable landscape? The groundbreaking arts scene? The enchiladas???? I don’t know! But this year, I’m determined to answer the call and find out.”
Ally Sloway, social media director
2025 highlight: A fun fact about me is that I love rain, fog, and all types of dreary weather. (I’m sharing this with the knowledge that I’ll surely be judged—but who can we be but ourselves, right?) For that reason I spent my October birthday in Dublin, Ireland. We explored castles in the mist, watched Halloween movies in a glitzy historic theater, drank loads of Guinness, and found some of our new favorite spots, like Bar 1661, thanks to G&G’s guide to Ireland. We even saw the sun for half the trip (much to my dismay).
Travel plans: Many of my closest friends are fortunate enough to live abroad, but until this year, my schedule hasn’t allowed me to visit. I’ve decided it’s high time to rectify that fact. In January I stayed with friends in Barcelona (the most magical few weeks of my life!). Next up, I plan to visit my college friend in Norway. 2026 is the year of expanding my horizons!
Gabriela Gomez-Misserian, digital producer
2025 highlight: I’ve been trying to take one art retreat each year, either to work on oil painting or drawing, or to learn an entirely new medium. In 2025 I was so grateful when my old college professor (and naturalist gardener extraordinaire) reached out to former students to plan a weekend at her farm in rural Virginia, where we would study botanical forms and make zinc plate etchings—a careful printmaking process I’ve always wanted to try. It was a perfect, slow May weekend in the Shenandoah Valley with lots of incredible homemade meals and morning birdsong.
Photo: Gabriela Gomez-Misserian
Inking up zinc plates in a barn-turned-artist’s studio in Raphine, Virginia.
Photo: Gabriela Gomez-Misserian
Painting irises in the garden.
Travel plans: I’m flying to Colombia to visit my dad’s family and mountain farm in Medellín before heading over to celebrate my friends’ wedding in Bogotá. Between festivities, I’m excited to eat my way through a curated list of my friends’ favorite spots for traditional food, coffee, and music.
Emily Daily, newsletter editor
2025 highlight: If you’d told me there was a tiny village tucked away in the North Georgia mountains where you could stroll past Bigfoot statues while sipping Bavarian ale from giant steins and wave to the flotilla of river tubers on the Chattahoochee, I wouldn’t have believed you. Until we visited Helen last year. Kitschy in the best way possible, this Alpine-esque hamlet served as an entertaining day trip while we vacationed at nearby Lake Lanier. The best part, according to my ten-year-old kid? A roller coaster that swirls around the town’s highest peaks. I think my daughter still has bugs in her teeth from smiling so big.
Photo: Emily Daily
Floating on the Chattahoochee.
Photo: Emily Daily
A Bigfoot statue in Helen, Georgia.
Travel plans: My family is always itching to travel out west, and the laid-back surf towns around San Diego are calling to us again this year. I’m already anticipating a visit to In-n-Out, our traditional first stop. (The best order: Animal-Style Double-Double and a Neapolitan shake!).
Elizabeth Florio, digital editor
2025 highlight: London under a cloudless April sky. The weather was so perfect that crowded museums lost their appeal next to the broad green lawns of the Royal Parks. For a dose of nature and culture, I recommend strolling through Highgate Cemetery, where wildflowers and tumbledown tombstones cloak the hills equally thickly, before setting off on the wind-swept, mile-and-a-half walk through Hampstead Heath to the Keats House. In this modest Regency residence, John Keats composed some of his most famous poems, fell ill with tuberculosis, and wrote passionate letters to his beloved Fanny Brawne, who resided in the adjoining apartment, from the isolation of his sick room.
London’s Highgate Cemetery.
Travel plans: We’ll be joining three other couples on a sailing trip through the British Virgin Islands this summer, enjoying short hops, painterly sunsets, and snorkeling in turquoise waters.
Lindsey Liles, digital reporter
2025 highlight: I love to travel abroad, but one of my favorite trips this year was in my own home state of Arkansas. I spent a weekend in Bentonville reporting a travel story on mountain biking in the Ozarks, and I came away amazed at how Northwest Arkansas is buzzing with great food, a thriving art scene, and outdoor recreation options. I had fabulous dinners at the Preacher’s Son and the Hive, wandered Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and its hip cousin, the Momentary, and explored Coler Mountain Bike Preserve on two wheels, fueled by tacos from Yeyo’s yellow food truck on the Bentonville Square. Soon, I’ll be back up in the region for a Razorbacks basketball game, and I can’t wait to revisit my favorite spots.
Photo: KATE DEARMAN
Biking the Oz Castle Trail, part of the area’s 163 miles of bike routes.
Travel plans: I’ve been visiting southern Colorado in the summer with my family since I was a kid, but this year we’re planning to postpone the trip until later in the fall for one of my bucket-list items—to see the aspens change color in some of our favorite mountain towns, Durango, Telluride, and Creede.
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