As the holiday season rolls around, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and looking forward to all that’s to come in the new one. As a travel editor and list enthusiast, this often involves me opening my iPhone Notes app to read over my running catalogue of places I’ve traveled. I’ll often scroll through my camera roll to reminisce on adventures past via the zillions of photos I took and vowed to print, but never quite got around to. It’s one of my favorite ways to count my blessings and find travel inspiration for the coming year. This year, as I was doing my annual trip rehash, I got a little curious about where my fellow editors had traveled in 2024. Though many of us are based in Birmingham, Alabama, where the Southern Living offices are, I found that we traveled far and wide and discovered some pretty incredible places. Here are 10 places our editors visited for the first time in 2024 and absolutely loved. 

Digital editor Mary Shannon Hodes visited Lexington for the first time this year to attend a wedding and says she’s already dying to go back. Her trip included a visit to a horse farm and a tour of Buffalo Trace, but she says next time around she’d love to attend a horse race and check out some other bourbon distilleries. “The downtown was absolutely precious, and I saw plenty of cute restaurants and shops I’d want to visit on a trip back,” she says.

By Tara Massouleh McCay | Published on November 23, 2024

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