Travelling is one of the most fulfilling things we can do as humans. We get to explore new countries, cities, towns, villages, and even the most remote places on the planet. Some will find comfort in knowing exactly where they are going, with a detailed plan and itinerary for the day they will set off and see everything they wish. Others want something a little more spontaneous, whatever feels right for that moment. Exploration leads to meeting new people, self-development, and incredible experiences.
Travel guides are a brilliant place to start. They offer some rough information on where to visit and what to do. This doesn’t mean you can’t explore further once you’re there; it just gives a solid basis of where you’re going to be. Here we take a look at some of the most amazing places to visit along the Gold Coast in Florida.
Destin
Destin is a city located in northwest Florida situated in the panhandle region, a strip of land roughly 200 miles long. The travel gurus at DestinFlorida.com tell us it’s famed for its white, sandy, Gulf of Mexico beaches that boast incredible beauty. There is also a large number of impressive golf courses, and the Destin Harbour Boardwalk – a bustling destination filled with bars, restaurants, shops, and other tourist attractions. Stunning nature trails make their way effortlessly through the dunes of Henderson Beach State Park located in the south, a place where the coastline is decorated with impressive pine and oak trees that offer local wildlife a much-loved home.
The Big Kahuna water park is situated to the west, a place that offers fun for all the family. With over forty water attractions, you and the kids will always find something to throw yourself into. Not only this, the park offers several thrill rides and a miniature golf course. Destin’s seafront impresses with its emerald waters alongside incredible tourist attractions, filled with hungry fish – giving it the nickname “the world’s luckiest fishing village.”
Daytona Beach
If you’re into motorsport, then you’ve most definitely heard of the Daytona International Speedway & the Motorsports Hall of Fame. It’s one of the cities proudest attractions and is sure to give any petrol head goosebumps. Daytona isn’t all motorsport, though.
Daytona Beach is famed for endless activities, adrenaline-fueled spectator sports, and incredible shopping culture. The beach spans 23 miles of uninterrupted, luscious golden sands for everyone to enjoy. Parts of the beach are reserved exclusively for beachgoers, whereas other areas are cordoned off for exclusive driving experiences. Something is going on all the time at Daytona Beach, which gives it the nickname “the festival capital of Florida.” Events include Daytona Blues Festival, the Summer Concert Series, and BikeWeek.
The Palm Beaches
Stacked with cash? Want to see how the other half live? Fancy seeing where some of your favorite TV shows are set? Look no further than Palm Beach. It’s realistically a playground for the rich, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have huge amounts of fun there too. It’s made from 15 unique districts, 47 miles of coastline, and 29 different beach parks. The pièce de résistance, however, is West Palm Beach – one of the most exclusive places in all of Florida.
Famed for beautiful waterfront neighborhoods, incredible mansions, and luxury resorts, West Palm Beach is the place to go for your dose of indulgence. While in Palm Beach, you have to visit and explore Worth Avenue. A shopping mecca filled with designed stores and beautiful boutiques. Visit for an incredible shopping experience, a window shop extravaganza, or even a cup of coffee to watch the world go by.
Fort Lauderdale
For those that love water, Fort Lauderdale is the place to be. Dubbed “the Venice of America,” Fort Lauderdale has over 300 miles of inland waterways connecting to the oceanfront. The calming canals meander through the city, giving it an experience like no other. The waterways are used as a way of life for travel and even business.
Get a water taxi to the mall or just enjoy a slow, peaceful, gondola ride. Fort Lauderdale has 23 miles of coastline, the majority of which has the impressive title of “Blue Wave Certified,” meaning they are some of the cleanest in the State. Sea turtles are a common sight but be wary of the ‘gators if you venture into the Everglades.
Florida is an incredible place, filled with impressive cities, towns, and quaint neighborhoods. The Gold Coast is a bonus for what the rest has to offer, but if you’re looking for some of the most beautiful, culture-defining beaches on the East Coast, then look no further than here. Some of the world’s most famous beaches are here, and you’re sure to have an incredible time no matter which you choose. Where first?
Photo Credit: Daytona Beach bikes by Driver Photographer; West Palm Beach skyline by Kim Seng; Fort Lauderdale Beach by Daniel Dudek. Images used via Flickr.com’s Creative Commons Licensing.
Empty street in Brooklyn
On 10 March, a friend of mine arrived in New York; she was visiting from Europe. When she boarded her flight in Spain, she didn’t expect to be scrambling to get on a flight back to Europe just ten days later – cutting her 3-week U.S. trip considerably short. But when she arrived, New York City was still “open”. We were able to do some sightseeing, we had dinner at TimeOut Market, we climbed the Vessel, we walked the High Line. On 12 March, I took the subway after work to meet my friend to see a Broadway show when I got a text message that all Broadway theaters were closing until further notice – effective immediately. I was in disbelief. All Broadway theaters closed.. had that ever happened before? I knew what this meant: the city would shut down completely, it wouldn’t stop at the theaters.
And within days, everything in New York City changed. In less than a week, the entire city had transformed: TimeOut Market closed two days after we ate there, the High Line closed, all the museums closed. Schools and universities closed. On 15 March it was announced that all restaurants would be closing on 17 March (with the option to stay open for take-out and delivery).
When I walked through my neighborhood the day after restaurants and bars closed, it already felt considerably emptier. New Yorkers were bracing themselves for a “shelter in place” order, which basically meant a lockdown of NYC. Most of the shops were already closed. Back then, New York City had “only” around 800 Coronavirus cases, and a handful deaths. A week later, New York City had 15,000 Coronavirus cases.
While walking through this strange new world, I keep hearing sirens. They come and go, but they are recurring. A constant reminder of the fact that I am not walking through the movie set of a post-apocalyptic thriller, but that this is still very much New York City. A city that, sadly, has been hit harder than any other city in the world by COVID-19. Every time an ambulance passes me, I can’t help but think of the person inside the ambulance. A month after the “Shelter in place” order went into effect, New York City has just under 139,000 confirmed Coronavirus cases, and over 10,000 people have died. Over 10,000 people in my city have died from COVID-19 in less than a month – let that sink in for a moment.
It didn’t take very long for me to be personally affected by this virus: while my friend from Europe was still in town mid-March, someone close to me started feeling very ill. All the symptoms sounded like COVID-19, and she went straight to the doctor. There, they ruled out a number of flu strains, and told her that she probably has Coronavirus, but at the time, they didn’t have any tests to verify their suspicion. They told her to go home to self-quarantine for 14 days, since her symptoms weren’t severe enough for hospitalization.
I thought I had seen the worst when I saw a person being taken out of an ambulance outside the local hospital one day, a person that looked to be in such a bad state that at first, I didn’t even know if they were alive. But then I saw the morgue trucks. What I saw first was a flower bouquet on the ground, and a big poster thanking the healthcare workers. I wondered why they’d left the flowers there, on the side of the road, when I noticed the humming coming from a truck right behind the sign. And that’s when it hit me. This was one of these 
These images – the morgue trucks, the sick person on the stretcher, but also my sick friend who I’d see every week through the entrance glass door of her building, and whose face looked ashen, with hollow eyes – are images I cannot erase from my brain, and probably will never forget. The sound of sirens will always remind me of these dark times, and I am not the only one. “I feel their presence in my body as an ever-increasing tightness in my shoulders and neck. It is as though, around the clock, the city itself were wailing for its sick and dying.”, writes Lindsay Zoladz in her 
Going grocery shopping has turned from a routinely task into a wearying and sometimes nerve-wrecking undertaking (depending on how many people decide to shop that day, ie. how many people I come in contact with) that requires preparation and caution. Before I leave my house, I have to make sure that I have some wipes in my bag, my mask, hand sanitizer and gloves. Then I make my way to the grocery store on the bike, no matter if it is raining or hailing – I have only used the subway once since the “shelter at home” order went into effect, and that was when I did my first big quarantine shop. I wasn’t even supposed to be here in New York when the city started shutting down, so my fridge and my pantry were as deserted as the shelves in the supermarkets.
That first shop was so big that I wasn’t able to haul it back home on a bike, which is why I took the subway for two stops. But I shouldn’t have been nervous about it: There were barely any people on the train. Every time I went out do my grocery shopping, the restrictions got tighter. First, they limited the amount of people inside the store, which is how I ended up in a line that went all the way down the block one time, thinking to myself in panic, “I am too close to too many people.” The next time I ventured outside for groceries, they had drawn lines on the sidewalk with chalk, marking the required six feet safety distance in between each person. These markers were also added inside the grocery store, so that when you get in line at the checkout, you keep your distance, as well.
Since 16 April, masks have been mandatory when entering a grocery store. A day later, on 17 April, the governor announced that “New York on Pause”, which had initially been issued until 30 April, would be extended until 15 May – for now. That means a total of nearly nine weeks of New York City on pause. And to be honest, I don’t think that New York City will ease restrictions in mid-May – at least not to the extent that life in New York City as we know it will be possible.
Last weekend I ventured into Manhattan for the first time since the lockdown started, and it was a bizarre experience. I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, which was deserted. It was a beautiful spring day, and normally, the bridge would’ve been packed with tourists. Chinatown felt like a ghost town. I only saw two restaurants that were open there, and I saw almost no people out on the street. I cycled up Broadway in SoHo, where you usually find hundreds of shoppers on any given day, but Broadway was empty. I passed only a few people who were taking their dog out for a walk or ran some errands. Some 
Chinatown feels like a ghost town
The line outside a grocery store
Grand Central Terminal completely deserted
Silent New York is not the same. You don’t realize how much things like cafes, street kiosks, restaurants, bodegas, and street vendors contribute to the overall atmosphere of a city until they’re gone. Seeing the Broadway theaters shuttered was depressing – theaters, comedy clubs and other performance venues are such a big part of the social life in New York.Times Square without any tourists was something I never thought I’d see. Even when I walked through Times Square at 5.30am in a snowstorm a few years ago, there were more people around than now. I also never thought I’d say this: Times Square without any tourists feels kind of dull.
I’ll be the first one to admit that I curse the crowds every time I have to pass through Times Square on the way to something, but seeing it so empty changed the entire atmosphere. The ever so bustling area felt like a sleepy square. The only two things that were the same: The glitzy billboards which were still advertising clothes companies and streaming services, and 
Instead of souvenirs, the street vendors are now selling hand sanitizer and face masks
Life in New York is never easy, even when the economy is doing great, a lot of people work harder than elsewhere to make ends meet. But now, with the city heading into a recession, piling up debt, life in New York will be even challenging, and it’ll take a long time for things to go back to normal. And what does that even mean, normal? Nobody even knows what the “post-COVID-19 normal” will look like. When will the theaters be able to re-open? When can we go to bars and restaurants again and will it be possible the same way it was pre-COVID-19? Will sports bars be ever as packed again for major sports events as they were before this pandemic? When will we be able to enjoy concerts again and watch a baseball game in Yankees Stadium? When will tourists return to New York?
All large parades scheduled for June, including New York Pride, have been canceled. It was announced that public pools wouldn’t open at all in 2020. Beaches may not open this summer either. This summer will not be like any other summer, because most of the 
The unemployment rate in NYC was at around 4.3 per cent before COVID-19: in the entire month of February, 137,391 people filed for unemployment in New York City. In the first week of the lockdown, 521,112 claims were filed. That’s more than three times the amount of claims the city usually sees in a month. Unemployment claims have now increased by 2,637%. During the financial crisis in 2008, the entire state of New York lost around 300,000 jobs. New York City alone has already lost more jobs than that. 
The Mayor of New York City is facing a projected $7.4 billion deficit in the city budget (mostly in lost tax revenue) and the economic impact of COVID-19 can be compared to the Great Depression. This deficit means that many city programs will be canceled, for example summer camp programs and the youth employment program which usually enrolls about 75,000 low-income students. 
Even when this pandemic is over, New York City will struggle to get back to its former glorious self. But instead of with a depressing and gloomy outlook on post-COVID-19 New York City, I want to finish this article with this beautiful video and the optimistic words of New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo:
If you end up visiting Antelope Canyon during a busy holiday and you didn’t plan ahead, some online travel agents have started listing tickets on their sites, beware as the 
