There are many different ways that travel can be transformative. Travel can give insight into different perspectives and new ways of looking at the world, expose people to the finest food and experiences, and can help communities and the environment in places that need it most. The Matador Network team knows this as well as anyone. Often, we landed in travel media after having our own transformative travel experiences — and then continued to seek out travel as a force for good as a career. Our line of work publishing travel stories and guides involves hopping on whatever transportation needed whenever we can so we can see destinations first-hand.

Some trips naturally stand out as more life changing than others. The reasons why are highly specific to each person, but none would be possible without an open mind and a willingness to get out of our comfort zone.

Matador’s writers and editors have collectively traveled to every continent and countless towns, cities, and countries. These are 20 of the places that we’ve gone that have changed us for the better.

Photo: Heartfulness Media Team

There are few travel clichés as cringe-inducing as saying you were changed by a meditation retreat in India. And yet here I am. In 2023, I was invited to Kanha Shanti Vanam, a purpose-built town designed by the leaders of Heartfulness, a non-religious spiritual organization led by Shri Kamlesh D. Patel (Daaji). I’ve never been much for meditation or spiritual thinking. What I saw, experienced, and learned completely changed my approach to just about every aspect of my life.

It’s hard for me to describe it all without an endless word count, though I tried my best for a feature story published on Matador.

Heartfulness is an approachable take on meditation. All that’s needed is an open mind and some basic guidance to get started. My guides Hari and Darshvinder spent long days that stretched into late nights speaking with me over tea about life, work, and how the Heartfulness organization created an entire town complete with multiple restaurants, a massive meditation hall, a hotel, plant tissue research labs, farms, schools, and homes for permanent residents. Most impressive to me was how they used modern and ancient agriculture practices to turn barren land into a lush forest.

To my surprise, I still meditate the Heartfulness way whenever I can. I now apply the land management and reforestation techniques I learned in India to my own small backyard in Denver. The techniques have worked wonders during dry summers, helping me create a thriving food source without irrigation using minimal precious water. My meditation often starts with thinking about the abundance of plant life I saw at Kahna and the relationships I made. I can’t imagine a more transformative escape from the hustle of modern life. — Nickolaus Hines, managing editor

Photo: Avinash Gatreddi/Shutterstock

Hanoi is a place that rewrites your expectations the moment you arrive. Known to Americans, especially boomers like my parents, as one of the most charged places during the Vietnam War, it’s now a city that radiates beauty, warmth, and non-stop energy. Hanoi is lush with tree-lined avenues, serene lakes, and intricate architecture that feels both timeless and strikingly vibrant. It’s not untouched by the “War of American Aggression,” as they call it, and sites like the “Hanoi Hilton,” which held American prisoners of war, don’t sugarcoat the realities the country faced. But just steps from those sites are fantastic bakeries and markets, restaurants serving some of the best vegetarian food I’ve ever had, and the fascinating Vietnam Women’s Museum – not to mention cafes selling all manner of fantastic Vietnamese coffee. I find most cities kind of boring, but I could walk around looking at the sights of Hanoi all day.

For anyone craving adventure, Hanoi is a gateway to some of the world’s most breathtaking experiences. A day trip from the city might take you to Phong Nha, home to the planet’s largest cave system (tours offered between January and August; other cave tours are year-round), or you can take an overnight sleeper train to Sapa, where terraced highland trails and homestays await trekkers.

I only spent about three weeks in Vietnam and I don’t feel like I even scratched the surface. While Ho Chi Minh is perhaps more popular with tourists, I preferred the history, culture, and pace of Hanoi versus the more lively, modern, and late-night offerings of the slightly more cosmopolitan Ho Chi Minh. I’d never say no to a chance to go back. — Suzie Dundas, commissioning editor

Photo: Jesse Adams

It only took one day of diving, hiking, and kayaking around the Galapagos Islands with expedition cruise line Ecoventura for my partner and I to declare this was the best trip we had ever taken. Little did we know then that every new day on the islands would top the one before, and that we would be high on life the entire time. While this trip was a work assignment, I never felt so happy and fulfilled doing my job – or anything else. Both my partner and I are animal and nature lovers, and wildlife is everywhere in the Galápagos Islands. We got to admire hours-old sea lion pups, including one with the umbilical cord still attached, frolicking in puddles, nursing, and crying for their moms’ attention. We snorkeled alongside torpedo-like penguins and spent a lot of time underwater face to face with hungry marine iguanas munching on seaweed. After a hike filled with giant tortoises sightings on the island of Isabela, we swam off a black-sand beach into the warm waters of Urbina Bay accompanied by majestic sea turtles. A trip to the Galápagos Islands is the ultimate dream for anyone who’s fascinated by the animal kingdom. I can’t wait to go back and do it all over again. — Morgane Croissant, deputy editor

Photo: Wien Tourismus/Christian Stemper

I’m a Christmas baby. I was 15 minutes late into this world to officially hold that title, but having December 26 as a consolation birthday was a wonderful gift. This time of year reinvigorates my soul. I find joy in the smallest things, slow down, and spend time with people I adore. However, over the pandemic, when I lived alone, I found it almost impossible to muster my usual over-the-top Christmas spirit and get through my favorite time of the year. So, when restrictions were lifted, I organized a five-day trip to Vienna to explore the Christmas markets. This would also be the first trip overseas with my now-husband, who I met at the beginning of the pandemic.

Vienna is one of the most romantic cities in Europe, and in winter, it is even more so. The capital of Austria comes to life in the colder months. While many European cities hunker down and close the shutters at this time of year, Vienna is adorned with lights and decorations, markets flood public squares, coffeehouses are packed with locals coming together for einspänner (coffee with cream) and apple strudel, and people rug-up to brave to cold for concerts and ice skating. If I could sketch an ideal Christmas, it would look very much like this. Of course, this trip was missing my family, but I had my future husband’s hand to keep me warm. On one especially crisp afternoon in Art Advent market – a local market in front of the monumental Karlskirche, Church of St. Charles – we shared a cup of mulled wine as it began to snow. I knew then I’d spend the rest of my Christmases with this person, and one day, we’d return to Vienna, where our travel journey began. — Katie Gavin, lifestyle editor

Photo: Tim Wenger

At 21, I moved from France to Ireland to teach French at a rural school. While I thought I was the only young foreigner around, it turned out that there were many of us in the town: three other young French women and one young German man. We all connected instantly and spent most of our spare time together. When Lars, the German teacher, died in a car crash a few months after we met, the bond between the rest of us became even tighter through grief. At the end of the school year, the three of us who were unattached decided to have a last hurrah in the Aran Islands on the west coast of Ireland. We stayed at an empty and no-frills youth hostel and rented bikes to tour the island for five days. We criss-crossed the seemingly deserted island in all directions, lived on sandwiches we made from the provisions we got at the one small grocery store we found, and celebrated our special year and our friendship by getting lost all over Inishmore looking for puffins and standing too close to the edges of cliffs. While everything about this trip was simple, cheap, and quiet, for many years afterwards, it felt like the most special trip I had ever taken. — Morgane Croissant, deputy editor