I've also learned that I don't always have to go so far for a great travel experience, and the U.S. remains one of my top countries for travel.

There's such a variety of landscapes and climates here. You get beaches and mountains, rainforests and deserts, big cities, and little towns.

So today, I'm going to share some of my favorite destinations in the U.S. that I recommend visiting, and thank you to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video.

Savannah, Georgia. I think Savannah is one of the most charming cities in the U.S., and I feel like it gets a little overshadowed by Charleston, which is only two hours north.

But what I love about Savannah is it's walkable. It's relatively small, so you can walk the city in a day. It's on the water. There's a lot of history and beautiful homes, restaurants, ghost tours, lots of fun stuff to get up to. I think it's a perfect weekend getaway.

Now, if you're looking for somewhere outdoorsy, my favorite outdoors destination in the U.S. is southern Utah.

You get incredible desert landscapes, slot canyons. There are five national parks in this region.

You have Zion National Park that has insane hikes.

Bryce Canyon National Park, which is so unique. It sits on a rim that overlooks a canyon full of trails and hoodoo formations.

Arches National Park is full of arches, not surprisingly. It's also a great region for stargazing and astrophotography.

Seattle, Washington.

I'm a little biased on this one because I'm from Washington State. I grew up there, spent most of my 20s living in Seattle, but I think that makes me especially qualified to recommend it.

If you want to visit a big city with a splash of nature and epic views, Seattle is the place.

The downtown is full of restaurants and shopping. You have the historic Pike Place Market and the original first Starbucks.

But my favorite thing to recommend to people visiting Seattle is to catch the ferry on the waterfront over to Bainbridge Island.

It's like a 25-minute ride and you get the most incredible skyline views on the way.

On a clear day, you can see Mount Rainier in the distance. And if you're really lucky, you might even see whales in the Puget Sound.

And speaking of whales, my next destination recommendation is the San Juan Islands of Washington State.

The San Juan Islands are an archipelago nestled right at the border of the US and Canada. And it's one of the most picturesque places you can visit in this country.

The most common way to get there is by ferry. The last time I did that, I saw baby orcas breaching, so I would recommend it.

There are also flights up to the islands, usually in teeny tiny planes.

These islands are so beautiful and pristine. There are resorts on the waterfront. You can even rent little mopeds or go-kart-type cars to ride around the island on.

Depending on the time of the year and the moon, you can do bioluminescent kayaking, which I did on a girl's trip that was so cool. It's like kayaking in the dark and like sparkly glitter as you paddle through the water.

It's like impossible to capture on camera as you're doing it, though. Otherwise, I would have a whole video about it.

Highly, highly recommend it as its own destination, or if you're doing a longer trip, doing a Seattle-San Juan Islands combo.

My next recommendation is another island destination, but it's in the exact opposite part of the country.

It's Captiva and Sanibel Island in Florida.

I got the chance to visit these islands a couple years ago, and I was blown away with how beautiful they are.

They're adjacent to Fort Myers, so you can fly in, rent a car. It's a short drive out to them.

The water is blue. The islands are gorgeous. The resort I stayed at had this walking path along the water and dolphins would just swim up next to it, like 10 feet away from me.

You can take boat trips out to the little keys in the area.

Now, unfortunately, this area was hit really hard by Hurricane Ian a couple of years ago, so there's a lot of rebuilding going on.

It appears a lot of things are open again and continuing to open. So right now that might be something to navigate, but when things are open and ready for you and you're ready to go, it's an incredible place.

Jackson, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park.

If you want to wake up, get a nice breakfast, go for a drive and see a moose, do a little hike to a lake with some mountain views, and then come back into town for dinner and bar hopping, Jackson, Wyoming is the place for you.

It's a fun little town at the entrance to Grand Teton National Park that has the incredible Teton mountain range and tons of wildlife.

It's also a big destination for skiing. It's one of my favorite places I've ever been. If you haven't seen my Wyoming video, I will link it down below.

And it's only two hours south of Yellowstone National Park, which is by far more popular, and I would also recommend Yellowstone is incredible.

But whenever I talk to people about their trip to Yellowstone and I ask if they did Grand Teton too, most of the time I met with a, where's that?

I think so many people miss out on it. And while Yellowstone is incredible, I mean, there are so many things about Yellowstone that make it worth visiting, I liked Grand Teton because it was a bit quieter.

Yellowstone can get really busy. So I think Jackson and Grand Teton is great for a trip on its own or to roll into a Yellowstone trip.

I want to take a minute to say thank you to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video.

Storyblocks has over a million high-quality stock assets. You can grab video clips, sound effects, or images for whatever project you're working on.

And their unlimited all-access plan gets you unlimited downloads of everything in their library for one predictable subscription cost, which is so useful for creating travel-themed content because sometimes there's a destination you want to talk about, but you don't have any photos or videos of your own to use for it.

I've been using some Storyblocks clips throughout this video for that reason.

So definitely check them out. And I will have a link down below.

Bar Harbor, Maine and Acadia National Park.

I did a road trip up the coast of Maine last summer and it was phenomenal.

There are so many little towns along the coastline with beautiful harbors, lots of lighthouses.

If lighthouses are your thing, you want to go to Maine.

But specifically, I loved the town of Bar Harbor because it's nestled against Acadia National Park.

So kind of similar to Jackson, Wyoming. You get the ambiance of a small town, restaurants, shopping paired with nature and hiking.

And Bar Harbor is on the water. So you get great water views. There are also boat tours, kayaking, and Acadia National Park is really scenic.

You can see a lot just from your car driving through the park, but there's also hiking. There's places to get incredible views over Bar Harbor. I loved it.

I will say, though, Maine in the summertime is popular and expensive.

So if you're making this trip in the summer, plan well in advance. I didn't. Mine was a last-minute trip and one of the stops along the coast, I paid like $350 for a Holiday Inn.

So plan in advance.

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

Carmel is a charming seaside town that feels both refined and relaxed at the same time, which is something I think in general, California does really well.

It's entirely walkable. So book a room at one of the cute inns and you can get everywhere by foot from there. You can walk down to the beach, stroll along the little shops in town.

And the dining is unreal. Every single meal I had there was incredible.

There are a lot of nice upscale restaurants that have more of a casual, relaxed, kind of like a wine country vibe.

Also, you can rent bikes and ride up and down the coast, which is really fun.

My next recommendation is also in California, but we're headed to the desert. It is Joshua Tree.

Now, to be honest, there are like 20 places in California I could put on this list. The state has everything. It has mountains and beaches and lakes and nine national parks and desert and city. And there's a lot in California, so it's hard to choose.

But another place in California I really loved visiting is Joshua Tree and Joshua Tree National Park. It's one of the more low key national parks I've been to because there aren't a lot of major attractions in it.

Unlike somewhere like Yellowstone.

And the town of Joshua Tree sits right at the entrance to the park. And you can find a lot of really cool accommodation there, like very boho aesthetic vacation homes.

And then you can just drive through the park. There are some points of interest. You can do some hiking. It's really just a lot of wide open space.

And then last, but certainly not least, is New York City.

No U.S. travel list is complete without New York City. I would recommend a New York trip to literally everyone.

Because if you have ever watched television or movies, there will be something interesting to you about New York.

Because in a lot of ways, it is like the movies. I will never forget the first time I went to New York. I was 21 and I hailed a taxi, and I felt so Carrie Bradshaw.

I couldn't believe this is actually what you do. You just stand on the curb and raise an arm. And this was also before Uber got big, so this was the way to get around.

Getting to walk through Central Park or the Empire State Building or Grand Central Station and seeing all these places you've seen on TV your whole life. It's so cool.

You can go out and see the Statue of Liberty. And the city has some of the best dining in the world. So even if you're somebody who typically doesn't go for big city destinations, I think New York is a must for everyone at least once.

So those are some places I recommend visiting in the U.S. And I know this video doesn't even scratch the surface. So let us all know where you recommend visiting down in a comment below.

Thanks for watching as always. Happy travels. And I will see you in the next one.