Elena Vasquez 
Let me be honest with you: I have booked flights specifically around food festivals. Not “oh, there happens to be a festival while I’m there” — I mean full-on reverse-engineered my entire travel calendar so that I land in Singapore during the World Street Food Congress and not a single day before the Pad Thai … Read more
Let me tell you something about myself: I have absolutely booked a round-trip flight to Europe based entirely on the existence of a cheese tasting. No regrets. And if you’re the kind of person who considers a restaurant reservation a legitimate travel itinerary, then May is your month. The best food festivals May has to … Read more
Let me be honest with you: I have never once planned a trip around a museum. I have, however, rearranged an entire spring itinerary because I found out a small Sardinian village would be slow-roasting suckling pig over open flame for four days straight. If you’re the kind of traveler who considers a restaurant reservation … Read more
Let me be honest with you: I have never once booked a flight because of a museum. I have, however, rerouted an entire itinerary because I found out a remote corner of Southeast Asia was serving a dish that only exists for one gloriously chaotic week a year. If you plan your travels the way … Read more
Let me be completely honest with you: I have never once planned a trip around a museum. I have, however, rerouted an entire European itinerary because a four-day wine festival in Verona fell on the exact dates I’d originally booked for Milan. Zero regrets. If you’re the kind of traveler who researches a destination’s food … Read more
Let me tell you something about myself: I have absolutely booked a transatlantic flight because a chef I admire was doing a pop-up dinner. I have rerouted an entire road trip for a regional barbecue competition. And I have — not once, but twice — planned a vacation around a food festival only to discover … Read more
I have planned entire vacations around a single meal. I have rerouted flights for a cheese market, extended a layover for a street food festival, and — yes — once booked a train to a small Portuguese town almost entirely because I heard they were handing out free chocolate at the gate. If you are … Read more
Let me tell you something about myself: I have never once booked a trip based on architecture, museums, or beach ratings. I book trips around food. Specifically, I book trips around the kind of food that only exists in one place, at one time, surrounded by people who are way too happy to be standing … Read more
Let me be completely honest with you: I do not plan trips around landmarks. I plan them around meals. Specifically, I plan them around the kind of meals that only exist once a year, in one place, eaten standing up with grease on my chin and zero regrets. January and February in Asia? That is … Read more
Let me tell you something the travel industry doesn’t advertise loudly enough: January is secretly one of the best months to be a food-obsessed traveler. While everyone else is nursing post-holiday credit card guilt and doom-scrolling gym memberships, I’m booking flights around the best food festivals in January and eating my way through some of … Read more
