Years ago, I used to love watching the TV series “The Amazing Race.” I liked to learn about different parts of the world through the show and also imagined how my wife and I would have likely been eliminated in the first episode over some random task that resulted in a travel meltdown. The show inspired a good friend and I to create our own “Amazing Race” in which we competed on “total countries visited” and also set a goal of always having been to more countries than our current age. As we have both been to 60+ countries, so far so good.
Throughout most of my life, I was used to having been to more countries than almost anyone else that I would meet. That all changed when we moved to San Miguel de Allende. San Miguel attracts a very interesting mix of people — often people who have traveled extensively, only to settle down here in this small Mexican town. My friend Richard has been to over 80 countries. My friend Martin, over 100. My neighbor Ron, 110 countries. In just the past few months, I have met three different people here who have been to over 120 countries — and then I met Nellie.
Nellie Huang has been to 150 countries — and she is only 42 years old! Nellie is originally from Singapore, is married to a Spaniard, and currently lives in San Miguel de Allende with her husband and 10-year-old daughter. Nellie has, quite literally, been just about everywhere. She speaks three languages fluently (English, Mandarin, and Spanish) and also has learned French, Arabic and Dutch. She has been in Antarctica, the Arctic and almost every place in between.
And starting now, she is a weekly travel writer for Mexico News Daily. Nellie has an awesome perspective on travel, having been to so many places in a relatively recent time period. She has traveled extensively solo, with her husband, and now with her daughter. She has even visited 61 countries with her daughter since she was born 10 years ago! Nellie has been to some of the biggest cities in the world as well as some of the most remote places on the planet.
Nellie also really knows (and loves) Mexico. She has been to nearly 20 of Mexico’s 32 states, written for years about the country, and has settled down (relatively speaking!) in San Miguel de Allende. Having traveled so extensively, I find it fascinating that she has chosen Mexico, and specifically San Miguel, to be her home base. Throughout her writings in the coming weeks and months she will tell us why.
Mexico News Daily is excited to bring you weekly travel articles from Nellie starting on June 8. She will start with a “Where to Travel in Mexico in 2025” series. In this series, she will be focusing on a different type of traveler each week: retirees, foodies, adventurers, families, digital nomads and many more. She will give tips and location recommendations for travelers of all different levels of experience in Mexico — whether you are a “Mexico Novice,” “Mexico Intermediate” or “Mexico Expert” level.
We will then be following up with a “If you love location ABC … then you will love XYZ in Mexico” series. In this weekly series, Nellie will draw on her extensive global travel experience and link amazing places around the world to what she has seen and experienced here in Mexico. For example, if you love the Maldives, Costa Rica or the Grand Canyon, Nellie will tell you where in Mexico you can find a similar experience, and tell us how best to see and experience it.
The idea is for her to show us some of the incredible variety of places to go and things to do in Mexico that rival many of the best travel destinations around the world. And being in Mexico, they are often relatively close, easy to get to, fairly inexpensive and still mostly undiscovered.
Mexico News Daily is continuing to bring our readers exciting new formats, inspiring new content, and top notch new writers. Nellie is a great example of someone new to our team who will most certainly inspire you to get out and go beyond your Cabo San Lucas home, your Mexico City business hotel or your Cancún beachfront all-inclusive resort and discover the magic of Mexico.
Check out Nellie’s first article tomorrow, June 8.
Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.
