New York Times : Debuts “52 Places To Go in 2018”; Names Jada Yuan “The 52 Places Traveler” to Explore the World and Turn the List Into an Itinerary

NEW YORK, January 10, 2018 - The New York Times today debuted its annual '52 Places To Go ' list, the Travel section's vibrant mix of destinations from around the world that travelers should consider exploring in 2018. Now in its 13th consecutive year, the list for 2018 features 52 dynamic locations with a diversity of geography, themes, cost and scale.

Coming in at number one is New Orleans, on the year the one-of-a-kind American city turns 300. Influences from Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa and indigenous nations? have made it the ultimate melting pot. Though it's been a long recovery from Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans isn't just back on its feet, it's as vibrant as ever - particularly impressive for a 300-year old.

Other selections from this year's list cover the globe, with destinations ranging from Cambodia to Rwanda to a remote corner of Australia, as well as U.S. cities like Montgomery, Ala., Seattle and Cincinnati.

The Times also announced today that it has named Jada Yuan the intrepid '52 Places Traveler' who will turn this year's list into an itinerary. Over the course of 2018, Jada will travel to every destination on the list and tell Times readers the story of each place as well as the story of life on the road.

When the position was announced in October 2017, it immediately became an internet sensation and brought in more than 2,400 applications within the first 24 hours of it being posted. Ultimately, in the nine days the position was listed, The Times received over 13,000 applications.

'We are very much looking forward to Jada's exploration of all of the places on the list,' said Monica Drake, assistant managing editor, The New York Times. 'She is a tenacious reporter and a great interviewer, and our readers will get a vivid sense of all 52 destinations through Jada's eyes and those of locals as well.'

'I'm so grateful to The Times for choosing me to go on this crazy adventure. It's still shocking and a bit overwhelming,' said Yuan. 'I always thought that to live my dream of traveling the world I'd have to quit being a journalist. That The Times has made it possible for both those dreams to coexist feels like an enormous gift. I can't wait to get started.'

Jada joins The Times from New York magazine, where she spent over a decade as a contributing editor both in print and online at its websites Vulture, the Cut and Daily Intelligencer. She gained on-the-ground reporting experience traveling to Cannes, Sundance and Toronto to cover film festivals, as well as to Denver, Minneapolis and Philadelphia for the 2008 and 2016 presidential conventions. She has profiled Stevie Nicks, Ava Duvernay and Bill Murray; interviewed wrongly convicted prisoners in New York; and covered protesters in Ferguson, Mo., as well as the pioneering career of the first black transgender fashion model. Her cover stories and features have appeared in Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Elle, Glamour and Bloomberg Businessweek. Personal travel has taken her to Japan, Mexico, China, Afghanistan, Kenya and Senegal. She grew up in northern New Mexico, has a degree in history from Yale University and currently lives in Brooklyn.

To help map out Jada's trip to all 52 destinations, The Times is working with KAYAK, one of the world's leading travel search engines. KAYAK's team of data scientists and travel experts will leverage their extensive travel data to help plan the most efficient route possible.The KAYAK team took factors such as the best time to book and fly, seasonality and route efficiency into account to develop an itinerary for Jada that will allow her to see every destination on the list over the next 12 months.

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Contact: Jordan Cohen, [e-mail]