New York City, obviously. Start at the Met, yeah it’s huge and you’ll get lost, but that’s half the fun. Walk slow through the Egyptian wing, stand in front of that tiny temple they rebuilt brick by brick, and suddenly 3,000 years feel close enough to touch. Then hop downtown to the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side, real apartments where immigrants lived a hundred years ago, actors tell their stories like they just stepped off the boat. End the day in Chinatown grabbing soup dumplings for five bucks and watching old guys play chess in the park. The city never shuts up, but if you listen right it tells you every story at once.

Mexico City. Forget the beaches for a second and land here. Teotihuacán is an easy morning bus out, climb the Pyramid of the Sun before the heat hits and look down avenues that haven’t changed since the Aztecs planned them. Back in the city, the Anthropology Museum is world-class, those massive stone calendars and the turquoise masks will mess with your head. Then wander the Zócalo at sunset when the flag ceremony happens, drums echoing off cathedrals built on top of destroyed temples. Eat tacos al pastor from a street cart at 1 am, the guy spinning the meat like he’s done it since birth. Loud, chaotic, layered, alive.

Niagara Falls, Canada side (sorry American side, you lose this one). The water roars so hard you feel it in your chest. Do the boat that goes right into the mist, you’ll get soaked and scream like a kid. At night they light the falls up in crazy colors, cheesy but cool. Walk across to the US if you want, passport in a plastic bag because everything’s wet. In winter the mist freezes on the trees and it looks like Narnia, summer the breeze off the water saves you from the heat. It’s pure power dressed up as a tourist trap, but stand there long enough and the noise empties your brain.

Couple of extras that sneak under the radar: New Orleans French Quarter during second-line parades, brass band leading hundreds of people dancing behind them through the streets, strangers hand you a beer and suddenly you’re part of it. Québec City in winter, old stone walls covered in snow, ice hotel if you’re brave, poutine at 2 am while fireworks go off over the river. Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, still lived in after a thousand years, red adobe glowing at sunrise, quiet that feels sacred.

North America throws everything at you: skyscrapers next to pyramids next to waterfalls that could swallow cities. It’s messy, loud, sometimes too much, but that’s the point. You don’t just visit these places, they visit you back and don’t leave. Bring an open mind and comfortable shoes. You’ll need both.