Even though Wine Enthusiast’s list of the top wine destinations for 2017 only included two wineries in the United States, you don’t have to go overseas to do some quality wine tasting and sightseeing.

With so many new and exciting developments throughout this country – from Napa’s many trendy and stylish new tasting rooms and cutting edge restaurants to the much buzzed about Finger Lakes and Texas Hill Country wine regions – it isn’t necessary to travel half-way around the world to have a memorable wine themed vacation.

American Airlines will be heading out to Mérida from Dallas starting on March 3, 2016. There will be five weekly nonstop flights to this vibrant and charming Mexican city, which offers a fascinating mix of Mayan heritage and European colonial influences.

The incredible clear skies, high altitude and remote location of the Elqui Valley in Chile have long made it the ideal environment for large research telescopes. But it has recently also become a hotbed for astrotourism. Small, private observatories now dot the landscape, along with quaint hotels catering to stargazers.

I recently took a weeklong trip to South America where I visited Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. The first part of the trip was paid for with cash, but earned a good amount of miles toward the next free trip. The return was in first class on American Airlines using miles and surpassed any expectations I had of what that experience would be like.