Travel Plans
I have less (full-time) responsibilities than I’ve had for more than a decade, and plenty of annual leave up my sleeve. Some ideas of where to go, but I doubt I’ll venture off on my own.
Cook your own food, fetch your own water, and go on wilderness treks to spot elk, beavers and wolves. Three creatures I expect I’d never encounter otherwise.
In November I can see the gazillion monarch butterflies, pyramids and the Night of the Dead.
Caiman, toucans, marsh deer, giant river otters & jaguars, on horseback, near the Iguacu falls.
There’s many ways of doing this, and I pretty much want to see every ancient thing. This tour is only $100/day and would be a good first visit.
Walk the West Highland Way.
A pilgrimage walk.
Bangkok – Chiang Mai, by slow train
Ancient temples, villages, wilderness. Cheap! Look up Sukhothai.
Tayrona National Park – Colombia
Jungle meets beautiful beaches. Remote enough to be cool, but I won’t be the only tourist.
…blacksmiths in the village of Nuanquan, located in the the Hebei province, tossed cupfuls of molten iron against the city gate, hard and cool in the winter air. The result was a spectacular shower of blooms resembling giant glowing flowers from which the festival (translating to mean “tree flower”) took its name.
What better way of understanding why people live in such a desolate place than walking it….
La Gomera – Canary Islands
Hikes.
Einstok Brewing Company – Iceland
Beer.
Yangling Mausoleum and Maoling Mausoleum, Xian, China
Pyramids that tourists can visit. Others are seemingly able to be climbed by anyone? Yes, China has a lot of very big pyramids!
Catatumbo, Venezuela
Best lightning in the world. Or the Northern Territory of Australia during rainy season.
DONE Spitsbergen Island, Norway
Northern lights, or 24 hrs of sunshine, or their Octoberfest. Plus there is a ghost town, the doomsday seed vault and polar bears. Flights from Oslo are cheap.
Cherrapunjee, India
Virtually the wettest place on Earth. The record holder by a bare margin is a few miles away but has no hotels. Visit in July when it averages 128 inches per day (although I don’t know how I will get in and out…)
Dallol, Ethiopia
The hottest inhabited place on Earth. Looks like Mars, plus a volcano and sulphur hot pools. You can only get there by camel with armed guards.
Nyiragongo Volcano, Goma, Congo
Goma has a million people who could die next time this volcano erupts, if the poisonous gases (carbon dioxide and methane) don’t kill them first, or violent humans. You can take a 2-day hike to the lava lake at top of the volcano.
The Dead Sea
Costa Rica
Isla Holbox
An island in Mexico, Mayan-named “black hole”. Flamingos and whale sharks. Cheap, hippie, golf buggies. Expensive but has hostels
Taiwan
Trek to Ciudad Perdida, Colombia
Visitors to the Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona in Northern Colombia can enjoy lounging around in lots of dense rainforest and beautiful sandy beaches. But those eager for an active adventure should look into the wild 5-day trek out to the ‘Lost City’, Ciudad Perdida.
Climb an active volcano in Pucón, Chile
Pucón lies 780km south of Santiago in Chile’s stunningly beautiful lake district.
St Augustine / Jacksonville, Florida
Seemingly little-known and under-appreciated. Up and coming cool spot.
Hunan Province, China
For the scenery, and only $500 return from Melbourne
Mount Kailash
Sacred to four religions, and nobody has climbed it. 3 day trek around the base, where some people take months to complete it because they crawl, prostrate themselves.
Kanyakumri, India. The southern tip of India where, amongst other things, you can see sunset and moonrise together at full moon, especially in April.
Adam’s Peak, Sri Lanka. Climb the sacred mountain. Butterflies just before monsoon season.
Mount Canigou, France. Bonfire festival at mid-summer in June.
Taputapuatea Marae, Raiatea Island, French Polynesia. Mysterious ancient site.
Externsteine, Germany. Limestone columns / Christian hermits.
Almendres Cromlech, Portugal. Stone circle with 95 megaliths.
Hampi, India. Ancient ruins and a cool temple.
Ajanta and Ellora Caves, India. 30 carved temples, one 30 metres high.
Sri Meenakshi Temple and Mahabalipuram Temple, India. Both just really cool.
Jani, Latvia. They run naked at midsummer. They build bonfires in San Juan, Spain on the same day.
Noches de Brugas, Veracruz, Mexico. The night of the witches. First Friday of March.
Purim Parade, Tel Aviv, Israel. Basically a very drunken Jewish Halloween..
Pandharpur Temple Festival, India. June or July. A pilgrimage. A bit odd and different. 700K people turn up. 250K walk there.
Carnival week. New Orleans, Trinidad & Tobago, Martinique – all look super cool. I miss Treme the TV series muchly.
Nemrut Dagi, Turkey. Very odd king burial site with a 50 metre tumulus and giant fallen heads.
Royal Mounds, Uppsala, Sweden. Kings buried in big mounds.
The Merry Cemetery, Romania. A graveyard where lives are celebrated.
Hal Saflieni, Malta. Underground temple, where 7,000 people are buried.
Shenzhen, China & Hong Kong. Right next to each other, and will be linked by high speed train in 2019 (continues to Beijing), or just catch the regular train or ferry. Shenzhen grew from a small town to 12 million people in just 3 decades. Good for a quick peak into China, but nothing there I am particularly keen on
Aeolian Islands, Italy. Basically the other Hawaii, with active volcanoes to climb
Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, medieval capital with river and fortress
Dunajec River Gorge, between Poland and Slovakia, peaceful rafting