Which country would you visit if you'd have enough money and time?

[opus57]

Tell me your "holiday wishes": where would you go, and why? (where are you living, what distinguishes your "target" from your home, and how would you travel if you could?)

I'm Swiss... Personally, I'd prefer to travel to Scandinavia, into the paltry wilderness of the high north of Europe. And I would travel with my bike, lonely and only with myself. The only beings you can see there are reindeers and rabbits and you will know yourself much better after such a trip...

Comments?

[soliloquy]

Havana.

Beatiful beaches, great parties, world-famous cigars, daiquiris, ultra-luxory hotels, casinos, cheap, pretty hookers

[opus57]

Well, the hookers and he cigars are some heavy arguments... 

[pianistimo]

our family recently discussed this and again decided that in las vegas there would be something for everyone in the family all in one location.  good weather all year.  inexpensive buffets.  and, if timed right - a possible stay for a couple nights at the bellagio.  (see the world with no passports or airline worries).

on the other hand - i also like getting out of the city, too.  i would like to take a bike tour somewhere.  i'm used to alaska and might do one up there.  routinely i go about 24-28 miles on the weekends.  i think i could do 3x this if someone pushed me.  however, nobody does so i just do the minimum. 

i've never been to the carolinas.  maybe that will be my first bike tour.

when i get my passport - i will surprise alistair and show up in london.  i was pleasantly surprised today to listen to mark andre hamelin's rendition of alkan's concerto in A minor (i think it was).  wow.  that was really the first piece that i fully appreciated mark andre's talents.  i would like to see elspeth, too, and see the theater and a show. 

maybe i'm strange - but i can't think of any place in the world i wouldn't like to visit - unless it's a war zone.  i've been to israel and canada.  that's about it. 

[thalberg]

Carolinas are gorgeous.

For me, I'd love to go to Scandinavia.  I've heard it's gorgeous there, and I just love their culture, people, and traditions.  I'm originally a Minnesotan, so I grew up with a lot of Scandinavians.

[opus57]

Hmmm... I know two people who are travelling every year to scandinavia. And they are absolutely fond of it. They are both Swiss but they speak norwegian, a bit swedish and danish (and they understand finnish) so they are there twice a year and I've been set on fire for scandinavia...

[wotgoplunk]

i've been to israel and canada.  that's about it. 

Hmm...and you survived being in close proximity to the Jews?

I personally would like to see the fjords of Norway.

[leahcim]

Tell me your "holiday wishes": where would you go, and why? (where are you living, what distinguishes your "target" from your home, and how would you travel if you could?)

I'm in the UK. If I had the money I would do one of these civilian space trips.
I'm not sure I'd come back.

I guess the differences and vehicle are a bit obvious for that one though so I'll do a more realistic one :-

If I had a little bit of money I'd do one of these piano holidays. Somewhere warm in Europe so the family can keep themselves occupied. Difference from the UK hopefully a few people that played the piano, teachers and so on [although there might be some around here somewhere ] Travel would be by car, so I can chuck bikes / computers and stuff in the back unlike flying.

[lau]

i am a xenophile for europe in general. i just want to go there, maybe it's just because the name sounds cool.

[ada]

I have been to Europe, Israel, California, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Vanuatu, Thailand, Antarctica and PNG. Beijing coming up.

Strangely, I have never been to the UK nor to Western Australia.

I could go anywhere, literally, war zone or not. However I would especially love to go to Finland to see my friend and the Aurora Borealis. I would also love to do the Trans Siberian rail trip.

[pianowolfi]

Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Spain, Slowenia (a third time) in the summer I was in the US (NC, VA, MD, PA, CA, OR) and it was fantastic. Yes, Skandinavia would be great too. Or Canada. Or NZ. All by bicycle, of course. Bicycle journeys are relatively cheap if you are camping. Next project: Spain.

[ahinton]

I have been to...New Zealand

You've been to N'Zilind? And recovered from the experience? I mean, fully, without lingering (Sydney)side-effects?...

Strangely, I have never been to the UK

No one's stopping you, ada!...

nor to Western Australia.

One of your countryfolk (from Brisbane, actually) once said to me that he'd never conisdered the idea of going to Western Australia until after knowledge of the first moon landings seemed to make it possible after all...

I could go anywhere, literally, war zone or not. However I would especially love to go to Finland to see my friend and the Aurora Borealis.

It's not so very far from UK, y'know - especially not for an Oz like your good self...

I would also love to do the Trans Siberian rail trip.

So would I, at some point.

Must get to 'stralia one of these days, too...

Best,

Alistair

[elspeth]

i would like to see elspeth, too, and see the theater and a show. 

Here's an idea, you can show me around Alaska and I'll show you around the best bits of my native Yorkshire. Which of course include theatres! I'll be going to Alaska at some point to go visit the bears there. When I can afford it!

And I think there might be a group of us headed for Siberia at this rate too, I'm a  sucker for real long-distance train journeys and will be going for the trans-Siberian at some point.

There are so many places I'd like to go, and go back to... I shall be going for an African oddysey at some point, and Italy is high on my list... Russia... back to Canada... I would love to go to Finland again, I had such a wonderful time there last time. And I firmly mean to go to both the Arctic and Antarctic. And I would like to go to India. Gaahh, why do I have to work when there are more interesting things I could be doing!

[prometheus]

Japan, S-Korea and maybe Canada.

[term]

Egypt, Mongolia, China, australia, switzerland, canada, probably some south american country.
I would have a hotel to start from and then discover the country on my own.

[pianolearner]

All of them

[gilad]

I'd like to travel Europe.

[opus57]

Egypt, Mongolia, China, australia, switzerland, canada, probably some south american country.
I would have a hotel to start from and then discover the country on my own.

yeah switzerland is nice... beautiful mountains

[term]

yeah switzerland is nice... beautiful mountains

if you're looking for that, austria is a good place too...and a very beautiful little country btw. Ahh, Vienna...

[opus57]

Oh yes. And they have thousands of fine beers!!

[term]

Worldwide highest concentration of breweries is in Franconia. So i don't need to go over there, i have it right here 

[thalbergmad]

Me is going to Greenland next year, always wanted to go.

Just about been everywhere in the UK (apart from rockall), so it is time to go further afield.

Anywhere where there is snow, ice, mountains and hookers is ideal for me.

Thal

[pianistimo]

hookers?  on greenland?  you go to these remote places and expect to find hookers?  they're probably engineers and scientists.

elspeth - we must talk some more.  it's been a few years - but denali national park is very beautiful.  and, kodiak.  i've never been to kodiak *due to the bear population being more than humans.  a few people have died miserably there.  i guess it's a matter of knowing bear behavior and getting into an armored vehicle fast enough. 

july-august is really nice.  and, also winter time with the aurora borealis.  i have several friends that i could connect you with.  one has done extensive research on alaskan wilderness and had a map shop and visitors bureau.  another is a cartographer and artistic piano-jazz- cool person.  there's a lot to see in alaska.  if you like berries and bears - the time is fall.

having money for a one-sided vacation to london might be in 10 years or so, elspeth.  unlike you (and as ada always reminds me) i don't have what people call a 'real' job yet.  today, i was going to look but got sidetracked by the fertilizer and fall flowers and so i came home and fertilized the lawn and planted more flowers.  i figure that it would cost more money to pay someone to take care of the lawn - so i'm actually saving money.  my husband is getting tired of asking 'what did you do today, honey?'  expecting that i'd have a job by now.  i think it's only a matter of a few more days.  i applied at pepper music again.  i want to work where i can see lots of music and help people find it, too. 

tell you what?  next time i am going to alaska - i will definately let you know a month or two ahead and if you want to meet there - i could show you around.  i don't know pennsylvania so well.  i do know where daniel boone's homestead is.  it's quaint and there are wild turkeys roaming around.  pearl s. buck used to live around here.  and, also the composer samuel barber's home is near west chester uni.  there are many rivers and streams here in pa that are a sight to behold in the fall.  also, audubon's home is here near collegeville.  and, the bike trail along the schukyll river is full of animals (rabbits, turtles, ground hogs, chipmunks, squirrels and many many kinds of birds). 

   

[thalbergmad]

having money for a one-sided vacation to london might be in 10 years or so

PHEW

[pianistimo]

why?  are you moving in the next two years?  that would leave eight years for those birds to recover from the nuts you are feeding them.

[ada]

You've been to N'Zilind? And recovered from the experience?

Well Kiwiland is only about a four hour hop skip and jump across the Tasman ... I ski there, on a place known as Mt Fukapapa  (true!).

New Zealand is a beautiful and awesome place, geographically. I also like NZ politics because it has remained neutral in the US invasion of Iraq and has taken a strong stand on nuclear issues. Not than anyone would give a shite what NZ thinks....

However, it is apparently being colonnised by bloody Americans who want to escape the ills of their homeland for a remote slice of Pacific paradise

[ahinton]

Well Kiwiland is only about a four hour hop skip and jump across the Tasman ... I ski there, on a place known as Mt Fukapapa  (true!).

New Zealand is a beautiful and awesome place, geographically. I also like NZ politics because it has remained neutral in the US invasion of Iraq and has taken a strong stand on nuclear issues. Not than anyone would give a shite what NZ thinks....

However, it is apparently being colonnised by bloody Americans who want to escape the ills of their homeland for a remote slice of Pacific paradise

Now listen here, forum menbers - this is important. Please note that you have all just witnessed an Australian speaking favourably of New Zealand politically as well as scenically (unlike dear old Dame Edna's delightful megastarstruck remark about the place that the scenery is wonderful but there's no culture - just like Canada).

Americans "colonising" it? Well, hardly quite that, I think. They may be moving in there, but then so are Australians these days, just as Polish people are among the majority of people continuing to move into UK, but they're hardly "colonising"; in the latter case, we're all EC member state citizens anyway, just as will probably be the Iraqis, Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Chechnyans, Albanians, Serbians, Swiss, Norwegians and even Thal's dear old Grønlanders eventually. A New Zealander that I know once said to me that the great difference between the relationship between New Zealanders and Australians and that between Americans and Canadians is that the latter pair are preternaturally uneasy about their alleged differences whereas the former pair simply accept them and just get on with life. As a Sydneysider I know said to me a while ago, "I love New Zealanders; I'd probably love 'em even more if only I could understand more than tee words out of iviry siven thit they say"...

On that front, incidentally (if I may be forgiven this brief digression), pianistimo recently doubted the idea of rooted animosity between US and Canadian citizens and, whilst she's almost certainly largely correct on that in general terms as of right now, the North West Passage situation may well alter that state of affairs substantially for the foreseeable future...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

I'm in the UK. If I had the money I would do one of these civilian space trips.
I'm not sure I'd come back.

I think Richard Branson is planning to offer one of those in the next few years.

If they are as good as his trains, i guess the chances of coming back are remote.

Thal

[thalbergmad]

I am going on a "Advanced Pick Pocketing Course" in Romania next spring.

Apparantly, the industry has been in decline in recent months.

Thal

[ahinton]

I am going on a "Advanced Pick Pocketing Course" in Romania next spring.

Apparantly, the industry has been in decline in recent months.

Is this a UK government sponsored course? I assume that it is. I'll accordingly ensure that I watch my pockets even more diligently than usual in future.

Have you yet purchased your ticket/s to the Jonathan Powell marathon on 1 November?

Best,

Alistair

[ada]

Now listen here, forum menbers - this is important. Please note that you have all just witnessed an Australian speaking favourably of New Zealand

Hey, I never said they had cultcha.

(Though NZ did give us Jane Campion, Russell Crowe and, uh, one or two good race horses).

Some of my best friends are kiwis, BTW.

[ahinton]

Hey, I never said they had cultcha.

OK, I realise that. But then they don't really seem to have any kind of Barry Humphries equivalent either, do they? (or have I missed something?)...

Some of my best friends are kiwis, BTW.

Boy, does that sound like the old cliché "some of my best friends are Jewish"! - except that, coming as it does from you, it doesn't sound like that at all, of course. I'm just waiting for someone to say of Mauritians "some of my best friends are dodos" and see where it might get them. A New Zealander I know once gave me the obverse of your remark with the words "some of my best friends are 'roos" - adding, however (as the punch-line), the observation that "all they b***dy do is bounce, like their cheques"...

Best,

Alistair

[cmg]

Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, m1469sia.

Afterthought:  Perth Amboy, New Jersey.  (Best strip bars in North America.)

[arensky]

Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, m1469sia.

Been there except for Cambodia. It's an extraordinary part of the world, particularly Vietnam. I've been lucky enough to have visited 32 diferent countries (including Puerto Rico, ostensibly self-governing and certainly different from the rest of the USA) other than my own. Maybe 32; I believe Curacao and Aruba are different political entities, but can't recall; they are different sociologically, in any case. This also excludes Germany and Denmark, since I didn't leave the Frankfurt and Copenhagen airports 

I was supposed to go to Myanmar (Burma) and Sri Lanka but war and politics prevented me 

If I could go back to one of those countries it would be India with Turkey running just behind followed by The Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and France in no particular order.

Where I've never been; if price and time were no object, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Bhutan and Brazil.

Other places that intrigue me are Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Belize, the West African nations, Kenya, Tanzania, Malagasy Republic, South Africa, Germany, Holland, the Scandanvian countries and Russia and Ukraine and the countries of the Caucases and Central Asia (the former USSR/Russian Empire) of course.

If I never leave my country again (unlikely  ), I've certainly seen a lot of the world.

[term]

I am going on a "Advanced Pick Pocketing Course" in Romania next spring.

Better go to Paris or Rome. They have the tourists and therefore the experience.

[m1469]

Brazil : Because there is somebody there that I want to see 

[thalberg]

I want to see the new millau bridge

https://blog.miragestudio7.com/wp-content/uploads2/2007/07/millau_viaduct_norman_foster.jpg

[chopininov]

So no one else is going to say it? Am I really forced to?

*Sigh*

In the first reply to this topic, soliloquy listed a city, NOT a country.

[pianochick93]

I would love to go to Japan and New Zealand. (Yes, another Aussie speaking favourably of NZ)

I heard that both are beautiful.

[gyzzzmo]

New Zealand i think, since i've already been to Nepal :p

gyzzzmo