travel to unusual places

[fizzysci]

What is the most unusual place you have been to? The kind of place that people are surprised you've been too.

Mine was Svalbard - most people haven't got a clue where it is.

Boracay in the Phillipines, over 20 years ago before it was developed. Beautiful place.

I did a trip very similar to this with the same company so flew to Oslo.

www.hurtigruten.co.uk/destinations/svalbard/circumnavigating-svalbard-the-ultimate-expedition/

Some strange parts of Russia and all of the Stans.

DD is living in Beirut right now so we've been twice in the last year and travelled around independently quite a lot. Amazing country, amazing people, but when we tell friends in Europe they react like it's still a war zone ☹️.

I've been camping in Zimbabwe, Botswana and south Africa without a travel companion. People can't believe I travelled there and going on safaris for 3 weeks. AMAZING. Been to many other countries solo too. Not sure my kids were too happy😉

Too stormy to actually land in Svalbard...though on the plus side we then killed some time later by sailing around Bear Island.

Cappadocia, san andres, providencia, ulan ude, Ulan Bator, Vladivostok, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Bosnia, Albania, some places in the Arctic circle that I forget the names of but you eat fried chicken for breakfast, and does lake Baikal count? Because that was awesome.

I went to Lebanon in 2006 a week or two after the war had finished and before the FCO had lifted travel restrictions. A taxi driver took me to the recently bombed areas of Beirut and I wandered round. I don't know wtf I was thinking. I was travelling alone. I was fairly fearless when I was younger.

Have also been to Inner Mongolia and Brunei and my mum used to live in Yemen.

For those mentioning Ethiopia, the Romesh Ramganathan programme when he visits Ethiopia is very enlightening and fascinating. He also visits Albania and somewhere else. The theme of the three programmes are holidaying in places people don’t usually holiday in.

I’ve been to Hell! (Place in Norway)

Luang Prabang in Laos
Transylvania in Romania
Bohol island in the Philippines
Phu Nhuan island off the coast of Vietnam.

Luang Prabsng was my favourite out of these. Peaceful and interesting and full of monks and temples.

I was in Luang Prabang last summer and it was (sadly) full of obnoxious and disrespectful backpackers.

Chonos Archipelago in Chile. Beautiful and uninhabited

Foula, Shetland

This reminds me that when we got married in Orkney a friend of mine who has a very jet set lifestyle for work said the only time her workmates were impressed was when she came to Orkney for our wedding . So, by that reasoning I should claim Orkney, I've even been to several of the smaller isles.

Trondra, Shetland a lot, but all over the Shetland Isles.
Herm Island in the channel isles.
Russia as communism fell in December 1989.

DP lived in Jordan and drive there from the UK several times travelling through Syria. He has also lived in KL and traveled extensively in Malaysia. Through his job he has visited everywhere from Archangel/Arkhangelsk in Russia to Brazil.

Sierra Leone probably the most unusual. But have have also been Svalbard, South Georgia Island, Falklands, Antarctica, Myanmar, Swaziland...

Lebanon is a lovely country. I didnt think it was particularly daring but even people where I live in the middle east pulled a face when I said I was going. We had Baalbek to ourselves. Was fantastic.

Didn't realise Denmark counted as exotic. I haven't been there 😂

Favourite country remains Iceland.

I live in Saudi, I guess that's not usual either really.

Transnistria, and multiple ‘Stans.

Will be in Svalbard (hopefully) later this year. And hoping for Ethiopia or Senegal.

Chernobyl was cool. Enjoyed that.

Anyone else googling these exotic places such as Kiowa, Svalbard and ... Denmark!🇩🇰

Mine would be Yap, Palau and Truk (Micronesian islands).

Petal it's Kilwa

Sorry, mis-typed the name.

Does anyone else think this thread is ridiculous? I've been to several of the places mentioned here and I wouldn't consider any of them to be unusual. You're not as special as you think you are.

That's OK, thought you might be searching invain and as it's such an amazing place I didn't want you to so I put a link!
I'd love to go back some day, maybe when the DCs are teenagers. It involves a bus that goes on a ferry and a shared taxi through the bush (or at least it did!)

Beirut is the one I get the most raised eyebrows from

Poppendetta, Papua New Guinea. I used to audit a palm oil plantation there and went several times staying on the Estate.