Me and DS spent this evening planning

[JulietteLeGall]

some detonations we’d love to visit. It was a lovely way to take our mind off things and I’m thinking of actually creating a kind of ‘inspiration board’ full of pictures of the places we’d like to go. We’ve never been far so our choices are a bit vague.

I wonder if any well travelled MNers could whittle it to a more specific area for us ?!

I would love to go to Vermont or similar, or somewhere in Canada with breathtaking scenery, forests, rivers, mountains, waterfalls. Log cabin. Autumn.

Top of his list is Japan. Inspired by Spirited Away. Food, scenery again, tech etc.

Plus any more suggestions would be wonderful

This is probably more of a dream board than an inspiration board, for me at least, but we found it very therapeutic just thinking about it

I want to: take the train from Istanbul to the Iranian border. Across capadocia... fairy
Houses etc

Also there’s a Cruise that goes from Finland (not sure which port) to St Petersburg which avoids need for visa

Finally: Japan - all of it

Ooh! I can do your wish!

Stayed in Banff, Canada in March 2018 and it was beautiful. Stayed two days in a log cabin near Bow River and ended up with a group of deer visiting us for breakfast!

We stayed the rest of our time there in a suite at the Moose Hotel and Suites.

We walked along (and on!) Bow River, viewed the ice sculpture festival entries at Lake Louise and wandered around the Fairmont, did a canyon trek at Johnston Canyon, ate at a restaurant on top of Sulfur Mountain, dogsledding at Great Divide and snowboarded at Sunshine Village.

It was magical and I loved every single second I was out there. I would love to go back.

My bucket list includes
Yellowstone
The Okavango (my parents went there years ago)
Japan
Iceland

Thailand & Laos were lovely.
The Grand Canyon was amazing
Visit the Great Barrier Reef whilst its still there
The Alps in summer are beautiful

Monument Valley is awesome. If you’ve ever watched a western you’ll know it.

Skellig Island (Ireland) is incredible and so unique!
But also Ireland in general is a wonderful place.

I'm currently living in Washington state in the US and would highly recommend visiting. The scenery here (and across the US) is just stunning, unlike anything in the UK. Lots of good suggestions on this thread already.
In Washington I would recommend:

• Olympic national park
• Mt Rainier national park
• Deception Pass / Whidbey Island
• North Cascades - Diablo lake is just 😍!
• if you want some city mixed in there is also Seattle (not great at at the moment after protests etc but it is a good place to visit at the right time!)

Haven't managed to do a lot of travelling since we moved here but from where we have been I can also recommend:

• Grand Teton national park (totally underrated, incredible scenery)
• Yellowstone national park (canyon is beautiful, as are the thermal pools - never seen anything like them)

Im very lucky Ive travelled fairly widely all round the UK, most of Europe, the States and SE Asia I have been to some amazing places for example I loved Borneo but if I could only choose to go to one before I died its Rome all the way for me. There is no where in the world quite like it IMO.

From experience:

• Vancouver and mostly surrounding areas
• California coastline
• San Francisco, but that is a mixed bag.
• Bay of Biscay and sand dunes (fr)
• Kiruna (sweden, above the arctic circle)
• Slovenia - Bohinjska Bistrica and Bled region + Soca valley
• Italy: Bergamo and the mountains above; Udine, Palma Nova, Chioggia, Aquileia; Trieste, Stresa and Isola Bella
• Bilbao (Sp) for the Guggenheim and the horrendous hilly streets
• Switzerland - anywhere, anytime :) Gruyeres for cheese and HR Giger museum
• Austria: Innsbruck, Salzburg, any place between Innsbruck and Graz
• Hungary - Lillefured, Bukkszentlaszlo
• Belgium - Antwerp, Bruge, Rocher Bayard
• France - Dijon, Lyon, Marseille but mostly the areas next to it: Calanques national park, Tignes, Le MAns for the cars (otherwise not so much)
• Jumiege (fr)
• Norway - fjords, Bergen
• Barcelona (Sp)

On my list

• 3 months of Japan and 3 months of USA
• 3-6 months of Canada
• Patagonia

Japan is top of my bucket list too. Also the Rockies, Mount Rushmore, Taj mahal, Macchu piccu, and Hawaii.

I’d settle for a day trip to Anglesey at the moment though.

Would also love to see a gas tower demolished.

Chile is spectacular- start at the bottom in icy near Antarctic , then through various temperate beautiful lakes mountains and volcanos, beautiful beaches, all the way to the top which is the driest desert in the world.
Friendly people, no poisonous snakes or spiders, even the wasp stings don't hurt - just like a little pin prick.
Then carry on up the Andes, macchu piccu, lake titicaca , all sorts of incredible places and culture and nature.

The Philippines. Beautiful people, food and scenery!

This sounds like such a lovely thing to do.

What about something like volunteering at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand or learning a language in a country where it's native? I'm thinking of experiences rather than holidays...

I want to visit the ozarks after watching the show. Weird and wonderful water

@JulietteLeGall the UK is stuffed full of things to see and do! Local to us in the summer, I would take you to Uffington White Horse then Waylands Smithy and have a picnic on the top of the hill - you can see 6 counties from up there on a sunny day. Then hop in the car and head over to Avebury. Park up in the car park and walk around the standing stone circle, have a pint in the pub, head on up the Avenue toward the Sanctuary. Then you can hike up to West Kennet Long Barrow and also look at Silbury Hill. If you feel a bit mystic you can go on a crop circle hunt - some of the farmers let you go into their fields to walk in the circles.

I can find sightseeing to do in most places I go! 😁

The New England corner of the US is beautiful. So many lovely inns to stay in too for the cabin experience, we stayed in some lovely inns - traditional American style houses and lovely hosts.

Canada is on my list too!

In the US again - Yosemite and Yellow Stone National parks. Amazing.

Second Iceland that someone else has said. Or essentially anywhere that you can experience the Northern Lights, pure white snow and swim in a hot lagoon.

Likewise, somewhere with a beautiful clear blue sea!

I have experienced the Dead Sea which was pretty amazing (takes a lot of salt to make me float) though I know Jordan won’t be everyone’s cup of tea - a tour for the Dead Sea and Petra (assuming its safe to go - not sure how that area is these days pandemic aside).

My daughter and grandchildren live in the Melbourne area,I’ve spent many holidays with them over the years.I love the city of Melbourne with its culture and architecture.Daylesford a small town in the bush about a 2 hour drive away is well worth a weekend.It’s buildings are very quaint and the shops sell very unique clothes.we actually stayed in a converted railway carriage.Fabulous😉..

So many fantastic suggestions on here already! One that I don’t think has come up yet - India. Absolutely fascinating country - with such a diverse and varied landscape. Each state is so different culturally, food is different and landscapes are so different. I haven’t yet made it to Southern India, but my favourite area of the North is Uttarakhand - this is in the Himalayan region And where India, Nepal and China meet. Depending on whereabouts you are you can see beautiful valleys and the Himalayas. Breathtaking scenery, with amazing wildlife (it’s not unheard of to see a leopard) birds and culture.

For a memorable European weekend Venice won’t disappoint.

Japan would be on my list too, I love spirited away ❤️
My family live in BC and Vancouver and it looks beautiful . I’ll never make it to any of these but a girl can dream.

They blew up one of the tower blocks in the neighbouring estate when I was living in Hackney, and it was an excellent thing to see. Got a grandstand view from my balcony.

Nepal. It’s like a war zone except with a tourist industry. I’ve never been anywhere you can go 3,00ft up using steps cut into a mountain. Bonkers. And you can see Everest.

For a quick getaway I would go to Carcassonne in France

Fly to Vegas, pick up a car and drive the Death Valley route up to Mammoth Mountain, on up to Yosemite over a couple of days, spend a few days there hiking, then on to Monterey Bay for whale watching and the Pacific Coast Highway. Desert, mountains, forest, coastline all in one week.

We flew to Vancouver last week and spent time on Vancouver Island at the Pacific Rim national park which is stunning. We saw bears very close and watched gorgeous sunsets from a cabin on white sandy beach. Then a few days back in the city and we picked up a cruise to Alaska.

It was simply magical. I knew it would be special as we sailed past the lights of Victoria in the sunset. We saw orca every day, went snowshoeing, took a helicopter up onto a glacier and by the time we entered Glacier Bay to sail past 5 glaciers emerging from the mist and the ice falls, it made me emotional. We went with Carnival (a fairly “basic” cruise line but good for kids) very early in the season and it wasn’t even that pricey. So worth seeing the last great wilderness before the glaciers receed!

@magicstar1

Monument Valley is awesome. If you’ve ever watched a western you’ll know it.

There's also the Canyon de Chelly not far away, in US terms that is, and well worth the trip. You are taken along the Canyon floor by a Navajo guide, you can't do it alone, and they're a fount of knowledge about the history of the area and what it's like to live there today. We went to the South West quite a few times, one thing to aim to do but it's very time specific is go to the Albuquerque Balloon FIesta, watching over 700 hot air balloons rise at dawn is amazing and unlike many places where you're kept well away you're able to wander around as they're going off. It starts the first weekend in October, not this year obviously, and goes on for a week though the weekend's the best time. We would then head up to Santa Fe for a few days, love that place, amazing fajitas on the square too. The Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson is also amazing. I could go on all night.

I got a train across Canada last year from Vancouver to Toronto. (The Canadian, a train you sleep on not the more expensive Rocky Mountaineer where you sleep in hotels along the way). Then after a few days in Toronto I got a bus to Niagara Falls and then a cab to Niagara on the Lake, a beautiful little town with great theatres surrounded by wineries. I then flew to Prince Edward Island where I spent a wonderful week eating lobster rolls, visiting Anne of Green Gables sites/sights and enjoying the small town ambience and finished up with a bus to Halifax. The whole experience was amazing and I am going to head back to see even more of beautiful, friendly, foody Canada. I will spend more time on the West coast especially Vancouver Island and in the Rockies and also venture into French Canada.

But OTOH I also spent a wonderful month in Thailand last year which has given me a yearning to see more of SE Asia. And the year before I went to Goa which has set off a craving to see more of India. And I’ve never been to Africa....

I am 60 and although I’ve been to most of Europe I have only had the confidence and money to start travelling further afield on my own in the last two years. I am absolutely gutted that the world is closed atm but as soon as it’s safe to travel again I’ll be off. I wouldn’t worry too much about where you go. I mostly just found cheap flights and booked them and then planned around my dates. Once people heard I was going somewhere I always got so many great recommendations, online and in person. A highlight was the woman in our local KFC who recommended an elephant sanctuary in Thailand where I stayed for 2 days, sleeping within yards of these beautiful animals. Or our postman suggesting a jeep safari into the Andes in Patagonia where I lay in the sun and watched a family of Condors circling overhead. Wherever you go with an open mind and heart you will find adventures. Just go for it.

I just reread this post and can’t quite believe that I’ve seen and done all these wonderful things. If I never travel again I have seen so much already I am very blessed. But I really hope it’s safe to go away again soon.