Unusual travel destinations you dream of...

[YellowRubberDuckie]

We're going to learn Russian. I've been very interested in Russian history lately. It's fascinating. So I think we're going to learn Russian...and then I want to go to Russia, and I'd really like to go to Pripyat. It's dangerous I know, but I'm fascinated. I know it's not your usual vacation spot, but the place is rich in history and absolutely beautiful. Where do you want to go?
Duckie

[YellowRubberDuckie]

1. No one wants to go anywhere weird?

I wouldn't have thought that.
Duckie

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

2. Apparently Estonia is fun and cheap.

My one friend goes there annually.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. If I could meet Arvo Part, or even hear a church doing his music,

I'd spend a month in Estonia.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

4. Is that in Eastern Europe?

I'm intrigued by the places in Eastern Europe that has come out of communism recently. I wanted to go to Batislava after I saw Eurotrip. Then of course I saw Hostel and now I'm freaked.
Duckie

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

5. Yeah, they were part of the USSR. nt

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. That's what I thought....

[liberalpragmatist]

54. Ha! Eurotrip's Bratislava doesn't look a whole lot like the real one

Maybe it was actually shot in Bratislava, I don't know. I know a lot of Communist countries did have those Stalinist apartment blocks.

Nevertheless, here are pictures of what Bratislava ACTUALLY looks like - looks pretty cool:





> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratislava

[sbj405]

22. I'll be there next week.

I'll report back. . .

[tinfoilinfor2005]

57. I fell in love with Tallinn.

Looking down at the old town from the top of the hill...amazing: looks like a fairy land. The medieval castles and towers and cathedrals date back to 1200. And the ships and ferry boats from Finland come in daily to take advantage of really cheap prices. I would say to anyone wanting to travel and take advantage of truly bargain prices and the opportunity to see an amazing country...go to Estonia NOW before it is discovered by American tourists!!

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

60. Tallinn picture.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

63. Heh, heh...I know that street well.

My friend and I caused an accident as we were crossing it (on foot). We had the light and it wasn't our fault, but had we not been there to cross, the fender bender wouldn't have happened. They do drive like maniacs over there, but I found that in Europe in general!

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

66. I think one of the scariest experiences of my life involved

a taxi in Florence at 3am.

[XemaSab]

7. Suriname

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ns.html

[seemunkee]

8. Papua New Guinea

Not sure why but it's always been a dream of mine.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

9. I really want to go to Cuba.

I just think it'd be interesting.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

33. I took a spanish class my last semester of college...

And We watched videos about cuba...And you know what I found out? There are people who live there who like it! And they're happy! God, I had never seen that. Our government is so stupid. They only let us hear about the people who come here who were unhappy there. I want to go too!!
Duckie

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

50. I know someone who went there...

he liked it and so did the people that lived there.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. ZombieNixon's hard-drive

:P

[KitchenWitch]

23. Rabrrrrrr's hard drive

:P

[bikebloke]

11. Argentina

I'd like to make a long meandering trip from the coast, the pampas, and the Andes. It probably won't happen. I'm thinking I'd better say my cash for the hard times a'comin'. Though I can't complain. I've had plenty of adventures around the world, thus far.

[otherlander]

13. The truth is....

I neeeeever left youuuuu........ all through my wild days, my mad existance, I kept my pro--o-miiiiiiiis.....Don't....keeep... yooooooour... di-i-staaaaaance.....

Ok I'll shut up now.

[otherlander]

12. South Africa sounds nice...

I heard that they had a revolution, and when that happened they got something called... lizardy? No, no, it was... liver-y? No, that's not it either.... Liquor-dy! No! Damn....I forget. uh... It'll come to me eventually.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

38. Go swim with the Great Whites down in Cape Town...

I hear it's incredible!
Duckie

[datasuspect]

14. always wanted to go to vietnam

and eat lots of pho.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

34. My cubie mate's parents were missionaries there...

People poop in the streets. They just pop a squat and shit. I'm so not ever going there.
Duckie

[politicat]

15. Fatehpur Sikri, Champaneer Pavagarh and Siberia.

Fatehpur Sikri is a Muhgul city that was built, an amazing royal court lived in for about 15 years, and then it was abandoned. The theories are that the water dried up and there was a political issue elsewhere that needed "personal attention" (in the Mafioso meaning). The buildings are pretty much perfectly preserved, 400 years later.

Champaneer Pavagarh is an archeological dig in Gujarat. It's mostly unexcavated.

Siberia... There are so many reasons, but horticulture is a big one. The plants are cold adapted and long day adapted, and they'd be interesting to study and work with.

[REDKING]

16. Russia ....good

[EstimatedProphet]

17. You should take the Trans-Siberian Railway

Runs from Petrograd to Vladivostok. You'll see the entire country. And it's only about $200

[YellowRubberDuckie]

35. Oh my god that's cheap.

SIGN ME UP!
Duckie

[JI7]

68. is this the one that goes through China and Mongolia ?

i want to go on that one.

[KyndCulture]

18. The Seychelle Archipelago

[barb162]

20. wow, that sky is beautiful

[YellowRubberDuckie]

36. Doesn't look like an odd sort of place to want to visit to me.

It's BEAUTIFUL!!
Duckie

[BigMcLargehuge]

19. Ping Fan and Harbin in China

to the Unit 731 museum and ruins

[NewJeffCT]

25. I was in Harbin about 18 months ago

unfortunately, it was too short of a stay to do much there. Interesting in that much of the rest of China you will see signs in Chinese & English and people at hotels will speak English (and they will even answer the phones in English first and then Chinese).. but, in Harbin it is Russian that is much more common.

[BigMcLargehuge]

52. Russia controlled Manchuria until 1905

and there was a huge Russian population that turned Harbin from a hamlet into a very european city. Much of the modern architecture there is Russian in origin.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. Odd assortment of places:

Latvia, French Polynesia, Korea, Brazil.

What do those places have in common?

[NewJeffCT]

26. No clue

I'd love to go to those places as well... but marriage has kind of slowed my desire to go to Brazil, with it having a reputation as a wild & decadent party place.

Any hints?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. I'd be going to Brazil for two reasons:

1) The music and the eclectic mix of cultures

2) To see Curitiba, a city in the southern part of the country that has greatly reduced auto dependence

[Seabiscuit]

29. Bush would like to invade all of them.

Even though he doesn't know where they are yet.

[NewJeffCT]

40. He doesn't even know if Brazil has black people

He had to ask Condi...

[NewHampshireDem]

46. My dad went to Lativa a couple of years ago to visit family

His parents fled Latvia in the late 40's. He only recently discovered that he still had family there, so after making contact he went to visit them.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

58. Just got back from Latvia (visiting family for the first time)...

Riga is astounding. The architecture starts back in the 1200's and then gets very kitchy in the modern era. The Baltic seashore is breathtaking. Riga was forever known as the Paris of the north for good reason. It is an amazing city. Don't miss the marketplace which is a city unto itself. Venture off into the Latvian country side to see thick forests of pine and white birch trees. And enjoy the storks that build enormous nests in trees and chimneys along the road. And in the summer be prepared to hear music everywhere you go.

[China_cat]

24. A friend of mine spent last summer

in Mongolia. His pictures make me want to go.

[NewJeffCT]

27. Guilin & Xi'an in China, Egypt and New Zealand

Guilin...






I should say that I want to see Xi'an for the terra cotta warriors... Egypt to see the pyramids & New Zealand just because it's supposed to be beautiful. I'm interested in Australia as well, but that is not too unusual. And, it seems that Australia is home to some of the world's deadliest animals (the box jellyfish, the inland taipan snake, the funnel spider...)

[RFKHumphreyObama]

28. Several places

There are quite a few cities and villages in Sri Lanka that I'd like to visit

I'd love to go to Chittagong in Bangladesh -I know it is a place of extreme poverty and flooding but it would be an experience to see

I'd like to go to some of the smaller African nations -Cape Verde, Comoros, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea and the like.

I'd also like to go to North Korea -it would be intriguing to see the dynamics of the world's last Stalinist dictatorship.

[clyrc]

30. I want to go to Cyprus

To see the birthplace of Aphrodite. There, I said it. My husband rolls his eyes everytime I say this.

[Joey Liberal]

31. I want to visit Bora Bora n.t

[Spider Jerusalem]

32. Siberia and Mongolia...

ideally I'd like to take the Trans-Siberian railway from Vladivostok west across Siberia and detour southwest into Mongolia and China, then back to the main route across Siberia and into Moscow. (All as part of an east-to-west circumnavigation of the northern hemisphere.)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

37. That just sounds awesome.

I wouldn't detour. I'd just want to go thru Siberia into Moscow and see everyplace in between. That just sounds like the best vacation. Makes me all tingly just thinking about it.
Duckie

[JohnKleeb]

41. I've always wanted to see Eastern Europe

and after seeing Hostel I really want to see my grandma's ancestoral homeland of Slovakia hopefully without the gruesomeness that the movie had.

[rockymountaindem]

42. I'm a big fan and student of Russian history

So far in my university education I've been through the Russian Revolution four times. I would also really like to go to Russia. However, I would say my most unusual travel desire would have to be Buthan, just because there's no place else like it and it seems like such a magical and beautiful place.

[Bossy Monkey]

43. St Helena or Tristan da Cunha

http://www.rms-st-helena.com/schedules.html
http://tristandc.com/
If you're going to go for remote, go for remote.:)

[Ediacara]

44. The Registan in Samarqand Uzbekistan

[spindrifter]

45. The Silk Road.

I can't think of anything more romantic!

[NewJeffCT]

55. I knew some people that went on that trip

They loved the trip, but also said it was very tough and that a lot of people (including them) got sick on the trip.

[NewHampshireDem]

47. New Zealand and Latvia

New Zealand because Im hoping to move there within the next couple of years, and Latvia because that's where my father's family is from.

My wife told me I could go to NZ this summer to check it out, but I'm not sure I want to leave her and my two boys back here in the US while I'm literally on the other side of the world. If another 9/11-type event happened and I wasn't with them, I'd probably freak.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

51. And it's only a matter of time before that happens again...

I'm sad to say.
Can you take the whole family to NZ? I'm sure the kids would really enjoy it.
Duckie

[NewHampshireDem]

62. I'd love to, but my boys are 1 and 3 ...

and the total flight time from Boston to Auckland is about 20 hours! :jaw:

[tinfoilinfor2005]

59. Do you speak Latvian?

I just returned from there (see post #58) and it was great for me because I speak the language. My parents were both from there also, and after I toured Russia and Estonia, I felt like I was coming home once I got to Latvia. I had heard about it all of my life and seen pictures, but going to my mom and dad's home towns (Jelgava and Tukums) was truly touching, especially since my mom passed away several years ago and really wanted me to take this trip.

I took a tour of Russia and the Baltics which ended in Latvia, and spent an extra week with my dad's sister who is almost eighty, but she is young at heart and very healthy and within a week we had traveled around most of the country by bus and train and auto, and had a ball. It is an amazing country and truly worth the trip, especially if you have ties to the country.

[NewHampshireDem]

61. Your trip sounds wonderful!

Sadly, I don't. My father does, and my now deceased grandparents did, but they never taught me. However, I did hear them speaking it when I was growing up, so I know a (very) few words.

[xchrom]

48. i'ld like to shoot a bow from horse back in mongolia.

i wanna see the great rift valley and dream of early primates and breathe the same air as richard leakey.

shake hands with a maasai.

not unusual -- but still -- visit bora bora.

visit the north of india -- in the mountains -- all over.

[JCMach1]

49. I have a mad itch to go to Yemen-- Sa'na especially

[u4ic]

53. Transylvania, a Yangtze River cruise,

a cruise through the Scandinavian fjords, Churchill (MB) to see the polar bears.

[liberalpragmatist]

56. Bhutan

I'd really like to see it.

[supernova]

64. Java and Sumatra

I'd love to travel there and see the people, the volcanoes, I just find the whole culture fascinating.

[RetroLounge]

65. Vancouver

not that odd, but I have dreamed about it.

RL

[JI7]

67. me too

i have been thinking about this so i did a search on DU to see if i could get any ideas and saw this post. i was interested in Russia also and like you the former Soviet Union as a whole. i haven't been anywhere really. would like to go to so many places but it's expensive, but based on some posts , visiting the Former USSR should be affordable and interesting. something really different.