British

Just thought of this while planning our next travels to australia as there are so many things we would like to do, especailly in Oz like walk the sydney harbour bridge, dive the great barrier reaf etc

Do you have ideas (anywhere or anything in the world) that you would put on a 100 things to do before u croak list!!

Don't normally post as I search the answers first always find this site the most useful when planning travel etc

thanks

SusanInToronto

I don't have a list of 100 things to do before I die, but I do have a list of the 10 places I want to visit. (Well, it started out as 10, but it's more like 13 or 14 places.) Some of them are places I can visit on a long weekend, like New Orleans (and we're going to go there in October), some are places I could visit on a 2 week vacation (Copper Canyon in Mexico is an example), others are more extensive trips. My husband also made his list - some of our choices match, others are different, but all that means is that there are even more places to visit! And the list changes all the time - I am always learning about places I want to visit.

Good luck with your planning! We're going to Australia again in April - it's my second trip, and I have to say it's not on my top 10 list, but we're visiting my husband's mother and we both think of it as a trip we need to make. However, I'm certainly getting more excited about it as the date gets closer - we've got a great trip planned!

JamesA

I would just say learn to appreciate everywhere, whether good or bad, relax, as that great old quotation says " Take time to smell the roses'..I think the right mental attitude makes all the difference in the world. Perhaps if you think back on those travel memories you might actually be quite surprised with what you actually remember as enjoyable and those meories that have faded. I think it is often the simple things. I think one of the great OZ things is really getting away from it all, find a remote stretch of coastline, take a long walk, enjoy the silence. I think those experiences bury themselves deeper than say a trip to Sydney Operate House. I wouldn't rush things, an evening in a bar of some remote small Australian town will stick in your memory for ever, the people, the atmosphere.

Janese

Just living in Australia and being an Australian is good enough for me! It may not be on other people's top 10 list but hey, you have to live here to know what it is to call Australia HOME!

SusanInToronto

Janese, are you saying that there's nothing you want to see or do before you die? After living for many years elsewhere, my mother-in-law returned to live in Australia, where she had been born and raised. It has been great for her. For me, being a Canadian and calling Canada home is the best - that doesn't mean that I don't want to travel and see the rest of the world. As I said, narrowing my list down to 10 places was impossible!

Janese

Susan: I have been all over the world and have lived in 3 countries, including Canada. The only place that I want to explore more is South America where I find people are friendly, kind, helpful, interesting and will always be my friends. As far as the northern hemisphere goes I have been there, done that, and prefer the easier life where I am not fighting for my very existance against deadly animals, deadly cold or extreme expense.

SusanInToronto

Glad to hear that there is still something that you want to do, Janese.

I'm not sure about extreme expense in Canada or living with deadly animals (what an interesting life you must have led!), but it is true that winter can sometimes be oppressive - I certainly wish that I could escape it right about now!

I think we're kind of getting off topic here. Let's get back to the 100 things to do before you die.

Clifton

I can't think of 100. It's soooo late!

I know the few that keep popping up on my computer screen, and will be among the next few trips (mixed in with regular returns to Australia and Ireland).

Bhutan
Romania
Italy
China
Angkor

There are more, but I keep coming back to that small list, in various order.

1001thingsgirl

This is a very interesting thread! I am currently doing research for a new Canadian television series that will be on this exact topic! I am looking for people in the Toronto area who have a list and might be interested in participating in a television show (maybe tick off a couple of list items in one go if one of them happens to be 15 minutes of fame).

If you are interested, please email me with some of your list (or that of a friend's or family member's) to [email protected]

longhorn55

Getting back on track--I can't necessarily think of 100 things I want to do before I die, but I can probably come up with a list of 10 places I would like to go. I have been fortunate to have lived on every continent (except Antarctica), so I have already seen a great deal of the world. Yet, there are always more places to go! In no particular order, my Top 10 would include:

1. Ireland (the home of my ancestors and the ancestors of my spouse.) Our daughter will be doing a year abroad there in 2008, so we'll wait until then to go.
2. A cruise through the Panama Canal. My spouse and I will be doing this for our 25th anniversary (which we have already celebrated) in a couple of years.
3. A trip to Antarctica, even though I hate cold weather!
4. A hiking trip through England
5. South Africa (that's probably our next vacation)
6. Banff, Canada
7. The National Parks in Utah
8. The Black Hills of South Dakota
9. New Zealand (again)
10. Australia, my favorite country, AGAIN!

fuzzylogic

The funny thing is - sometimes you go walkabout to this or that place, chosen because they have been on a personal list since you were 8 or 9 years old and that atlas with all the different colours was studied, and studied, and studied. And you had a father who had been in the Merchant Navy and had visited places like Montevideo, Cape Town, Sydney, Auckland, New York.

And you had picked out some of your own with exotic sounding names like Llasa, Timbuktu, Mogadishu, Mombasa, Zanzibar, Budapest, Cairo, Bangkok, Phnom Penh.

And as the years go by you take some journeys. And you are ALWAYS glad you went, but often what you remember most is not the grand buildings, or the beautiful beach, but some small place you'd never heard of, the journey from A to B, or the kindness of a stranger.

I still have to get to Mogadishu, Budapest and Phnom Penh.

But my list has expanded again.

I want to travel the Trans Siberian and visit Russia, and all the old ex Soviet republics.

I'd like to spend 6 months in South America, and see Japan, and Iceland.

Before I die?

St Petersburg.
A return to Mali.
The backroads in Spain.
Yemen.
One of those really remote South Pacific islands that you can only get to on a freighter once a month.

Thanks for the post.

You can't beat a bit of dreaming now and then.

Clifton

2004! My list, like fuzzylogic's has changed over time. At least a little. Moreso, it's grown.

Since I posted, I've gotten around Romania, and got to see Angkor. Spent time in Budapest and Phnom Penh on these trips (both were greatly enjoyable, fuzzylogic)

The new list:

Still Bhutan (but they charge an enormous day to day cost and you have to have a guide, so it's still lingering on the list)

Morocco (plus a little Spain). We leave in a few weeks. A little coast, Marrakesh and Fez, self-driving in between via the Atlas and desert tent stay at Merzouga. Chefchouen and then ferry to Andalusia.

Back to Cambodia, my favorite place. Temples are famous for a reason. The people are why it's my favorite.

Still always back to Australia to see the in-laws and poke around some more.

Ireland. Got my citizenship papers in! Feels like a visit's a must.

Plus:

Ethiopia - the historic route, maybe Harar
Peru & Bolivia - Inca sites and just culture
Laos - Would like to expand on SE Asia
Germany - never saw my ancestral home
Buenos Aires - steaks and tango, you know?
Italy - these seems a lot tamer to me now than it once did and I kind of feel like it could wait a bit
China - the more I read, the more I feel like replacing this with India. So many people talk about what's left of history in China being made into big crowded attractions. Still there is that big wall....

South Africa. Not sure why, but seems like this is a southern african country where it's a little more possible to travel independently and still meet people. I can't find much on logistics in some of the other neighboring countries at all that doesn't involve either expensive safaris or backpacker overland party trucks.

Mongolia - my wife suddenly likes the idea of getting out and riding horses, staying in a yurt. (she's a keeper!). Maybe combine with the trans-mongolian rail. Got a friend who moved back home to Beijing, always wanted to see Moscow, so could be a good middle stop. I'm pretty much game, so maybe after Morocco, even though I'm still sort of pushing the Peru trip first.

wlzmatilida

Hi British,

Did you know there's a book called "1,000 Places to See Before You Die"?

I have it, went thru and highlighted places I've been in yellow, and underlined places I want to go in green.

As others have said, my list changes constantly; some places I've been have been great and I'm glad I went, but wouldn't go back. Others, like Italy, Australia & NZ are always on the list.

1. In the UK: ALWAYS wanted to visit the Cotswolds. Also, Leeds Castle in Kent, Sissinghurst Castle Garden, have tea at the Ritz, Warwick Castle, take the "Castle Trail" in the Grampian Highlands in Scotland. look for the Loch Ness monster , check out Edinbugh Castle, do some "research" on pubs in Dublin, visit the Dingle Peninsula in Kerry Ireland.

2. France - back to Paris and I missed going to Versaille last time due to a strike. I'd love to go to Brittany.

3. Central European countries.

4. Abu's Camp in Botswana for an Elephant Back Safari; Okavango Delta, the Masi Mara Safari Club, Kenya, then, of course, following one of these safari experiences, I'd like to chill out at La Digue Island in the Seychelles.

5. Canada: take the train across. Visit the Royal British Columbia Museum and Museum of Anthropology. Polar Bear safari (an agent friend of mine just did this and was there at the same time as a National Geographic crew). Visit Prince Edward Island.

6. Costa Rica & Belize have been on my list for about 10 years.

7. I've been to Mexico alot, but still would like to go whale watching in Baja and vist San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato.

8. In my own country, (and some in my "backyard&quot: I'd like to stay at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, The Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT. Swim with Manatees at Crystal River, visit Everglades National Park and Little Palm Island, Sanibel & Captiva Island, all in Florida.

I've always always wanted to take the "Harlem Spiritual Tour" and go to a traditional Sunday morning gospel service.

Savannah's Historic District.

Wow, all that travelling's given me an appetite - off to get a snack!

Melodie