laurafromtexas

Try the Galapagos Islands.

Kal

Chile, Antarctica and as also mentioned above, the Galapagos.

Oh, and maybe Bakersfield.

beachkomer

Back in the early 90's people were
saying that Prague was the *new* Paris like the 1930's Paris....If that makes sense.
We saw a story on a news show that showed Americans moving to Prague and starting newspapers and being 'avant garde' after the Velvet Revolution and elections.

Has anyone been there? It seems pretty
cool in a Soviet bloc kind of way.

I've been to Egypt, it's not really a vacation...I got sick (even after drinking bottled water and ate only in the hotel) the air pollution was so awful...the pyramids were cool, but I was glad to board our flight to Paris.

Dead cats with flies, beggers,etc; I know it's apart of our world, it was just not a 'vacation'....I'm sure someone else might have had a better time than myself.

The Luxor in Vegas is the closest I'm going to get to Egypt again!

coldwar27

Possibly a corny way to think about it, but is there some place as a kid that you learned about and haven't visited yet? For me, it was places in France. I studied French in high school under a tyrant aka nun at a Catholic school and I would live in fear everyday that I would get my tongue tied when called upon to say something like J'habite en Floride. There were two things that kept my interest - this cool picture of a place called Sacre Coeur which seemed to be as tall as the sky and seeing Monet's Waterlillies for the first time in my textbook. I made a pact with myself to make it to France someday. I had a chance in high school and was so looking forward to the trip but it was cancelled as a result of some nervous nellies after the Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie. I tried again in 2001 but again, terrorism. The third time is the charm so in July 2003 I finally made my way to see the actual garden of Monet and up the steps to Sacre Coeur. Everyone had raved about Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle and many other sites in France but for me, those were the highlights because they fulfilled my dreams from way back.

That said, any place you dreamed about as a kid and haven't been to yet?

sunbabe

Easter Island

Amy

I can only answer this with places that made ME go "Wow"...

1. the Hypogeum in Malta
2. Eastern Greenland
3. Machu Picchu (ok, everybody goes there...but it's still mighty special)
4. Amazon rainforest (Peruvian end of the Amazon)
5. much of Iceland (although it's getting much more touristed {is that a word?} now)

wow

Coldwar27: I hope you write.

Worktowander

Samoa or Grenada.

rex_skidmore

Didn't muffin cover this about 6 months ago?

gail

WOW them by quitting your job and saying your are taking 3 years off to travel the world.

snowrooster

Since you say you are looking for something different rather than just to impress, have you ever spent time in really rural america? My inlaws have a lakehouse in LaFollette, TN and spending time in a rural small town like this is a truly different experience.

peterboy

For someone as jaded as you, there's really nothing left for you to do that would impress your friends except a trip to Schenectady. To top it off, you could go by train.

karens

Perhaps I hang out with the wrong people, but I'm impressed (and others seem interested) when anyone goes farther afield than the NJ shore, LV or Florida.

We live on the east coast, in suburban Phila., and I can impress people by just telling them that I went into Manhattan by MYSELF. Many people around here haven't explored much of the western US, or Europe. I'll bet that's true for many people around the country. Or again, maybe I just know the wrong people!

WICT_106

it depends upon how you define the "wow" factor. for several of the people I've known, they say "wow" when I describe some of the canoe trips I've been on. Flying in to the Atikaki Wilderness Provincial Park (or Woodland Caribou PP just to the east) for a 10 day canoe trip would easily genereate some of the "wow" factor, as one can go for up to 8 days on end without seeing another human - not even a cabin or anything. Same with the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area) even though it receives over 10 times the visitors of either of the two parks previously mentioned. You'd just have to figure the airfare to Duluth, or Hibbing, MN, or Winnepeg. For wome folks just going with out electricity for more than 24 hours gets a "wow," even though there are those of us who find no challenge to that. it depends upon one's personal perspective.

WICT_106

Edit: in the above post, meant to type: "For some folks . . . . ."

Craig

I've been to Kenya, Turkey, Thailand, Hong Kong, Bali, Costa Rica, all over the US, Canada, Carribean, Europe, Mexico and the only place where I got a unanimous "wow" reaction was:

INDIA

clauce99

I agree with Suze and also with the guy that proposed f64club to write a book.
When you do choose a spot would you mind telling us about it?
By the way, the Indians I've met are quite polite and nice people.

sequoia370

Mebbe if you went to the moon? Na, been done.

Intrepid1

We have friends who just got back from Antarctica and that sounded impressive.

Actually, I spent two years in VietNam and it actually has become a vacation spot....just as Italy, Germany, and Japan have....sounds like going back to VN and getting over it might actually do more to "wow" people than anywhere else you could go.

highflyer

I guess I'm easily "wowed"!!

I've been to 10 or so Caribbean islands ( lived on St.Kitts for 2 years), plus spent a month in South America on a shoestring, Travelled widely in Europe (more than a dozen countries) lived and travelled all over the UK (I'm British)and lived in Massachusetts now for 4 years, visited around 20 states including Hawaii and been to Eastern Canada.

Everywhere I go is a "wow" and there are so many more places out there that I'd love to go to and they're all so "different". Experience is all in my book and just because someplace has been "done to death" it doesn't mean that it holds no "wow" for me.