Thursday, December 31, 2009

Top 7 Travel Destinations for 2010

My friend Aidan and I were disappointed with the run-of-the-mill "Where to go in to 2010" travel lists in the media. We made our own. Here's mine:
  • Train from Western Europe to Vietnam. The journey is the destination. Challenge: how many cheap bottles of vodka can you consume during the journey.
  • Albania. You'll be almost sure of being the only in your group of friends who has been there.
  • Mongolia. Yurts, polytonal singing, so photogenic even a camera putz can take good photos there.
  • El Salvador, Nicaragua, or Honduras. Especially Nicaragua. Have you seen how crazy cheap the top hotels are in Nicaragua? Best hotel in the country is $100/night.
  • Greenland, following in the footsteps of politicians who jet there with a large entourage, to show how much they care for the environment.
  • Lebanon. See it while a rare period of calm lasts. Soon they'll be blowing each other up again.
  • Paraguay. Unspoiled by tourism. Cheap. Assured source of wacky travelogues.
Aidan pointed out that my list could be titled "least touristed places that you won't get shot in."

Here's Aidan's list:
  • China (big enough that once you get away from the big cities you won't
  • find many tourists)
  • Mongolia
  • Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Macedonia
  • Greenland
  • Lebanon
  • Colombia
Kudos, Aidan, for including Colombia. My favourite travel destination. Possibly more beautiful than my homeland, New Zealand, with lots of friendly people, plenty to do and see, and it is cheap, cheap, cheap, due to an undervalued currency.