Day 13: Where in the World

I'm a self-proclaimed travel junkie. I love traveling around the world. I simply can't get enough of it. I've been to four continents and ten countries, and my goal in life is to hit all seven continents and dozens more countries.

My dream vacation is an all around the world trip, maybe something akin to that in Around the World in 80 Days, sans hot air balloon (I'll take an airplane any day). My favorite city is still Edinburg, Scotland, despite the fact that I've been to several since. The cleanest city I've ever been to is Santiago, Chile (I literally would have eaten off the ground in the subway!). The most adventurous trip I've been on is to Peru, where we hiked Huayna Picchu and traipsed around Machu Picchu and other great sites in the Sacred Valley. I've surfed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on the Barra da Tijuca, and been in the largest underground copper mine in El Teniente, Chile. I've snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef in the Pacific and enjoyed the beautiful gardens at Heidelberg Castle and the view from the top of the Cologne Dome in Germany. I really can't get enough.

I could go on and on about all the great things I've done and then go into what I want to do, but I'll spare my readers travel-blog overkill and narrow down my most looked forward to trips in my future (someday I'll go!).

Antarctica

I started getting catalogs for a brilliant company called Geographic Expeditions a few years ago. They have brilliant tours that take travelers to some of the most difficult-to-get-to destinations, including Mt. Everest (before most Westerners were allowed in Tibet) and Burma. They sell a brilliant package to Antarctica for a reasonable price. Somewhere along my day dreaming of setting foot on our continent down below, I stumbled upon a phenomenal cruise starting at $23K a person that takes you from South America to Antarctica, around the continent, and dumps you in New Zealand. I've scoured the interwebs and can't find it again. The GeoEx packages are still quite the dream vacation, including the one aboard the National Geographic Explorer.

Africa

If hiking to see gorillas in their natural habitat in Rwanda wasn't appealing enough, what about seeing the world's largest waterfalls in Zambia or going on safari in Kenya? Yes, please.

Asia

Narrowing it down to one country is practically impossible. How can I pass up the Great Wall of China? What about the largest sky bridge in Kuala Lumpur? Not to mention the beautiful landscapes in Burma or Thailand. And Tokyo? It's been a dream since I was a little girl to visit Japan. When this trip really starts to take off in the planning stages, I'll narrow it down somehow. But for now, I'll take it all.