I've started saving up for my next vacation, but can't decide where I want to go.
Antarctica is always at the top of my list (I want to see it before it's gone), but I need to find two or three people who would want to share a cabin on the ship. There is no way I can afford to do it on my own. Heck, I'll barely be able to scrape together the $8,000 to $10,000 for my share of a 3 or 4 person occupancy cabin. The high price tag is because I don't just want to board a cruise ship and sail past the 7th continent... I want to take an expedition ship which will actually send landfall excursions to Antarctica and let me wander around. Take a photo of a penguin or something. Anything less is kind of pointless, I think. The problem is that people spending $10,000 for ship passage expect it to be a luxury affair. The trip I want to take most definitely is not. So even people I know who might be able to afford it might have a problem spending two weeks on a no-frills ice-breaker ship for that kind of money.
Next up is India. I've longed to visit the country, and it bothers me greatly that I haven't been there yet. Yes, it's expensive (though half the price of visiting Antarctica!)... but the bigger problem is time. I would want a minimum of 3 weeks to explore a few highlights, but there's just no way I can be gone that long. And so I'd have to either rush through a trip and not get to see much... or settle for a much smaller itinerary and not get to see much. And I just can't make up my mind which is the lesser of two evils. Perhaps I should divide the country in half and make two trips out of it like I plan on doing for Australia. I don't know. All I do know is that I really have to visit India before I die.
And speaking of Australia... as I said, I ended up splitting the country in half for two visits. Last year I took the North half (plus Fiji), but the Southern half (with New Zealand) remains...
Not that I don't want to see Perth and The West, but that's another ballgame entirely.
I loved my Australian vacation. I am dying to go back. And I have long wanted to visit New Zealand (though it could easily be a trip all its own). The problem? Money again. I blew past my budget in no time because it's massively expensive Down Under. It's also so far away that you spend a big chunk of time on an airplane. But, again, I want to visit Tasmania before all the Tasmanian Devils are gone from the wild, so I've got to set there fairly soon.
More destinations I've long wanted to visit...
And so... I have no idea.
I guess I'll see how much money I can save, find out how much time I can take off, then plan accordingly.
Boy does not having millions of dollars suck.
A friend of mine regularly goes over to Chernobyl and gets to wonder around the deserted Prypiat.
I'm dying to go with him next time, it's one of the few places on my travel wish list that I'd give anything to do
Posted by Jordan on December 01, 2012 | Reply
Unsolicited advice re: Australia trip -- I lived there for a few years and visited New Zealand on my way back to the US, and I'd say you need two weeks to do NZ well. You may need to break southern OZ and NZ into two trips. That way, you can spend a few days in Tasmania, drive the ocean road, hit wine country and the blue mountains, just enjoy Adelaide...etc...in Australia, and get some time on both NZ islands.
And for what it's worth, my trip to Peru was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had. I have a whole Peru album on FB if you want to explore. :)
Posted by sandra on December 01, 2012 | Reply
I need to find out if my tour director in Kenya is still in business. We spent 13 days in country, 8 of those were dome tents and sleeping bags and it was dirt cheap. Of course that was 3 weeks after 9/11, but we had already paid for it, so....
Posted by Connie on December 01, 2012 | Reply
I'd do the no-frills antarctica trip any day. Not having millions of dollars - or euros, in my case - really does suck.
Posted by Katharina on December 02, 2012 | Reply
I'm going to Israel in February, you're always welcome to tag along.
Posted by Leah Jones (@ChicagoLeah) on December 03, 2012 | Reply
I´m still stoked on going to Antarctica, just working on getting time and finances to collaborate. You really really need to visit India. It´s such a huge country and for me, it was very different from anything else travel wise. I think it would be a good thing to start with two weeks and a not too heavy schedule to get a feel for the place and then come back.
When I travel I never really want to go home but with India I was dying of home sickness the last 2 days but already on the plane home I was making plans on what and where to go next time in India.
If we plan it in advance enough, maybe we can go with you to Antarctica (or I can...but that would make Deb super jealous)! Probably not in 2013 but maybe 2014? We're planning to do Octoberfest in 2013.
Posted by the muskrat on December 04, 2012 | Reply
Your line "take a picture of a penguin.." caught my eye.
I had thought you already visited Russia, but then I re-read that and remembered that is was Romania that you traveled to.
Posted by martymankins on December 07, 2012 | Reply
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