I go to nature areas for the wildlife, and there are less interesting wildlife in the US (similar to Europe, there are not that many interesting wildlife here). I know there are beautiful nature areas in the US, but just not the wildlife I like. On top of that the western culture is just not that interesting to me. Plus I like old ruins etc. and there just aren’t that many in the US. I'm not a city person, so NY or LA just doesn’t do it for me, and I will never in my life go to Vegas (Vegas represents all the things I do not like of our western culture).
"Hey guys, I've been everywhere on the side of the world that's farthest from you and then some, and I really don't care to visit your vast country unless someone pays my way, but why isn't anyone letting me know they take yearly trips to Mexico and have been to Europe a couple of times, or something?" I'll play. Visited: Mexico, Netherlands, France, Canada Favorite Country Hard to say. Kinda like the one I live in most when I consider everything outside of novelty, but love to get away when we can. Might have said the Netherlands 10-12 years ago. Might otherwise say France right now, as that was the most fun we had traveling abroad recently. Really don't have a favorite, I guess, and would like to get out more than we do. Favorite City Again, would have said Amsterdam 10+ years ago, but it was less friendly last time around. I might have to say Paris as I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it, and really had a great time when we went there. Both are really great experiences if you are an art lover. Favorite Island I hesitate to put it here as no increased crowds are a good thing there, but we enjoy going to Isla Mujeres near Cancun occasionally. Favorite nature area Had a wonderful time a good many years ago riding the ferries out to the islands around Puget Sound. That or skiing just about anywhere. that said, I'm not sure my backyard isn't my favorite nature area. Favorite monument/ building/ruin Louv're just no end to the amount of art and culture within. Nicest people Isla Mujeres. Best general experience Chanced upon some friends while in Netherlands several years back, rode a train to Leiden to see Frank Black back in 2001 on my tenth anniversary, and accidentally got introduced to him. Show was great. Also found a great club in Paris a couple of years ago, met some great people and saw some fantastic local music on open mike night. Really enjoyed it there, people were surprisingly personable, and had a really fine experience seeing the museums and sites. Ski trip to Whistler a good while back was pretty fantastic too. Also visited a castle in Muiden, and that was exciting to me as I had never gotten a chance to wander in a castle of any kind before that. Beautiful place. Next place on my list I'd like to go to Scotland.
thats really cool and sad that you got to see syria before all the stuff in the news. im really jealous of ppl like you because that stuff is lost forever and it stood there for centuries before isis and bad moslems came.
Favorite countries: China and Spain Favorite city: Paris Favorite island: Praslin, Seychelles Favorite nature area: Norwegian fjords Nicest people: Japanese Next place on list: Raja Ampat, Indonesia
I'll join in but I'm going to ramble a bit, just memories I've had. As far as places I've been, I've been to 50+ countries I think with the Middle East and Europe over-represented and South America and Africa underrepresented. I travel more for people than places. Have never been impressed with temples or palaces, although Mecca blew my mind because of the cultural significance it has to my upbringing. I've been told my whole life what it is ad nauseum and was expecting to breeze in and out. The first thing that hit me was the commercial take over of the surrounding area - I have to say it bothered me a lot that there's a KFC a few hundred meters from the gate and that there is a palace on the surrounding mountains for VIP's. When I finally got near the actual structure everything I knew about 1,300+ years of history tore through my mind. I knew everything and everyone significant that had been there. I knew where people had been tortured, where statues had been worshipped, the way in which the market was set up to consume money from foreign and local traders. It was overwhelming. As I got closer, I realized how much blood had been spilled over control of a concrete room, and also how much real life equality had been achieved through the spiritual pilgrimage of literally hundreds of millions of people. I was expecting to possibly come out with a renewed appreciation for religion, instead I felt like I experienced the pain and joy humans have felt for centuries. Intense, but pleasant. I decided that day my alliance is to all humans rather than one religion. How ironic. The most amazing people I've ever met were the Nepalese, and more friendly the further you get from Kathmandu. So kind, so friendly and in poor circumstances. There are less than a handful of countries where poverty and capitalism has succeeded so little in corrupting people. When the earthquake happened I was in tears. They deserve it less than anyone else, but perhaps they're more spiritually prepared to handle such a thing than any of us. My favorite city is Amsterdam because no other city makes me feel so far away from the suffocating grip I feel at home. People who are friendly when you approach, but never intrude unprompted. Not pretentious or gloomy like a lot of big cities. I've written thousands of pages there. I'll be there again in a couple of weeks. A couple of friends tell me I should visit Boulder, Colorado or Austin, Texas. I'm planning a visit in December, let's see how it goes. Bora Bora. What a beautiful place. Colors I hadn't seen in nature, even in the Maldives or Phi Phi islands. People I didn't know anything about until I got there. They make you feel like everything is a first world problem, and then they solve it for you. Get a boat and jump into any part of the water. Jetski from one side of the island to another. Discover that stingrays love people. The feeling of being so far away from any developed city. Meeting and hanging out with the hotel staff who live such a unique life. If you go here, please leave the resorts. Just incredible. Visiting the Rif mountains. I felt ok until they told me that policemen get shot for stepping foot into their land. Meeting rural Moroccans speaking English with Australian, English, American, Spanish, French accents. Nothing can protect you there, but there I found the kindest millionaires living like they own nothing. I knew that wasn't true, but it's still amazing to see people who can afford any car in the world riding a donkey, growing their own food. Unfazed by what surrounds them. A people who live in a now-Arab country who's history has been wiped away till now by every Arabic history book. Telling me about their heroes, their victories, their failures. Watching "it" turn from yellow to brown right before my eyes. The king ding a ling. The big poppa. EL oro negro real. The one I had read about but only found ****ty versions of. I was staring at the source. Insane. You've never had it till you've had it right there. Then they dropped me home in a BMW 7 series, driving it through the mountains like it was a monster truck lol. I swear to you the guy who drove us out of there spotted me six days later in a moving taxi, yelled out my name, and stopped the taxi just to say hello. I can't leave out Iran. The initial shock of learning about life there. I live across the gulf from Iran and before that across the border, but I had no idea what it was all about. Eating in a shack at the top of snowy mountains at a restaurant which has been serving nothing but the most delicious flame grilled meat, bread, hookah and red tea for 9 generations, skiing down the slopes, the clearest lakes I've ever seen, having a psychotic party in a 10,000 year old home in a village of maybe a thousand people, a house covered in flowers right on the Caspian sea. A people who get offended if you don't expect them to offer you what they own. Hottest girls I've ever seen, couped up in their own country. That was just two weeks and only in the North - a totally different scene in the west, south and central Iran. Crazy. As always, that's outside the big cities though. I love people. Next place: I'm hoping Columbia please let me know if you've been and you have any advice. I don't like big cities so Cartagena and Bogota aren't really tempting.
