My top ten travel destinations

by lucky 13

I always enjoy setting travel goals, so here’s a list I put together of places I’d like to visit in the next few years. Yes, I realize I’m being a bit inconsistent here as some places listed are countries while others are cities. So, in no particular order:

  1. London, England. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I’ve never been to London. While I’ve been to the airport, I never actually made it into the city. I’ve always figured it’s a place I’ll see even without my excessive travel, which is probably why I never made an effort to see it.
  2. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I’ve never been to the Middle East, so this seems like a nice introductory city. I realize it might seem more glamorous from the outside than it really is, but it’s still a place I’d like to visit. It should be pretty easy to knock out London and Dubai on a single Virgin Atlantic award for 90,000 ANA miles in Upper Class from JFK. I hope to take that trip over the summer (yes, I realize it’ll be hot as hell).
  3. Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’ve heard nothing but great things about Buenos Aires, so I’m as good as there when I see a great fare.
  4. Prague, Czech Republic. This is another city that I’ve heard nothing but great reviews of. I’ll be sure to at the very least make a side trip the next time I’m in Europe.
  5. Katmandu, Nepal. I have no clue why, but there’s something about every picture I’ve seen of the city that makes me want to visit. It’s one of those cities that just seems so different that it’s worth seeing, and the mountains in the background look beautiful.
  6. Egypt.  After my brother and mom visited it a couple of months ago, it’s definitely a place I want to see.
  7. Easter Island. Is an explanation really needed? It looks like a stunning place.
  8. India. I know I couldn’t be any more broad here given how massive and diverse India is, but I’ve never been to any part of it.
  9. Ireland and Scotland. I hate to group them together, but there are so many places I want to see and I promised a list of only 10!
  10. Angkor Wat, Cambodia. I’m a sucker for these types of places, I tell ya!

Well, that just about wraps up my list. Of course there are tons more places I’d like to visit, but those are my top ten. Am I missing any places that are hidden secrets? Of course it would help if I mentioned where I’ve been, but I’ll save that for another day.

lucky

About lucky
Ben Schlappig (aka Lucky) is a travel consultant, blogger, and avid points collector. He travels about 400,000 miles a year, primarily using miles and points to fund his first class experiences. He chronicles his adventures, along with industry news, here at One Mile At A Time.

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Comments

  1. OK, new to your site and I love it so far, came over from Cranky Flier one time. I’ve been to eight out of ten, but do chuckle over London. I have yet to go to Dubai or Angor Wat. I will also hopefully go to DBX next summer, who wouldn’t want to say they have ski’d Dubai in August, and I would rather be dating someone to finally go to Angor Wat. Easter Island is incredible. I rented a motorcycle and went riding to all the monuments around the island. Kathmandu is actually a total mess. Go to the more rural parts of Nepal, but Lhasa, Tibet is far more stunning if you have been there. Bhutan is also amazing, but would be hard to make your top ten since you have some top flight places to visit. Luxor is more stunning to see than Cairo. And the Taj Mahal at sunset is worth the entire trip to India.

  3. Hi Lucky, been reading your site since it started, and here’s what I think…

    If it’s scenery your looking for, Bora Bora HAS to be number 1.
    Nowhere else can even compete with it for scenery.

    Use IC points to pay for it though as it’s expensive to stay there.

  4. Ireland & Scotland were day cruise stops, so never *really* been to any on your list. I’d like to see 8 out of your 10, Katmandu and BA omitted. Don’t know why Asia and SA hold little interest to me. ???

  5. If you haven’t been, I’d add the west coast of Ireland and the fjords of Norway to your list. They are the two most stunning sights I have ever seen.

    (Of all the cities I have been to around the world, London is definitely my favorite city!)

  6. Thanks for your suggestions, Randy! You bring up some other places I really want to see. I guess the issue is that I want to see *everything*, so making a list is tough. I have heard great things about Bhutan and Tibet as well.

    Thanks Brian, I’ll take you up on that offer. I’m trying to save UA miles for that right now, since India is one of the few redemption rates that didn’t go up at the beginning of the year. Of course since LH is the main option for getting there, I’ll have to wait till the beginning of a quarter to book, when there’s less blocking.

    Bora Bora is another place I’d love to see, Jamie. I guess the issue is that I don’t have the right person to go to Bora Bora with. 😉 Still, Bora Bora looks stunning, I’ll definitely get there eventually.

    boxo, if you’re not interested in Asia, wait till you see my top ten list (whenever I get around to making it). I’d say at least half of it is Asia.

    More good suggestions, Justin! Along with that I’d love to see Iceland, which also looks pretty neat.

    So many places to see, so little time….

  8. I would gently suggest rethinking Dubai. Having been there a couple times in the last few months, I think you could do better. As evidence: read January’s 3PD. My sense is that they covered just about everything there is to do in Dubai in that article–they even started sending us to malls. How many other 3PDs do you know that cover everything about a place, not just a sample?

    Since you mentioned DXB in the context of visiting the Middle East, you might look at going to some place like Lebanon. I’ve not been, but everyone raves about it. While it’s not the Middle East per se, I spent a little time in Tunisia and found it much more interesting and enjoyable than Dubai.

    If you still want to hit DXB, see if you can make it a brief, one-day stopover en route to somewhere else. I think you could get a good taste of the place in about a day.

  9. Coins, you missed one great location… Brooklyn New York.
    BRT 9 date to be announced by the end of February.

  10. I notice that almost all of the places on your list are places where man has had an influence: city, temples, etc.

    You could also consider places where the area’s natural beauty is enough of a reason for a visit: Banff, southern Utah, Panama/CostaRica.

    Of course, I subscribe to the theory of “travel to the hard places while you are still young” and the places I mention are “easy”, so maybe you are saving them for your old age… 😉

  11. Hey Lucky,

    Dubai is in an interesting place and it’s worth a visit, but at the same time it’s hard to call it the middle east. I’ve done Dubai, Damascus, Istanbul and Cairo for large middle eastern cities. Damscus is by far the most untouched city by tourism purposes, but I would not recommend it without a guide or someone who knows their way around. Cairo was a cool city, but my favorite by far in the middle east is Istanbul. It’s got a western touch in convience, but you’ll definitly fell like your in the middle east.

    I have a 10 hour stopover planned an Istanbul on an award routing to JNB this spring.

  13. Hey Ben,

    I have recently started following your blog and is really good and informative as well. I am not a regular traveler nor have been to more than 4 countries but reading your blog has it really inspires me to start visiting places.
    Anyways, on the topic “My top ten travel destinations” from 2009, you have mentioned you wanted to visit Kathmandu, Nepal . So just wanted to check if you have had opportunity to go to Nepal.If yes, I did not find your report on that 🙂 I am from Nepal and it was nice to know that Nepal is on your list.

    Thanks
    Pras

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