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What are the most off the wall places you have always wanted to go? Here is my wish list, hope to make them true some day:
- Cruise down the Niger river to Timbuktu in Mali, fascinates me just for it's remoteness
- The Galapagos Islands
- Iceland, I have tropical genes but I may survive a visit
Don't know if this is exotic or not, but I've always wanted to take a ride on the Orient Express. There's something romantic about taking a train trip, and the Orient Express has an appeal.
Many years ago I had a coworker who went to the Seychelles on her honeymoon. I thought that was very exotic - took a long time to get there. Since then I have always wanted to go.
Most of those aren't off the wall, well maybe the Niger one and Mali.
Galapogos - Very common cruise route from Ecuador. I did some research myself because I wanted to go. Lots of small cruise boats and a few big ones do the route. Very rewarding, and very expensive (cruises there at about $1,000 a day).
Greek Islands - Off the wall? They get a jillion visitors a year. I did it a couple years ago. Off the wall for us was taking the local ferries, our suitcase, and just getting off any island because it looked cool.
Seychelles - New European honeymoon spot. Still a bit fresh, but not quite off the wall. For most European's it means simply sitting on a beach at a developed resort getting sunburned.
Iceland - Fly there, get a rental car, and take off. Everything there is very developed and modern so you don't have any logistical worries, except that it's very expenisive. Nope, doesn't give a that off the wall feel, mabye if you are getting drunk in one of the many Raykavik discos you will get the feeling.
For me the off the wall visits (or events) have been:
-Walking into a Tibetian refugee camp in Nepal.
-Crossing a portion of the Indonesian sea in a skinney kayak with a 5HP engine while the Indonesion boatsman was bailing out the boat with an old milk jug.
-Crossing the S. African border into Swaziland and feeling like you are the first white person to visit since the last U.N. relief mission.
-Having a flat tire about 100 miles from the arctic circle on a dirt road in Alaska.
-Sleeping in a Nepali lodge on a wooden shelf, total cost 50 cents for the lodge "bed", about 50 miles from Mt. Everest.
-Eating mystery meat in a Polish farm house as a guest of the farmer, about 10 miles from what was then the USSR border.
Dd714, you have very good points. Truly off the wall is something that requires some daring and not easily attempted.
But...crossing the Indonesian sea in a 5hp boat??? Well, I said "off the wall" not "CRAZY!"
How about this.... driving the Dalton highway all the way to the Arctic Ocean. I saw a pic of the remoteness of this highway and I don't think I am going to attempt this anytime soon since I value my life!
Dd714, you have very good points. Truly off the wall is something that requires some daring and not easily attempted.
Like the time I was living in San Francisco's Tenderloin?
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But...crossing the Indonesian sea in a 5hp boat??? Well, I said "off the wall" not "CRAZY!"
This is where expressing your unique travel desires and aspirations can be highly individual.
If "off the wall" equals remote, I suppose I have not done much of that--don't have much desire for remote, I enjoy a fine vista, but don't mind a few people with it.
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How about this.... driving the Dalton highway all the way to the Arctic Ocean. I saw a pic of the remoteness of this highway and I don't think I am going to attempt this anytime soon since I value my life!
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Having a flat tire about 100 miles from the arctic circle on a dirt road in Alaska.
We've been lost on country roads in Ireland, Scotland, and Italy--with a wheel stuck in a ditch in Tuscany.
I once was stuck on a highway in Guatemala when our bus broke down. That's about as remote as I care to be.
A friend of ours spent six weeks in Antarctica--he loved it. He is a dentist, and arranged to be a visiting dentist there.
I've visited a lot of islands already, and live on one, now. I'd just as soon leave the Galapagos alone.
For me, exotic is not necessarily remote, exotic is radically *different* from my day-to-day life.
I'd love to experience Tokyo.
I dont know why but for some reason, the tropics or Florida just doesnt interest me. I could be happy spending some time in Montreal, or going to look up my mom in Japan, but to me, 'exotic' doesnt fit into my lifestyle, Id be more into it for the good time and to explore, Wierd, eh? But the, its too arly in the morning to think of anything other than my coffee right now, lol.
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