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Australia (and New Zealand) was what immediately popped into my head when I saw the subject line for this thread. It's not that it's necessarily my very first choice overall. But it's definitely someplace I want to go, but the expense and distance make it less feasible than some other destinations. To some extent, I think the question in the poll cited in the article may have been written specifically to generate this answer, frankly. Phrasing it like that pretty much guides you into picking a more expensive trip and one where spending more time there makes sense because of how long it takes to get there.
My second answer would be China - distance and expense, and of course the vastness of the destination where I'd want to get to see as much of it as possible.
It's not that I wouldn't also want to stay for longer if I were going to England or Italy or France. It's that I can still go there for a week, feel like I've had a reasonable vacation on lots of levels and come back home without feeling like it was kind of a waste to spend so much money and travel so far for such a short amount of time.
How can I pick just one destination? I'd probably want to do a long-term trip to Europe, visiting all the different areas: Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the Mediterranean area. Australia sounds nice, but it's so similar to here; my son was there a few months ago and said that Melbourne, at least, was just like the cities in the USA. So while I'd like to go, it isnt' at the tippy-top of my list.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Originally Posted by mangomadness
If time and money weren’t an issue then I would do a grand, world tour type of vacation and it would take me several months to come back from it.
Australia is on my list, but waaaay down on it. Everone has their preferences though.
You can do this if you chose... (with or without the 'grand')
We choose to leave USA during election yrs.
Last time (2016) one-way ticket to Australia and 'figure-it-out-from-there'... when it gets cold... follow the sun / long days west... get home in time to vote (or vote 'absentee' and don't bother coming home!)
<$40k for (2) to be gone 1 yr, about the same price as staying home.
Rental cars and camper vans ate the most cost... cheaper to have a hub (apartment) or to buy a vehicle and resell.
I'd guess that article, and maybe the survey, was paid for by Australia. I didn't see a link to the actual survey, just a link to the vacation website that this article said did the survey (which is another ad).
I would love to go to Australia, but it wouldn't be at the top of my list. France, the Pyramids in Egypt, Ireland, England, and several places here in the states, would be before Australia.
It would be my #1 if 'Time and Money' were not a factor.
Australia is such a big place and it would take so long to get there that I likely wouldn't want to go unless I had A LOT of time since I would want to tour it pretty extensively.I don't really like big cities so I wouldn't spend much time in them,but there is a lot outside the cities i'd like to see.
I feel like I could visit Iceland,Ireland,Wales,Sweden or some region in France for a month or so and get a reasonable feel for the place.With Australia I feel like I would need much more time.
I'd guess that article, and maybe the survey, was paid for by Australia. I didn't see a link to the actual survey, just a link to the vacation website that this article said did the survey (which is another ad).
I would love to go to Australia, but it wouldn't be at the top of my list. France, the Pyramids in Egypt, Ireland, England, and several places here in the states, would be before Australia.
And all those places could be easily done with a simple one-week vacation. What you and many others in this thread keep overlooking is the very first criterion in the survey: time. If time (and money) were not an issue, where would you go? Hence, the top choice is a place that takes quite a bit of time for most people in the U.S. to get to, and not one in which someone is going to go through all the effort to get there without being able to stay there for quite a bit longer than one week. (Although I'm quite sure that some people have.)
I prefer Paris to any city in Australia, but Paris was a 7 1/2 hour flight from D.C. and I used to take my wife there (and London for that matter) on long holiday weekends and easily arranged one-week vacations from work. Conversely, we waited until we retired to take the long 21+ hour flights to Sydney; and once spending all the time and money to get there, we spent six weeks exploring Australia (and New Zealand). That's not something most working people can do, hence it becomes a dream destination for when time and money aren't a factor.
The time factor, rather than your cynical and silly guess that Australia paid for the survey, is the patently obvious reason why Australia was #1 on the list of dream destinations.
I've wanted to go to Australia since I was in grade school, but it's just so far.
Looked into it when I lived in Hawaii, figuring I was halfway there, but there were no direct flights, I would have had to fly to the US mainland, then on to downunder.
Oz is a big country with stunning natural beauty. Beaches, deserts, jungles, and everything in between.
It's less overrun with tourists and cheaper than Europe, plus the people are friendly and they speak English. Sort of.
Do I want to be jostled and pickpocketed in the Roman crowds, or go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef?
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