My Top 5 ‘Round the World “Must-Dos”

by Mike Richard

Over at RamblingTraveler.com, Stacy asks What Are Your Top 5 Travel Dreams?. Here are a few of mine, in no particular order:

  1. Visit Antarctica. Before I started really digging into the costs involved in a RTW trip, I thought traveling to Antarctica was only for the rich. I had this preconceived notion that a trip there came with a five-digit price tag. Once I realized this isn’t at all the case, I added a special “Antarctica fund” to my travel savings. I love the idea of Antarctica as sort of the lost continent – it’s so removed, so isolated from everything. And it’s host to some of the most extreme weather conditions and spectacular scenery on the planet. Cool!
  2. Swim with whale sharks. The largest fish on the planet – they grow up to 40 feet long! And, since they only feed on plankton, they’re completely innocuous to humans. TravelHappy’s had a few posts about this lately and their videos have reminded me why I’ve always wanted to do this.
  3. Visit Tokyo. Is there a culture more quintessentially alien to Western civilization than Japan’s? Having grown up on William Gibson’s cyber-novels that depict Tokyo as nothing short of a hyper-modern playground of technology, and hearing Tony Bourdain describe the city as something out of Blade Runner, the geek in me is giddy at the prospect of visiting Japan’s uber-city.
  4. Dive the Great Barrier Reef. K and I were scuba certified last summer and I plan on diving every corner of the globe on my RTW trip. But of all the underwater hotspots I can think of, none gets me as excited as the Great Barrier Reef. My dive instructor told us that, of the ten deadliest underwater species on the planet, all ten are indigenous to the Reef. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but it sounds cool to me either way.
  5. Ireland. I’m not 100% convinced that I want to live in R.I. (or in the U.S. for that matter) for the rest of my life. The first alternative that comes to mind? Ireland. When I came back from the Emerald Isle a year and a half ago, I was still mesmerized by it. It was all I could think about for at least a month or two. The beauty of the landscape is breathtakingly surreal – it’s as though god invented new shades of green just for the Irish. And the people are the friendliest bunch you’ll ever meet. It’s everything I imagined it to be.

What are your top 5 travel “must-do’s”?

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Related topics: Odds + Ends, Pre-Trip

About the Author


Vagabondish editor, Mike Richard, lives in Rhode Island - a spit of land in the northeastern U.S. He is a professional web designer and travel junkie with an unhealthy addiction to backpacking, camping, hiking and seeing the world. He enjoys knit hats, small, declarative sentences and speaking in the third person.

Share Your Thoughts

Stacy
May 11th, 2007

I like your “must-dos”. Your trip is going to be amazing, and I’m looking forward to reading about your experiences.

I’m with you on Ireland, it’s an incredible place. I would like to go back for a 3 month visit once the boys are out of the house. Until then, I’ll have to make do with shorter trips.

Chris Mitchell
May 11th, 2007

Would it be unbearably smug if I said I’ve done 4 of the 5 things on your list? It probably would be, wouldn’t it ;-)

Thanks for the whale shark link. This is a great topic – I’ll have to write my own Top 5 Must Dos, as once you’ve managed to do one, it generates a whole bunch more.

Mike
May 13th, 2007

Yes, Chris. Yes, that is unbearably smug of you. =P No, I’m just kidding.

It’s awesome that you’ve seen and done so many things in your RTW travels. TravelHappy’s a daily read of mine and I feel those little pangs of jealousy at the end of every one of your blog posts.

I think my own “must-do” list is probably about 45,540 things long and growing, but I figured these five were a good place to start.

[...] Vagabondish – an excellent “pre-trip” travel blog where Mike describes getting ready for his two year round the world trip. His “5 Round The World Must Dos” is a great topic that would look on any travel blog (ie I’m going to steal this idea when I get back from travelling!). [...]

Ash
August 12th, 2007

Great topic this one. Am a fan of your website, although haven’t viewed it for a couple of weeks now.

Anyway, top 5 things to do.

Simply.

1. Antarctica – Must agree with you here, sounds and looks amazing.

2. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro – The only one of the Seven Summits that is climbable without crampons!!

3. Trek Kokoda Trail – being Australian, this track it very significant, and is one place I would really love to visit.

4. Experience ANY South-East Asian country. Thailand seems like the place to go, but many options within close proximity to Australia means there it plenty of flexibility here!

5. All of Europe. ok, so won’t be selfish. If I had to choose one place to go, it would be…Ireland. haha. I have heard too many good things about the country and it’s people !





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