or No more going to Disneyland, damnit!
The magazine National Geographic Traveler has complied a list of 50 (+1) places
in world the one should visit during a lifetime. Of course, a visit to all
of these is hardly within the means of most people in the world - even if the
last and 51st one is excluded - but it is an interested read. By using
well-chosen categories, it gives a fresh perspective on what is worth seeing.
All too often traveling journalism is focused on activities rather than experiences,
and therefore much of what you read in magazines is focused on large cities. I
like how places like Sahara and Antarctica are on the list, where the
void itself is part of the experience I assume. Also, this list isn't at all
as pretentious like some other lists you see. It doesn't involve Lonely
Planet- or Condé Nast Traveler-like places, whose only point is to make us
lowly mortals feel envious.
The selection was made by the National Geographic Society, which has had
journalists and scientists traveling around the world since 1888. Anyhow,
here's the list, consisting of 5 categories with 10 places each, in alphabetical
order within each category:
Urban Spaces
Barcelona
Hong Kong
Istanbul
Jerusalem
London
New York
Paris
Rio de Janeiro
San Francisco
Venice
Wild Places
Antarctica
Amazon river
Canadian Rocky Mountains
Galápagos islands
Grand Canyon, Arizona
Australian outback, Queensland
Papua New Guinea reefs
Sahara
Serengeti, Tanzania
Venezuela’s Tepuis
Paradise Found
Amalfi Coast of Italy
Boundary Waters of Minnesota
British Virgin Islands
Greek archipelago
Hawaiian Islands
Japanese Ryokan
Kerala, India
Torres del Paine, Chile
Seychelles
Pacific Islands
Country Unbound
Alps,
Big Sur, California
Canadian maritimes, Nova Scotia
Coast of Norway
Danang to Hue, Vietnam
England’s Lake district
Loire valley, France
North Island, New Zealand
Tuscany, Italy
Vermont
World Wonders
Acropolis
Angkor
Cyberspace
Giza pyramids
Great wall of China
Machu Picchu
Mesa Verde
Petra
Taj Mahal
Vatican City
The Final Frontier
Space
Read more at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/index50.html