Places To See Before I Die

To put it simply, the world is an amazing place. One of the most amazing things in life is exploring it, both the natural beauties created over millions of years and the man-made cultures, buildings and cities created in only the last few thousand. It seems also unthinkable to consider not exploring these wonders, but sadly a very large proportion of the population is unable to afford the essentials required for living let alone the luxuries of visiting different countries. I am extremely fortunate to be one of the under 10% of the population that has been on a plane multiple times in my life. Even I, however, don't expect to be able to travel the entire world in my lifetime. In fact, there are very few people who have even visited all of the continents at least once. That, I would say, is one of my lifetime wishes.. to visit every continent at least once. Whilst I don't yet know whether my future will allow that sort of thing, it is nice to dream. So I decided to create a little list of places/countries I'd like to visit or go back to at some point in my life.

EUROPE

Italy - Pompeii, Rome, Venice

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The cities listed are pretty common tourist destinations, though they are classics that I would love to visit. Italy is a beautiful country with a lovely climate in summer. I have visited Rome and loved every moment of it, though I'd love to go back. To be honest, I'd love to see a lot more of Italy, though these are the just some starting points.

Switzerland - Alps

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Now this is a very general area as a lot of Switzerland is taken up by the Alps and I have actually been to the Austrian alps before in winter (skiing). I'd particularly like to visit the Swiss Alps in summer because from the pictures I've seen, they are just beautiful.

Czech Republic - Prague

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I really don't know much about Prague other than a lot of people have been there and said it's great. I think it's one of those places I'll probably visit with friends during a summer in between my years at uni.

Greece-Santorini

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Having seen hundreds of photos from Santorini, I decided to add this to my list. People tend to say there isn't too much to do, but it's beautiful and still worth a visit, so here it is, on my list.

Netherlands - Amsterdam

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Basically everyone I know has been to Amsterdam but me. It looks amazing in the photos, such an interesting city and beautiful canals. I particularly want to go and see the Anne Frank house (doesn't everyone?) having read her diary as a child.

Iceland

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This is last on my Europe list because I have been there before (fairly recently) but I definitely want to go again. It's such a barren landscape with little civilisation, yet amazing natural features including waterfalls and glaciers galore! The Blue Lagoon is also a must. I don't think I appreciated Iceland as much as I should've done when I was there...plus it rained a lot.

ASIA

Thailand/Vietnam/Laos

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This is rather vague because to be honest, I've heard wonderful things about all the countries in this area of the world. Beautiful scenery, a very different culture to what I'm used to and loads to see, this will be a big trip if I go there, but it's one of my top places (well, areas of the world) I'd like to visit.

Maldives

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I'm sure you've seen pictures of the Maldives before; little cabins and huts on stilts over the stunningly clear blue water and amazing sandy beaches. What more is there to say? It's unlikely I'll ever have the money to visit such an expensive holiday destination, but I can dream.

OCEANIA

Australia - Perth, Sydney, Kakadu National Park

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Where do I begin? If there was one place I had to live outside the UK, it would be Australia. I've only been once, when we visited Western Australia and the Northern Territory (including Perth and Kakadu) but I fell in love with it in the first week of being there. It has such a wide variety of landscapes across the country and I'd love to see the East Coast which I didn't before. Obviously the Great Barrier Reef should probably be on my list, though I'm not particularly great with open water. I'm still hoping to see it one day though *dreams of Australia* ahhh...

New Zealand

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Another classic. I'd love to visit both the North and South Islands because they're so different, but it depends how much time and money I have. Again, this is somewhere I may never make it do due to lack of funds (it is also one hell of a long plane journey).

AMERICAS

USA - New York, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Monument Valley, Hawaii

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I could list so much more of the USA. Ideally, I'd go on a road trip round the USA, but that would be pretty expensive if I wanted to visit all 50 states..I've only ever been to California before, so I'd particularly like to see what the East Coast has to offer and I'd like to see more of inland USA as well.

Galapagos Islands

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This is wildlife heaven. I am interested in biology, generally more human biology, but I'd absolutely love to see the wildlife, perhaps go on a tour of the islands to see it all. I don't know too much about actual holidays there other than it's another expensive place so perhaps I need to look into it more, but I know I want it on my list.

ANTARCTICA

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I'm not a massive fan of the cold, but this continent is one I'd love to visit for reasons I can't really explain. I know I'd like to see the penguins (I like penguins), but I'm not entirely sure why else. It's very desolate. I guess I'd just like to say I've been there.

AFRICA

South Africa

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I named South Africa in particular because I know people have been there and said it's worth a visit, even just for a safari, but to be honest there are a lot of places in Africa that sound pretty cool. I guess I'm less keen on central Africa because I know there are a lot of vaccinations involved before you go, but in some ways I'd quite like to help with one of those volunteer projects that builds schools or helps communities out in various ways, that sounds like an amazing experience.

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I'd like to note that just because a country isn't on this list doesn't mean I don't want to go there, I simply wrote this list of my favourites so far, so if you have visited or are from somewhere that you think is amazing that I haven't listed, do leave a comment :)

-What are some of your favourite places you have visited or would like to visit?-

Miss Muggs xx