Travel Destination Wishlist
Fri, August 29, 2008 at 03:47PM 
One of the things I am grateful about by working abroad is the amount of days off I can have compared to how it was in Indonesia. My friends keep teasing me, "whattt, vacation again?? When do you actually work,.. do you work at all?"
And the next is question usually: "where are you going to this time?" Aha!
It's funny to observe that of all 40+ days of vacation per year we've got, most people here (yes it includes me) use their off days to go home somehow, I don't know why. Even with all these holiday attraction around and in this continent, yet people still come home every 3-4 months or so. I have that too.. So the same friends who teased me about my days of vacation (see first paragraph), they also said that I am like "hantu" (translation: ghost) as they meet me in Jakarta malls quite often in a year whilst they have an impression I am living far far away in a no-man's land. Well, "often" here means twice or thrice a year.
As much as hubby and I love to see friends and family and spoil ourselves with nice food, being pampered in traditional spas, beaches & friendly people that my home country offers (mind you, I am not speaking about Jakarta only.. Indonesia is a big country), I would really like to break this habbit of always coming back home during most of our off days. Afterall we are in Africa..! When are we going to have this opportunity in a lifetime again?? (hehe.. Ok, exaggerated...heheh).
So back to the question of "where to".
People have their own expectation of what their vacation would be like. Some love to be in big metropolitan cities for some shopping spree (ask the indonesians or more specifically, the jakartans.. whoops, raise hands, girls!:D), some love to be one with nature: cycling, hiking, camping (ask cycling-mad Dutch.. :D), some love to see & feel socio-cultura of an exotic place, some love to see wildlife and animals, some love to be around the beach: diving, snorkeling or just reading under the sun, some love to have reflective moments doing yoga retreats. As for me, I'd prefer a little bit of all, basically, hehe.
However, if I may choose, I would like to go to those places that have strong authenticity, somewhere not heavily dominated by globalization, or at least not yet... Something that gives you a strong sense that you are in a different place, which I rarely get whenever I travel. By far in where I've been for vacation, everywhere almost looks the same -with one or two exceptions of course-.. Similar signs on the roads, the same music in radios, the same food chain, similar transport system, the same shops & brands on the streets (sickeningly said as measure of civilisation!). I suspect though, there are still plenty of popular places in the world that can answer my travel wish. Based on this suspicion, a very little knowledge and some very minimum reading material, I've made a list.
So here's my wishlist (not in order of prority):
.....and the list is still growing, I'm very sure I still miss some of my wanna-travel-to-places in this list...... This already seems pretty long though, so hopefully I have the time, finance, and health to materialize this wish.. Amen! :)
Any recommendation of unknown exotic paradise that you know of? Please shout, if possible with the description of the route and how to get there (hehe, the last one is only joking, but welcomed)
So what's your wishlist?
Reader Comments (13)
wow, what a sweet surprise to receive a comment from you.. someone from Bhutan! thanks for the link, i knew it that your country is a very special place... I didnt know though that Aman has 5 properties in Bhutan.. :D Thank you Lotrin, for the link, hubby and I really want to visit Bhutan someday, hopefully the time will come soon.
@undercover:
heghegheg.. namanya juga wish, boleh sepanjang-panjangnya kaan.. :)
My advice, take a month to go to every places there.
I only spend my time in Delhi and Hyderabad, but I do have a time to visit Taj and others.
Even though people may say that am blind, but I still miss India like crazy, love the color, amazing beads ...
Wish that you have a chance to go there.
Mt. Bromo, ow come on, girl.
Next time you come to Indonesia, you've to visit Mt. Bromo, ride the horse early morning before sun rise..ck..ck..ck... the fascinating moment :-)
Kalau wish list ku yang deked2 dulu aja : Korea, Cina, Hongkong, Vietnam pengen juga, Bali, Lombok, Manado, Makasar.. haha kok banyak yg indo ya.. :P
My wishlist: Galapagos, Reykyavik, Sweden (Scandinavia in general deh), Tokyo, Sydney, New Zealand, Fiji, Rio de Janeiro, Caribbean, Dublin, Bunaken, Great Barrier Reef, etc etc
yup grand canyon, maybe i should go there, i heard from the ones who have been there it is very nice... only thing is to get the visa is a bit pain, probably! will see.. :)
@tere616:
India! That's it, a must see..!!
Yes girl, I'm that pethatic, never been to Bromo, it's been in my list for years, but it's always been slipped.
@ika natassa:
yah begitulah say, kerjaan gw cuma liburan, planning buat next liburan sama giliran pas lagi kerja ngos-ngosan cover kolega yang liburan juga... hekekekek...
@sakuralady:
hello girl, yup been in vietnam, tp gak nyempetin yoga tuh dulu, belum yoga juga sih, hehehe... Iyaa, di Indonesia juga banyaaaak yag belum di-tick yah, huwuh, payah deh padahal negara sendiri.. :D
@anakzaman:
oh iyaa, betul juga. Taro lagi deh: Maldives. Seru ya di situ?
here's the snapshots:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/359461804NATOaH
That's also one of my wishlist... which i dunno where I could spare a time to go
Agree.. Yemen is in my list now, I've just updated it. And the list above is not in order of priority, so nevermind... :D
@Avante:
Woww, thanks Avante! That's stunning view we have there in Ciamis..
I'll try to visit next time.. Thanks, dear!
Here's my wishlist: Bora-Bora, Barcelona, Maldives, Prague, Morocco, St. Pietersburg, Phi Phi Island, Tokyo, Egypt... duh banyak yaaaa.... gimana iniiiiii.... :)) one time at a time dulu deh yaa... ^-^