Where would you go if you could go any place in the world?

[jrbren_vt]

Fun topic. My answer is of course, "it depends". What do you want out of the trip ? Trekking/hiking/climbing trip ? How much time do you have (personally I would not do anything at altitude Asia unless I had at least 3 weeks due to travel time, jet lag & acclimatization time ) ? Does the US count as anyplace in the world given you mention you have never been outside of the US, implying you want to travel internationally. Alaska and Hawaii would be ruled out if no. Does Canada count as another country ? The Canadian Rockies are spectacular. There are so many good answers to this. I have been to Canada (never lived more then 2 hours drive from the border until 2 years ago, now ~5 hours away by car), Mexico, Ladakh, Nepal, and most recently Ecuador. Many places I want to visit before I get too old, including return trips to the above mentioned. Next year I am considering a hiking/climbing trip to either Peru (S.America, not NY), the Alps (never been to Europe), or maybe Alaska (weather scares me, I do not want to spend two weeks in a tent waiting out storms and then go home as so many trip reports indicate that what Alaska trips can be). For culture and history its hard to beat Nepal and northern India (Ladakh). Ladakh is said to be more like old Tibet then Tibet, given the Chinese take over and subsequent development of the region. When I was there we were lucky enough to attend a Dalai Lama speech there. Although I did not understand a word he was saying, it was still very moving to me. Most of these trips I go there for the mountains, but come away with treasured experiences with the people and local cultures. Doug Shaw's post about the Maritime provinces reminds me I should consider those given their relative proximity to me. For that matter many things to do in Maine, I always say maybe next year.

[Doug Shaw]

Another good option for the virgin international traveler with a yen for the outdoors would be Scotland... Mountains galore, easier to get to than Patagonia or New Zealand, and maintains the ease-into factor of being English-speaking (though sometimes you may wonder if that's true...).

[Scott P]

Maybe Antarctica since it's the only continent I haven't been to.

I would also really like to climb Khan Tengri or Ama Dablam some day, which would be at the top of my list.

Some places I'd really like to visit, but haven't been yet, are Baffin Island, Greenland, Iceland, Papua New Guinea, and West Africa.

I have been to all the countries marked in red, plus some others which I haven't bothered to update yet (i.e. St Lucia). I should have Argentina in January.

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Out of the places I have been (outside the US), Nepal is by far my favorite. Indonesia and Malaysia probably tie for second, then Peru or Canada.

Although we've always had good trips, Spain was probably my least favorite, but still not bad. Nairobi, Nee Delhi, and Agra were my least favorite cities.

Its expensive to fly there, but relatively cheap once you are there,

Apparently, different people have different definitions of "cheap". New Zealand was our most expensive trip ever and we mostly trekked and only stayed in hostels or camped when not trekking. We also took only buses. It was still a good trip, but our travel budget took a big hit for a while afterwards. I think our tally for New Zealand-Australia trip was just $8,600 for two people and one 7 month old, for five weeks, including airfare, back in 2002-2003. Beautiful country though. Unlike some other places, I think the entire country of New Zealand is scenic.

[onebyone]

Yeah, almost anywhere you go will be great. I always say that the hardest part of any trip is buying the plane tkt. Once you do that, you're committed. LOL
My trips usually have a focus, like:
1) Antiquities and history- Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, etc. were big ones for me. A lot of people aren't into antiquities, though.
2) Nature/ Wildlife - too many places to mention. Gorillas in Rwanda and Orangutans in Borneo and Safari Okavango Delta and Pantanal and Katmai Coast and Denali were my favorites. Safaris in the Serengetti and India get honorable mention, but high impact from too many tourists.
3) Culture- again, too many to mention here. For me, Mynamar, India, Tibet and Bolivia were pretty impressionable.
4) Ocean/ Islands- especially if you dive.
5) World famous Heritage sites: Tikal, Macchu Picchu, Taj Majal, Great Wall, Angkor Wat, Bagan, etc. etc. I loved all of these.

I left out Europe b/c it's so easy to go there and for the same money or less, you can see some amazing places.
Over the next 15 years, we are aiming for Indonesia, Norway-arctic and polar bears, safari in Zambia, Australia, Russia, and Antarctica.
Prob won't get it all done, but that's the wish list. LOL

[aweskamp]

It's a toss-up between Akron, CO and Branson, MO

[aweskamp]

^^ mainly because of the culture

[timf]

Well first I have to do well at this upcoming trip to Mexico, but...

Would like to some day to Aconcagua if I knew it was clean or a little more pristine.
Otherwise my more preferable destination options over the next 2-5 years include (in order of preference):

Bolivia (Parinacota, Pomerape, & Sajama)

Argentina (Tupungato or Mercedario)

Imja Tse maybe.

[fleetmack]

Back to New Zealand in a second. Or Patagonia. By far my top two places to revisit.

Those are #1 & #2 on my list. Almost did Patagonia 2 years ago but it didn't work out, hope to some day, may be tough with fleetbaby on the way....

My offering to those who haven't been would be the trip I did last year to Zambia/Zimbabwe/S. Africa. We went to Victoria Falls for a few days, then did a 5 day tented Safari near Krueger National Park, then we went over to Cape Town for a week or so, then over to wine country (Franschooek) for a few days, and capped the trip with shark cage diving. I would do that entire trip again in a second. Only change would be (coming from a beer and non-wine drinker) would be another day or two in wine country, and would possibly do a different/additional side trip somewhere down there - maybe Mozambique. Would love to do a gorilla trek, but Uganda is too far from S. Africa to do that on a quick 2-3 week trip while keeping all the other things on the agenda. Regardless, being pretty well traveled, I can easily say that Africa, in general, is where it's at.

[Scott P]

Would like to some day to Aconcagua if I knew it was clean or a little more pristine.

I haven't done Aconcagua, but I've heard that it has really been cleaned up in recent years. Maybe someone else who has been there in recent years could elaborate.

[Kiefer]

Kamchatka Peninsula.

[sheller]

Japan- Tokyo, Kyoto, climb Mt Fuji
New Zealand
Kilimanjaro
Machu Picchu
Alps

[pbakwin]

Would like to some day to Aconcagua if I knew it was clean or a little more pristine.

I haven't done Aconcagua, but I've heard that it has really been cleaned up in recent years. Maybe someone else who has been there in recent years could elaborate.

I climbed Aconcagua twice from Plaza de Mulas, last time was 2005. It didn't seem that dirty, considering the number of people there, but I never camped above PdM. You are or were required to have some kind of system for dealing with human waste, but I'm not sure how completely people stick to using that at the higher camps. Aconcagua is definitely a zoo - it's the highest peak in the world that's not in the Himalayas, and the Normal Route is very easy requiring no special skills or equipment. Because of the "zoo" logistics couldn't be easier. If you want "pristine" the obvious thing to do would be go climb Ojos.