What destinations or experiences exceeded your expectations?

[SecondCor521]

2017 solar eclipse with my sister and some friends
Swimming with manta rays at night off Kona, Hawaii
Glacier/Waterton International Peace Park
Summiting Nevada and Hawaii state high points with my kids
Subtle coloring and organic architecture - interior of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
Vienna - the main art museum

Lots of other good to great experiences but "exceeding expectations" is a high bar. I think it also depends on personal likes and dislikes.

 

[Gumby]

I would have to say that Machu Picchu is one of the few places I have been where the real thing was better than the photos in National Geographic.

 

[COcheesehead]

Portugal, especially the Douro Valley which is an Unesco World Heritage site. Remote, ancient, beautiful.

Amalfi Coast around Ravello. Spectacular hiking, great food, great
people.

Pompeii. The ancients were far more advanced than I was ever taught in school.

 

[oiseux]

I think the ones that probably exceeded my expectations are the ones that I still have some pretty vivid memories or, as someone mentioned, where you want to go back. But there are many places I'd return that maybe didn't exceed my expectations, but just have a depth of experiences bearing more in depth exploration like London, Paris, Provence, Tuscany, Tokyo. I've been to 45+ countries.

Here are a few:
scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef
hiking Cascade Pass, North Cascades NP
Ankor Wat
Southern Sicily
sailing the blue coast in Turkey
dead woman's pass, Macchu Picchu
Jungfrau, Switzerland
Eze/La Turbie, France
Lanai / Four Seasons
Pebble Beach/Carmel
The peloponnese peninsula, Greece
Ronda, Spain
Great Ocean Road in south Australia
Southern Rhone wine district
Luxor complex, Egypt
Black Butte hike, Northern California
Aiguilles du Midi, Mt Blanc
Kamakura, Japan
helicopter/glacier trip on Mt Cook, NZL
Kubu Beach Bali (private cove at resort)
climbing Acatenengo volcano, Guatemala
Southern Tuscany, Montepulciano/Montalcino

 

[Jenna]

Venice... wasn't on my radar at all but my man wanted to go. I have never been so moved by a place. I teared up and I'm not a very emotional person. We were there in November -great time to beat the crowds.

 

[DrRoy]

Did you take these photos?

Absolutely. Photography and travel are my main activities for RE.

 

[DrRoy]

The Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich.
The Corning Glass museum in Corning, NY

If you liked Corning (been there twice), then try Chihuly.
.

 

[braumeister]

I've enjoyed most of my bucket list trips so much that I would happily return to most of them, but the one that absolutely exceeded all my expectations was the trip to the Galapagos. Utterly blown away by it, partly due to the incredible Ecuadorian naturalist who accompanied us.

 

[ivinsfan]

2017 solar eclipse with my sister and some friends
Swimming with manta rays at night off Kona, Hawaii
Glacier/Waterton International Peace Park
Summiting Nevada and Hawaii state high points with my kids
Subtle coloring and organic architecture - interior of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
Vienna - the main art museum

Lots of other good to great experiences but "exceeding expectations" is a high bar. I think it also depends on personal likes and dislikes.

Great list and I would also say in case the people I did things with were as important if not more important then actual place...


IE after decades of time off issues, I managed to get my DH to London (my birthplace) as we walked from our hotel along the River T passed Big Ben to WA, the connection and feelings were surreal and never forgotten.

 

[foxfirev5]

You certainly can't plan the good times. DW and I ended up at Capt. Tony's in Key West on super bowl night about 15 years ago. No party just a group of the local musicians jamming because there was no place else without the game. Just DW and I with some local fishermen, a lost old man and the best music ever. We keep going back but it will never be repeated.

 

[Murph]

Universal theme park, Orlando
Hainan, China
Juijaigou, China (sp?)
Paris (circa 2000)
Rocky Mtn Nat Park, CO

 

[meleana]

Yellowstone National Park/ Grand Teton National Park and Petrified Forest National Park.

And going to the top of Mauna Kea at sunset and star gazing there on the Big Island of Hawaii.

 

[isisdave]

What a great thread! And it reminded me how lucky DW and I have been, because we've been to almost every site mentioned that's not in Asia or Africa.

My eclipse was the 1979 one in Goldendale WA, where it poured all night and cleared about 20 minutes before the big event. And now we live in the path of the 2024 one.

A month in Florence was probably the topper. It's such a different place at night when the tourists have all left.

Thirty pet-sitting gigs across Britain and Ireland were pretty fantastic too. A great thing about pet-sitting is that it brings you to a lot of places you'd never have chosen to visit.

Galapagos is still on the bucket list. We should do more in eastern Europe too.

 

[Trailwalker]

I would say that the Angels' Landing hike at Zion National Park a few years ago. It has been hyped as a dangerous hike because a dozen or so people have been killed while doing it. We went on a beautiful day, off season, and hiked early enough that it wasn't crowded. Once I was on top, it was just so beautiful and an adrenaline rush that I didn't want to come back down.

 

[Surewhitey]

Back while living in Playa del Carmen, we frequented Mahahual and Belize. A specific place about 20 miles south of Mahahual, there's "a guy" who lives on the beach, collects rain water and sleeps in a hammock, think camping on the beach.

We struck up a conversation (multi-lingual) and he took us spear fishing. We returned many times & brought camping gear, a small gas grill, veggies and rum for the coconuts. We would swim out, catch our choice of protein for the next meal...

We enjoyed grouper, snapper, trigger, lionfish, octopus & lobster. He also cooked up some grouper lungs, eggs & liver... They don't waste anything edible. Reef is so close to shore, we swim out and the water is the clearest I've experienced.

 

[Surewhitey]

A close second is driving north from Glacier (another). We drove up to Jasper Alberta & the views are out of this world. This was late September...

 

[EastWest Gal]

10 day self driving tour around Iceland at the summer solstice. We got somewhat lost a couple of times, as the directions had some issues, such as indicating a turn onto a road that didn’t exist but was a field of volcanic rocks. We never had to worry about getting lost at night, because it never got dark. The sheep, a herd of reindeer, the volcanoes, the waterfalls, the puffins, the aggressive arctic terns, the hot springs, the sod houses. It was glorious.

 

[braumeister]

10 day self driving tour around Iceland at the summer solstice.

Thanks for that idea. I've been to a bunch of places in Iceland, but never thought of driving the whole ring road. That's going on my list!

 

[financemups]

three trips were real standouts for me:

I traveled to Churchill, Manitoba in 2015 to see the polar bear migration (happens real close to Halloween) and it was pretty mind-blowing for me but i am super into bear conservation and wasn't daunted by the hassle of getting out there - it is way out in nowhere, Canadian subarctic.

Israel, 2013 - I was sent there for work, but the work part of it was done very early in the trip and the return flight cost was cheaper if I stayed for a little bit so I took every tour I could get. I do not have any religious affiliation, so I saw all kinds of stuff - Christian, Jewish, Palestinian. I just really liked the vibe there and the people. It was super cool too see ancient historical sites and kind of do "middle east" light.

Cuba, 2003 - AMAZING. My uncle had gone in the early 1990s and raved, I wanted to see the cool old cars. Was very difficult to arrange the travel (I did it through a visa, like "humanitarian aid" light, and I am not sure you can do that method anymore if you're American).

 

[Koolau]

The first time I went snorkeling I thought it might be like fishing where I'd see a fish every hour, if I was lucky. Instead the first time we went into the water we were surrounded by hundreds of colorful fish. Snorkeling has always been one of my favorite things to do. Seeing whales up close from our whale watching boat was also pretty memorable.

Whitewater rafting was a blast.

Yeah, our first snorkeling was off Captain Cook on Big Island, HI. Apparently, the fish there are used to the snorkeling charters and know that once everyone is in the water, the crew will throw bread (cast their bread upon the water.) The fish literally boil up around you. It was a bit intimidating at first but quite beautiful.

Totally a "tourist" thing to do but one of my more memorable Hawaiian adventures as a tourist. Well worth the effort if you're on the Kona side.

The other memorable Hawaii "touristy" thing we enjoyed more than we thought was the submarine Atlantis. Oddly, there is less to see than I would have thought. There is an artificial reef that has some fish and the occasional turtle. But the experience of a "free dive" sub was truly amazing.

 

[marko]

You certainly can't plan the good times. DW and I ended up at Capt. Tony's in Key West on super bowl night about 15 years ago. No party just a group of the local musicians jamming because there was no place else without the game. Just DW and I with some local fishermen, a lost old man and the best music ever. We keep going back but it will never be repeated.

+1. Sometimes the most memorable things are completely unscripted, unplanned and totally spontaneous.

We were in a small diner once and two people just got up and started boogying when " Leroy Brown" came up on the jukebox. They were in their own little world and the whole place just stopped and watched. It was magic! And it cannot be repeated.

 

[Toast]

What a great thread! It brought back wonderful memories, and I’m getting some great ideas for future trips.

Bavaria. I feel fortunate to have lived in Germany for many years.

Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the Petrified forest. Pure majesty.

The 2017 eclipse in Oregon. Watching from our yard. I am not “into” that sort of think so was not expecting it to impact me to the extent it did. People everywhere. Excitement, talking, laughter filled the air. Then, a hush fell, and your were surrounded by total silence. It gives me chills remembering it. Then, clapping and cheering as loud as I have ever experienced at any concert or ball game spontaneously erupted. Once in a lifetime experience!

Carlsbad Caverns.

Chihuly in Seattle

Alaskan wildlife.

Snorkeling in Cancun at a natural pond. Fish of every color all around.

Panamanian rainforest.

Seeing Jesus Christ Superstar live with Ted Neely, Carl Anderson, Yvonne Elliman, and other cast members from the 1973 movie. Just wow!

Seeing Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk starring Savion Glover.

Seeing Garth Brooks at Notre Dame stadium. Such a cool experience! Filmed for a TV special.

 

[Koolau]

Talk about unscripted and difficult to reproduce or predict AND exceeding expectations:

30 years ago or so, went to Nashville for some Country music. Went to Boots Randolph's club. IIRC it was a $25 cover - each. Also, it was packed out and there was a line. So we made our way down to Broadway (sort of the "skid row" of Nashville at the time.) There were several small clubs and seedy bars - most with live entertainment. We did the whole strip over several hours and saw half a dozen or more "acts" as good as most country acts I had seen - and they were playing for tips-in-a-hat-on-a-bar-stool by the band. Classic Country, R&R, Blues, original songs, etc. What a night. Went back years later (on business) and not much left at the time. I guess Nashville had gotten "civilized" or something. (What's the old expression? You can't go back.)

 

[Yoheadden]

A 2 day basic skills class at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in New York. The wife who hates to cook, booked it for the 2 of us. It was a lot of fun and the campus was amazing just to wander around. It also included dinner at 2 of there restaurants.

Also, on the same trip, just down the road we visited West Point Military Academy. What an amazing place to tour and take in all of the history.

 

[qwerty3656]

Everyone talks about the Grand Canyon, but I was much more impressed by Bryce Canyon and the surrounding areas (eg Lake Powell area)