Unusual travel destinations

[candrew]

We visited Chuuk, Micronesia and did a 9 day live-aboard diving WWII shipwrecks at Truk Lagoon. Apart from the scuba diving, I'm not sure that Chuuk has much else to offer.

Spent 3 months traveling nearly the entirety of New Zealand from Cape Reinga on the North Island to Invercargill in the South. Did a homestay with a Maori family on the East Cape and went to surfing school in Raglan. New Zealand is incredible. We made friends while there on our first visit and returned two years later for another look around!

Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia is ruggedly beautiful. I have extended family on my mother's side that live there.

 

[Momcpa]

Job in Kwajalein? Interesting.

I knew some guys who worked there on a Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) project 20 years ago. I wonder if there's any project going on there now. Not a whole lot to do on this 1-square-mile atoll.

For people who do not know, you don't go there unless the US government invites or permits you to.

Our son worked on the Atoll for 7 years. He just left there about 4 years ago when he got married and moved to the Philippines. He was a Safety Engineer. Originally from the Midwest 'bread-basket', he developed great skills and enthusiasm for scuba diving while he was there. We enjoyed hearing about the 'atoll life', his housing, his foods, etc while he was there. He wasn't military but worked for a sub-contractor on the military base.

 

[Momcpa]

We visited Chuuk, Micronesia and did a 9 day live-aboard diving WWII shipwrecks at Truk Lagoon. Apart from the scuba diving, I'm not sure that Chuuk has much else to offer.

The son I mentioned above who lived/worked on Kwajalein, did a number of 'live aboard' diving vacations. He visited the Truk Lagoon and dove amongst the shipwrecks there. He also dove near Kwaj and noted some interesting remnants of planes and ships on those dives.

A number of his co-workers/friends from the Atoll, worked there for a number of years, then left to come back to the States, then returned to Kwaj for a few more years employment.

 

[NW-Bound]

The furthest north I have been is the Lofoten Islands of Norway (been to the Orkneys too).
The furthest south is Tierra del Fuego, near Porvenir, Chile.
.

I love the photo of the Norwegian sea and the islands.

My original 2020 travel plan was to the Scandinavian countries until COVID derailed all the planning. However, I did not plan to go that far north to the Lofoten. If I recall correctly, I included Trondheim in the stops.

When I go, will now consider going further up north, maybe Tromso, to see what's there.

 

[REWahoo]

In the same vein, I would add Wake Island. Fascinating and tragic history. I lived there as a kid in the ‘60s. All but impossible to get approval to visit now days, though.

My crew and I spent five days there in the early 1970's when the aircraft we were ferrying from Korea (South, of course ) to the US broke down. We also spent a few days on Midway Island on that same trip, while waiting for favorable weather to make the next hop to up to Adak. Fun trip.

 

[COcheesehead]

Here’s my domestic list. All places we’ve been to and are worth a visit.
All unique in their own way.

Door County, WI
Giant City, Carbondale, IL
Palisade, CO
Bayfield, WI
Gateway, CO
Moab, UT
Salida, CO
Flat Tops, CO

 

[NW-Bound]

Unusual travel destinations?

Being an RV'er, of course I have driven by or spent the night in many weird remote spots, but these would not be called travel destinations. They are just random spots.

But how about this place, where people have to pay a small amount to go look at it. Would that not be a "travel destination"?

It's Berkeley Pit, right near downtown Butte Montana. The former copper mine pit has been an EPA Superfund site. It's filled with water with acidity of lemon juice, and laden with toxic heavy metals.


Photo from Wikipedia:

 

[Souschef]

Iguassu Falls-you actually can go under the cataracts with Macucu Safari boats. We subsequently went to Niagara falls and sort of chuckled at it.
A flight over the Nazca lines was amazing

 

[explanade]

The furthest north I have been is the Lofoten Islands of Norway (been to the Orkneys too).
The furthest south is Tierra del Fuego, near Porvenir, Chile.
.

Is the first photo a drone shot?

Or did you climb a mountain?

I think
You meant to post in the furthest south you’ve been thread?

 

[explanade]

Faroe Islands look insane. Already bookmarked some locations.

Haven’t been to Copenhagen, which is suppose to be a gateway, or Iceland.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Faroe Islands look insane. Already bookmarked some locations.

Haven’t been to Copenhagen, which is suppose to be a gateway, or Iceland.

I lived for a year in Sweden not far from Copenhagen. Copenhagen is one of my favorite cities but partly because I am very familiar. Never been to Iceland although I was planning a trip there when they were one of the few places allowing tourists in 2021. Iceland has my interest because I speak Swedish and can sort of understand Icelandic. Icelandic is to Swedish almost like Modern English is to Middle English, lots of old words, old grammar patterns, and so forth.

Farthest north is Narvik Norway, farthest south Tidbinbilla Australia.

 

[Ronstar]

Here’s my domestic list. All places we’ve been to and are worth a visit.
All unique in their own way.

Door County, WI
Giant City, Carbondale, IL
Palisade, CO
Bayfield, WI
Gateway, CO
Moab, UT
Salida, CO
Flat Tops, CO

Flat Tops looks interesting. Gotta like a domestic place where no driving directions are available on Google maps.

 

[HawkOwl]

My crew and I spent five days there in the early 1970's when the aircraft we were ferrying from Korea (South, of course ) to the US broke down. We also spent a few days on Midway Island on that same trip, while waiting for favorable weather to make the next hop to up to Adak. Fun trip.

Would love to go back some day. It was heaven for a 7 year old, with so many wwii relics to explore, the beaches and the ocean…

Wake was a stop on the Pan Am Clipper route before WWII, and then was a major battlefield at the beginning of the war.

At the time that we lived there, it was a refueling stop for flying troops between the mainland and Vietnam. There were about 2000 military and civilian residents, including families with children. As aviation improved and planes were developed that could fly non-stop across the Pacific, it went into a decline for a few decades. From what I understand it is now a major hub for Air Force and missile defense against China. Understandably they don’t want a lot of tourists trapping around.

 

[dixonge]

Leaving out those mentioned by others:

Galapagos Islands
Chile - Santiago area for Carmenere vineyards
Argentina
- Mendoza region for Malbec vineyards
- Iguazu Falls
- Petit Moreno glacier
- Punto Tombo (Megallanic penguin colony)
Europe
- France
-- Provence and Lyon
-- Nancy
Copenhagen

This is in addition to all of the general touristy reasons to visit places. Lots of sight-seeing to do in Europe, of course. Genealogy-related visits to northeast Ireland and northern UK are mandatory. Also currently reading Simon Winder's trilogy centered around Germany:

- Germania
- Danubia
- Lotharingia

It makes me want to see more places than I will be able to fit into the rest of our lifetime, I fear.

 

[brett]

In S/E Asia

Baan Krut, Thailand (plus many other non touristy areas when we snowbird)

Da Lat, Vietnam

Kampot, Cambodia

Guilin, China

Cameron Highlands and Penang Malaysia

 

[isisdave]

Here's a few

Mitad del Mundo in Quito, Ecuador - I want to set foot on the equator

Be sure to see both the monument, which is 240 meters from the actual equator, and the real one, which is apparently on a dirt road.

https://www.ecuadorhop.com/mitad-del-mundo-ecuador/

==============

You might like Svalbard. If you have an extra 1-2 days, and can find transportation, take a trip to Barentsburg, which is like visiting the Soviet Union in the 1960s.

Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland are still on my list. And the Channel Islands. At 73, I'd better get on with it.

 

[Ronstar]

Be sure to see both the monument, which is 240 meters from the actual equator, and the real one, which is apparently on a dirt road.

https://www.ecuadorhop.com/mitad-del-mundo-ecuador/

==============

You might like Svalbard. If you have an extra 1-2 days, and can find transportation, take a trip to Barentsburg, which is like visiting the Soviet Union in the 1960s.

Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland are still on my list. And the Channel Islands. At 73, I'd better get on with it.

Thanks - I don't understand why all of these geographic monuments are not at the correct places. That bugs me.

 

[Souschef]

Be sure to see both the monument, which is 240 meters from the actual equator, and the real one, which is apparently on a dirt road.

https://www.ecuadorhop.com/mitad-del-mundo-ecuador/

.

You can buy a small model of the monument filled with a delightful liquor. I have one.

 

[brett]

Pre covid we did a lot of extended spontaneous travel. Sometimes ended up in places we never thought we would and had never heard about. We are starting up again this winter.

Once in a while we were surprised by who we met up with and where. After our land trip in Cambodia we crossed the border into Thailand and took a ferry to Phu Quok, an island off the south coast of Cambodia and Vietnam.

We had booked a small, family run oceanside resort. Our cabin was a few meters from the sea. The restaurant tables were sitting on sand.

We arrived, we to the bar to check in. A man turned around and spoke to us in English. He was from Vancouver, Canada. A city where we had previously lived for 20 plus years. His first comment was welcome, his second was how did you find your way here? It turned out that he was a friend of the family and came each year to help them with guests and with their computer booking system.

Some of our best memories are from some of those out of the way places. We took a trip while in Da Lat, Vietnam with a local guide. He took us to a small town and we walked about on our own. This old gentleman came up and smiled and started to speak in halting English. I switched to my rather poor French and his eyes lit up. We spent 10 minutes with him. He had apparently not spoken French in a number of years.

It is the same when we travel in Europe. It the part of travel that we enjoy the most. The unexpected. Often far more interesting and far more enjoyable to us that some of the 'top sites' in our guidebooks that we visit.

 

[Sunset]

Thanks - I don't understand why all of these geographic monuments are not at the correct places. That bugs me.

I suppose after it had been there for over 200+ years, it was sort of a tradition and all built up.

From the site:
"The original or first equator was marked by Charles-Marie de La Condamine in the year 1736. He pinpointed the Middle of the World in the days when there were no GPS systems, so it’s still somewhat impressive that he missed by just 240 meters."



How about the tomb of the Unknown soldier, which one Is there really someone there Do DNA and can move him

 

[Gumby]

We really enjoyed going to Madeira.

 

[tenant13]

My most “exotic” destination was the southern tip of Japan located on a tiny island Hateruma. It’s a popular day trip destination for Japanese staying in Okinawa but rarely for westerners. I have to agree with others that popular destinations can be overrated - or at least so crowded that it’s hard to turn visiting them into a pleasant experience. A good example is Santorini - mind bogglingly beautiful but insanely crowded. My favorite places are the ones that thrive on their own - meaning they don’t depend on tourist traffic (like parts Thailand for example or increasingly: Vietnam). So as alternative to Santorini I would recommend Syros and in Asia : Taiwan. But if you do want to see Machu Picchu or Iguazu (or Santorini), please do - they are amazing.

 

[SecondAttempt]

"The original or first equator was marked by Charles-Marie de La Condamine in the year 1736. He pinpointed the Middle of the World in the days when there were no GPS systems, so it’s still somewhat impressive that he missed by just 240 meters."

In Hawaii most of the original land surveys were done based on a ship's position. The navigators and surveyors were actually pretty good but were no match for modern GPS. They also did not understand a few things like the oblateness of the earth. So they would start with a ship's location, survey a little area, then the next ship would pick up.

So that has resulted in conflicting legal descriptions and deeds in Hawaii. As a result, Hawaii courts generally will not enforce property disputes over a few feet of land. The legal description in our deeds almost always ends with "more or less." In other words, you own your land but if you can't agree with your neighbor where the property line is, we're not going to jump in. You have to work that out on your own.

There are also a few areas of "no man's land" that are literally unowned. These are usually just small triangles or wedges of land a few feet wide. But they are literally unowned. In most of the US all land can be traced back to either conquest or purchase by the government from another country (France, Spain, Mexico, Russia mainly). In Hawaii all land ownership traces back to the Great Mahele (Division) and is based on traditionally recognized ahupua'a (literally "pig piles") where tributes would be left for the chief. Often the strict location is lost but they are still left in legal descriptions for land.

 

[bobbyr]

Lake of the Ozarks because of the tv show Ozarks. I like that house.

I loved that house where the family lived, but I think the series was shot in Georgia.
We spend a fair amount of time in the Ozarks (Arkansas) and it can be quite beautiful. Great river and lake fishing, generally quiet and peaceful.

 

[2017ish]

Currently in Montevideo for the weekend between rapanui, antarctic cruise, and our big Patagonia journey. Initial impressions are positive, which means we may come back. (DW looking for a returnable winter destination for many trips, and we haven't found it yet.)

Looking at various suggestions above, we really enjoyed Tonga, although it was essentially a dedicated swim with humpbacks for a week trip. So too, diving in Solomon's (marovo lagoon) was great--on par with fiji and new guinea).

Egypt was ok in early 2021; we'd say no reason to delay. But driving around Jordan was better, in our opinion.

Good luck on managing that wish list!