Friday, May 09, 2008

Add them to the list

When planning travels (which, admittedly, we don't do much of anymore), we tend to be big fans of TripAdvisor for reviews of hotels. You can't rely on it blindly, and you have to take some of the comments with a grain of salt, but overall it can be really helpful in identifying nice places and avoiding dumps.

We recently got an email with their list of readers' top 100 destinations in the world. Of course any list of that nature will be subjective, and it all depends on what you're looking for, but it was interesting to scan the list and see where we had been, wanted to go, etc. So, the list (with places we've been starred *) and a few editorial comments:

1) Milford Sound, New Zealand - 5 out of the top 100 are in New Zealand, which we've never been to--how much did the Lord of the Rings films have to do with that?
2) Queenstown, New Zealand
3) Philipsburg, St.Maarten
4) Cayo Largo, Cuba - I'm sure it's nice, but since our ever-so-effective embargo of Cuba is still in effect, I don't imagine we'll get there anytime soon.
5) Rhodes, Greece - Greece was one of those places I always felt like we should go, but I never really wanted to go. So, we never went. Mistake?
6) Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
7) Cruz Bay, St. John, U.S. Virgin Island
8) Bridgetown, Barbados A string of nice Caribbean places we've never been...but we are going to Puerto Rico next week, which we're looking forward to.
9) Banff, Alberta, Canada I confuse this with numbers 19, 77, and 88. But I hear it's nice.
*10) Lake Tahoe California, United States - Hey, finally someplace I've been! Beautiful, but Top 10?
*11) Salzburg, Austria - Gretchen has been, but not me. We almost went on a side trip from Munich (#75), but we couldn't pull it off. Supposedly the Sound of Music tours are kitschy fun, but since I'm one of the five people in the U.S. who's never seen that movie, it probably wouldn't have meant much to me.
12) Cape Town, South Africa - As much as I'm glad I got to Africa (Senegal & Kenya), I never got out of the cities and Gretchen never got to go at all. This probably would have been the easiest place from which to explore one corner of Africa, but I guess 'twas not meant to be.
13) Amalfi, Italy - We almost went, but someone (perhaps The Big Finn?) helpfully pointed out that you need to take stairs everywhere in Amalfi, which wouldn't have exactly been convenient with a baby and stroller. So we went to Capri instead, which ended up being a good choice.
14) Bath, England - For some reason, this is one place I really never had any interest in seeing.
*15) Siena, Italy - Loved it.
*16 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
17) Hamilton, Bermuda
18) Dingle, Ireland - I just love that name, "Dingle." It brings out my inner Beavis and Butthead.
19) Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada - See #9
*20) Bruges, Belgium - Overrun with tourists, but certainly nicer than Brussels. I think I might want to see the movie, "In Bruges".
21) Marigot, St. Martin
*22) Sydney, Australia - Should be higher.
*23) Cairns, Australia - Shouldn't be on the list at all. The surrounding area is great, but the advice we got from everyone we talked to was to fly into Cairns and immediately head up to Port Douglas (#60) instead.
*24) Kyoto, Japan - Definitely.
*25) Lucerne, Switzerland - If you want to see a quintessentially Swiss city, this is probably the one to see.
*26) Vatican City - Certainly, but couldn't this be combined with Rome (#87)?
27) Edinburgh, Scotland - Of all the places we missed in Europe while we lived there, this ranks really high on the list of regrets.
*28) Big Sur, California, United States - Everyone should make the drive from Southern California to Northern California (or vice-versa) on Highway 1 at least once in their lives.
*29) San Gimignano, Italy - Pretty, but there are so many more tourists than locals that it didn't feel like a real working town. We liked other hill towns better.
30) Byron Bay, Australia - When I looked on Google Maps to see where it was located, I saw that it wasn't far from Woodenbong, Murwillumbah, Mullumbimby, Pallamallawa, Wee Waa, Toowoomba, and Blackbutt. I don't think any place in the world has better names than Australia.
31) Male, Maldives - We really, really, really wanted to vacation in the Maldives--although not in Male, which I hadn't thought was all that great--but it was just too expensive.
32) Seven Mile Beach, Cayman Islands
*33) Florence, Italy
*34) San Francisco, California, United States -This should be much higher...definitely in my personal top 10, maybe top 5.
*35) Chichen Itza, Mexico - I spent more time driving there and back than I actually did at the site, but it was still worth it.
36) Pompeii, Italy
37) Auckland, New Zealand
*38) Poipu, Hawaii, United States - It was fine, but if I had to pick one place on Kauai it would be Hanalei, not Poipu...and it wouldn't even be close.
39) Abu Simbel, Egypt - I know it's dirty and chaotic and noisy, but I still think Cairo should be on this list somewhere.
*40) Sedona, Arizona, United States - All the new age stuff is a little over-the-top, but if you can ignore all that the red rock formations are spectacular.
*41) New Orleans, Louisiana, United States - Haven't been back since Katrina.
42) Galway, Ireland
*43) Heidelberg, Germany - Probably worth being on the list, but top 50?
*44) Monte-Carlo, Monaco - I liked the train ride along the coast from Nice, and I'm glad I went just for the novelty of it, but overall...eh. Definitely not top 100.
*45) Carmel, California, United States - A bit hoity-toity, but see #28.
46) Wanaka, New Zealand
47) Oranjestad Aruba
48) Christchurch, New Zealand
*49) Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany - Like San Gimignano (#29), it felt like it existed purely for tourists. But we also had a great meal at a Kartoffelstube there, so that counts for something.
*50) Venice, Italy - It was one of our favorite trips, but then again we were there when the crowds were light and the weather was beautiful, and our room had a terrace overlooking the Grand Canal...I've heard plenty of people complain about the mobs of tourists, the stench of the canals in the heat of summer, etc. We got lucky.
*51) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - Canada's Seattle (hey...why didn't Seattle make the list?).
*52) Napa, California, United States - Should be Sonoma, not Napa.
53) Luxor, Egypt
54) York, England
55) Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada
56) Lahaina, Hawaii, United States - I love Hawaii (even if I've never been to Maui).
*57) Paris France - Only #57? C'mon, it's freakin' Paris!
*58) La Jolla, California, United States - Spent four five years going to school there...really beautiful, but so wealthy that it's not the easiest place to be a poor college student.
*59) Melbourne, Australia - Nice, but I'm not sure how much we would have enjoyed it if we didn't have friends who lived there. The Great Ocean Road was, well, great. Melbourne seemed like one of those places that would be great to live but less interesting to visit.
*60) Port Douglas, Australia - Should replace Cairns (#23). Would go back in a heartbeat.
61) Quebec City, Quebec, Canada - How have we not been here when it's so close?
*62) Prague, Czech Republic - If I wanted to see a well-preserved Central European city that hadn't been completely overrun by tourists (which, sadly, would eliminate Prague), I'd take Krakow.
63) St. Petersburg, Russia - One of my colleagues had a meeting there and was propositioned by a prostitute in the elevator of his hotel--while his wife was back in the room. Evidently someone also kept checking their doorknob throughout the night to see if it would open. But I hear the city is nice.
64) Versailles, France - Missing this one is sort of embarrassing. I actually had a colleague who drove there from Basel--about a five-hour drive--with his wife and two children, saw Versailles, then got back in his car and drove back that same day.
*65) Assisi, Italy - I seem to remember we really enjoyed it, but it was also the 349th charming hill town we saw on our trip to Tuscany and Umbria, so we were a little jaded by that point.
*66) Jackson, Wyoming, United States - Gateway to the Grand Tetons (or, very roughly translated from French, the "Big Boobs"). Beautiful area.
67) Stratford-upon-Avon, England
68) Jerusalem, Israel
69) Ubud, Indonesia
70) Ephesus, Turkey - Supposed to be nice, but no Istanbul?
*71) Wailea, Hawaii, United States - See #56.
*72) Interlaken, Switzerland - This is a bit deceiving, because Interlaken itself is nothing that special (it even has a Hooters!), but the area surrounding it is absolutely spectacular.
*73) West Yellowstone, Montana, United States - We keep saying someday we'll do a big drive around the West to see the national parks...I guess the key word is "someday".
74) Positano, Italy - See Amalfi (#13).
*75) Munich, Germany - A cool city, and probably an excellent place to live, but can't you be a little edgy and find room for Berlin on this list?
76) Cayo Guillermo, Cuba - See #4.
77) Whistler, British Columbia, Canada - See #9.
78) Noosa, Australia - See #30.
*79) Singapore, Singapore - We enjoyed visiting friends, but the city (or is it a city-state?) didn't seem to have much of a soul.
*80) Amsterdam, The Netherlands - LOVE Amsterdam. Love it. Did I mention we love Amsterdam? Should be much higher.
81) Aix-en-Provence, France - Along with Edinburgh (#27), I regret that we didn't get to Provence.
82) Ko Phi Phi Don, Thailand - We could have taken a day trip from Phuket, but opted not to. What I like about this place is that "Phi Phi" is actually pronounced "pee pee".
*83) Honolulu, Hawaii, United States - There are probably 20 places in Hawaii that could be on this list...and Honolulu isn't one of them.
*84) London, England - Should be higher, although having to take out a second mortgage on your house just to afford a couple of nights in a mid-range hotel doesn't help.
85) Killarney, Ireland
*86) Copenhagen, Denmark - We're pretty sure we could live there.
*87) Rome, Italy - We're pretty sure we couldn't live there...but it sure is a fun place to visit.
88) Jasper, Alberta, Canada - See #9.
89) Knysna, South Africa
*90) Barcelona, Spain - I'm getting hungry thinking about it.
91) Hana, Hawaii, United States
92) Bar Harbor, Maine, United States
*93) Innsbruck, Austria - I'm pretty sure Gretchen has been there.
94) Boulder, Colorado, United States
*95) Tokyo, Japan - One of the most fascinating big cities in the world and it's only #95?
96) Mont-St-Michel, France
97) Machu Picchu, Peru - I wish...although I feel like every time I hear about someone going, they have a story about being violently ill at some point.
*98) Charleston, South Carolina, United States
*99) Toledo, Spain - Toledo, Spain: yes. Toledo, Ohio: not so much.
*100) Monterey, California, United States - If things like money, family, and friends were not an issue, this might be at the top of my list of places to live.