I know that hereafter, I will only have 2 weeks of vacation each year, but I plan on making the most of it.
Here are my vacationing preferences, although, I may consider exceptions:
a. Preferably a fashion capital of the world with lots of shopping
b. I’m not into the great outdoors
c. The country is not at war and is not in aggressive political strife
d. Clean water and tolerable E. coli
e. Not a communist country (but Hong Kong is the only exception; I feel strongly about this, so this should not be argued)
f. It’s better if I could have a host or tour guide so that I may learn more about the people and its culture
Here are some places already on my list (in no particular order):
1. Tokyo, Japan
2. Hong Kong, China
3. Rome, Venice, Tuscany, Italy
4. Bangalore, India (only if my Indian friends will take me)
5. Prague, Czech Republic
6. Amsterdam
Any others? Please state the city, country, and your reasons why.
Thanks!
Comments (15)
hong kong isn't really communist.. they're operating under the one country two systems of gov't system, so you can't say the gov't is the same as the chinese communist one... great place to visit though, i highly recommend it.
how about chicago? tokyo is pretty great too
amsterdam!
If you want fashion capital...go to Milan, Italy...fashion lives there
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Sydney, New South Wales, Austrailia
We visited there this past summer and it was amazing! There are tons of tours available for anything you want to see. There are several malls catering from middle to UPPER class within walking distance of downtown (which they don't call downtown, if you say that they look at you like you are crazy. Its called the city center.)
Sydney is VERY clean, and you can get as little or as much outdoors aw you want. if you want to see the mountians (less than two hours away) there are tours available where you stay on the bus the whole time.
It is gorgous there. And we had an awesome trip, I would higly recomond visiting sydeny.
@black_lie@xanga - Also Chi-Town is awesome, I live an hour away, and it never gets old! There is always something new to do or visit!
go to amsterdam, reallyreallyreally! i know it's already on your list, but i cant help but be an enthusiast after experiencing it for myself. if you don't mind a little extra walk/bike, (and are not interested in smoking/drinking in the hostel) stay at the shelter jordan. or anywhere in the jordaan area, its a beautiful&quaint, quieter residential area that gives you a different experience than just the city center, which is still maybe only 15 minutes to centraal station, and another 10 or so to dam square. really... go to amsterdam, as soon and for as long as possible!
oh! or brighton, england!
its small but wonderful. i grew up in st louis where there's like two cool streets total, and its like an entire town of those streets. ive heard it referred to as 'london by the sea,' but its basically a fun, trendy sea town, my favorite city that ive visited in england. i think there are 4 universities there, one of which being a school for music, so its full of hip, young culture and music of all kinds. i suppose that could be a good or bad thing depending on what you're looking for.
I recommend Prague. It's beautiful even if you're not into architecture.
Come to HongKong !! Its a good place to visit with plenty of goods! :) xx
Hong Kong is absolutlely not a communist city.
Come to HK and you can find what you want =]
by the way, i have my responsibility to tell you that the weather in HK now is not quite pleasant due to the humidity which makes it a little bit uncomfortable.
I think you should add Cape Town, South Africa to your list. It has all those reasons and its cheap.
Oh! I love Japan
but if me I wont go Tokyo, I'll go for Shibuya & Hokkoido!
Singapore!
A) It may not be a 'fashion capital' but there is TONS of shopping on Orchard Road and other various places on the island.
B) If you can find something outdoorsy to do in Singapore, let me know. It's hard to find, unless you go to the beach or the zoo. I'm not outdoorsy at all either. It's a big city feel.
C) Nope, no wars here.
D) Not only is the water clean in Singapore, but so is everything else. You are free to eat from street vendors and drink water from wherever. In fact, the street vendors have the best food!
E) Not a communist country.
F) There a plenty of tour guides in Singapore, we had one for our first week in the country and she was extremely knowledgeable and showed us literally everything in the country. If I still lived there I would do it myself but unfortunately for me, I don't live there anymore.
All in all, Singapore is amazing. The food is to die for, and the prices are cheap enough to avoid a heart attack too. It's one of the safest places in the world, as there are very few places where you could end up that would be considered 'the wrong side of the tracks'. It's Asia, but slightly Westernized, which is an easy transition to the Eastern world for Westerners. Everyone speaks English, so you don't have to worry about the language barrier. It's warm and tropical, and getting the country is extremely easy as well as cheap. Best place on earth in my opinion.
Split, Croatia has some great historical sights (it was started as a roman summer palace). It also has a great beach and some enjoyable markets. Another great thing about Split is the gillato(ice cream).
Dublin, Ireland has a ton of stores and shopping. You would need to do a decent amount of walking, but it is easy to figure routes out.
Hong Kong is amazing. Great tech. It is self ruling (seperate from rest of China, as is Macau) with tons of shopping. The YMCA hotels there are very inexpensive. You can buy these pre-paid cards that can be used for much of the public transportation (including ferry, buses and subway) and can also be used at 7/11s for a quick snack or McDonalds if you want to save money for a different meal. They have an amazing light show on nights that the weather permits right on the harbor and an amazing mall at the peak with good shopping, restaurants, and a really fun looking wax museum (although we chose not to go into the wax museum).
You should go to Seoul, South Korea!
a. Want shopping? Seoul has a 13 story mall! Also, duty-free anyone? You can get all your brand names cheap! There's also a ton of street markets where you can find unique goods.
b. Seoul is the fourth largest city in the world, so "the great outdoors" is not a prime characteristic. However, if you care to venture outside the city, South Korea is breathtakingly beautiful.
c. Besides the conflict with North Korea (which is not a threatening issue and is not brought to your attention unless you go to the demilitarized zone [while it might not be up your alley, I highly recommend it]), there's no political strife/war here.
d. They recommend that you don't drink the water, but brushing your teeth, showering, cooking with it, all that jazz, is completely fine. Plus, there is bottled water available everywhere (including restaurants), so you won't be without drinkable water.
e. Not a communist country
f. You can get a host/tour guide in almost every country you visit and South Korea is no different. Also, in South Korea, all touristy areas (palaces, temples, etc) have a tour that is conducted in English. English, however, is rarely spoken by the people living in the city, but most people know enough to help you with directions, etc.
Seriously, South Korea is amazing. I would recommend it to anyone.
I'm shocked that no-one has mentioned London yet! It should be on the top of everyone's lists of places to visit! It has so much going on that you could be entertained for a dozen lifetimes. In the past few years London has grown along the side of Milan and
Paris and taken over as the fashion capital of the world. It is home to
some of the world best designers including Thomas Burberry, Stella Mc
Cartney and Alexander McQueen. Its has its own fashion gala and fashion
weeks that happen every now and then which play an important role in
setting the fashion trends for the following seasons. Just wandering the streets of the city you can see so many diverse fashion trends that makes London truely cutting edge. Whether you want the boutiques of the likes of McCartney & McQueen on Bond Street, or the quirky fashions of Dover Street Market, or budget fashions extraordinaré in Camden. London truely has it all. Over 300 museums, a large proportion of which are free to the public, beautiful parks, and all the pomp and circumstance entwined with the royal family and it's many palaces.