This is my new and updated bucket list. Turkey is still on there because there is still so much there I want to see and do. Don’t wait to long to do your bucket list or you might just end up with a list and a bucket.
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Zurich Switzerland
The Glacier express train, which connects the resort cities of Zermatt and St. Moritz, has been touted as the world’s slowest express train. This adventurous journey takes 7½ hours, goes over 291 bridges and through 91 tunnels, and crosses the magnificent 6,708-foot-high Oberalp Pass. Of course, you may opt to do a portion of the trip. But the time goes quickly as you’re spellbound by the panoramic views of snow-capped peaks, dense forests, clear mountain streams, typical Swiss villages and alpine farmhouses. Here, you are in the heart of the Swiss Alps. .
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Vienna
Austria- “The hills are alive, with the sound of music” and Christmas markets.
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Honolulu
Hawaii- Actually I want to take a cruise around all of the islands
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Maldives ( The Most Exotic Destination )
Maldives is only 3 feet above sea level, most islands are owned and operated by resorts. It’s a very expensive place and a water villa is more than 600 a night. Male is more affordable but not with the same feel. Even though I will be only a few hours away this destination will have to wait until I hit the lottery.
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Sydney
The most well-known attractions include the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge
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Colombia
Unfairly or not, Colombia is still known for its cocaine cartels and street violence, but cool-hunting travelers are calling it Latin America’s next affordable hot spot.
Bogotá, its capital, has emerged as a role model of urban reinvention. Starting in the late 1990s, the city underwent a breathtaking transformation. Sidewalks, once used mainly for parking, are now lined with bicycle paths and tree-shaded cafes. An innovative bus system zips residents across the traffic-congested city. And museums and restaurants have opened in its historic center, including the refurbished Museo del Oro, which houses pre-Columbian treasures.
Getting there is affordable, too. JetBlue recently began nonstop daily service to Bogotá from Orlando, Fla., joining other carriers including Delta.
Meanwhile, the picturesque coastal city of Cartagena, a Unesco World Heritage site, which has been experiencing a tourism surge in recent years, gets even more stylish. The latest addition is the Tcherassi Hotel + Spa (www.tcherassihotels.com), a seven-room boutique hotel designed by Silvia Tcherassi, a Colombian fashion designer. It has even prompted some travel bloggers to call Cartagena the next Buenos Aires.
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Shenzhen
Chances are, the iPod in your pocket was made in Shenzhen, China. But this industrial powerhouse of a city on the Pearl River Delta in the southern region of the country, is more than just a factory town of sweatshops and bad smog — and it has the high-class hotels and high rollers to prove it.
Shenzhen is one of China’s wealthiest cities, right up there with Shanghai and Beijing. Situated just a 45-minute train ride north of Hong Kong, the thriving city exemplifies China’s breakneck transformation from peasant economy to capitalist giant. Its rapid rise can be traced back to 1979, when Deng Xiaoping selected the sleepy fishing port as a special economic zone. Money, bulldozers and cheap labor poured in. Dim sum joints and illicit massage parlors gave way to gleaming shopping malls and faceless skyscrapers. A city of 14 million sprang up seemingly overnight.
So did a new travel destination. A 491-room Grand Hyatt (1881 Baoan Nan Road; www.shenzhen.grand.hyatt.com), with bay views, recently opened, joining the ranks of the Kempinski Hotel Shenzhen (Hai De San Dao, Hou Hai Bin Road; www.kempinski.com/shenzhen) and a Shangri-La (1002 Jianshe Road; www.shangri-la.com/shenzhen). Even late-night massage parlors have gone upscale and legit. The Queen Spa (Chunfeng Road; www.queenspa.cn) has sleeping pods, a theater and a juice bar — all for under $15 a night — plus massages that start at about $25.
Affordable luxuries extend to shopping and eating. The jumble of stalls at Dongmen are clogged with pirated DVDs and knock-off handbags, while there are new fashionable restaurants in Shekou, a leafy district with an expatriate flavor. Shenzhen is getting greener, too. The city recently welcomed the first LEED-certified building in southern China: the aptly named Horizontal Skyscraper, billed to be as long as the Empire State Building is tall.
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Istanbul
The reputation of Istanbul’s contemporary art scene has been steadily growing in recent years, with the Web site ArtKnowledgeNews.com recently calling it “one of the most innovative in the world.” That reputation is bound to be burnished even more this year, now that Istanbul has been named the 2010 European Capital of Culture (a designation it shares with Essen, Germany, and Pecs, Hungary).
There will be a series of events, gallery shows and stage performances throughout the city to mark the occasion. (A complete list of events can be found at en.istanbul2010.org/index.htm.)
But one of the best ways to get a crash course in what Istanbul’s leading artists are up to right now is to spend some time wandering around the Misir Apartments (311/4 Istiklal Cadessi), right on the busy pedestrian thoroughfare that cuts through the trendy Beygolu neighborhood. Inside this elegant, early-20th-century building are some of the city’s most cutting-edge art venues, like Galerist (www.galerist.com.tr) and Gallerie Nev (www.galerinevistanbul.com)
Afterward, head to the rooftop terrace and have a drink at 360 Istanbul, a stylish bar and restaurant that offers stunning views of the city’s skyline (360istanbul.com).
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Seoul
Forget Tokyo. Design aficionados are now heading to Seoul.
They have been drawn by the Korean capital’s glammed-up cafes and restaurants, immaculate art galleries and monumental fashion palaces like the sprawling outpost of Milan’s 10 Corso Como and the widely noted Ann Demeulemeester store — an avant-garde Chia Pet covered in vegetation.
And now Seoul, under its design-obsessed mayor, Oh Se-hoon, is the 2010 World Design Capital. The title, bestowed by a prominent council of industrial designers, means a year’s worth of design parties, exhibitions, conferences and other revelries. Most are still being planned (go to wdc2010.seoul.go.kr for updates). A highlight will no doubt be the third annual Seoul Design Fair (Sept. 17 to Oct. 7), the city’s answer to the design weeks in Milan and New York, which last year drew 2.5 million people and featured a cavalcade of events under two enormous inflatable structures set up at the city’s Olympic stadium.
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Koh Kood
Is this the next Koh Samui? The Trat islands are emerging as Thailand’s new luxury outpost. Inaccessible for many years because of tensions with neighboring Cambodia and a poor transportation infrastructure, islands like Koh Kood are starting to draw venturesome paradise seekers, thanks in part to new direct flights to the port city of Trat. The recent opening of Soneva Kiri, a 42-villa suite retreat by the Six Senses brand (www.sixsenses.com/Soneva-Kiri), definitely ratchets up the high-end quotient on this Robinson Crusoe-like island. Coming soon: X2 Koh Kood (www.x2resorts.com), a designer eco-resort with 14 pool villas.
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Antarctica
This may be the last year that Antarctica is open to mass tourism — not because the ice is melting too fast (though it is), but because of restrictions that would severely curtail travel around the fragile continent.
Until recently, most vessels passing through Antarctica were limited to scientific expeditions, but an exploding number of tourists now flock to what is arguably the world’s last great wilderness. The tourism boom, scientists argue, poses a major environmental threat. Indeed, several passenger ships have run aground in recent years.
Countries that manage Antarctica are calling for limits on the number of tourist ships, for fortified hulls that can withstand sea ice and for a ban on the use of so-called heavy oils. A ban on heavy oil, which is expected to be adopted by the International Maritime Organization later this year, would effectively block big cruise ships.
With the new rules taking effect within two years, tour operators are promoting 2010 as the last year to visit Antarctica, while, at the same time, procuring lighter vessels that would be permitted. Abercrombie & Kent, for example, is introducing a new ship, Le Boreal (www.abercrombiekent.com), which its public relations firm argues “meets all the environmental regulations, so access to Antarctica via A&K will not be affected.”
Launching this year, the compact luxury ship holds 199 passengers and features an outdoor heated pool, steam rooms and private balconies that offer intimate views of some of the world’s remaining glaciers.
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Montenegro
On the southern edges of Montenegro, almost at the border of Albania, is an unusual land formation: a powdery, eight-mile-long beach called Velika Plaza (Long Beach) and a triangular island where the Bojana River meets the sea. The island is called Ada Bojana, and the area is quickly becoming a party destination for the young surfer set.
While the fantastic weather and soft gray beaches have drawn Eastern Europeans for decades, breezy thermal winds are bringing kitesurfers from Germany, England and France, who are turning Velika Plaza into a wave-riding capital on the Adriatic.
The cheap beer doesn’t hurt, either. The area is so undeveloped that the only resort is a faded nudist camp popular with Germans. In the meantime, travelers who want to keep their clothes on can book a 26-euro room (about $37, at $1.40 to the euro) at the Hotel Mediteran (hotel-mediteran.com) in the small city of Ulcinj, a 15-minute water taxi ride north.
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Norway
With an acclaimed new opera house and plenty of high-end dining options, Oslo is already a must-visit urban destination. But this year the focus should be on the wilds of the Norwegian countryside. With its dazzling Nordic light and dramatic landscape, Norway is perhaps the most unexplored and exotic corner of Europe. Having convinced the world that its fjords and southern coastline make the country a great summer getaway, Norwegians have begun showcasing its charms as a winter destination.
Specialized trekking and ski tours like those offered by the Lyngen Lodge (www.lyngenlodge.com) can open up pristine areas of the north like the stunning Lyngen Alps, with high-speed boats to shuttle across the fjord to ski trails that would otherwise be inaccessible.
And the country’s indifference to trendy boutique hotels and splashy resorts — long the lament of global tourism professionals — is just what appeals to a more discerning clientele. Bespoke travel specialists like Ziniry (www.ziniry.com) excel at getting visitors deep into the scenery. Who needs a penthouse suite when you can book a lighthouse on a private island?
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