I would go to New Zealand because of it's beauty and recreation. I recently watched the music documentary The Sun Came Out and the idea of recording an album in New Zealand sounds wonderful. Plus it would give me an opportunity to hang with the Hubski New Zealanders. -I could jam with AshShields and drink briandmyers beer!
Well, in 2006 I spend about $5k on a month long back packing trip through Western Europe. I figure with $10k I could repeat a similar journey with my wife and bring her along. I'd visit a few of the cities I've already been too that I loved, and skip some of the ones I didn't really enjoy. Definitely travel by train. I'd definitely hit up Amsterdam, Nice, and Prague again, and probably spend some more time in Switzerland and try to make it to Budapest. You can really stretch dollars in Prague and Budapest. I would also say SE Asia, but my wife has never left the country outside of going to Canada, so I think she needs to ease into experiencing other cultures, and Europe is a good start. I would love to go to Thailand and Vietnam, but as others have mentioned, there's some tension going on in Thailand currently. That wouldn't scare me away, as I'm sure it's just local to parts of Bangkok, but I don't think I could ever get my wife to go there... not yet.
In my experience, Bangkok is not the most wife-friendly city in SE Asia, especially if one is on a budget. That is not to say that the whole city is the den of sin and iniquity that popular media tries to make it out to be (oh man, I really didn't like that installment of The Hangover . . . so white-man ridiculous). I was there in 2010 when the last political thingy was going on and honestly, I didn't even come into contact with that stuff while I was there. Anyway, a cool time to go might be for Songkran. Bangkok is ok for a few days, but it's not much on scenery. If you plan on ending up in Vietnam, you might as well go through Cambodia, especially since Siem Riep and Ankor Watt are fairly close to the Thai border. From there, you could hit Phnom Penh and then up to Kratie to see those pink river dolphins, if they're still around. From Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, bus is the cheapest and it takes about 8 hours or so. Just make sure not to bring Baht to Cambodia, since the exchange rate is really shit for anything except dollars, pounds or euros. Pham Ngu Lao street is where most of the backpackers stay in HCMC. District 1 is where most of the fun stuff is. SE Asia is good for jungle stuff and beach stuff on the wife-friendly and gentle travel side of things. You can get real gritty if you want though, very easily. Especially in Cambodia. Rent a dirt bike and start riding. In Northern Vietnam there are motorcycle tours through the mountains. These tours use these shitty old Minsk motorcycles that somehow do pretty well in that environment. A good wife friendly thing about SE Asia is that legitimate massages and spas are very, very cheap. In fact, I used to go to a place to get a sauna, a face massage and a full-body massage, which took about 3 hours all-told, for just about 30 bucks. Just say you want to take her on a spa holiday or something.
I wouldn't plan on spending much time in Bangkok, other than assuming a day or two since that's where I would probably fly in and out of. I have a mix of beach spots and buddhist temple spots on my future itinerary. I'd want to spend more time on the beach, seeing temples, or doing things like the motorbike tours you recommended in the mountains. That to me sounds like my ideal SE Asian vacation. I have little want to spend time in Bangkok or the bigger cities. Awesome advice though. The wife isn't affraid of not having anything to do, as we honestly enjoy the same types of activities and she's not really a spa girl. My wife really wants to go to Japan, but she admits the idea is a bit scary, being the outsider, not speaking the language, being in a place so different. With SE Asia being more "poor" in her eyes, and think that makes things even worse in her mind. Whereas in my mind that makes it more appealing and visceral of an adventure. I figure at least in Europe everyone looks the same and the food is similar everywhere you go, and culture is similar in many ways to the US, but different enough to get her outside of her comfort zone so she sees how awesome of a feeling and experience it is. She also hates flying, because she didn't do much of it when she was younger. I've been working on that with some smaller trips to Vegas and Phoenix a couple times a year. She's deathly affraid of flying the entire time she's on a plane. It didn't help that on our way back from Vegas recently we had to fly through a thunderstorm while landing, and had crosswinds of 40 knots, and gusts of 50. Those are more of my challenges to get over. She'd love to see all these same places, I just need to get her over the feeling of fear she has with traveling abroad, and the flying thing. Super jealous of your SE Asia travels though, I've seen you post about them before. That's kind of my next big travel goal to see. If and when I do get closer to booking I'm probably going to hit you up for some knowledge if you're still around. :)
I can understand a fear of flying. I don't have one personally, but you're right; it is something that needs exposure to (unless that fear has been induced by a plane crash or other accident). You know, I didn't think that I'd be into going to spas myself, but man oh man, a nice long massage after a long bike trip is so, so good. I have friends that really can't stand to be on crowded buses or trains, which are of course, usually the cheapest ways to travel. In Vietnam, it's no problem to get some medication to zonk out on a long ride, or a flight. A doctor in the U.S. might prescribe something for someone who has flight anxiety and it's definitely good to have on hand if that's the case. Anyway, best of luck with those challenges. Western Europe and SE Asia are so much fun to travel around and I really miss easy access to both of those regions. I traveled cheap, but I ate really well and I definitely think that it was a hugely important aspect to the good times I had traveling. I really wish that I were a better photographer, because there are such beautiful things to be seen. Yeah, by all means hit me up if you think I can help when the time comes!
You mention Prague and Amsterdam as two places you would like to you again visit. What are some of the cities that you would avoid upon return?
First, I'll state that my experiences were my own, and perhaps I just didn't "Go to the right places" or "do the right things", but we stayed in the following cities for 3 days/nights on average, and slept very little. I wasn't a huge fan of London. It was awesome to see of course, and be there, and see all of the things from movies and history. But it was expensive, busy, people weren't friendly, and other than seeing the sites and museums it was definitely a place I wouldn't want to go back to anytime soon. I was also not a huge fan of Berlin. Kind of bland, boring, and quiet. The people weren't unfriendly, but the entire town had this like "seriousness" to it that I just didn't enjoy. They were unfriendly, dry, and stern at every place we went to. When we were there, we are very much "off the beaten path" type people. We would meet up with locals, go to local bars and restaurants, and try to stay off the tourist path outside of the museums and main attractions. Just didn't have a good time there. I had the exact opposite experience in Munich though. Didn't really dig Barcelona either. It's beautiful, and on the med, and there are some unique things to see there, but overall it wasn't that exciting. Though, we were there during their time of year where they all apparently go on vacation and shut up shop for two weeks. Most of the stores and restaurants were all closed. It was so weird, it was a ghost town except for some of the more nightlife/bar related areas. I could barely find a place to buy a pack of smokes. So perhaps it would deserve another chance some day. Also, Paris, despite every teenage girls dreams of it being this super romantic and beautiful city, I found it dirty, too busy for my tastes, and kind of disappointing. Sure, the museums are great, seeing the sites are great and like living a movie, but as a city and culture I found it just kind of "meh" overall. But the Normandy country side, and the riveria were awesome and beautiful cities, just not Paris.
Strasbourg kicks the crap out of Paris in my opinion. Cheaper and the food's better, and the canals make the most beautiful sounds at night when it's quiet. I stayed in London by myself for ten days and came away knowing I would move there in a heartbeat -- but there's something really impersonal about it. It would be a lonely place without some friends. People do forget how many cool things are just a train ride away. Nice is a giant party I agree that anyone who has any money at all and is in Europe simply must go there.
Nice is just fun, it's the poor-mans Cannes. Lots of bars, lots of live music, lots of friendly people, the Med, it's all just perfect. And the town and architecture is just beautiful, and what I always dreamed about when it comes to cities on the riviera. And it wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought it would be. We had a hotel with a balcony right near the train station for pretty cheap. Was a pretty decent walk to the shore, but not bad enough to complain about. That's a good way to explain how I felt about London. Just something about it didn't really jive with me. It's an amazing town and a pillar in the world for obvious reasons, but yeah I couldn't live there. I was also there when it was going through it's record breaking heatwave in 2006, in mid July. It was pretty awful, though I like to think I looked past that.but there's something really impersonal about it.
I found Lyon and Montpelier much more enjoyable than Paris. I also enjoyed driving around Brittany, but you definitely need a car to see the interesting parts (such as the Corniche near Lannion).
I'd build a boat, buy hundreds of googly eyes, sail with my friends across open water, put googly eyes on everything in that town, and come back.
To Seattle, I would buy a 500$ plane ticket and go down there to share an apartment with a friend of mine, live off the 10k while I look for a job and help pay utilities. I want to do this because as someone who wants to create videogames for a living it's where a vast amount of major events take place along with many gaming studios, I could share my portfolio with and try to get a job. Or perhaps I could live off the 10k as frugal as possible and try to make an indie game and sell it, I have friends that have done that on 4k.
McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. In fact I still might someday son, without the 10 grand even, but damn if it wouldn't help buying he gear. I've always wanted to go and work there, but be able to take some time and just explore the wilderness there. To be so utterly isolated from humanity; so free of temptation or modern life entering at every moment; the ability to wake up in the middle of the night and hear... nothing. Nothing at all. Hell I'll go as a dishwasher if I get the opportunity. I'd bring a massive pile of books with me for the time I'm alone. A few months, maybe a year with all the wanderers along with me that I'd get to know. 10k would be more than enough to support my needs, to pay for expenses back home, and to live comfortably for a while in the cold. Of course I'll post pictures and updates for you all while I'm there.
Japan. I've been there already, and it is AMAZING. If I could go anywhere, it would surely be there again. I would want to travel by myself (as opposed to in a group like last time), so I can have an adventure. Also, the money would enable me to buy some utterly amazing stuff which I couldn't get before. If I had money left over, I would go to Europe and try a bit of a trip across the continent. Since I wouldn't have much money left, I'd prefer to save it and buy a nice bike and cycle my way across, seeing the sights as I go.
norway, I've always wanted to go do extreme things there..also kayaking.
mike, aren't you in Norway? You do any kayaking there?
Sometimes, not for a couple of years though. Here's a friend's cabin that I went to a few months ago where we did some kayaking. http://naylors-in-norway.blogspot.no/2013/09/weekend-at-hytt...
What's the benefit of having that building on the stilts where it is? It's really beautiful, quite the view outside of your door in the morning.
Asia. 10k could probably last me a year. I've never been in Asia so I'd try to go everywhere so i know where I would like to go back to. After all, a year is a lot of time; I could probably go from Tokyo to Singapore passing by a bunch of countries in between. It's probably what i'm going to do once I finish school actually. Maybe for a year mabe just half a year, but I want to travel. I've already been in Europe with my parents a number of times and I'll spend 7 months there studying in winter, so next step is Asia. Maybe also Latin America, but it doesn't seem as exoctic as Asia to me. i think I can wait of Latin America another 5 years :)
At this point, I think I would head to Brazil, maybe doing a loop down through Argentina and up through Chile, Peru and Nicaragua, Bolivia and Venezuela or maybe visit my friend in Tanzania and plan a route through some African countries. I like the idea of South America, because I've never been further south in the Americas than Costa Rica and I've got friends there. My ex-pat friends seem set on staying, so there must be something about where they're living worth loving. Plus, there are so many beautiful women :) In Africa, I have only been to Morocco but I had a good time there and everyone I know who has lived in Africa has talked about an indescribable vivacity to the wildernesses and the cultures found in many places. Not to mention that in general, those regions are much warmer than where I live now. Who knows, if things go well with what I'm trying to accomplish here, I could be out in the world again soon enough.
New Zealand and Chili are some of my dream destinations but very expensive and only available for myself during their winter. With 10K I could also hire someone to replace me at work. Why go there? It's supposed to be fucking beautiful, I'd get myself a nice Maori tattoo, follow in the footsteps of Frodo and visit Easter Island.
I'd go through Patagonia down to Ushuaia and take a cruise to Antarctica. It's feasible with $10,000 if any form of luxury is avoided. I was in Peru for 2 months last year when I injured myself trying to be the first in my group to descend from Mt. Salkantay (very stupid). I had planned on going to Patagonia shortly afterward, but didn't want to go without being capable of doing everything I wanted to do so I left earlier than planned. I had lost 2 weeks of time slotted for this anyway waiting for replacement debit/credit cards to be mailed to me from the states. Huge regret, but it's not an adventure if everything goes according to plan. I need to go back and finish it. Second on the list would be going around Africa with a climax of summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro.
I can't remember what it's called but there's a car race that starts in England and ends in Mongolia. I would fly to England, buy a car, and set out. It's very DIY and hands off if I remember correctly. Though it's not really a race, more like a journey that you hope to complete. You can take it at your leisure and enjoy the journey or race to the end. I'd choose the former. Some of the most dangerous parts are when you pass through Iran.
Yeah, I considered Europe as well. Believe it or not, I have never been there. That $10,000 would go along way towards seeing much of it. Thaiand is a great choice as well. Political unrest aside, I have never heard someone complain about the trip they took to Thailand.
I have never been out of the U.S., tng. In fact, I have never been further West than somewhere in PA. I would seriously consider New Zealand (it's where Lotr was filmed!!) or Ireland. Maybe Australia, but they have a lot of crazy snakes and other animals there. As for the 10k, I would spend some of it on my vacation, but put most of it in savings (let's say $7k) as I need an emergency fund. (Is that boring of me?) I would also buy a sweet-ass record player, since mine is cheap and broken, and maybe get another tattoo. $2k on the trip, $1k (grossly overestimating) on the record player and tattoo (in reality would probably be like $7500). Then back to normal life. Now if you offer me $50k, that's enough that I could have some serious play-around money and/or time. That's more in the realm of "So, I could quit my job right now..." - but - would I? Probably not, I like security.
No, it's not boring of you it is" practical" of you. However, this is a hypothetical and there is no room for practicality in such day dreams. Therefore, sorry but the 10,000 can't go towards your security blanket. Also, $50,000 will go pretty quickly if you don't have a job. If someone gifted me $500k I would keep my job.