25 Places to See Before I Die

I've been doing some travel research over the last few months (while I've supposed to have been working on my thesis), and I've come up with a list of other trips that I wouldn't mind taking at some point in my lifetime:

North America:
Greenland (Northern Lights, glaciers, icebergs)
Florida (Everglades National Park)
Wyoming (Yellowstone National Park)
British Columbia (whale-watching off the coast of Vancouver Island)
New York City

Central America:
Mexico (Mexico City to Yucatan peninsula)
Cost Rica

South America:
Peru & Equador (Machu Picchu, Galapagos islands)
Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Amazon rainforest)
Venezuela (Gran Sabana, Angel falls)

Europe:
Greece + Istanbul
Spain + Morocco
Italy (going back to Rome and Florence, + maybe Pisa)

Africa:
Egypt (Pyramids, Nile cruise, Abu Simbel)
Kenya & Tanzania (Safari)
South Africa & Zambia (Safari, Victoria falls)
Uganda (primate viewing in the national parks)

Asia:
China (Beijing to Hong Kong)
India & Nepal (Taj Mahal, Ganges, glimpsing Everest, Chitwan)
South East Asia (Burma, Thailand, Cambodia)
Indonesia (Bali, Borobudur, Komodo Island, rice terraces)
Japan
Israel & Jordan
Russia (Moscow, Siberia, Lake Baikal)

Oceania:
Australia (Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu National Park)
French Polynesia + Easter Island

I know that's a pretty tall order, and I realize I probably won't have the opportunity to do them ALL, but it's some ideas anyway.

If you have experiences to share from any of the above, alternate suggestions, or a pressing urge to come along on one of these trips, please leave a comment.

Europe Trek 2006

Alright, for starters I figured I would give a brief overview of the trip Monika and I have planned for this summer. As a bit of background, Monika will be doing an 8-week IAESTE (the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience) internship in Poland starting in late June. So the goal was to do some travelling beforehand and finish off in Poland at that time. We settled on a 5-week itinerary which includes the following highlights:

Ireland: Killarney National Park, Cycle-touring the Ring of Kerry
England: Oxford, Stonehenge
France: Beaches of Normandy, Mont St. Michel, Annecy, Alps
Germany: Neuschwanstein Castle, Munich
Czech Repulblic: Prague
Poland: Gdansk, Warsaw

Expect to see lots of pictures from these places on this site, starting around May 20th.

Welcome

In this inaugural post to my blog, I wanted to give a preview of the sort of stuff you'll find here. I set up this page primarily as a travel journal. Monika and I are in the process of planning another trip to Europe this summer, and I figured keeping an online journal would be fun (not to mention a great way to keep friends and family up to date on what's going on during our travels).

Other than that, I figured I'd also use the space to post interesting books, movies, or music I come across.

What you won't find here is a daily recounting of all the mundane details of my life. There are enough blogs out there about how bad drivers are, how annoyed people are with their job, etc. , though I may post when there's a big life-changing event. Also, I'll try to keep political opinions and ramblings to a minimum (again, there's enough of that our there).

Either way, I hope you can find something here to enjoy. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to post. Also, if you want to use this as a forum to stay in touch, all the better.