Places I Would Love to Visit

I couldn’t resist jumping in Kait Hanson’s September Blogging Challenge when she shared this topic… Travel is my love language. We have a list on our kitchen island of 10 places we’d love to visit in the near future (I consider this in the next 1-5 years). I could easily expand this list to 25 and if we had endless amounts of money, we’d pack our bags today.

However, we’re planners when it comes to our travel and we’re practical with our spending. I’ve shared a little about it before but we usually research three places at a time to determine costs for lodging, flights, activities and food and then make our decision based on those facts combined with how badly we want to visit that location.

For this blog, I’ve chosen my top 5 international destinations and my top 5 domestic. There are also plenty of places we’ve already visited that I’d go back to…. such as Ireland, which we’ve already visited twice. I love it so much!

1. Banff & Lake Louise: these are on our list and probably just got bumped to the top after my in-laws recent trip that they are raving about. How pretty is Lake Louise? I’ve followed Garry Henkel for a few years (he’s in British Columbia) and I’d love to do one of his tours upon a visit to Canada. Seeing bears in the wild is HIGH on my bucket list!
2. Galapagos: We looked at this a few years ago and it takes a lot of travel to get there but I think it would be so worth it! Animals clearly draw me into destinations and the Galapagos islands would not disappoint in the animal department.
3. Australia: I want to take a month and travel to Australia and New Zealand, but I’d settle for Australia for round 1. Part of why we haven’t done this is because of the lonnnng travel time to get there. It was on our list in 2016 before we found out we were expecting and now I’m glad we didn’t do it when I was so sick with morning sickness. While it would be challenging to travel there with a toddler, I think it would be a blast once we arrived.
4. Africa: Another place that was on our 2016 list – and another one I’m glad we didn’t choose because of my pregnancy/morning sickness. But I definitely want to get there in the near future before all of the animals are extinct.  I’d love to see Cape Town, too, but a safari is the top priority for me.
5. Costa Rica: Beaches. Rainforests. Sloths. This is really all you need to know about Costa Rica. Just kidding. The pictures are stunning and it would satisfy my constant craving for beaches while also allowing me to see so many animals up close.

I’d love to go back to Europe, too, but we’ve gone several times already that I feel like we can do somewhere else before we go back. If I had to expand this list, I’d add Scotland, Iceland, Germany, Belgium and more places in England.

1. Alaska: We’ve talked about doing a cruise to Alaska and my in-laws have said they’d go along (they love it there!) to help with L. We aren’t big cruise-goers but it seems like for the sake of getting to so many places in Alaska, this might make sense.
2. Hawaii: In the complete opposite direction, Hawaii is WAY up on my list. We’ve been talking about this one more and more frequently lately so I think we’ll get there sooner rather than later.
3. Oregon: There are so many places I want to see in the Pacific Northwest but I think we’d just fall in love with Oregon. Crater lake is a must! I’d love to start in Northern California and drive up the coast – what magnificent views we’d have!
4. Seattle: again, PNW. It’s crazy to think that almost 7 years ago we were thinking of moving to Seattle without having ever visited. It sounds like just our style. I’d love to see the city, hike and see orcas.
5. Maine: Acadia has been on our list for a few years (it moved up when we were traveling to Boston and New Hampshire so frequently for work). I’d love to see this part of the country and eat my weight in lobster.

National Parks are high on our list, too – especially those in the western part of the country. I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon and would love to see the redwoods!

1. Aruba: I’ve been talking about Aruba non-stop lately. I even swear Landon told me that we could go back for my birthday in 2019 but he says that conversation never happened. I’ve been known to have very realistic dreams but I’m confident this happened and now he’s backtracking. Regardless, it’s a very reasonable flight and I can survive on Thai chili shrimp quesadillas at the beach bar and grouper ceviche. No need for fancy dinners! Little L will LOVE the sand and maybe the water, too since it’s not as dark or wavy as the East coast.
2. Greece: It was beautiful but boy was I sick! It was so hot and that combined with my morning sickness made the first few days of our trip MISERABLE. I didn’t get to hike, I could barely get through a meal, and it was so hot that I hardly wanted to be outside. One of my highlights from our trip was an air-conditioned bus tour that lasted the whole day. It felt magical to be in AC for that long. But I’d love to go back and get a real Santorini experience and also visit Mykonos and a few other islands.
   
3. London: I can’t get enough of London and now that my BFF Meghan Markle lives there, I need to go back and visit ASAP. Seriously though, I need minty mushed peas in my life. I’d love to explore more outside of London… maybe Wales, Windsor and somewhere along the coast?
4. Cinque Terre, Italy: we both LOVED Cinque Terre so much. We stayed in Monterosso and hiked, took trains and boats to the other “lands.” It is so picturesque and charming. After our trip, we both said we could go back and spend a whole week there without all the travel to other parts of the country. Of course, I’d love to spend a week there and also visit Lake Como on that same trip – might as well, right?
5. Ireland: yes, we just went and yes, I’d go back tomorrow if I could. It is beautiful. The people are incredible. I love the history. The views are unmatched. It’s just the most perfect place. I’d especially like to go back and spend more time in Galway, Doolin, Dingle and explore Northern Ireland and the Aran Islands.

I need more time to see the world. So many places to go and these are just the start of my plans/dreams. What’s on your Travel bucket list?

Photos for international and domestic dream destinations are from Unsplash (free stock photography). All others are mine from our travels.