I wish I had an answer to that because I’m tired of answering that question. – Yogi Berra
Shakespeare got it wrong: To be or not to be is simply not a question. This is a question: does time really fly when you’re having a good time? When I was young, I remember the marvelous few hours between school letting out and dinner as a vast chasm in the space-time continuum that expanded into sufficient realms allowing me to walk all the way home, win a touch-football game, lose a chess match, trade baseball cards, flirt with Cheri Hurd, ride my bike through the quarry, feed my dog Red, and still have time to tease and piss off my sister then endure a censuring before saying grace. But when you get older, time seems to slip through a sieve whether it’s a good time or not.
Although it was over a year ago, it feels like just last month I was having a good time traveling solo, welcoming the New Year of 2016, and celebrating Badfish blogs’ first anniversary, by lifting a crystal flute of Dom Perignon —a few long-neck Mexican Dos Equis chilling on ice— while sitting in the Jacuzzi on the deck of my over-ocean villa in the Maldives at a highly-over-priced but, yes, romantic island resort; and, of course, bemoaning the cost of a hamburger: US$40 (which I could not bring myself to purchase). Luckily, I had packed a shedload of home-made trail mix, originally meant for the second phase of the trip through South India, where some harsh and slow-moving days you might almost be willing to pay 40 bucks for a burger. Turns out, just so you know, man can live on bread (and a few chapatis) alone.
Reviewed here is a medley of “best types of destinations” mentioned at Badfish and Chips Café during 2016. Hopefully, you might find yourself leaving your own footprints in some of these places, maybe in 2017, which already seems to be sifting itself into another epoch.
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MALDIVES
BEST ARCHIPELAGO TO EAT BREAKFAST, or enjoy a jacuzzi in your over-water tub, while watching sting rays in their natural habitat in the limpid lagoon below. READ THE STORY
BAGAN, BURMA-Myanmar
BEST BREATH-TAKING PLATEAU to view atavistic Buddhist pagodas and hot-air balloons while contemplating a lost civilization and staying at a rather lavish and slightly-over-budget hotel overlooking the Ayeyarwady River. READ THE STORY
MT POPA, BURMA-Myanmar
BEST DAY TRIP to a monastery built on the peak of a volcano that blew its top eons ago, where you climb 777 steps in the company of hundreds of other pilgrims arriving daily to pay homage to the intriguing and ancient animistic-Buddhist nats. READ THE STORY
KOVALAM, INDIA
QUAINTEST BEACH TOWN to wander as a low-end budget traveler eating the remainder of your trail mix but acting like you live off someone else’s trust fund. READ THE STORY
MOST SCENIC ROUTE TO DRIVE A MOTORBIKE while traveling from Kovalam to Varkala Beach in Kerala, India.
VARKALA, INDIA
BEST COASTLINE CLIFF to photograph the lovely scarlet cordia flowers and ponder whether or not to paraglide the thermals, while drinking double-shot cappuccinos made with water buffalo cream after your yoga class and surf session. READ THE STORY
ASHTAMUNDI LAKE, KERALA
BEST PLACE TO TALK LIKE A PIRATE and time travel by renting a houseboat and pretend you’re the captain of your own man-of-war and crew of buccaneers (and chef) 100 years ago. READ THE STORY
AMRITAPURI, INDIA
ONLY PLACE IN THE WORLD where you can live in an ashram, satsang with a real guru, chant and leave your body, help the needy, eat salads that won’t make you sick, and never see anyone take a selfie. READ THE STORY
KUMARAKOM BIRD SANCTUARY, INDIA
BEST TRANQUIL SEASIDE BUNGALOW where you wake up before sunrise with nothing but a murmuring stream, gandering ducks, nosediving kingfishers, falling rubber-tree leaves, lapping waves, and trilling birdsong in your heart. READ THE STORY
COCHIN, KERALA
MOST SURREAL CITY where you find the oldest active synagogue near fishermen napping on shore by deserted steam boilers and ancient Chinese bamboo fishing nets perched just offshore like hulking birds of prey.
YANGON, BURMA-Myanmar
BEST CITY TO WATCH MONKS do what monks do when not in a monastery while photo-bombing yourself in the scene. READ THE STORY
INLE LAKE, BURMA- Myanmar
EASIEST PLACE TO CHILL in a third world, where anything could go wrong at any moment, and not feel guilty while watching others fret and work and worry. READ THE STORY
MANDALAY, BURMA/ Myanmar
BIGGEST SURPRISE —after everyone advised to give it a miss, turns out, Mandalay is one of the highlights of the year even though it is a large, unkempt city and noisy and dirty with filthy air and poor sewage, with no bagels, no big Buddha, and no Starbucks. READ THE STORY
U BEIN BRIDGE, BURMA/ Myanmar
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT —if you’re tired of learning your lessons, remember what they say about having expectations when traveling. It’s just that in all the photos you see in National Geographic, Lonely Planet, and other travel blogs, U Bein appears so marvelous; but when you arrive, you finally understand the word “teeming”. You find knots of monks on cell phones, a sea of tourists raising their arms and sticks for selfies, shoddy shacks and stalls of cheap souvenirs and sodas, boatmen hawking to row you out on the lake in gaudy boats, and all your own photos turn out rubbish—well, it’s your own fault for harboring expectations. READ THE STORY
DHAKA, BANGLADESH
MOST COSMIC CITY STREET, crowded with pedestrians and trishaws—most powered with pedals, some with motors. Nirvana for those who love walking in thongs on a muddy road. READ THE STORY
GULSHAN, BANGLADESH
GRANDEST TRAFFIC JAM AND CHEAPEST EATS: you can eat lunch for US$1.50 and be so full you won’t need dinner. But if you’re the type to gorge, dinner will only cost you $2.50. However, it might take you an hour and a half to travel 3 miles by car sometimes.
Advice du jour: don’t swim in the river, don’t drink the water, hire a driver, and reserve a chic hotel within walking distance of a row of fine-dining restaurants, or a cheap hotel near the bread maker. READ THE STORY
THIMPHU, BHUTAN
MOST ANCIENT AND WELL-PRESERVED PRAYER WHEELS that somehow, miraculously calm your mind and soothe your body as you walk by. READ THE STORY
TIGER’S NEST MONASTERY, BHUTAN
BEST ONE-DAY HIKE (if a bit strenuous)—a climb to 3120 meters (10,400 feet); most of it straight up; all of it over earth and rocks; some of it, evading goats and donkeys; some of it, sidestepping guides hauling ill-prepared tourists back down.
Advice du jour: If you go, get physically fit first and don’t wear stilettos. Or, hike only to the half-way restaurant and carry large binoculars. If you don’t go: READ THE STORY
KATMANDU, NEPAL
FUNKIEST STREET WITH A WORLD RECORD for most overhead electricity wires and one-rock porches and cute babies and ugly paint in a town recovering from one devastating natural disaster after another. READ THE STORY
AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND
MOST COMFORTABLE CITY TO RIDE A BIKE while eating cheese and bitterballen through a red-light district without stopping to smoke anything. READ THE STORY
BLARICUM, HOLLAND
BEST VINTAGE VILLAGE to pretend you’re Bilbo Baggins living at Bag End in the shire of Hobbiton where you may observe the magic of the ring of recycling and garbage removal. READ THE STORY
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
MOST CONVENIENT OLD TOWN to learn the protocol for drinking absinthe and actually see green fairies and photograph swans and paddle-wheel riverboats near a 650-year-old bridge held together with egg yolks and prayers. READ THE STORY
BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA
MOST INTERESTING SLEEPER CITY, which at first blush appears to be the wallflower at the party of A-list tourist cities, but it turns out, she can dance. READ THE STORY
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
BEST VIEW WHILE DOWNING HIGH TEA in the afternoon on a warm summer day while solo traveling and missing home after getting kicked out of the Hilton right next door. READ THE STORY
TARXIEN, MALTA
MOST INTERESTING NEIGHBORHOOD from which to call home on a payphone that actually works when you find no cell phone service near stone-slab temples that outdate both the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge. READ THE STORY
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates
BEST DESTINATION TO COIN A NEW PHRASE FOR TRAVELERS, as 85% of the population here are expats from 120 different countries, 15% are local Emiratis; so the lingua franca is English, allowing everyone to easily communicate here in Babel. The new phrase we coin should be something like: lingua Engla.
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ONE MORE QUESTION: if someone bought you an air ticket and a suite in the Hilton, which of the above best places would you most desire to visit, or which one would you least desire to visit in 2017?
Graceful young monks in Burma stand in line for breakfast
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DP PHOTO CHALLENGE: Graceful
WP Discover Challenge: The Greatest _______ in the World
See more of Lucile’s: Photo Rehab
Badfish & Chips Cafe 
Bhutan remains in my top list due to its relative proximity to Indonesia compared to places like the Middle East or Europe. Where will 2017 take you, Badfish? Somewhere completely new? Or revisiting some places you’ve been to?
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Bama, yeah, Bhutan, it’s a must see. But I have to admit, the roofs on the houses were very disappointing! For 2017, I would like to visit some place new (Viet Nam or Madagascar), and I think I will also visit some place I’ve been before (Bali).
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OH, Baddie, you shouldnt have! You mean you are buying a ticket and the Hilton for the winner ? The person who has the best answer to your question? Oh, cant you just deem me the winner already?
I’ll have two tickets to the Maldives,, please. I was going to go the Bhutan, but the beach won out. Prague is still Kafka’s city, Hobbitsville is too boring, Bali is overrated and overdone…. and what’s Rangoon to you is Grafton to me. ( remember that line?)
Good marketing ploy here again Baddie. Make ’em click. Drive up the statistics in all your old posts. Thing is, i remember most of them! 🙂 Very ambient. 🙂
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Debbie…funny thing! I didn’t even think about my purchasing a winning flight. However, I bought one of those mobile modems that allows you to get online without wifi by linking to cell phone stuff (?). I bought it for last summer’s trip where I was told I may not have wifi in some places. But did. Didn’t take the modem out of its box. So, today, I thought about giving it away as a prize. Of course, it would cost me more to mail it than its worth!
Also, just so you know, I know nothing of statistics. I don’t know how they work, or even if they do work on my blog (outside WP folks). But I saw a couple blogs with year-end posts, but I was too late, so thought I’d put a bit of a spin on the concept. Ambient, maybe!
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Baddie-Bad: skip the prize then. Our prize, that of your devoted readership, is to read more blogs from badfish.
i think you must really have taken some magic from that Green Fairy – how else could you possibly have fitted so much incredible travel into one solar calendar year? Either that or you’re a closted time traveller…
now i see from your Cafe Selections from The Year in a Glass Blog, that you are a fan of Isabelle Allende. WOW! more interesting details to uncover badfish’s personality.
I LOVE Isabelle Allende! my favourite all time author. do you like the poetry of Pablo Neruda too?
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DEB–I think you’re right, I’m pretty sure I received a bit of magic from the Green Fairy, which obviously allowed for the time travel. Love this: “year in a glass”! That should have been the title (OK, for next year). But yeah, Allende…super stuff!! And of course, how does a poet get through a day without a little Pablo Neruda or Naomi Shihab Nye?
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a man after my own heart. i went to the beach at Isla Negra, just outside Santiago de Chile, where Pablo Neruda used to live. Quite the pilgrimage. I also just bought a book via Kickstarter which was a collection of his recently rediscovered and unpublished poems.
Year in a Glass – yep, the green glass, with the fairy in… ya know. just saying.
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Chile…you know, I want to go there, but it’s so far away from everything isn’t it? What were you doing there? When? What is kickstarter? Maybe I need a year in a jar next time? Or snifter?
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do they sell Absinthe in a Jar? or do you stash other stuff in your jar? 🙂
Kickstarter is an online site where people get other people to fund their cool projects, like Pablo Neruda missing poems, and the very new Badfish Travel’s book. go check it out. i’d say you have enough crazy followers here to pledge to buy your book, enough to publish it.
I was just travelling through south america. a long time ago. Chile was first. Chile remains close to my heart. Those Andes! incredibly beautiful.
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Deb…I just love some of your sentences, like “do they sell absinthe in a jar?” Sounds like a line in a Neruda poem.
Kickstarter…hmmmm, cool, as in kickstart a project. Cool. It would take some crazy followers, real crazy, I’m not sure mine are THAT crazy!!
I saw the Andes from Peru…and right, not easy to forget something like that, eh?
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Marvelous choices to spark your memories and ours of your adventures…
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Sally, thanks, and so glad you have memories of some of these, it was fun for me to go back and see just how many places I’d been last year!
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Never say never, but I think I’ve done with feeding myself to every living bug in the tropics, so the last few places are more likely to be on my future lists!
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Gilly, right, and funny you should mention that. I’m a bit tired of fearing for life or sickness just so I can see some place in the world. Give me civilization now, please, with comfort, ease, and imported beer.
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Feels more like time is flowing out of a bucket with a hole at the moment! What a fabulous list Badfish. Glad you included links to individual posts…..I look forward to catching up with the ones I missed. Bhutan has been on our list for some time. And Malta. So, which one was your favourite 2016 destination?
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Madhu…right, a sieve with one big hole in it is right. I just saw Isabelle Allende give a TED talk on aging, she’s 71. I’m not sure I have a favorite from 2016. I really liked every place I went, and every one was slightly different than the others.
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That wasn’t enough warning.
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So…right about now, I’m guessing you’re pulling your head out of the toilet after losing your lunch in there, eh?
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I wish. Right now I’m back to Wednesday’s lunch. Or maybe that’s my intestines coming out?
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sorry, dude…
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Love all these photos! And I can’t choose between Bhutan or the Brat.
Alison
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Alison, it’s a hard choice to make, right? Brat is a lot cheaper, Bhutan is a lot more Buddhist stuff.
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Wow!!! What a list. You are certainly well traveled.
My first choice was Tiger’s Nest, in Bhutan. There was something intriguing about the precipitous location of that Monastery, not to mention the countless steps. Was it 777? Of course, you know I like climbing. But in truth I was torn between that and several other, just as appealing places, such as the tranquil waters of the Maldives although it would be less exciting. And if there were to be an order of preferences, it would be… Czech Republic for some Absinthe, Malta and Budapest. Holland and Amsterdam would be interesting, since I know that is where your roots are. And then there’s an appeal to seeing the bread man.
The less appealing place would be Nepal unless it was to climb Mt. Everest, but alas I’m too old for that anymore. Places with sewage issues have no appeal to me. Which was your favorite?
Though not mentioned, I noticed the first picture is of Independence Rock below the Monument in Grand Junction Colorado or so it appears to be. Am I right? When were you there?
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Jo, I know, I didn’t realize I’d traveled to that many places last year, and the truth is, I didn’t write about a couple more places that I visited! Time does fly when you’re having a good time, I guess.
The first photo is not Independence, I can’t remember its name now, oh wait, it’s spider rock, I think, in Canyon de Chelly. Talk about luck and being in the right place at the right time for a shadow to appear right there, eh?
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It did almost look like Independence, perhaps slightly smaller. It is is similarly placed. Odd.
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nature is odd, people are just funky some times…
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What a life!!!
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somebody’s gotta do it…
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Badfish, it’s impossible to select just one of these destinations. I’d love to go to Prague, or Amsterdam, or the Maldives…oh heck, I’ll cash in the suite at the Hilton and just have a round the world ticket thanks. As for the ick, you weren’t wrong…that guy needs some serious fashion advice.
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Not impossible, you just have to think about priorities. But let me just say, for Prague or Amsterdam or the Maldives, you just can’t make a mistake.
Ick factor: you are right, fashion advice, indeed. He seems almost proud. Steveo said that the warning was not strong enough!!!
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Any of those would be great to visit. My daughter said to tell you she made sure she climbed the tower you recommended. She loved Prague and says we must go too.
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yeah…any would be great!! They are all fun in one way or another. And hey, glad to hear she climbed the tower…I’d like to see her photo (that I didn’t get!).
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I’ll ask her if she took any!
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cool!
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I can’t look! AACK! Too afraid to click.
Fun and fresh review of your travels! I particularly love your opening paragraph. I remember when summer felt like an entire year and 10 days at a summer camp felt like an entire summer.
This post calls attention to a juxtaposition about your life: You live in a place not yet defined by history; a contrived country with everything but the kitchen sink, and too young to be defined as anything, but you seem to love to travel to places deeply rooted and singularly defined by a millennia of human history.
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LRose…DO NOT CLICK. “Ick” is not a strong enough word to use. And I didn’t insert the photo in the blog specifically for you!
And yeah…just where does time go these days?
As for this area, it is true that the town that is here now, and the country (45 years old) is brand new with no history. However, there have been people in this part of the world for eons. They just didn’t build cities. Or, they did, but they got buried like Jericho (recently rediscovered) in the sands of time. I have found shards of pottery in the sand that are hundreds of years old. I am interested in the past for some reason. Technology…not so much.
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hey, LRose…something weird just happened and when I tried to comment, it got erased along with your comment…about clicking and OUCHING and old horseshoes. I have an old, old gear that weighs a ton.
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Bugger, as the Britain say! I have a twitchy touchpad on my laptop that likes to do as it pleases as well. Sometimes I miss the typewriter
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yeah, that’s actually the second time that happened on my blog. I think I hit some button that just deletes it all???
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You mean, like, the one that reads, “Delete?” 😉
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that might be the one…but it just pops up or something from somewhere
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Like, if it were a snake, it would’a bit ya? 🙂 Anyway, I have the same problem all the time with the touchy touch-pad. All the dang time.
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yeah…exactly like that, I think! and it did…
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i remember that baddie. youd just posted and it disappeared right before my very eyes. i was posting at same time. weird wordpress stuff.
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oh, that was a different time, that was a posting time. yeah weird stuff sometimes!
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Bhutan for sure.
What really grabbed me here, though, is how thoroughly you covered the planet last year! I went along with you, post after post, and I was still flabbergasted at your range. Wow. After all that, I might not be surprised if you sat this break out at home. Missed you in Cuba, though!
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Lex…if you go to Bhutan, I might suggest you stay as long as you can afford, a week or two at least. You need to get into the interior of the country, I think, to really appreciate its uniqueness.
And yeah, I have to admit, while compiling this, I was sort of amazed that I had been to all those places in one year! I thought about doing a post on Abu Dhabi while sitting out the break, but just didn’t get around to it, or anything else for that matter. Just did not do anything! First day of school …today! Can’t wait to read about your Cuba…
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Well…what a list and to think you’ve been to all those places!! My goodness, while I do not believe this will be the year we make to any of these, Prague would be first on my list, and a drink of absinthe, but then would move on to Hungary. There was something about your writing of those places and my ancestry that has me actually yearning to go. I would say last on my list would be India, not sure why, but there you go! Happy New Year Mr. Badfish, and looking forward to your 2017 travels as reading you blog is always a pleasure and I plan to pleasure myself more this year….wait, that didn’t come out right… but you get the idea!! HA!
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Keli…you cannot go wrong with Prague. I loved it there, and think about it all the time, and think about going back…soon, maybe. Do you Hungarian blood? Or from that whole area, or what?
I’m so glad you get pleasure from the posts on this area, and if there is anything I like it is helping women pleasure…no, no…but I do hope you find more pleasure in the coming year(s). Pleasure is the real meaning in life because there’s so much of the other stuff.
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I’m Czech and German mostly, some Norwegian and perhaps some English in there as well…the proverbial mutt American…I will get there some day! My plan is when my daughter is a bit older, summers are spent traveling the world…so I have begun saving for those trips for the family… We are going to begin with the continental US while she is young and then move on once she is older. And a big YES to the pleasure part…we do spend too much time on the crap don’t we!!
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Ah…good beer-drinking-in-sauna stock!! I’m quite the mix also! Cool that you’re doing all the traveling when you can. I just don’t see how people travel with kids! Shouldn’t we all have a nanny as part of our personal rights?
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Yes, I was raised in a good German-Czech community! HA! I could never travel with more than one kid, too expensive and too many to appease on long flights. We have been to the mainland several times since she was born and she is a good flier. The only trouble we had was coming back on an 8 hour flight just this New Years day…she was just tired. So we will save the big trips for when she is older! And yes, a Nanny would be helpful, maybe then I could get a blog written again!
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HA! 8 hours is about my longest desired flight these days. After that I want off and a hotel. I always stopover someplace on my way to more distant lands.
I always wonder why kids cry on planes. You think it’s their ears? Or it’s “just enough of this crap already.”
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Babies it’s ears or too hot, kids it’s bad parenting or enough of this crap! Ha! But that’s just my opinion and I’m lucky mine loves the adventure for the most part
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yeah, ears…it always makes me wonder when a kid starts crying because it’s not like real pain, it’s more like miffed for no reason
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it does get better, keli471. mine refused to eat plane food, or any food, on a plane. punto. suddenly on the last flight, now she’s 12, she was eating plane food on a plane, without commenting. suddenly we both realised, and laughed. so you do outgrow some things!it
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I never eat plane food!! but then, never say never…or when it’s first class
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Bangladesh. Still looks crazy and fascinating — and hardly anyone goes there except you! Although Amritapura sounds pretty great, too. Or maybe Abu Dhabi where we could meet and talk in lingua engla. That would be fun! Great post BF. Where are you going in 2017???
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Kelly, yes, Bangladesh…I only went there because nobody else does! That, and that it’s one of the only ways you can get in to Bhutan, of course.
Amritapura is an oasis in the jungle of India. Abu Dhabi…well, if you do make here, you better make sure you let me know! I’ll be the guy wearing thongs in Starbucks.
2017…hmmmm, not sure, right now maybe Viet Nam, maybe back to Bali.
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I will never get to any of these places so I love that enjoy having me along for the ride! Fantastic listings. Are you serious–only one year of Badfish?! Hell of a year, wasn’t it?!
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Lois….yeah, I was amazed myself that I’d been to all these places last year…hell of a year is right. And I don’t feel much like hitting another third world any time soon! But I’m sooo glad you are along for the ride!
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It was nice to have a review of your travels! AND to realize I missed a few places. Your photographs are stunning and your travel range is pretty awesome too!
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I found the idea in some other blogs where they had a year-end review, so thought I’d give it a try a little differently. I actually didn’t realize I’d been to so many places last year! I don’t even want to count up the cost!
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No, no. No cost counting afterward unless it’s to figure how far you can go this year!!
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I think I’ll stick a little closer to home this year!
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[…] Source: 25 BEST DESTINATION TYPES for 2017 […]
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You knew I was going to have to click, right? … I think I might know him 😉
This was a great summary of your year of traveling. Wowzer … you’ve been busy and can squeeze in a lot in 12 months!!
Question – at Tiger’s Nest Monastery, did you really see a tourist being taken down in stilettos?! Is there really someone that incredibly stupid?
I don’t know where I’m going this year. The way it looks right now … a whole lot of nowhere. It’s just not coming together at all!
Happy Travels, Badfish. btw – LOVE the first photo. Spectacular scenery and a great shadow-selfie 🙂
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I know…how did I get to so many places…it’s definitely not my normal “slow” way of travel. And yes, we did see guides carrying someone down, but no, not in stilettos…nobody’s that stupid (we hope!). And many did stop at the half-way restaurant.
I’m probably going to be staying pretty close to home also…mostly. And yeah…I love that I arrived at that spot in first photo, Spider Rock, at just the right time to get the shadow in the shot! What luck.
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Bhutan for me my friend and then a swing by the Maldives please and thank you. Wowza this is an extraordinary travelogue you have my friend. Stunning photos.
Just as an aside you link to ‘Read the Story’ on the Maldives isn’t working.
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Bhutan and Maldives…good choice Sue! Hmmmmm…thanks, I’ll check out the link!
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What a blessed year you had! That viewing platform on Mt. Popa looks good to me 🙂 I’ll try and get to those posts I missed. Happy travels in 2017!
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Blessed is certainly the word, and I didn’t realize just how much until I wrote this and realized. And Mt Popa is great!!
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I am planning to get back to Myanmar and maybe Bhutan this year. You got to do quite a bit of traveling to some incredible places last year.
Where are you headed in 2017?
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Jeff….you do know who you’re talking to here, right? And asking what my “plan” is!! But maybe Viet Nam. I don’t think Cuba. Maybe South Africa. Maybe Bali again.
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Oh, yes, I did forget. May the wind take you to exciting places this year.
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right, or just a little breeze, eh
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“Does time really fly when you’re having a good time?”—> well, that´s certainly a good one… (Yes, It does, I´ll reply!) 😀
These destinations are magical, dear Badfish… I´d love to travel to Malta, Hungary and Czech Republic, for instance… If I had the chance right now, I´d pick up the beach, though. But that´s because I love the beach and it is summer over here.-
The photographs and descriptions in your post make me want to travel, for sure! .
Sending love and best wishes. Happy week ahead!!! ⭐
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Aquileana, I agree…it is flying right now.
One of my favorite places: Malta. You’d love it because it’s surrounded by beaches (it is an island), and because Calypsos held Odysseus as her boytoy. And you can see the spot if you rent a car, it overlooks a beach. Makes you wonder if Odysseus was actually a captive, though, doesn’t it? Men will say anything when they get back home to their wives.
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Haha!… Love the sound of it! 😀 I´ll add Malta to my Bucket list… Happy tuesday, dear Badfish! ⭐
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you’d like Malta, I’d go back today. I don’t think anyone has ever wished me a happy tuesday…so THANKS!
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It is my pleasure, dear Badfish!. Sending love! 😀
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thanks so much, A…
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Wow you’ve been to some really amazing places – can’t wait to see where 2017 takes you 🙂
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Mariko…hey, cool, thanks for stopping by. Yeah, I didn’t realize just how many places I went last year! This year…I’m going to slow down a bit.
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Prague or Burma. I’ve been to India, Malta and Holland (no place does cheese like Holland). Not brave enough to go to most of the other spots so I am happy to tag along behind you virtually. I am not a beach/blue water person, but if I were, my vote would be for Nassau or Recife.
The photographs should be winning some award somewhere.
You must have a money tree on your terrace. I am not sure I could afford any one of these trips!
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Beth…OK…tag along, lady. And right…if you want cheese, go to Holland. Money tree–you know that’s funny, because I did not keep track of any of my expenditures, and did not even think about cost. But I’m sure it wasn’t too expensive!! Good thing I have no debts, though, eh…
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Unencumbrance is a help. We have one mortgage and about to have another one, so I am firmly anchored. However, my homes are my vacation, so to speak — I picked them deliberately to be like that — so I am content.
I used to travel constantly and now I have no desire at all. Except I am going to Cape Cod for the summer this year. That will do!
😀
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I always thought having three pieces of land and drive my motorhome to each every four months would be a good way for me to go. Cape Cod…can’t wait for that post! I was in Martha’s Vineyard, but never got out to the Cape.
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Awesome post! Wow, you’ve been around! Would love to peruse all the links when I get a chance. Beautiful post!
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Thanks much, yeah last year was a year of too much, to be honest. This year, I’m staying put, or moving a lot slower!
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So are you staying put there? Even me miss wanderlust feels like I need to be in one place for awhile. It gets stressful at times being on the move so much.
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Yeah, I’ll be in Abu Dhabi. And you’re right, traveling is hard work. I love it, but after a while, you need to sit back and watch rice grow to get recharged.
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Sounds amazing too! 🙂
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Just stunning shots! Checked in only 3 of above 25 places 😦 Vote for Holland first. Love its peaceful beauty.
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Hey, thanks for hanging out here and I’m so glad you like the shots. And I agree, I’m a BIG fan of Holland! I stop off there EVERY time I fly back to the States.
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Oh good grief! How would one choose where they wanted to go??? If I could only pick one, it would be Hungary. I am so awed by all the amazing places you’ve been Fish… That was a terrific wrap up post for the end of the year. Must have taken you forever.
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I know, it’s hard to choose. But Hungary, eh? Good choice. And right, it did take me a long time, much longer than I would have thought, since I imagined a short post, with not many words. Sometimes things work out differently than you imagined…
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What’s next in 2017?
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I was just about to go outside and put up the windsock to see which way the wind was blowing to see where we might go next! But it’s a little foggy out.
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{{{Badfish}}} LOL You’re such a hoot…
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But not a night owl!!!
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All in 2016? Wow, you are worse ( I mean better) than us. Lets see 2016 was Myanmar, Thailand, Bali, Sri Lanka, Chicago, Puerto Rico, Vancouver, Hong Kong, VietNam.
Looking at these photos…I have always been intrigued by Nepal and Bhutan but read and heard that Bhutan is prohibitively expensive.?
I love your categories and the photos are fab. Especially the Maldives ( even though am not lured there and it is close to us in Sri Lanka…), Nepal and Tigers nest.
Terrific post…
Yup, we are the same…where to in 2017? Some favorites such as Bali for sure and sonewhere new as well, for sure… tine will tell. Yes, it flies by when you not a kid. Older you get, quicker it goes!
Peta
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Yeah, all in 2016…I think I’ll slow down for 2017, though. Bhutan is overpriced, I admit I was a bit disappointed but don’t want to say that in a post! And I would also give the Maldives a miss. Way overpriced. Tigers Nest…actually VERY cool. I really want to go to Bali because I feel so good there, and it’s relaxing, not “traveling” at all. But I feel like I “must” go some place new…if only to write about, but that would be “travailing”…life is hard. Maybe I’ll just come live in your bathroom.
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Ha ha ha….. what a grand idea! Come on over…… you can definitely sleep in the tub!
Peta
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hey, I’ve slept in a tub before, you know!!
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Inspiring list! Thank you for compiling this great list. I wish I could visit one of these places. Unfortunately I already make a promise to myself to prioritize the traveling around the US and its neighboring countries instead..maybe I will include Bali for the end of year trip. But sometimes time is the issue 😀
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Well, you know, there are some really cool places in the US, lots of them. However, most of them are not in MN! Kidding. You do have the Great Lakes, eh?
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LOL you get it right!! The Great Lakes are fine, but still too cold to scuba dive! 😀
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is there still ice on the lakes?
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You seem to have collected all the gracefulness of the world in one post, great post!!!
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Yeah, Prasna, and the thing is he didnt even know that this weeks wordpress photo challenge was Graceful, when he posted this Year in a Glass Jar.
… or did he?… Baddie, you are slowly letting slip your true time-travelling genius, posting answers to the wordpress challenge before they even arrive .. or did the Happiness Engineers just give you a nod? how much you paying them anyhow?
🙂 🙂
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hey Deb….shhhhh, the happiness guys might read this and then never Discover me!!
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Prasna…well, thanks for that! But no, not all the grace, I left some for you!!
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Such a wonderful collection of shots! I love the vivid colours!
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thanks jmacindoe (cool name), it’s easy to find bright colors in these places!
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Wow! Your post made my head explode (in a delightful way) with a recap of all the awesome that you have seen in your travels. And I am more excited than ever to travel to Myanmar (on the list in late 2017 or early 2018). We will also sail to the Maldives in 2018, but I am hopeful that brining our own sailing home there will make it a bit more affordable ($40 burgers 😁). I am still hopeful that we can get Bhutan in before we start our Indian Ocean crossing in 2018. India & Nepal, disappointingly, will have to wait for another time (although we hope to sail to the Andaman Islands on our way to Sri Lanka). Your images knocked my socks off! Good show Mr Badfish.
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I know, I know…talk about seeing some awesome! Lordy I’m lucky, eh? And when you go to Burma, take your time, take lots of time, stay a while. It’s too cool to speed through it. And aware that if you travel by land, it takes days to go three miles. Fly, or simply alot enough travel time. Glad you liked the images…I’m honored, but am still miffed I cannot find street art like you. Hey, where was that stone bicycle statue in Bali?
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Ahoy there Mr Badfish. The relief was in a wall at Pura Maduwe Karang
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Impossible to choose since your photos make them all look so amazing…even the places that I know have a grungy side. I feel myself getting less adventurous in terms of travel destinations, vs life(!) and Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Holland, Malta all sound like my style….although I might throw in Croatia too. You certainly do get around and love that selfie in the first photo!
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I think they ALL have a grungy side! Thank the lord for digital photography, eh! I know what you mean about feeling less adventurous. For me, I like a little bit of comfort these days as I get older. I loved bumming it all those years, but now…yeah, give me an extra pillow and a marble floor, please
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Great recommendations! The photo of the monastery at Mt. Popa is incredible!
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I had to scream at my driver to stop at that particular location. He told me he had a great spot to take a photo of the place, but this one was way better than his!
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Well Badfish, it looks like your 2016 was far more eventful (and fun) than mine! Have to say that I wasn’t very fond of Kerala when I went with Bama in 2015… food was the best we had in India BUT most people we met in Cochin had an attitude (super pushy, rude, totally down for swindling tourists, you name it). At the homestay in Kumarakom the owner’s dachsund wet my bed (and sprayed my laptop) with urine because I didn’t give him enough attention – the guy claimed it was squirrels above the ceiling but it was clearly a dog-sized puddle!
For my first choice it’s a toss-up between Bhutan, Budapest and Malta… though I’m not really a Hilton guy so maybe a suite at the Four Seasons instead?
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James…I know…when I sat to write this little ditty, I had no idea (or rather simply did not remember) how many places I went last year. It’s not like me to travel to so many places, I’m usually a slow traveler, spending a month or two or three in one spot and lounging it there.
And yeah, Cochin is a city-city…with all the hustle of a city. So people act like people there. Even the beggers give you attitude!
Budapest and Malta would be my top choices for you to visit…if you’re weighing cost to coolness. some prices of things are just too high…
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Great photos and good question. Not sure I would go back to India, even to a Hilton. For me, some places really are just once in a lifetime… I would like to go back to the Netherlands during tulip season – how brashly colourful!
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Margy, in India, did you get to Goa? It’s way different than the rest of the country. But yeah, some places are just a one-time thing. I get that. I’ll never return to the Maldives. But right, I’ll ALWAYS return to the Netherlands…but you know, for as many times as I’ve already been there (and it’s A LOT), I’ve never been there during tulip time!!
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No, didn’t get to Goa. I have friends from other parts of India, and they insist I didn’t really ‘see’ India. I understand – because they, in turn haven’t really seen Canada by visiting Toronto!
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Margy…well, to actually “see” India would probably take years or a lifetime. But then, for me now, there’s only so much third world I want to imbibe at one time these days.
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When I saw the red telephone box I wondered where you’d been in the UK that was so beautifully sunny then I saw it was in Malta :D. I loved going on holiday to Malta and your other photos are just fabulous some just don’t look real they are so perfect.
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Charlotte…do they still have phone boxes like that in the UK? Do people still use pay phones? We have no pay phones in Abu Dhabi where I’m at right now. People here own two or three cell phones.
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There are some that are accessible with a debit card, rural places lost their boxes and some were modernised with glass cubicles that do Internet as well as phone services, but you can’t beat the red boxes for style statements and I think some have been saved and repurposed for that reason in main cities. Mobile phones have taken over though.
Best wishes
Charlotte
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Charlotte, I hear you. I love the look of those boxes, just love them. I took umteen photos of the same box. Almost every time I ran across it. It sat next to the nearest bus stop! I have it in the morning, noon, afternoon, night. All with different shadows!
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Badfish, I’m going to have to bookmark this to come back and read your posts a few at a time. I loved the sleepy city. Those buildings looked a little more sleep-worthy than the telephone/electric line painted haven. If you did all that in one year, Whew! You must get up pretty early! I feel jet lag just looking at all the beautiful diverse, hard to reach spots. You did lots of climbing, and I’d bet not in your thongs! 🙂
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Marsha…well, girl, take your time. You know, I have never bookmarked a post. Don’t know how. How do you do that?
And yeah, I know, I couldn’t believe I went to all those places when I started writing! And I do get up very early! And right…climbing, but not in thongs!
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hehehehe! To bookmark on Chrome there is a menu at the top, the fourth from the left. Click on it and click bookmark this page. The other way I do it is manually by pasting the post address into my blogging journal. That way I can go back to it and paste quote I might want to respond to later! I’m sad you didn’t climb in your thongs, but that’s not to say I would have done so. Vince & Carol are making fun of me because I have my “stabilization shoes.” I’m not saying I’m awkward, but I have fallen on occasion, and a huge stair-climbing excursion is not where I’d want to try it! 🙂 So glad Carol introduced us! 🙂
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Oh…I’d never done it like that before! I have separate bookmark dropdowns. Thanks. Are you using Chrome?
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Yes, I’m using Chrome? 🙂
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It sounded like you made that trail mix last a while. Very reliable emergency food and doesn’t seem like you grew tired of it. Dubai has always been on top of my travel list. I’ve heard so much about its stunning sunsets, especially the orange ones, and hope to see them for myself some day. Also would love to go to a place where they serve good pasta. Then again, if I had a choice between seeing a good view and eating good food, I will always go for the view 😀
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Mabel…ha! on that trip, I carried a small bag and a small backpack. Very few clothes–all hot countries. So I had room for a BIG bag of trail mix! And I’m right there with you on seeing the view over eating the food!!
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Hiya hon! Just popped by to see if you were ok … or if I’d missed a post, but you’re still chatting so that’s fine. 🙂
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Jo…so you truly are “restless” eh? Thanks for checking in. Yeah, I’m trying to keep up with my chats here, but have not been able to read or comment or many other blogs lately. Stuff…you know, like life. The dollar. The man. Food.
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Earning a crust 😦 😦
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is that Brit for “bogged down in life”?
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🙂
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I’m totally glad to see Budapest in your list! I lived there for a while and love this place. Can recommend it to anyone! Thanks for your list!
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Cecilia…thanks for hanging out here and commenting! I loved Budapest also…very cool place to live, lucky you!!
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There must be something about rocky pinnacles because the Mt. Popa monastery in Burma and the Tiger’s nest one in Bhutan both look like places I’d love to visit. Now all I need is a helicopter.
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Lots of drool-worthy destinations on this list BF and a great menu to choose from. But damn boy! You got around last year. ~James
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James, I know. Way too much traveling. Sad part is I didn’t even think about how much money I was spending, and (the sad part) now I’m going to have to consider what I spend!!
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How I love this Medley you have shared!! It’s making me MAD! You traveled so much, it makes me envious too 🙂 Stunning photography there!!
Cheers, Charu
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Hi…sorry for the late reply. I’ve actually been missing from the site, and maybe the world? Glad you enjoyed the post and photos…even though you got mad. It’s not easy being me!
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[…] boats race, visited the country where the Christmas tree was invented. This year for my annual Year in Review, rather than recap the year’s journey, I’m going to share a number of fun facts I learned along […]
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