Friday fun: what is someplace you'd never been, where you'd like to travel?

[Monique vdB]

It's Friday at our Sydney HQ, so time for the Friday fun thread. Posting this picture of Sydney reminded me that Sydney qualifies as a place I've never been that I'd like to go to. (I'd like to add all those Australian birds to my life list.) 

Also Florence and Venice have been on my list for years, and we're going next month! I want to see the art in Florence, and see St. Mark's Place in Venice.  My six-year-old is lobbying for Pompeii and the Leaning Tower of Pisa while we're in Italy; she may have to settle for the Colosseum and a gondola ride. 

Where do you want to visit?

[BiancaE]

Top 3, in order:

1) Iceland

2) Patagonia

3) Petra

[Monique vdB]

Oooooohh.

[Erica Moss]

@Monique vdB I have Venice recos for you!

 London and Paris are at the top of my "must go soon" list. ✨

[Nick Muldoon]

Happy Friday @Monique vdB!

I'm eager to travel to Kakadu National Park

[Monique vdB]

Oh wow. 

[Fadoua]

I would love to visit Turkey and Egypt.

[Davin Studer]

So, maybe it's the nerd in me, but if I could REALLY go anywhere I want I would be on the first commercial flight to the Moon or Mars. Seeing as that is probably not a reality I would have to settle for Ireland. I love Irish music, culture, accent, etc.

[Jack Brickey]

I have already chartered the first flight for all the Champions. ;-)

[Carol Jones]

This may sound lame based on all the beautiful posts above, but this next year I'm pushing hard for a Napa trip!

[Monique vdB]

@Carol Jones wine country is wonderful! Also take a look at Sonoma, Calistoga, and the Russian River Valley. When you come here I will have a good list of recommendations for you. :) 

[MarcAnthony005]

A place that had never “existed “... so far :)

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Wow, this thread has so much eye candy! Love all the places listed on your travel bucket lists! I would love to visit Hawaii, actually I know I would love to move there and sell tshirts and give SUP lessons on the beach. What a simple life, my dream! :)

[Ana Retamal]

I can say I'm pretty lucky and I've travelled a lot so far, but there's always places left to visit. Still in my list:

• The Taj Mahal in India

• Istambul
• Croatia
• Greece
• Canada
• And Japan AGAIN ♡

PD: I Know it's not Friday anymore, but the timing was bad for AMS and I wanted to participate! :D

Cheers!

Ana

[Monique vdB]

Maybe it should be "question of the week" instead -- our Friday fun threads never close ;) 

[Thomas Schlegel]

Most of the time, it is almost Saturday here, when the new friday-fun-thread is coming up. Thank god, the thread is not closed at midnight :-) 

[Thomas Schlegel]

Some places on my list are

• Canada (especially the western part, starting in Vancouver)
• New York, Boston & Maine in fall (I've been in New York and Boston before, but I'd love to go again)
• Galapagos Islands
• New Zealand (unfortunately my husband was there twice already and he won't go there again... )
• Vietnam
• Nepal / Tibet
• Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden
• Iceland

[Monique vdB]

I'll go to New Zealand with you! I have a friend in Wellington and I've always wanted to visit her. We'll leave our husbands at home. :) 

Iceland is also on my list. And Scotland. And I'd love to go back to Ireland and do a driving tour of England.  (All the stuff from Jane Austen's novels, plus @Nic Brough -Adaptavist-'s house.) 

[Thomas Schlegel]

@Monique vdB Great, let's meet in New Zealand :-)

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I suspect Nicholas' picture made me think of this one first, but I'll say it anyway - Plitvice falls in Croatia

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/photography/Spark/Sony/xperia-plitvice-lakes.jpg?imwidth=450

Like Monique, I have Firenze on the list as well as Milano, but we didn't have time to fit them in during the Rome, Venice and Naples trips over the last few years.

There's plenty of other places on the list, Machu Picchu, Pamakale, Barcelona (yes, ok, I've been, but I don't count the inside of a hotel, a taxi and a conference centre full of Atlassian geeks as a proper visit), Neuschwanstein (I got close while working in Munich, but didn't quite make enough time for that one), and... and... and... 

There's also places to revisit - I felt so at home in Reykjavik, Edinburgh, Stockholm and Amsterdam, I'd love to go back.  At the rate Brexit is going, I might just go to one of them to get out of the horror England is becoming.

I've managed to get Chrissy to start considering trips to St Petersburg recently too...

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

p.s. Pompeii is fascinating, but be warned that it is very very open to the elements and constantly full of grockles, so watch out for the sun and crowds.  Consider Herculaneum as well - while it's a lot smaller, and doesn't have quite such a human touch (the population had time to run away), a lot of it is much better preserved.

[Monique vdB]

That is also gorgeous. I also want to go to Burney falls, which is in California, so I really have no excuse.

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist-do you have any recommendations for Venice as it sounds like you've been more than once? My husband is grumbling that it is a boring tourist trap (he went before we met) but if I can lead him to some delicious food, he will be happy.  

We also did a honeymoon tour of Eastern Europe and missed Neuschwanstein. On my list for sure.

[Monique vdB]

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist- Noted on Pompeii and Herculaneum!

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

He does have a point - the whole place is heavily based on tourists.  I threw myself into the touristy bit last time, as Chrissy had not been and wanted to see all the cliches.  Previously, I'd stayed in an apartment in the Jewish ghetto and then in a friend-of-a-friend's place (the main holiday then was staying with the friend near Trieste), but she booked a deal without realising the hotel was 100 yards from St Marks Square and was shocked when I complimented her on getting somewhere that close without paying a fortune!

The two things I would say probably won't surprise you much.

1.  Walk.  And be prepared to walk a lot. 

The Jewish ghetto is a long way from the main touristy bits, as is the naval quarter.  So I walked.  Getting around any other way is expensive, and generally not as fast as you hope it's going to be. 

Gondoliers are very much for the tourists nowadays - the first time I went, they were more like expensive taxis that would get you somewhere, but now, they're mostly fixed routes for tourists to see everything (stunning, but take you in a circle).  However, if you want to do it on the cheap, plan a route that crosses the Grand Canal.  There are three bridges, but also several Traghetti (apologies for the spelling!).  These are bigger gondoliers that will take you across the canal for a couple of Euros at far more convenient points.

2.  While walking, take note of where the locals eat and drink.  Go there.  The places along the Grand canal cater to tourists, but you only have to go one street back to find far more interesting food.  We found a coffee shop and a proper family restaraunt on the Campo Zaccaria almost untouched by tourists and full of Italians.  Far better than the one tourist place we are at.

[Thomas Schlegel]

@Monique vdB : When you visit "The Castles of Mad King Ludwig" and Germany, I would love to be your tourist guide :-) - just let me know!

[Monique vdB]

I will! We almost did it for Thanksgiving but thought it might be too cold. :)