RTW TOP TEN - Top Ten Reasons to Travel Around The World!

My destinations were Hong Kong, Singapore, Cairo, Istanbul, Venice, Zurich, Bruges, London and Paris. Fantastic trip. This Top Ten isn’t really destination related, more the overall cool stuff related to the RTW experience. Enjoy. I did!

My RTW TOP TEN:

10. Never having to repeat the same airport/station twice.
This for me was a trip of firsts, first round the world trip and first time through most of the airports (and train stations). If, like me, you’ve been stuck in ORD or EWR more times than you can remember, the experience of continuing on without repeating stops made even the airports an ongoing part of the adventure.

9. Getting lost in all sorts of fun places!
Too proud to carry a map, I got lost in Hong Kong, Istanbul, Venice and London. But, each time, I wandered into fabulous side streets, finding markets, bazaars and cool cafes I’d never have found if I’d been looking for them!

8. Having a great customs response on return home.
When the customs guy asked me "Did you visit any other countries on this trip?" I was able to answer, "Actually, yes, I visited Hong Kong, Singapore, Egypt, Turkey, Switzerland, etc. etc." That response got me a big smile and a "great trip, welcome home" - that was a first!

7. Contrasts, contrasts, contrasts!
I picked my trip and my destinations for cultural and scenic diversity, and boy did I get that experience! I did get a little culture shock jumping from pristine Singapore to chaotic Cairo, but that’s exactly what I was looking for: contrasts!

6. Food, glorious food!
From London Pub Grub to Turkish Delight, the food in all these wonderful places was always an adventure, and, in general, always fantastic!

5. The Passport Stamps!
I always dreamed of having a passport full of stamps from exotic locations, now I’ve got a bunch, and there’s so many more to collect!

4. The Camera Roll!
I shot over 85 gigs of images on my trip, luckily I brought the laptop to wade through them. My computer’s rotating desktop images are now a wonderful kaleidoscope of international travel. My book, too, is a rich tapestry of slices of life in fantastic international destinations.

3. That "I’m not sure where I am or what time it is, but isn’t that a pyramid outside my window?" feeling.
I picked most of my hotels (nine in nine different countries) for their location, proximity to attractions and, where possible, their view. It never failed to inspire me to wake up with all those incredible views.

2. The miles!
I accumulated approximately 29,000 miles on my trip, enough to bump me up to Silver Elite for this year and next. If I manage to fit in another RTW trip in the next six months, I’m Gold!

1. The Experience is Priceless.
This sort of experience is priceless. The sense of fulfillment, the fresh perspective and appreciation of the parts of the world I am now familiar with, and above all, the renewed appreciation for the place I call home. This is what traveling is all about.

This entry was posted on 18. October 2010 at 18:28 and is filed under Cities, Destinations, Travel Tips, Countries, Around the World, International, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.