August’s 5 Travel Obsessions

Another month, another list of 5 places I’m dying to explore.  My travel ADD has me constantly down rabbit holes, and this month is no different, despite getting ready to get out of Dodge for a few weeks at the end of the month – for my honeymoon, no less!  Did I mention that I got married last weekend?  Anyway, here are the places that have me googling until my fingers bleed this month:

Independent Travel in the Maldives

I had written off The Maldives several years ago – thinking (stupidly) that there were no options for more budget-minded independent travelers in the country.  While I don’t consider myself a full-fledged backpacker, I am also not a traveler on the ultra-luxury end of the spectrum, either.  To me, the Maldives used to represent the peak of culture-less travel – in other words, flying halfway around the world to stay in five star hotels, never once meeting a local person or experiencing any aspect of how indigenous people actually live in a place.  That’s not my bag.

However, in my daily internet wanderings, I happened upon Nomadic Boys’ and Lauren of Never Ending Footsteps’ accounts of their independent travel in the islands, and have been transfixed ever since.  It turns out that in 2009, private citizens of the Maldives were allowed to operate their own accommodations for tourists, opening up a burgeoning market for independent travel.  It’s not particularly gay-friendly – but as in most “not gay friendly” parts of the world, I imagine that if one is discrete, one’s sexual preference is not a problem.  And being sober, it’s an ideal place to travel, as alcohol is not allowed in the country whatsoever (outside of a few of the main resorts).

Albanian Beaches

I have had a crush on the Balkans for a long time now – and will touch ground there for the first time in December of this year.  While the Balkans are primarily a cultural draw for me, as both the confluence of Ottoman and Western empires and home to a slew of 20^th century Communist dictators, it is summertime.  And in summer, who doesn’t like a beach? 

Some of my favorite bloggers have written about Albania lately, including Silvia at Heart My Backpack and Larissa at The Blonde Gypsy, and only reinforce the idea that Albania needs to be included in my travel plans sooner rather than later.  The beaches look largely unspoiled (aside from the trash…but I’ve been to Thailand, so think I should probably be alright) – and it’s super cheap.  Ksamil and Sarande seem to be getting more and more folks these days, but there are tons of beaches dotting the coast that have yet to be discovered by mainstream tourists.  Pack up my Speedo (it is Eastern Europe, after all!) and Hawaiian Tropic and take me there, ASAP!

Seoul, Korea (ROK)

I lived in Seoul in 2007 and spent quite a bit of time in the city between 2009 and 2011.  It is not a stretch to say that Seoul is, hands down, my favorite city in the world.  The city is huge, almost 25 million people now, and full of energy and life.  It’s also home to a rather diverse and multicultural population, despite being in a rather homogeneous part of the world.

I sometimes scoff when talking about Korea – I wasn’t particularly happy when I lived there (though that may have been the fault of Daejeon, a city about 2 hours south of Seoul and my first home in Korea, and its distinct lack of personality) – but it remains as my true second home in the world.  This article in the New York Times reminded me of how I could walk the streets of Seoul and constantly find new little secrets lurking around every corner, whether in the form of restaurants, coffee shops, or otherwise.  David and I don’t have any immediate plans to go there, but I may engineer a stopover in the city if we fly through Incheon on our way to Central Asia next year.  And being that most of my time in the city was soaked in beer and soju, it would be a vastly different, and I’m sure rewarding, experience to explore the city in sobriety.

The Pamir Highway – Tajikistan/Kyrgyzstan

I talked briefly about my interest in Kyrgyzstan last month, but did not include the backstory of why I would be in Kyrgyzstan.  The real interest in a trip to this part of the world (other than my participation on the Board of Directors for the Seattle-Tashkent Sister City Association) is the take a road trip across the Pamir Highway.  It’s well-touristed, at least in terms of places I’m interested, so there’s a wealth of information on the route published by various blogs I love.  Most notably (that I’ve read!) are the series written by Nick and Dariece of Goats on the Road, who traveled the highway in 2013, and also the accounts written by Silvia at Heart My Backpack.  I’ve already started researching and budgeting, and have contacted some tour providers based in Dushanbe.  It’s just a matter of time now – start the countdown for summer 2016!

One of the biggest lures of the trip would actually be a rather short portion of it – that is, the flight from Dushanbe to Khorog in a rinkydink Tajik Air plane.  It’s rather notorious in travel circles for being both the most terrifying and most beautiful 45 minutes you can experience.  The flight travels through the mountains, rather than over them, and only runs in perfect clear weather.  In Soviet times, Aeroflot paid their pilots hazard pay to make the perilous flight.  David and I are dead set on taking it, even if it means waiting out temperamental weather in Dushanbe for a few days.  I’m sure it’d be worth it – just check out this video!

The biggest obstacle to this trip would be my ability to get time off work – I would want to spend at least three weeks in the two countries, and would likely fly in and out of Almaty, a city I’ve been keen on visiting ever since reading Megan Starr sing its praises.  It’s tough when real life gets in the way of your dream life – maybe it’s time I quit it all and move to full time travel…

Paraguay

It’s no secret that I’m attracted to obscure destinations.  I’m actually rather snobbish about travel – in that I have little to no interest in more traditional destinations.  Paraguay is on my list precisely because of this proclivity.  If you look at a map of the world, and think about all the places that are least touristed and most obscure, Paraguay lands near the top of the list I populate in my head (along with Mauritania – maybe I’ll talk about Mauritania next month…).  But Paraguay has a fascinating colonial history (also traumatic, when thinking about the history of their indigenous peoples), and a really interesting mix of people who have settled there.

Recently Afar Magazine ran a short piece on Paraguay in its Spin the Globe column, and I’ve been a little transfixed.  I’m not sure what it is, because there really doesn’t seem to be that much there for David and I – a lot of beef, a lot of beer, a lot of religion…kind of the unholy trifecta for us.  But something about it seems to be calling my name.  The history of the place is just so wacky, that I feel like I need to make it there (from eccentric Irish mistresses, to Nazi’s on the run, to pockets of Mennonites – it’s all contrary to what you’d imagine from a landlocked South American nation).  For Cliff’s Notes, see Anthony Bourdain’s episode of Parts Unknown on the nation, or read John Gimlette’s At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig.

Also, little known fact about Paraguay – it is a stone’s throw away from Iguazu Falls.  You just never hear about it because Brazil and Argentina encompass the main tourist area around the waterfall.