skywalkerbeth

Good evening

I recently was perusing my passports and realized I'm about to embark on trip number 45 to Europe. All personal time, nothing work related. A few of them were long wkds in London and one was a 2-nighter in Paris (big Monet exhibit I wanted to see before it left). The rest were of varying timeframes. I'm fortunate to have a lot of leave time at work.

I know that is nothing compared to our mileage warriors here but I'm still proud of it! I have decided I'm going to hit 50 times by age 50 (which is a few years off, and given that I already have some more trips in the hopper just in 2014 I will hit that no sweat).

I also have a running tab of my UNESCO World Heritage sites. I'm only at 62 currently so I think I'm going to work towards 100 next (of which a few more will occur by the time I hit number 50 to Europe).

After that will be hitting the rest of the continents that I haven't visited. That would be Australia, Asia, Africa and Antarctica. The closest I've been to Aus or Asia is New Zealand.

I haven't done a RTW trip yet. Would that require several months, typically? For anyone who has done one, how did you plan it and how long did you stay away?

Would love to hear your goals and some highlights from them as well! I'll come back later with some highlights.

Muchas Gracias!

borg1of5

Hi, i did one RTW with 5 stop (Iceland, Moscow, Dubaï, Singapore & New Zealand). I was staying about 5 to 7 days per stop. Also did many miniRTW (one main destination with 2 other stops) which is a better way to use my points.

I always try to get legs with Singapore Airline because it's simply the best airline in my eyes.

As per my goal, a have a map with pins on every cities visited and always select my destination to add to it.

365RoadWarrior

I'm definitely not a pin-in-the-map traveler. My goal is to make contact with/develop some understanding of as many people /cultures as I can. Rather hard to measure, but that won't stop me from pursing it.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

I try to visit one new country each year. Some years I make it, some I do not. Then there are years I visit more than one new country so it averages out. I have lost count as to the exact number.

A singular highlight was when I was a kid my Grandmother would send me post cards from her travels. I had a great collection. She stopped traveling when she got into her early 90s. As I traveled more frequently I would send my Grandmother post cards from my travels. Many times from places she had visited 30-40 years before hand. Just before she died she gave me her post card collection as she had saved all of the post cards I had sent her.

BuildingMyBento

A few goals for now:

-Indulge in nutmeg and mace in the Malukus (there's one particular FTer I could probably ask about this...)
-Visit Gujo Hachiman, Japan to check out the home of the food replica industry
-Explore street food in Lagos
-Celebrate the elimination of the TSA

Kay_nyc

Visit all the US National Parks... I'm at 13% done now, should be 25% done by the end of 2014.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

A friend made that a goal a few years ago but he wanted to photograph each park with a large format camera. He finished that project in 2002.

http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/peo...tists/2/#luong

TravelingBear

I am actually surprised I haven't set up a goal. More recently I have considered the all continents goal. While I have a 2 international trips per year goal, my partner does not, but he is cool with me going places without him. Hence, Guatemala in about 2 weeks without him. He is onboard for possibly Australia next year so I will need to come up with a second solo trip for myself.

Kagehitokiri

http://mosttraveledpeople.com/

good site for both collecting, and those looking for unique experiences

so3003

No specific goals other than to explore widely and discover more places I've never seen, and try out some more fun travel experiences! My wife would probably say my goal was to find the most indirect route from A-->B via C, D, E, F, G and maximal miles/status points as I go!

I've had the privilege of seeing some amazing sights around the world so far, and had some amazing travel experiences too. Nowadays I prefer travelling at the front or middle of the aircraft, but in my student days I did a RTW in economy and had a great time; approx 2 months to see the following list - you don't need much time or a ridiculous budget either (travelled Economy, stayed mostly in 3-4* hotels, ate/drank/was merry )
- Australia - Broken Hill NSW, Sydney, Cairns
- New Zealand - Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington plus Bay of Islands
- French Polynesia - Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora (outstanding)
- USA - Los Angeles

Happy travels

MSPGabe

Goals I've accomplished:

Visit Europe (2013)
Visit Asia (2013)
Visit Australia (2013)
Fly 100,000 in a Calendar Year (2013)
Fly 125,000 in a Calendar Year (2013)
Hit 250,000 Lifetime Flown Miles (2014)

Goals I want to accomplish:

Visit South America
Visit Africa
Fly 150,000 in a Calendar Year
Fly 100 Segments in a Calendar Year
Fly To/Through 50 Airports (49)
Fly To/Through 100 Airports (49)
Visit all 6 continents + Middle East in 10 days
Hit 500,000 Lifetime Flown Miles by 28th Birthday (305,693)
Hit 1,000,000 Lifetime Flown Miles by 30th Birthday (305,693)

Considering I've flown 200K in the past 18 months, and hadn't flown TATL or TPAC until April 2013, I'm doing pretty well. I think I'll hit the 500K mark by the time I turn 28 (in 15 months). 1,000,000 by the time I'm 30 will be extremely difficult and I find it unlikely.

I'm actually planning a 6 continent, 10 day trip without backtracking for sometime in the next few years...Itinerary will be something like:

MSP-ATL-GIG (12 hour layover)
GIG-CDG (20 hour layover)
CDG-CAI (22 hour layover)
CAI-DXB (12 hour layover)
DXB-HKG (24 hour layover)
HKG-SYD (23 hour layover)
SYD-LAX (8 hour layover)
LAX-MSP

As an employee, I don't get to keep any miles...I just like keeping track for the fun of it.

Annalisa12

My first travel goal when 11 to 13 was to go to Universal Studios. My uncle, who had been to a gazillion countries, told me about it. Goal achieved!

My latest goal is to go on Singapore Airlines Suites class. I'm booked for August. Goal not checked off yet but hopefully there is no aircraft change!!!

skywalkerbeth

Good morning!

Such great ideas!

MSPGabe, good Lord. Too bad you don't get to keep the miles but I suspect your employer pays for hotels and food so I hope you have had good meals.

FlyingUndertheRadar, I manage to visit at least one new PLACE each year (actually more than one most years) but many times they are in countries I've already visited. For instance, this year I will visit Narbonne and Marseille (planning to, anyway) but it's been my umpteenth time to France. What a great collection of postcards! How do you plan to display them? A large scrapbook?

Building my Bento, I think I need to poke around and find your food reports.

Borg1, thank you for the RTW thoughts.

Kay, what a great idea! My parents are planning to visit all the Prez homes. I think they are at 20 right now. I visited FDR's home in Hyde Park with my Mom last fall.

Annalisa, when I finally make it to Asia I hope to be on Singapore Airlines.

Kagehitokiri, thank you.

365 and so3003, understand on avoiding measuring and just rolling with it. I just get curious after a while - what DID I do? I was surprised I had racked up that many trips to Europe although I knew it had to be a decent amount.

Looking forward to more stories!

CPRich

Lifetime Platinum at two hotels and one airline have been checked off within the last year.

I'm at 47 of 50 states, with 2 of the remaining to be covered soon. MrsCP (49) and I will make a trip to ND one of these days. Provinces is only 7 of 10, so perhaps a Saskatchewan/Manitoba run while we're in ND, and then a trip to PEI, is in store. The territories may be out of reach.

A stretch goal is to hit all of the continents - we certainly want to get to Australia, but Antarctica seems a bit pricey/high effort just to check off the list.

I'm only in the 30's for countries - maybe when I retire this will go up a ways, but I have no real goals there. I'll never hit them all and any other "part way" goal makes me think of the joke about folks bragging about running a half marathon - I half congratulate you.

Mickidon

I have accomplished my 50 states/100 countries goal. I'll also sheepishly admit that we made it to all of the Disney parks. Being somewhat of a "list" person, I look forward to seeing what others have identified for inspiration. The only minor one in progress now is a visit to all of the US Presidential Libraries.