Originally Posted by JoseVerde

I was looking for travel destinations and lamented the South Pacific is so far from me. But, then I realized we are so lucky in the US to have the many islands of the Caribbean right in our backyard. So, it got me wondering, which continent has it best?

As far as I see it, there are roughly four zones of highly developed nations with significant travelling populations, each of which have great island getaways pretty close by.

1. North America (the Caribbean)
2. Europe (the Med + Azores, Madeira, Canaries)
3. NZ/Australia (Oceania)
4. China/Taiwan/Japan/Benevolent Korea (Southeast Asia and tow + some Oceania)

So who's got it the best in terms of proximity to sunny getaways? Where would you love to be close to? I'll let you choose your criteria of "best" whether it is variety, your special place, highly developed, highly undeveloped, w/e.

For me, I've always loved Oceania so being in NZ/Australia would be great. There is something about the many different islands that can be so small and so far away from each other to really make them feel like you are away from the world. The Caribbean, though great, just seems so very influenced and very close to the U.S. Maybe this is a case of the grass is greener...

[Also, given this is FT, you all probably want to be as far as possible from your favorite destinations to rack of miles]