Face it. We're list-obsessed — from groceries to house chores to must-do-once-in-a-lifetime trips. And that's where we come in.
Enticing coffee-table books arrive on our desks every month, from Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Greatest Trips to Unforgettable Canada: 100 Destinations to the bestseller 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, which has spawned a regional version, not to mention a handy destination-of-the-day calendar. Or check out 43things.com, where 1.3 million souls from California to Saudi Arabia share their life goals online — and where travel figures right up there after the category for "fun." (Most common travel goal? To go on a road trip with no predetermined destination.) "People's lives are full of dreams that they're deferring, and stuff they wish they weren't really doing," says Josh Petersen, chief executive officer of 43things.com. By making a list — "going public with goals" in the case of his Seattle-based site — it makes sailing the Dalmatian coast that much more achievable.
So how did we narrow our list down to 10? Well, we're choosy. And we do our homework. We polled a few dozen real travellers — world travellers — about their top 10 must-see lists, from travel company head honchos to Globe and Mail foreign correspondents to full-time adventurers to the people who inspired us to travel. People who says things like, "Happy to contribute, but I'm exploring the Marquesas Islands by freighter next month, so let us know when this article will run." Our panelists' passports are heavily stamped; most have visited dozens, if not a hundred-plus countries. (Yes, the Vatican City counts. No, while the front row of a Bruce Springsteen concert may be an unforgettable destination, it's not a country).
Altogether, our panelists suggested hundreds of destinations. A lot of votes came in for the classic must-sees: India's Taj Mahal in the eerie light of dawn, the lost city of Machu Picchu in Peru, the stunning Nabatean city of Petra in Jordan, carved out of red rock. There were fisticuffs over narrowing down the best city to stroll through once: Paris, Hong Kong, Marrakesh, Mumbai? And what should make the cut: China's Great Wall or Xi'an, home to the terra cotta warriors? Will it be the Nepalese trail to Mount Everest or the Spanish Camino de Santiago?
What inspired us most about the lists, however, were the offbeat destinations, the places that made us think: Hmm, now we want to go there too. These are destinations you have to explore — not just see. There was less overlap, but much passion in describing these road-earned memories, from exploring a forest in Cameroon filled with butterflies the size of kites to roaming a Mongolian desert without boundaries.
So, here, in random order, are 10 destinations to consider for your dream list — places that teach us about our world. Places you have to see before you die.
KARAN SMITH, TRAVEL EDITOR
1. MONGOLIA, GOBI DESERT I fell in love with Mongolia as I camped in a tent under the stars in the Gobi Desert, after a day of talking to nomads and travelling by jeep on desert trails.
Mongolia, more than any other country on Earth, is a land of physical freedom and limitless space. This is a nation of nomads, a land of wide-open taiga and endless green hills, a country of no fences and no boundaries and almost no roads.
Here is the thing to do in Mongolia: You hire a jeep (one of the rugged Russian-made vehicles that seem to be the main form of transportation here), you chart a direction and you head off across the grassland or the desert, following some invisible trail that only your driver will comprehend.
At night, you'll bunk down in a traditional ger, a circular tent of felt and wood, and watch the sunset splash across the hills. The wind will sweep down from the north as you sip tea and debate the merits of Genghis Khan. Before dawn, as you sleep, your host will stoke the stove with fresh firewood, chasing away the nighttime chill.
