I have a whole list of post ideas in a Word Document, and it's probably going to take me years to write them all, but today I feel inspired to actually look back on a post I wrote in December 2019, when this blog was only a year old. (It feels like a long time ago now!) This post was called "My Dream Travel Destinations" and it was definitely a fun one to write. In this post, I chose the country I'd most like to visit in each continent of the world.
And now I want to see how much my travel dreams have changed over the last three and a bit years!
Let's go back in time...
Europe
2019: I've mentioned before that I have a goal to visit every country in Europe, and at the time of writing, I'm about halfway there. Although I've visited the majority of western, southern and central Europe, the Nordic countries are an area I'm yet to go to. If I had to choose just one to visit, I think I would go for Norway, as the nature there looks incredible.
Image of Flakstad, Norway by stein egil liland from pexels.com2023: Well, I did achieve my dream of visiting the Nordic countries when Claudio and I went to Sweden in 2020. For this reason, Norway isn't quite so near the top of my bucket list anymore, though I'd still like to go at some point. Actually, I'd say that the top destinations on my current European wishlist are mostly places in countries I've already visited, like Rome in Italy, Athens in Greece, and Barcelona in Spain, rather than countries I've never been to.
But if I did have to choose a country I've never been to, Malta would certainly be at the top of that list, which is quite convenient, as I'm going to be doing a three-month internship there soon! Estonia and the Netherlands are two others which I'm also particularly intrigued by.
Image of Valletta, Malta by Polina Kovaleva from pexels.com
South America
2019: Hopefully, I'll be living in South America again very soon and I'll have the opportunity to see more of the continent. So far, I have seen quite a lot of Chile and a bit of Argentina. Next time, I would particularly like to visit Rio de Janeiro in Brazil as it looks like a beautiful city with amazing beaches. I would also like to go to Peru and other countries if I have the chance.
Image of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by Matheus Bertelli from pexels.com
2023: South America is definitely the continent where all my travel dreams have come true since writing this post! Although I didn't move to Chile as soon as I hoped (I didn't see Covid coming when writing this post!), I got there eventually, and since then I've tried to see as much of the continent as I can. It was incredible to finally visit Rio de Janeiro last year (yes, it really is a beautiful city with amazing beaches!), as well as Machu Picchu in Peru. And in the years since I wrote this post, I've also visited Uruguay, and many more places in Chile and Argentina.
Of course there are still more places I want to see in this amazing part of the world! Top of the list would have to be Colombia - I've passed through Bogotá airport twice now, and will be passing through again next month, but it's never been a practical moment for me to turn that flight connection into an actual trip. But I hope that at some point in the future, Claudio and I will be able to spend some time in Cartagena, and perhaps some other parts of the country. I also really like the idea of visiting Ecuador, particularly the Galápagos Islands, but that's quite an expensive trip that will probably have to put on hold for a year or two.
Image of Salento, Colombia by Chris Rodriguez from pexels.com
North America
2019: I have been to North America once before, having visited Toronto, Montréal and the Niagara Falls with my family in 2010. In the future, I would like to visit some of the Central American and Caribbean countries. I would particularly like to go to Costa Rica to visit its beautiful beaches and national parks. I was thinking of going there on my Year Abroad to volunteer for a charity that helps turtles, and that's definitely still on my travel list! Other places I want to visit are Havana, Cuba and Yucatán, Mexico.
Image of Costa Rica by Jose Acevedo from pexels.com
2023: Costa Rica really interested me as a travel destination because of its beautiful nature, including volcanoes, jungle and tropical beaches. However, since then, I've seen volcanoes in Chile, jungle in Peru and Brazil, and tropical beaches in Brazil. So while I would still love to visit Costa Rica someday, I have to say that Mexico has taken over as the place I most want to visit in North America!
Since seeing sights like the Atacama Giant, the Chinchorro mummies, and of course, Machu Picchu, I've become really fascinated by historical civilisations and archaeological sites, and went through quite a phase last year of watching documentaries about the mysteries behind different ancient ruins, from the Moai to Stonehenge. I watched one or two about the Mayan and Aztec ruins, and now I really want to visit Chichén Itzá, as well as some of the other archaeological sites around Mexico. I also want to discover the great beaches and nature the country has to offer!
Image of Chichén Itzá, Mexico by Dick Hoskins from pexels.com
Africa
2019: Now I'm moving on to the continents I haven't visited yet! Morocco is only a few hours on a plane away from the UK and is one of the countries in Africa on my travel list. I would like to see the mountain and desert landscapes there, as well as beautiful cities like Marrakesh and Casablanca.
Image of Casablanca, Morocco by Gabriel Garcia from pexels.com
2023: Since 2019, I still haven't been to Africa, and I still want to go to Morocco. However, because of my recent interest in ancient archaeological sites, I would now put Egypt at the top of my African travel list. It would be great to do a cruise along the Nile, seeing sights like the pyramids, the Sphinx and Abu Simbel. I would also really like to visit the southern part of Africa to see the amazing wildlife there!
2023: Since 2019, I still haven't been to Africa, and I still want to go to Morocco. However, because of my recent interest in ancient archaeological sites, I would now put Egypt at the top of my African travel list. It would be great to do a cruise along the Nile, seeing sights like the pyramids, the Sphinx and Abu Simbel. I would also really like to visit the southern part of Africa to see the amazing wildlife there!
Image of the Sphinx and a pyramid by Pixabay from pexels.com
Asia
2019: Asia is such a huge continent with many places I'd love to visit. In particular, I would really like to go to Turkey to see Istanbul, which looks like an amazing city to explore, and the region of Cappadocia with its strange rock formations. And the fact that it's a country with lots of great beaches is another reason why I want to go! I would also really like to visit some of the southeast Asian countries in the future.
Image of Turkey by Taryn Elliott from pexels.com
2023: As with Africa, I still haven't visited Asia yet. Turkey is still near the top of my list, but I'd also love to explore southeast Asia, especially Cambodia, because I really want to visit the Angkor Wat archaeological site. I have an idea of taking around a month of holiday (maybe in a couple of years' time, when I'll hopefully have a good job with a decent amount of paid time off) and spending that time travelling around southeast Asia and Australia. But we'll have to see how life pans out!
Oceania
2019: I have always dreamed of visiting Australia and going to cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, swimming and surfing at the beaches, and seeing the Great Barrier Reef. A couple of years ago, I was thinking of moving there after university, but things worked out differently than I expected! I would also really like to visit New Zealand to see some of the places of natural beauty there.
Image of Sydney, Australia by Brett Stone from pexels.com
2023: Oceania is the one continent where my list hasn't changed at all! I'm still really determined that I'll travel to Australia at some point in my life, whenever that will be. And to be honest, the idea of living there still appeals to me a lot, but the huge distance between Australia and the UK is what puts me off - moving to Chile has been challenging enough, but at least I have my partner and in-laws here. I can't really imagine moving to another country on the other side of the world, but with no connections there whatsoever, no matter how much of a great place it is to live. So, I think Europe is probably going to be home for me and Claudio in the future. But all the same, I really hope to spend a decent amount of time in Australia at some point within the next few years - I'd love to go travelling there, and it would also be great to perhaps spend a few months working there!
It was really fun to look back at my travel dreams from 2019 and pick some new ones, and it was also nice to see that I've achieved some of my European and South American travel dreams since then, despite the pandemic. I definitely feel much more well-travelled now than I did when I wrote the original post, but my travel list remains pretty long! I'll definitely come back to this post in a few years' time from now, and update again!
