My Travel Wishlist

I’ve never done a wishlist post before but I thought I might note down the top 5 places I really really want to see. They aren’t ‘unknown’ or ‘secret’ but they certainly call to me.

(Note: photos are not mine – all taken from Pinterest)

1) Rajasthan

I haven’t been to India for a while now and I’d like nothing more to go back and explore more of the country that half of me comes from. I’ve always been really drawn to Rajasthan, I love the dry barren desert landscape, perhaps because I grew up on the Spanish meseta – a parched land. I also love the beautiful architecture and the romance & history of the great palaces and fortresses.

However the main pull of Rajasthan for me are the Marwari horses –  a rare breed from the southern region of Marwar (which means ‘the desert region’). This Indian horse is, in my opinion, the most beautiful horse in the world. With its incredible speed, beautiful dancing gait and lyre shaped ears it looks more like a god than an animal.

I was lucky enough to ride a Marwari horse along Juhu beach when I was 9 years old and I have never forgotten that experience. I’d love to go and spend some time in Rajasthan riding through the deserts and getting to know the breed better.

2) Cuba

I’d really love to go to Cuba – it seems like a beautifully eclectic place with charming, crumbling buildings, vintage cars and an incredible amount of fascinating history. I’d love to meet the local people, visit Havana and Trinidad and get to know the home of the Buena Vista Social Club (I love their music)! Everyone I have talked to tells me that Cuban food is awful, but with so many exciting culinary influences I’m curious to go and see if that’s true.

3) Road trip from Arizona to California

Starting off in Arizona with the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, the Blue Canyon and the Petrified Forest…

I’ve wanted to go see California for a long time, but one of my friends recently spent some time living in San Francisco and her photos intensified my longing one hundred fold!

I’d love to go to San Francisco, walk up and down the steep streets, eat a corn dog, see the Golden Gate Bridge (think fondly of the Charmed TV series), watch the seals at Pier 39 then continue on through the beautiful Napa Valley.

4) The Galapagos

The Galapagos would probably be the best place in the world for me with white sands, turquoise sparkling water to swim in and plenty of animals to gaze at contentedly. I’ve always loved Darwin, both while studying Biology at school and again later while studying a module on evolutionary psychology at university with the renowned Professor Christopher Badcock. It would be amazing to walk in Darwin’s footsteps when he went to study the species on his Voyage of the Beagle

I’d love to see the seals, rays, dolphins, green turtles, giant tortoises, marine iguanas and of course the famous finches!

5) New Zealand

I’ll be honest – my desire to visit New Zealand is almost entirely due to the amazing shots of it in the Lord of the Rings movies. That franchise must have had such a great impact on NZ tourism! From visiting Hobbiton (Matamata), relaxing in Rivendell (Kaitoke Regional Park) to walking up Mount Doom (Tongariro National Park), I’d love to do the movie trail! The scary Path of the Dead appears almost as scary in real life – the Putangirua Pinnacles are a hauntingly eerie geological formation. This country seems to have some truly stunning forests, mountains and nature in general. It would make an amazing nature holiday, that’s for sure!

More than anything though I’d love to canter across the fields leading up to Mount Sunday (Edoras) like the Rohirrim!

What would be on your travel wishlist?

8 Comments
  • sammobrien
    June 2, 2014

    Nice list! There are so many beautiful places in this world I wish I could visit them all. I like the sound of Cuba. I would definitely have Nepal on my list 🙂

  • lyyoong
    June 2, 2014

    I’ll race you to Galapagos. I really want to see that upside down seal pup.

  • Ivan
    June 2, 2014

    Very interesting list. I’ve never hard of Rajasthan until now! I’d like to see New Zealand as well.

    • Sarah Alexandra George
      June 2, 2014

      It seems like such an exciting place! It’s next to Pakistan and is almost entirely desert. One of the cities is called Jodhpur which is where the English word ‘jodhpurs’ (the trousers you ride horses in) comes from! I really like the look of Chittorgarh Fort 🙂

  • Emma
    September 3, 2014

    Cuba’s on my list too!

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