Bucket list-

To this day, I have been lucky to visit five continents and thirty-four countries. “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list”, said Susan Sontag, and I feel the same way: there are so many places I haven’t yet explored, and which are on my bucket list.

On this map, you can see the places I’ve been to.

These are my upcoming travels:

• Christmas 2015: Guadeloupe
• February 2016: Palermo
• February 2016: United Arabian Emirates
• March 2016: Austria
• April 2016: Arizona
• May 2016: Germany and Morocco
• June 2016: Italy (Napoli, Capri, Positano) & Seychelles
• July 2016: Iceland
• August 2016: French Riviera & the Azores
• September 2016: California
• December 2016: Morocco

Not to forget, of course, all the little trips I take in my beloved and beautiful home country, Provence.

The list of the countries, cities and landscapes I wish to explore is seemingly endless, but these are a few places I see in my dreams and long to admire and discover one day:

Europe

– The Greek Meteora, ancient orthodox monasteries built atop sandstone pillars, and the dazzling white walls of the city of Santorini

– The Atlantic road in Norway, winding through majestic fjords and mighty streams; the Lofoten Islands, the typical Norwegian stave churches of dark wood, the horrific maelstrom Edgar Allan Poe once wrote about, and above all… the Northern Lights in the cold winter sky

– Duino Castle standing above the Gulf of Trieste, in Italy, and the lush mountains of Slovenia

– Kutna Hora’s ossuary in the Czech Republic, the gothic castle of Karlstjen on the cliffs and the romantic castle of Hluboka nad Vltavou

– The bright colours of Capri, in Italy

– The wild islands off the coast of Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, Hebrides, Skye

– Europe’s tallest wave, arising from winter storms and breaking on the shores of Nazaré, Portugal

Eurasia and Asia

– Lebanon, retracing the journey of my father’s family

– The sunny landscapes of Cappadocia in southern Turkey, and the ruins of the mysterious temple of Artemis in Ephesus

– The Silk Road meandering through central Asia – Uzbekistan, Kirghizstan, Turkmenistan – and China’s mountains

– Isfahan’s gorgeous mosques, in Iran, and the ruins of ancient Persia

– The cryptic and awe-inspiring ruins of Angkor, in Cambodia

– Evergreen islets by the thousands in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

– Kyoto’s gardens, an idyllic vestige of old Japan

Africa and Indian Ocean

– Essaouira’s medina’s fortifications, in Morocco, and the gigantic golden dunes of Merzouga, lost in the desert

– Kilimanjaro’s everlasting snow, overlooking the great plains of Tanzania

– The breathtaking “underwater waterfall” off the coast of Mauritius

– Zanzibar Archipelago’s rocky coast, in the Indian Ocean

– Seychelles and their giant Aldabra turtles

The Americas

– Patagonia’s endless steppes, glaciers and grasslands, from Chili to Argentina

– Geological wonders in the US, such as the red and purple wall of Antelope Canyon in Arizona, volcanoes, colorful lakes and geysers in Yellowstone, Wyoming, and the little fairy-like Fly Geyser in Nevada

– Uyuni’s Salar, astonishing salt lake in Bolivia

– Machu Picchu’s Inca ruins on the peaks of the Peruvian mountains

– The world’s highest waterfall, Salto Angel in Venezuela

– Porto Rico’s phosphorescent bay, to swim through the starlit sky

Australia and Pacific Ocean 

– Australia’s Great Ocean Road and its twelve apostles, not far from Melbourne

– Samoa and Easter Island, to have seen the whole Polynesian triangle (I have been in New Zealand, Tahiti and Hawaii already), which deeply fascinates me, and on which sandy shores my great-grand-mother grew up

– The endless stairs of Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines

 – The world’s mightiest wave breaking on the riffs of Teahupoo, Tahiti, with deafening thunder, the terrifying many-headed wave of Cyclops’ spot, off the coast of Australia, and maybe the most mythical XXL wave in the world, Jaws on Maui.

– Hawaii once more, and ever again – forever!

You have a travel blog too, and you have written a post about one of these dream destinations? Please share the link in the comment section, and take me with you!