Aspirational travel goals
I’ve done a lot of travel over the past 25 years.
Still, I’ve done very little travel in certain regions (Africa, Southern South America, Oceania), and would love to do more.
Specific travel experiences I’d like to visit/experience:
First Class Terminal at Frankfurt Airport - this requires buying a Lufthansa or Swiss First Class ticket (which sometimes are on sale for $2500-3500 for routes where I’d otherwise pay $2000-3000, so not that much of a premium. Will get to this eventually. Unfortunately Lufthansa
First Class Lounge at Zurich Airport - similarly need to get a Swiss ticket
First Class Lounges at HKG Airport - I have access through Oneworld Emerald when flying a Oneworld airline, but they’ve been closed (along with Hong Kong) for a while. I believe open now and mostly returned to normal?
Japan Airlines First Class - I’ve done this ~8 times (using Alaska miles), but worth keeping it on the list to do over and over again.
ANA First and Business Class - I haven’t flown ANA much other than some coach flights. Their Business Class is probably better than JAL. I’d use Etihad or other miles for redemption.
United Polaris - I have a UA P flight booked in May; looking forward to checking out the lounge as well.
Delta One - Similarly have never done this, but have it booked (mile redemption to premium select, and then applied a GUC for Delta One) a couple times this year
AA First Class - This isn’t that special (I’ve done multiple BA First flights instead), but the product is going away, and the “swivel seat” is kind of cool. I’d like to try it before they get rid of the product. AA Flagship First dining, at least at MIA, is completely amazing.
Air France First Class/La Premiere - I’ve done AF Business and it was good; La Premiere (and the CDG lounge experience) is supposed to be amazing, but hard to do miles redemptions.
KLM Business Class (and get a Delft house) - KLM isn’t really a flashy airline, but they’re pretty good, and I might be able to get a mile redemption with them. I would like to get one of the gin-filled Delft porcelain houses (although I’d be fine without the gin). I could just buy one from eBay empty but that’s cheating.
Cruise - I’ve been on one about 15 years ago, and I’d like to do a cruise off Alaska (mostly for photography) since it would otherwise be difficult to visit those places (maybe in a yacht, but far more expensive and complex.) A substantially at-sea trip would be nice too (Cunard?)
Top-Tier Status with all 3 Airline Alliances - I have that this year, and it’s nice but not really exciting.
Locations:
Antarctica - Probably would be on a cruise; the 21-day packages look a lot more fun, but I don’t know if I have 21 days for relatively remote travel in the next 3 years.
Iran - Iran is probably the most interesting country in the region (tied with Turkey), but essentially impossible to visit unless politics change dramatically.
North Korea - I’d like to be in the first wave of visitors after NK politics change and massive SK and world redevelopment commences to welcome them back to the rest of the world.
Syria - Similarly difficult due to politics; if this ever changes, would be great to see Damascus, etc.
African Safari - I’d probably do a photo safari, although I’d be fine hunting herd animals/non-cats.
Australia - I’ve never been to Australia, and especially interested in Great Barrier Reef.
New Zealand - Natural beauty but difficult to get to; probably worth doing at the same time as Australia.
Visit all 50 States — I’m short ND, SD, and NE (I might have visited Nebraska briefly but it barely counts)
Visit Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and CNMI - I live in Puerto Rico but haven’t seen the other territorie.
Trans-Siberian Railway - Probably too unpleasant without doing the “luxury train” option, but Russia is also a no-go for until politics change
China generally: I’ve been to Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and loved them, and would like to go back (and see more of the “smaller” 10mm person cities like in Sichuan), but this will wait on politics.
Petra, Jordan - I’ve been to Amman, but would love to see Petra (and some of the old empire places in Saudi Arabia, and maybe someday Yemen)
Turkey outside Istanbul - I love Turkey but have only ever been to Istanbul.
Every country in Europe - For completeness, would be pretty easy to visit the remainder (some Balkan states and Lithuania and a couple islands)
Georgia - Supposed to be amazing. Also would like to try Central Asia as well.
Southern Cone of South America - Chile, Argentina, Uruguay on the same trip should be pretty easy.
All Caribbean islands - Since I live here, this should be easy.
Gibraltar - Next time I’m in Spain for an extended period.
Maldives - Probably will wait for married/honeymoon, although it might be undersea well before then.
Circumnavigate Puerto Rico - I actually haven’t done the southeast corner since the road was closed when I tried in 2018.
Vieques and Culebra - I live near here but haven’t done it yet.