I haven't written much lately and while I'm finishing some projects, I'm sharing with you a fellow traveler's Holiday Wish List. This gets me thinking about my own year-end adventure, (which I am yet to decide on :P). How about you, what's yours? :)
The warm, colourful streets of Havana have been playing on my mind for a while now. As a big Hemingway fan, I feel like I’ve experienced his love for the city vicariously through his books. The thought of having a drink in the Floridita Bar, Papa’s favourite pub in Havana, makes me want to pack my bags and catch the next flight to Cuba today.
I keep a diary. But it’s not for my personal musings and deep dark secrets. It’s where I write down my holiday wish list. Every time I come across a place that sounds truly incredible, I scribble it down at the bottom of an ever-growing list of must-see destinations.
My travel bucket list for 2014 is already two pages long. Whilst I won’t be able to visit them all, I have managed to narrow it down to three of my favourites.
Havana, Cuba
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| Havana, Cuba (Credits : Rinaldo Wurglitsch) |
Something else on my Havana must-see list is the street art. The city is known as one of the biggest street art hubs in the world. Giant murals, many inspired by the Cuban Revolution, cover Havana’s walls and the sides of its buildings. Who needs art galleries when the city itself is a work of art?
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Thailand’s famous beaches and Full Moon parties have an obvious appeal. However, it’s not the coastline that intrigues me, but the country’s mountainous northern region. Chiang Mai, approximately 700 km northwest of Bangkok, is Northern Thailand’s largest and most culturally-rich city.
Unlike Bangkok, it’s known for its laid back vibes and majestic natural landscape. Surrounded by mountains, Chiang Mai is also famously home to the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep temple. The temple sits atop Doi Suthep and remains a functioning monastery to this day. With so many comparison sites offering deals on flights to Thailand, this could be the cheap holiday 2014 I’m looking for.
It may be the hipster capital of the world, but there’s far more to Portland, Oregon than coffee shops and quirky moustaches. Although, I do hear the coffee shops are pretty incredible. Oh - and the food trucks too. Portland has been an under-the-radar foodie hub for a while now, and it was one of the first west coast cities to truly embrace food truck culture. To wash down all the tasty grub, there’s plenty of delicious craft beer to go around. Apparently you can’t walk more than a few blocks before running into a brewery.
In addition to the food, Portland’s city centre is filled with bridges of all shapes and sizes. As an architecture nut with a bit of a thing for impressive structural engineering, this is another side of Portland that appeals to me.
My goodness, you’d think that narrowing it down to three destinations would have been a step in the right direction. But now I think the decision’s even harder! Which do you think I should choose?