Travel Bucket List
As some of you may know, I have been writing for overseas travel blogs lately. I have had to do a lot of research and hence: day two of the blog challenge is a travel bucket list! Check out these 5 places I really want to see and why:
1 New York
Did you know that New York got its famous nickname, the Big Apple, from a brothel? The biggest Madame of her time, she took particular pleasure in killing and torturing a Baptist Minister herself. That was the one job she didn’t have someone else do. Taking a bite out of the ‘Big Apple’ meant visiting the famous Big Apple brothel. Just like Jackson, New York was famous for men behaving badly and women being easy. Things have changed but wow, New York man. There is just no place like it. Sex and the City, How I met your Mother, and many, many other tv series and movies have revealed that New York is just a different place and it is a love/hate thing. I have written many articles on New York and I would love to visit – the plane can land in New York from here and I’ll just spend my whole vacation there. I think if you holiday in America, New York should be number one on your list as well. And I haven’t even told you about Yankee Stadium or the Bronx zoo. I want to see all the sights, Manhattan included, and then have a bagel and a hot dog from a street vendor. I want to ride the subway and completely immerse myself into the culture. One of these days!!
2 St Petersburg
As much as I would like to shake Putin’s hand, I will settle for seeing the sights in St Petersburg. I have the idea that it might be like Paris, where even the street lamps are stunning. And the rich history, I want to know where the great people of yesteryear stood. I want to have proper Russian Vodka in Russia! Just like I had Guinness in Dublin in the Temple Bar, and stood on the Liffy. Definitely nr 2 on my list.
3 The Black Forest
I have a thing against any type of cherry that is not fresh. Really. I hate the Mugg and Bean classic, Black Forest Cake. And I hate cherries in my cocktails. I want fresh cherries, and I wouldn’t mind harvesting them myself. So, I have come to realise that I will have to visit Germany. As many of you know, my first boyfriend ever was a German. And apparently, everything there is just bigger and better. Even the cherries and the food and the cinemas! Yes, I also don’t know why he didn’t just stay there then… but I do feel that he was speaking the truth about Germany. I have often been mistaken for a German in my time in the UK and it always gave me a sense of pride. It will always be the place that the first of his name, a certain Johan Els, had lived before he moved with his French wife to South Africa. We do not have an extensive family and if my surname and yours is the same, and I don’t know you, then we are not related. Sorry. This particular Els clan did not have large families. We are small and tight, and we will always have a soft spot for the Germans. There are so many things to see and I hear musicians in Bremen do quite well…
4 Dublin
I have been, I know I know! But can you imagine how much more I will appreciate visiting Dublin again after all these years? The Temple Bar will see me again and so will the beautiful gardens. I want to see all the sights, and maybe my footsteps will be over the ones taken by a not-yet-famous Bono or Sinead or well, the list goes on…
5 Scotland
I was obsessed with Highlander as well as Scottish Shortbread and the Loch Ness monster ever since I can remember. And I have been to Inverness, and I am sure that there was something in the water at Dotty’s Beach… Come on, they haven’t even calculated the correct depth and who says it’s not linked to an underground breeding area? For a dinosaur-like water creature? It is TOTALLY possible in my eyes and my eyes did NOT deceive me. I would love to go back, see the castles they use as government buildings and everything else Scotland has to offer. This time though, I would love to experience whale watching and many more things that were not on offer the first time I went to Scotland. Just a tip for the would-be traveller: anytime except winter. Really. I was 19 and we rode 18 miles on bikes in snowy weather. I had my first straight whiskey and all the time I really thought that I was going to die. Best time of my life though.
