2012 travel ideas?

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Matt.

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I am starting to think about trips for 2012, and would be grateful for any ideas you may have. I did US parks this year (Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Capitol Reef, Bryce, Zion, Valley of Fire, Death Valley, Yosemite), so need something to come close to that if possible :clap:

I don't mind what time of year it is, and it needs to be 2 weeks minimum. Budget is restricted this year (~£2.5k) so i will probably have to rough it somewhat :D

Obviously the primary aim is photography (big landscapes is my interest), and i will be on my own (probably).

Iceland is number one on my current list, but it would only be for a week, so there would have to be somewhere else as well. Iceland costs are scary though (car rental especially). Iceland is not 100% happening though, and i am open to any ideas.

I don't want to rough it too much ideally, and some sun somewhere would of course be good!


Apologies for the random thread. Ideas are welcome though :D
 
Matt. said:
Budget is restricted this year (~£2.5k) so i will probably have to rough it somewhat :D
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Thats more than I've spent on travel in the last 50 years, the trick is to get someone else to pay for it ;)
 
How about the Himalaya's? You could combine India, Nepal, Tibet and China with it too... That's what I'm doing in 2013 - Everest base camp, with some travel around India and Nepal. Budget is £2,500 for 6 weeks (including the climb).
 
India is a great place for photographs and with 2.5k you could go for 2 months, longer if you don't drink and don't have a problem spitting in the face of hygiene when picking a hotel. The KKH in Pakistan would also be good though Nepal would do as well. S.E.Asia is also good but not as good as India. If time is restricted I just did Lebanon, Syria and a few days in Jordan over 3 weeks and there was lots of good photo opportunity.
 
Sorry, forgot to say, that although India/Asia are amazing places, they really aren't for me just yet!
 
Croatia!

A lad at work went there a few years ago and we're planning a trip this year (hubby works with a Croatian girl who has a friend with a villa lol). I believe it's still quite cheap

the Plitvice national park (with waterfalls) looks amazing
 
sturisoma said:
Croatia!

A lad at work went there a few years ago and we're planning a trip this year (hubby works with a Croatian girl who has a friend with a villa lol). I believe it's still quite cheap

the Plitvice national park (with waterfalls) looks amazing
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weve been to Croatia a few years ago Plitvice is awesome, also it easy to go to Venice for the day trip, and we also went to Slovenia on a day trip whilst there, theres also lake Bled which is fantastic

Also as said Thailand is a fab country well worth going we travelled down from Burma onto Chaing Mai, Bangkok and down south to Cha Am stopping off all over on the way then got a taxi 350 miles back to Bangkok for the flight home
 
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ahhh, well what about Estonia? They have some gorgeous spots around the coast, and if you go to Tallinn there's the old town and you can get the ferry to Finland for a day trip. I believe Ryan air do cheap flights from Manchester
 
A bit closer to home.

An island hopping trip through the Outer Hebrides. Perhaps include flying into Barra and landing on the beach or a trip to St. Kilda

As you mentioned Iceland perhaps you could combine that with the Faroe Islands. I've not been but they look spectacular.

Dave
 
There is only one place I've been to that I would put ahead of the likes of Yosemite and Bryce - the Canadian Rockies. We started out in Calgary and drove via the Icefields Parkway to Jasper and finally via Whistler to Vancouver and home. Scenery you stand and look at but still can't take it in :)
 
I agree with either the Himalayas but then again Thailand is spectacular too!
 
yes a second vote for Canada, I went from Calgary to Banff, jasper and onto Vancouver,by car and by train last year and the scenery of the glacial blue green lakes and endless mountains is absolutely stunning.Ours was a bit of a whistle stop tour but if you had time to visit all the view points and take time your photos would be well worth it.
 
Hopefully, I will be off to Alberta, Canada; I can definitely say that the camera will be coming with me!

It is an amazing place to get some landscape shots.
 
Canada is an option at some point, but i've done parts of it already (Toronto, Whistler, Vancouver, Victoria).

I'm tempted to go back to the US and do a quick tour around Denver (eg. Rocky Mountain NP, Arches, Canyonlands, Monument Valley, etc...). Accommodation isn't so cheap in the US though unfortunately.

Iceland still looks like a good option though.
 
Morocco

visit Tangier but stay at Marrakesh
 
Yardbent said:
Morocco

visit Tangier but stay at Marrakesh
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we were going to go to Marrakesh Morocco last April, but decided against it with the recent trouble in African countries so we went to Kefalonia instead, but Morocco is on our list of places to go

Just been told were also going to either Thassos or samos in April Edit May as well as Goa in Feb
 
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Just watching the Top Gear special from India, from the preview there looks to be some great things to see and scenery up towards the himalayas etc.
 
Matt. said:
Iceland is number one on my current list, but it would only be for a week, so there would have to be somewhere else as well. Iceland costs are scary though (car rental especially). Iceland is not 100% happening though, and i am open to any ideas.
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Actually, you could spend longer in Iceland. I believe the recommended time frame in which to do the full Hringvegur (ring road) trip is around 12 days. Alternatively, if you're going in June/July, why not consider adding Greenland into your itinerary? You can fly out there from Reyjavik City Airport. I'm planning to do it myself this summer, actually. Spectacular opportunities out there for togs, what with Greenland's stunning ice fjords and all.

Iceland is an absolutely beautiful place that I cannot recommend enough. Where else can you wake up in a snowing city, drive through green lava fields in the midmorning, arrive at a volcano in the afternoon, spend the early evening in a hot lagoon and then have a leisurely dinner in a revolving restaurant that looks over the whole of Reykjavik? And then you can go whale watching the next day! Seriously, Iceland is fantastic.
 
For a longer trip Costa Rica, you have beaches, rain forests, volcanoes etc.

If you want a shorter trip along with Iceland, I'd also suggest the Scottish highlands.
 
If you don't want to do a prolonged Himalayan trek at brain melting altitudes I'd suggest either the Annapurna foothills or Darjeeling/Sikkim. The former gets you close to the mountains at less than 2000 meters and the latter gets you some great long distance views of the Kangchenjunga massif without having to go "off road".

Personally my #1 landscape holiday remains Patagonia, might be hard to budget for £2500 unless you slum it a bit but Torres Del Paine, Mt Fitzroy and the big Glaciers are amazing locations without the altitude problems. Fitzroy/El Chalten is probabley the best value as the town itself is within daywalking distance of many of the best locations, you coudl rent a cabin for a week and not run out of walks.
 
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