My Travel

I enjoy traveling to different places every year.  I use the following map to keep track key places that I have visited.

 

A web site called New7Wonders has asked people to vote for the new 7 wonders of the world from the 21 potential great landmarks. As of July 7, 2007, the results have been announced.  As most people will say that these 21 contenders should all be the winner since every place is unique on its own.

Here are some interesting facts about the newly selected wonders:

  1. Great Wall of China – 4,163 miles in length
  2. Petra, Jordan – Approximate 9,000 years old, one of the earliest known settlements in the middle East.
  3. Taj Mahal, India – Used 1,000 elephants to transport building materials in the 17th century.
  4. Machu Picchu, Peru – 7,710 feet in its elevation.
  5. Rome’s Colosseum, Italy – Dimension: 157.5 x 617 x 512 (height, length, weight in feet).
  6. Christ Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil– 125-foot tall and takes 220 steps up to the viewing areas.
  7. Chichen Itza, Mexico – Has 3 sinkholes that provided water on the otherwise arid Yucatan Peninsula, two remains. Established from 10th through the 13th centuries as the center of Mayan society.

For fun and a personal pursuit, I have listed a few of the 21 candidates that I have visited:

AcropolisThe Acropolis, GreeceColosseumThe Colosseum, Italy
EiffelTowerThe Eiffel Tower, FranceGreatWall The Great Wall, China
NewschwansteinCastleNeuschwanstein Castle, Germany
(Aug. 2006)		StatueofChrisRedeemerThe Statue of Christ Redeemer, Brazil
StatueofLibertyThe Statue of Liberty, USAsydneyopera The Sydney Opera House, Australia
TajMahalThe Taj Mahal, India
 (Dec. 2006)		KiyomizuTempleJapanThe Kiyomizu Temple, Japan
(Jun. 2007)
PyramidsofGizaThe Pyramids of Giza, Egypt (Dec. 2007)PetraJordan Petra, Jordan
(Dec. 2007)
MachuPichuPeruMachu Picchu, Peru
(Aug. 2008)		AngkorWatCambodiaAngkor Wat, Cambodia
(Dec. 2008, Jan. 2019)
ChichenItzaChichen Itza, Mexico
(Apr. 2009)		easterislandsEaster Island, Chile
(Feb. 2010)
stonehenge​Stonehenge, UK
(Dec. 2015)		​Hagia Sophia, Turkey (Oct. 2019)
​Alhambra, Grenada, Spain
(Sep. 2021)

The Smithsonian Magazine has listed 28 places to see before you die. Paraphrase from the web site directly, “Whether you visit only a couple of these destinations or all 28, your life will be enriched by the experience. And if along the way you want to gorge on caviar or get a tattoo, that’s entirely up to you.“

(‘+’ indicates place that I have visited)

Portals into the Past
Walk the timeless streets and byways of ancient cities on three continents

– Mesa Verde
+ Pompeii
– Tikal
+ Petra

Feats of Engineering
The world’s surviving architectural wonders hewed from stone and mortar beckon as ever

+ Pyramids of Giza
+ Taj Mahal
+ Easter Island
+ The Great Wall

A Matter of Timing
Choosing the right year, month or even moment can make all the difference

+ Aurora Borealis
+ Serengeti
+ Iguazu Falls
+ Machu Picchu

Triumphs of Vision
Come face to face with history’s finest works of art and design

+ The Louvre
– Zen Garden of Kyoto
+ Uffizi Gallery
– Fallingwater

Scale New Heights
Don’t just see nature’s most spectacular sites—experience them

+ Yangtze River
+ Antarctica
– Mount Kilimanjaro
+ Grand Canyon

In the Presence of Gods
Encounter temples so magnificent then could only have been built by divine inspiration

+ Bagan
+ Parthenon
+ Angkor Wat
+ Ephesus

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?
Visit these deteriorating or threatened destinations before they disappear

+ Venice
+ Amazon Rain Forest
+ Great Barrier Reef
+ Galápagos Islands

For more serious travelers, there are 330 places to pursue as defined by the Travelers’ Century Club. There is certainly no short of places to visit in a lift time.