GLOBETROTTERS WRITING PROMPT

My Travel Wish List - The Finale

A trip around the world while reading these stories

From Japan to Mexico and New Zealand to Greece. From Central Africa to South East Asia and everything in between. The travel lists of our Globetrotters community take us not once but twice around the world.

“I want to go everywhere” as Jordhan Robinson describes in his "Travel Plans" article is how I feel about it. There are so many great trips and vacations planned out, I really don’t know which one would be my favorite.

But we’re not here to judge destinations in our writing challenge. We’d like to highlight the stories with the most compelling narrative, the best entertaining paragraphs and whatever else stood out to us.

See below, these were our favorites of the January writing challenge:

Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages

This was a fun prompt because it is always enjoyable to hear about people's travel hopes and dreams. On one hand, we imagine the places we want to go, and on the other, we apply practicality to our situations which determines what we are actually capable of. I have had my own go with changing travel plans already this year, and it’s only January! But like all things, when one door closes, another one opens.

I really enjoyed reading Osan Fernando’s article Wishing That My Travel Plan For 2023 Be A Reality And Not A Drawing. Her plans to travel to Japan were thwarted in both 2018 and 2020, but she has not given up and hopes that the third time is a charm in 2023! Good luck Osan! I am rooting for you:) By the way, I LOVE the following quote:

Through the years, I have learned that traveling is possible not because a person has a silver spoon in his/her mouth but because of having the desire, the determination and the guts to do it.

I also loved Krasi Shapkarova’s story about traveling around her home country of Bulgaria, both in the past and in the future. I love this not only because I too LOVE Bulgaria and am heading back there soon, but because I think it’s important for every human to take the time to explore their own countries. I think we sometimes forget that while the world has so much to offer, the best adventures can also be found right in our own backyards.

Bell KS tells how she is already living a dream of traveling to Canada that she has had for 7 years in Going Into My 2023 Travel Plans Without Expectations! Congrats Bell! I always love to see people fulfilling their travel dreams! Plus she has some other pretty hefty goals that I hope come to fruition as well!

AlibsWrites is hitting the ground running with her post It’s “Put Some Miles on Boots 2023” where she tells about 3 major expeditions that she wants to do up some of the world's highest mountains! I love how this demonstrates that there are many different reasons why we wish to travel. Some like to see the sights, some like to try different foods, and well, some like to climb high mountains! I wish you well on your journey!

But I must say that my favorite was by Allison Ditmer. Her title and image give us an indication that she has wanted to visit Paris for more than 20 years! I must say, celebrating a 40th birthday in a place that you have dreamed of going to for so long, would certainly be memorable. Let’s all root for Allison to make this dream come true shall we!? Good luck Allison! I am in your corner and am cheering you on!

If I had a big travel wish for this year, it would be to spend time in the city of love with my husband celebrating our 40th birthdays and 15-year wedding anniversary.

Thank you again to all of you who took the time to answer our call. The stories are always fascinating and I take great joy in reading them and resonating with each of your innate desires to travel.

Here is hoping that all of your travel dreams come true for 2023 and beyond!

JoAnn Ryan

Near to impossible to pick any favorites this month, again. I truly loved reading about everyone’s travel plans and aspirations.

Wishes and dreams are the stuff travel planning is made of!

And of course, when I read the stories, I found myself wanting to go to these places as well… even if I’ve already been there. 😀

I did love Janin Lyndovsky’s story of wanting to travel the countryside in an RV. I would like to do that myself one of these days. Also loved the nostalgia she captured in wanting to visit home, since she lives so far away. I can relate to that as I miss home a lot, even though I love my new home as well:

Loved reading Scott-Ryan Abt’s wish list as well, but the title was just priceless!:

Also enjoyed reading this fun travel wish list story by new writer Viola Taffarel Looking forward to more fun stories:

Lastly, I loved this story by Sandy Maximus and particularly enjoyed her subtitle:

“There is no charge for dreaming and visualizing when it comes to travel.”

So true!

Thank you everyone for all your great stories, and may all your travel wishes and dream come true this year!

Adrienne Beaumont

It’s that time of the month again. I eat, sleep, and dream travel so I just loved reading all of the stories in this challenge. And I don’t feel that pang of jealousy that I’ve been feeling for the past couple of years stuck in Australia because I’ve got two overseas trips booked, and a week’s holiday in the country with my daughter, son-in-law and grandson in between the two. I’m very lucky.

I really liked Janin Lyndovsky’s My Dream Trip for 2023

“And so I was torn. On the one hand, I wanted to travel, discover new places, and go to countries I had never been to. But on the other, the intense longing to see my sister and family is causing agonising pain in my heart.”

So Janin, her sister and her parents have come up with a plan that includes both. When you truly desire something, you can create a plan and make it work. You can do it, Janin!

I was impressed with Michael Rhodes’ plans for 2023 — to Japan to see his son, a cruise to Mexico with his wife Sandys, and a road trip to the Grand Canyon (which will be his letter G for the A-Z challenge.) And if that’s not enough, he’s “planning on several camping trips to use my new camping gear when the weather warms up.”

Is he the most organised traveller you know? Must be his Navy training!

Jordhan Robinson’s My Incredibly Loose Travel Plans for 2023 don’t seem that loose to me. He asks Italy or Greece; and India, Jordan or Turkey?

“Despite having two great trips to Europe last year, I have been itching to go somewhere truly different. A push outside my lockdown-induced comfort zone, to a land far from my own.” Maybe India, Jordan and Turkey all fit those requirements so it really depends on how much time he has to spend travelling.

Allison Ditmer’s This City Has Been on My Travel Wish List Since High School struck a chord with me as it was on my list since high school as well. I was 61 before I finally made it there, and was disappointed — my expectations were just SO high!

But my number one pick has to go to Osan Fernando.

If her Osaka-Kyoto plans don’t come to fruition this year ( third time lucky they say), she’s got alternate itineraries planned all in Japan! Clever girl. Good luck!

Michele Maize

Reading through everyone’s travel plans for 2023 gave me so many ideas this year and places to add to my ever-growing list. Now, I just need to win the lottery and travel full-time. Here are four of my favorite stories that I read:

I love reading about people that make their dreams a reality and that is exactly what Bell KS did. Traveling to Canada was on her mind for the past 7 years and she made that dream come true. She shares her other travel dreams in her article: Going Into My 2023 Travel Plans Without Expectations. I have no doubt that she will make another one of her travel dreams come true!

After I read AlibsWrites’s article It’s “Put Some Miles on Boots 2023”, I started looking for some hiking boots online. Hiking is one of my favorite pastimes and although I have yet to hike one of these, I love reading about adventurous hiking plans from others. If I do get daring, I will need some new boots. I hope to read some of your hiking adventures this year, AlibsWrites!

Viola Taffarel shares her 2023 travel plans along with some wit and humor, making this one of the most entertaining stories that I read. 2023 — Destinations To Get Lost This Year lists 12 different locations because we do have 12 months in a year and what better way to spend the year than traveling the globe! Viola Taffarel I can’t wait to hear which destinations become a reality.

Abby Writes begins her story, Breathtaking Places I Desperately Want to Go to in 2023, with her reasons for traveling. The travel bug started for her as a young girl. Aby, I hope that you get to Vietnam because I can tell how much that would mean to you. I also love Canada, so anyone that writes about Canada instantly has me hooked. Now after reading her travel wish list, I have Montreal and these little amazing islands off the coast of Bali on my list.

Anne Bonfert

I truly enjoyed this month’s challenge as it took me through other Globetrotter’s travel dreams across the world. I love widening my horizon through different angles and approaches to life. This month new ways of traveling and exploring the world got added.

Let me start by mentioning a guy who took me in with his words as he was presenting his travel dreams for the year. I first thought they were his definite travel plans until he said, he hopes to go to one of two of the destinations.

I certainly wish him the best of a traveler’s luck and would love to see him exploring even more of the places on his list as they all sound exotic and fascinating. I’m already looking forward to the travel stories arising from his trips.

If it will be the Caribbean, Romania or Vancouver. If he’ll be hiking through New Zealand or traveling in a van through Finland, only Scott-Ryan Abt will know and 2023 will have the answers for us.

Abby Writes has a truly moving motivation as to why she wanted to leave her village and see the world. And just now as she became a remote worker, a lot of new places have opened up to her.

She is presenting a range of places and landscapes to us that she is planning to explore and visit this year. The one thing I’d love to do as well as it is also part of my travel plan for this year is diving with manta rays.

Last but not least I’m going to mention a guy that lives a lifestyle foreign to many but shares with the world his open mind and advice.

Dan Carlson splits his travel plans for 2023 into three categories. Naturist journeys will certainly be his favorite ones but he’ll also go on what he calls textile vacations and in between, he’s going on work trips. I’m not sure yet if his calendar has more than 12 months but I’m looking forward to his adventures.

Once again, we thank each and every writer who has contributed to this writing prompt. The stories were all interesting and inspiring. My Travel wish list certainly expanded reading through these articles.

If you missed the deadline and still want to share a travel story you can do so, the article will just not be part of the challenge. We are always open to travel posts.

I also encourage you to stay tuned for our next writing prompt for the month of February. We will announce it here on Globetrotters on the 1st.

The team of editors also has contributed to the challenge with the following articles. These posts never join the contest.

Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages with “Surprise — We Are Going To Greece!” And “Sometimes Travel Plans Don’t Work Out”

Anne Bonfert with “Crossing Southern Africa From West to East is the Plan”

Adrienne Beaumont with “I’m Off to The Philippines for My Youngest Son’s Wedding” and “Europe 2023 — Getting Excited”

JoAnn Ryan with “Where I Want to Go in 2023 is… Everywhere”

And now, please give credits to all participating writers and do give a read to these awesome submissions if you haven’t checked them out yet:

Michael Rhodes with “January Challenge — My Travel Wish List 2023"

Scott-Ryan Abt with “When the World is Your Oyster: Where I Want to Go in 2023"

Aarti Tailor with “Kicking Off 2023 By Checking Off Travel Goals"

Sandy Maximus with “My 2023 Travel (Wish) List”

Jordhan Robinson with “My Incredibly Loose Travel Plans for 2023"

Dan Carlson | Meandering Naturist with “My Travel Wish List for for 2023"

Bell KS with “Going Into My 2023 Travel Plans Without Expectations”

Allison Ditmer with “This City Has Been on My Travel Wish List Since High School”

Krasi Shapkarova with “My Travel Plans for 2023"

Ophélie Quillier with “How to Balance Limited Time and Travel Burnout”

Osan Fernando with “Wishing That My Travel Plan For 2023 Be A Reality And Not A Drawing”

Ab Writes with “Breathtaking Places I Desperately Want to Go to in 2023"

Rhonda Carrier with “Travel to Panama?”

Gail Sawchuk with “Returning “Home” in 2023"

Vickey Maverick with “Bucket List Destinations Can Wait!”

Kua Lina with “Are Your Travel Plans for 2023 Conflicted?”

AlibsWrites with “It’s “Put Some Miles on Boots 2023”

Akemi Sagawa with “A Guy from India, A Gal from Austria, and Another Gal from Japan Will Be Traveling Together”

Viola Taffarel with “2023 — Destinations To Get Lost This Year”

Nella DiCarlo with “My Travel Wish List for 2023 — So Many Possibilities”

Janin Lyndovsky with “My Dream Trip for 2023”

Your Globetrotters editing team (JoAnn, Adrienne, Jillian, Michele & Anne)