Traveling Places I Fell In Love With

After so many places visited, I have no list of bad ones. Every new destination and the path to it has a great value for me . Nevertheless, I could easily come up with 5 favorite places. The traveling experience obtained there works as a benchmark for estimation of new destinations.

With 70 counties visited and an unstoppable desire for new adventures, the competition is quite high. However, the places below are permanently inscribed in my personal “hall of fame”.

Samui, Thailand.

It’s been six years since my first visit to Samui, but it still feels like yesterday in my head. The beauty and simplicity of nature captivated me from the first step on this small island. The peaceful rhythm of life is giving odds to a rushing inner world.

Turquoise color waters, sandy beaches, hidden waterfalls in the hills of the island, and friendly locals — all of this contributed to charming atmosphere that is beyond the reach of many other destinations. I thought it was a tropical “firstborn love”, but my visit years later confirmed my feelings.

Since Samui, I visited many other summery islands, and all of them, with the exception of another contender in this list, were not that unforgettable.

Grindelwald, Switzerland.

It is not that surprising to have Switzerland in this list. Still, it was an unexpected love during an unplanned adventure.

The scheduled cycling trip around marvelous Lake Como was disrupted by the cold and rainy weather. In order to effectively utilize the time and opportunity, I`ve decided to visit a neighboring Switzerland with a main focus on Lauterbrunnen. This village is famous by incredibly photogenetic waterfall that even inspired Goethe — Staubbach. The food for the eyes was incredible, but I was not prepared that this experience could be surpassed.

On the way back I`ve notices a sign of Grindelwald that got me curious as it reminded me of a Harry Potter universe. After passing the gorge, my eyes witnessed the most beautiful village surrounded by breaking physics overhanging walls of the mountains. The dominating one — Eiger has one of the most colossal and terrifying vertical walls — The North Face. Cute green lawns of the village are somehow matching the harshness and epicness of the surrounding environment. The aftertaste of that combination is keeping the “wow” feeling alive in my memories.

Fuji, Japan.

My expectations about Japan were not that high, but every place visited in the Land of the Rising Sun proved me wrong. Among the tropical Okinawa, cultural Kyoto, enormous Tokyo, or peculiar Otaru, I found the city of Fuji the most appealing and memoizable.

The city is named by the neighboring symbol of Japan — Fujiyama. The volcano`s ideal cone shape with a snowy cap indefinitely enriches the already picturesque scenery. Charming Pacific Coast, complete cleanliness, highly effective infrastructure, and gifts of nature in the form of the most tasteful free growing mandarins completes the travel`s experience puzzle.

The local friendliness is overwhelming, considering the huge language barrier. Japanese people are willing to help the foreign stranger in any possible way and are feeling proud and respected by others if they succeed. Additionally, the amount of care and love they show to own land and culture with an openness to the outer world motivated me to explore Japan more. Fuji is just a quintessence of all of this.

Seward, Alaska.

In a dead-end corner of one of the remotest places in the world located in the town of Seward. It manages to stand out among similar Alaskan places, and there are reasons for it.

Besides the standard set of eye-catching landscape features like coastal lines, mountains, lakes, and waterfalls, Seward is well known for a highly accessible Exit Glacier, where I, literally, touched the ice. Glacier also resembles the changes in climate by the marks showing its rapid retreat.

This small town also attracts thousands of adventurers from all over the world to participate in annual Mount Marathon Race — the competition to climb and descend the local mountain in less than an hour. Extremely loose steep slopes of the mountain make this activity very challenging and fun, as it required to climb my way up through tiny gravel avalanches and jump your way down.

Casual tourists may find this town unprepared for elevated comfort expectations due to the lack of 4 and 5 star hotels and fancy restaurants. The town community is living its own life and is almost resistant to a propagated posh life. Such an approach suits perfectly the limitless introverted adventurer, which I am.

Hawaii

Another western state keeps a solid place in the list. An isolated location, perfect climate, natural generosity, and unique Hawaii culture — is just a recipe for a paradise.

From a sleek gigantic shape of the young Big Island to a ruptured surface of ancient Oahu and Kauai, the landscape variety forever conquered my traveling heart. In addition, Maui was the place where I first tried surfing that enriched my overall experience. I remember my evening call to my father from Hilo in a Big Island. An ocean breeze mixed with a floral smell and no unpleasant irritation whatsoever made me say the words: “I am feeling like home”.

From geological and geographical points of view, Hawaii islands have one of the most interesting natural features. As the biggest and longest island chain in the world stretching for over 3500 miles, it perfectly illustrates the combination of volcanic activity and the movement of lithospheric plates. Within a millions of years islands are passing through all stages of life: from birth and growth to erosion and inevitable disappearance. Despite the fact that the upcoming island Loihi needs approximately 26,000 years more to appear above the water, sly real estate agents already offer the hot deals on future lots. Don`t miss a chance…Well, better miss.

The places are not listed in the order of value as they are completely different from one another and are not competing but rather complement my general traveling experience. I am happy to have many years of memories enjoyment ahead and will definitely come back to explore them again.

Thank you for reaching out to the end. If you like the story, please share your thoughts and don`t be shy to check other ones like:

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