DINKgo

We are constantly dreaming of places. In the Finnish blogosphere there has been a popular challenge to write about 10 travel dreams. The challenge was started by the popular Finnish travel blog Kohteena Maailma and we got our challenge from Maisemaonnellinen

It sounds easy to list 10 travel dreams someone gives you the frame work for, but actually.. it its not.

We could think of so many, many alternatives. The ten dreams to list in this challenge are a palace, an event, a destination in home country, a city, a country, an island, an extreme travel dream, form of accommodation, a nature destination and finally, somewhere to go for food & drinks.

1. Place: Fort Myers Beach

We are not traditional beach people at all (no patience to just lay around), but this particular beach inspired us last time we visited the area. Our hotel was by the Bell Tower Shops outside Fort Myers, maybe 15-20 minutes from the beach.

That area had a lot of fun stuff to do as well including shopping, dining and movies (we loved the World of Beer), but as we did a fun day trip to the Fort Myers Beach and saw the bubbly restaurants and bars we felt we have to return and book a stay here. What is also excellent are the public beach access alleys where you can park and just go enjoy the sea, sand & sun.

Fort Myers is a convenient place to head for the famous Sanibel Island beaches as well. The shelling capital of the world is definitely worth a visit. However, don’t think you can hurry through as this will take time. We also visited the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge to see the unique habitat that is home to so many species.

2. Event: Mardi Gras

New Orleans is one of the great loves in our lives. It resonates with us, it has this unique vibe and beat. We have been to this fantastic city several times and each time we have felt closer to the beat – before and after Katrina. This unique survival city has an exiting history and part of it is definitely Mardi Gras. Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Our hunger for Mardi Gras has gotten bigger at the Mardi Gras World. Mardi Gras World is an exiting place to visit any time of the year to learn about the history and traditions of Mardi Gras. This is a place where we’ve spent hours just admiring the artists do their magic. We recommend you also take the tour as the guide will give you exiting insights and share fun facts.

3. Destination in Finland: Turku

We should really explore our hometown Turku more. There’s so much happening all the time and we just don’t have the time for all the thrilling things during our working seasons. Turku has excellent places to see, establishments filling your hunger for culture, award winning places to dine & drink at and events that will make you happy.

4. City: Hong Kong

We are city lovers. We like big, cosmopolitan hubs, but also smaller and developing cities. Urban tradition, lifestyles and development are something we are both interested in and for this particular reason we could write many city names here.

However, if there is a previous life this place must have been one of those we hanged around in. Everything in this city was thrilling to us as: it was both familiar and exotic. We were happy to find the whole world here, but also to explore ancient traditions.

• Hong Kong is the Street Market Paradise by DINKgo

5. Country: Guatemala

We have visited most of the countries of Central America, only Guatemala and Nicaragua are yet to be explored. Our fave rum Ron Zacapa comes from Guatemala and we have a dream of visiting the factory where they make this fantastic product.

6. Island: Australia

Australia pops up every time we talk about travel dreams. We want to experience the unique culture & history, amazing nature, the varied sized cities, the ocean side and the rugged outback.

Travel brings people together and during our last cruise we met an Aussie couple we hanged out with quite a lot and promised to visit each other. They live quite near Sydney. One more excellent reason to start planning. However, we want to make sure the Down Under trip is long enough so we can include a variety of things.

We are open to an idea of taking a couple of days in Singapore or Hong Kong first, but now there are those straight flights from Europe to Australia as well. From London we could first fly to Perth for some time and then continue to Sydney.

7. Extreme: Safari

We may not be total adrenaline junkies (anymore), but we think quite a many things we’ve done within the, say, last 10 years are extreme to some. Some roller coasters and other rides we’ve tested go easily under the title extreme: some because of their ultimate speed, some because of their location.

Think of spinning above Las Vegas, facing down in your ride chair – find this at the Stratosphere. And what about the highest sea cliff in Europe, the one that has a glass sky walk you can walk on and see the beach somewhere below you? Not all of us could appreciate this Madeiran marvel called Cabo Girao.

We’ve dived deep in a submarine to see Caribbean Sea below surface (as the captain said “this is the lowest point you can get in your relationship”). We took the tiny elevator up the Arch in St. Louis – not possible if you are afraid of heights and tight spaces. We like seeing insects, snakes, spiders and odd creatures.

So, what would an extreme experience be for us? For us a safari in some of the African countries where you can spot a lot of wildlife would be a welcome extreme(ish) experience. Being among the wildlife in their natural habitat, maybe even spending some nights at the savannah.

8. Accomodation: Around The World Cruise Cabin

Instead of flying around the world, we are dreaming of a cruise around the world. This is something we can only think of years from now, but dreaming is good for you.

There are many possibilities, but The Viking Ultimate World Cruise is a 245-day journey. You get 6 continents, 59 countries and 113 different ports. First of these eight month cruises takes off from London on August 31, 2019.

How would it be staying at one cabin for months? We think we’d have no problem since the experiences throughout the cruise are constantly changing. And as a couple we spend almost 24/7 together anyways.

• 4 Cruise Planning Tips by DINKgo

9. Nature Destination: Death Valley

Death Valley is one of the natural areas within hours from Las Vegas (our unofficial summer cottage) we haven’t been to. We’ve had plans several times, but sometimes plans change. What people in general don’t know is how varied, breathtaking natural destinations you have around Las Vegas.

Many of the destinations can be thought as day trip destinations, also Death Valley just about 2,5 hours away. For example, we have visited Red Rock Canyon & Mount Charleston to the North and Valley of Fire to the East. But we think we’d like to spend a night on the road to be able to see the nature wake up in the morning.

Death Valley is anything but dead, especially the higher altitude mountain ranges are home to a great number of mammal species, bird s and reptile. Not to mention the over 1,000 species of plants, 23 of which are unique to Death Valley.

• 6 Day Trips From Las Vegas Strip by DINKgo

10. Food & Drink: Houston

Food and drinks are the framework of all our travel. Even that we may ever not write entirely of these subjects, these are defining experiences where ever we are.

We could think of so many destinations here, but we chose Houston, TX. H-Town is a city that has an experimental, unique and laid-back vibe we loved. They say this is the time to visit Houston, before it becomes too popular.

We stayed at the (at that time pretty new) awesome Marriot Marquis that was far away from a hotel death path. Excellent restaurants, inventive bars, laid back luxury with a twist.

Houston has a strong local brewery culture and the food scene is fun: For example the hawker market kinda food market thing Conservatory totally made us say hallelujah. Enjoy a variety of street food vendor’s foods while sipping local brews. Sweet!

• Houston Will Make You Wanna Return by DINKgo
• 5 Things To Love About Marriott Marquis Houston by DINKgo

Never let your memories be greater than your dreams.

So, want to take the 10 Travel Dreams Challenge? Oh, please do! The original idea was to challenge 5 other bloggers, but all those we asked had already been challenged to this one. So: if you travel and blog about it, type your craziest dreams in the categories we used as well. Challenge 5 bloggers if you can. At the end of your post, explain the rules and share the links to the blogs of those you forwarded the challenge to. Then, go and post your blog post link to the comments of the original post by Kohteena Maailma.