Travel Plans

Some notes on trips I'd like to do.

Europe

While we're in Oxford, European and North African/Middle-Eastern destinations are much more accessible.

Spain, Italy, France
Germany (visit Lydia and my family in Berlin)
Poland (Camilla's family), the Czech Republic, Hungary
Stockholm (visit Jarnot)
Morocco (might avoid the rest of North Africa at the moment)
Egypt, Jordan, Syria
Greece and a return to Turkey

Rest of the World

East Africa

One trip to Kenya and Tanzania has whetted my appetite. Anyone want to join me for a climb of Mt Kenya?

Chris Morris: Best time for Mt Kenya would be mid Sept to mid Oct or late Jan through to early March end of the dry seasons as a rule.

Madagascar

Expensive, hard to get to, but amazing landscapes and biodiversity.

Antarctica

Camilla has always been keen to go to Antarctica. The most interesting tour option seems to be to visit the Falklands and South Georgia as well as the Antarctic Peninsula.

Japan

Could spend a week in Japan en route to or from Australia.

Walk Japan (tour operator)
Japan in Winter (Dinets)

Iceland

Two weeks in South Iceland was great. Next time I'd want to have at least three weeks, so I could visit Snæfellsness, the Westfjords, Akureyri, Mývatn, etc. then get the bus across the interior to Landmannalaugar and do the walk from there to Þorsmörk.

The best time for birds is late May to June.

Látrabjarg photography

The Silk Road

The trip to Pakistan and Sinkiang in 1999 was frustrating, giving us just one day in Kashgar. Istanbul to Beijing would be the ideal, but a shorter option would be maybe Tehran to Urumchi.

I think I'd want to have at least part of the trip organised by a tour operator (how to find a good one?), but I'd prefer to travel with people I know...

Bali + East Indonesian Volcanoes

Camilla has never been to Bali! And despite three trips there myself, I've never climbed Gunung Agung.

Then there's Rinjani on Lombok and Tambora on Sumbawa (the site of the biggest volcanic eruption in recorded history, in 1814). And there are plenty of other peaks in the Nusa Tenggara. And Camilla wants to see Komodo dragons... This could be combined with a visit to East Timor.

Java

It would be great to visit Solo with some gamelaners.

New Zealand

I've done four trips to New Zealand in the last five years, but there's plenty more to see. A shorter trip to Auckland, Northland, and Great Barrier Island is one option; another is a longer trip to Wellington and southern/eastern North Island.

the Pacific

New Caledonia, Fiji, ... there are several options for short trips here, but this is obviously easier when/if we go back to Australia.

Australian Trips

Tasmania - the Overland Track, or walking around Walls of Jerusalem
Adelaide, Kangaroo Island and western New South Wales
Lord Howe Island
Alice Springs, Darwin and Kakadu