SWIMMING IN THE CLEAR

You know when you are on vacation (or home) and you go to the ocean/sea/lake/other body of water and it's almost like walking into a dark pit of unknown fear. You walk in and start swimming only to feel something slimy on your feet or legs, fish nibbling at your body or a freaky unawareness of just how deep the water is...I don't know about you, but that scares the living shittake mushrooms out of me and I would rather just lay on the beach and become a lobster instead of experience that.

If you hate it too, here's a list of 34 places throughout the world that has clear water (thank you water gods):

1. Linapacan Island, Palawan, Philippines

2. The Maldives

3. Dog Island, San Blas, Panama

4. Cayo Coco, Cuba

5. Cala Macarelleta, Menorca, Spain

6. Sua Trench, Samoa

7. Crater Lake, Oregon, USA

8. Bak Bak Beach, Borneo

9. Jiuzhaigou Valley, Sichuan, China

10. Sabah, Malaysia

11. Jenny Lake, Wyoming, USA

12. Rio Sucuri, Brazil 

13. Calanque de Sormiou, France

14. Panari Island, Okinawa, Japan

15. Puerto Ayora, Galapagos

16. Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA

17. Cayos Cochinos, Honduras

18. Primosten, Croatia

19. St. George, Bermuda

20. Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii

21. Pupu Springs, New Zealand

22. Calanque d'En-Vau, France

23. Rio Azul, Argentina

24. Corfu, Greece

25. Aitutaki, Cook Islands

26. Koh Phi Phi Don, Thailand

27. Playa Blanca, Colombia

28. Blue Lake, New Zealand (apparently the clearest water in the world)

29. Konigssee, Germany

30. Valle Verzasca, Switzerland

31. Tioman Island, Malaysia

32. Belo Sur Mer, Madagascar

33. Lake Marjorie, California, USA

34. Bodrum, Turkey

I'm dreaming of basking in these waters, are you?

Travel on wanderlusters!

100 MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN THE WORLD

Tomorrow morning will be the New Zealand post, but until then, here's some fun stuff I am browsing through at my long evening at work. I have been oogling over the 100 Most Beautiful Places in the World, thanks to EscapeNormal, wishing I was somewhere else other than work. 

A girl can dream, right?

1. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
2. Angkor Wat, Cambodia
3. Cinque Terre, Rio Maggoire, Italy
4. Blue Lagoon, Iceland
5.Maldives
6. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA
7. Glass Beach, California, USA
8. Pamukkule, Turkey
9. Big Island, Hawaii, USA
10. St. Lucia
11. Santorini, Greece
12. Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany
13. Marble Caves, Chile
14. Chittorgarh Fort, India
15. Giethoorn, Holland
16. Crystal Cave, Iceland
17. Aogashima Volcano, Japan
18. Longji Rice Terrace, China
19. Amazon Rainforest, Brazil and South America
20. Venice, Italy
21. Petra, Jordan
22. Machu Picchu, Peru
23. Tuscany, Italy
24. Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, USA
25. Shirakawa-go Village, Japan
26. Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
27. Himalayas, Nepal
28. Bali
29. Serengeti, Tanzania, Africa
30. Sahara Desert, Africa
31. Dubai, UAE
32. Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
33. Moeraki Boulders, New Zealand
34. The Great Wall of China, China
35. Antarctica
36. Lake Retba, Senegal
37. Morocco, Africa
38. The Fjords of Norway
39. Socotra, Republic of Yemen
40. Alaska, USA
41. Victoria, Australia
42. Fingal's Cave, Scotland
43.Giant's Causeway, Ireland
44. Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada, USA
45. Cappadocia, Turkey
46. Havasu Falls, Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
47. Glow Worm Cave, New Zealand
48. The Australian Outback
49. Tikal, Guatemala
50. Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA
51. Reed Flut Cave, China
52. Verdon Gorge, France
53. Bagan (or Pagan) Myanmar
54. Napa Valley, California
55. Zion National Park, Utah, USA
56. Swiss Alps, Switzerland
57. Lake Bled, Slovenia
58. Whitehaven Beach, Australia
59. Luxor, Egypt
60. Meteora, Greece
61. Bioluminescent Bay, Puerto Rico
62. Giant Crystal Cave, Mexico
63. Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye, Scotland
64. Beachy Head, England
65. Rotorua, New Zealand
66. Lencois Sand Dunes, Brazil
67. Rio de Janiero, Brazil
68. Spotted Lake, Canada
69. Iceland
70. Istanbul, Turkey
71. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA
72. Inga Falls, Congo River, Africa
73. Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
74. Torres del Paine, Chile
75. Bingalong Bay, Bay of Fires, Tasmania
76. Danxia Landforms, China
77. Death Valley, California, USA
78. Great Barrier Reef, Australia
79. Blue Grotto Cave, Capri, Italy
80. Huanglong, China
81. Positano, Almalfi Coast, Italy
82. Dead Sea, Israel and Jordan
83. Maui, Hawaii
84. Sanibel Island, Florida
85. Nootka Island, Vancouver Island, Canada
86. Fiji, Republic of Fiji
87. Kyoto, Japan
88. Brittany, France
89. Everglades National Park, Florida
90. Lapland, Finland
91. Flaming Crater, Derweze, Turkmenistan
92. River of Five Colors, Colombia
93. Moraine Lake, Baniff National Park, Canada
94. Seychelles
95. Multnomah, Oregon, USA
96.Madagascar
97. Bora Bora, French Polynesia
98. Lake Baikal, Russia
99. Rocky Mountains, Canada
100. Norway

Boooom, there you have it. I just spent a good chunk of time at working doing this, meaning I am closer to going home! I have a hot date with a piece of left-over fish from last night, Eurotrip (the movie), my laptop to work on the New Zealand and my mass amounts of pillows. It'll be great one...in case you are wondering.

Have any of you been to any of the listed 100? If so, how was it? What did you like and what did you not like?

Travel on wanderlusters!

2013 TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

According to the Travel section of the NY Times, there are 46 places wanderlusters HAVE to go in 2013. It's cool because I have been to some of these places or will be going there sometime this year. Some places I plan to go when I move to South America in a year.

Get your suitcases packed and plane tickets printed: 
1. Rio de Janiero, Brazil (next year)
2. Marseille 
3. Nicaragua (next year)
4. Accra, Ghana 
5. Bhutan
6. Amsterdam, Netherlands (in two months!)
7. Houston, Texas (this summer!)
8. Rossland, British Columbia
9. New Delhi, India (maybe this winter)
10. Istanbul, Turkey (maybe this fall)
11. Singapore
12. Montenegro
13. White Salmon River, Washington (been there!)
14. Hvar, Croatia (been there!)
15. Mongolia
16. The Big Island, Hawaii (maybe next spring)
17. Philippines (very soon, I have family there)
18. Vernazza, Italy
19. The Kimberley, Australia (when I move there in 2015)
20. Ningxia, China
21. The Adirondacks, New York
22. Oslo, Norway (very soon)
23. Constantia, South Africa (I want to!)
24. Lithuania
25. Burgos, Spain
26. Lens, France
27. Changbaishan, China
28. Porto, Portugal (maybe in the summer)
29. Puerto Rico
30. Koh Phangan, Thailand
31. Kalpitiya, Sri Lanka
32. Jackson Hole, Wyoming (maybe in the summer)
33. Bangkok, Thailand (sometime this year!)
34. The Jeseniky, Czech Republic (been there!)
35. Waiheke, New Zealand
36. Yucatan, Mexico (been there!)
37. Charlevoix, Quebec
38. Pecs, Hungary
39. Republic of Congo (the post for later today!)
40. Ireland (been there! maybe going back this year)
41. Getaria, Spain
42. Mergui Islands, Myanmar
43. The Falkland Islands
44. Washington D.C. (been there...way too many times ;) )
45. Casablanca, Morocco (hopefully for my birthday week this year!)
46. Paris, France (been there! going back in June)

Where are you going this year? Where do you want to go this year? I'm just itching to book plane tickets...

Travel on wanderlusters and keep an eye out for the Congo post later today!

Stumbled Upon...

The Huffington Post Travel section just a few moments ago to find a wonderful article about 2013's cheapest travel destinations. While recovering from my first spinning class ever that my friend instructed tonight and an early morning job interview, I decided it was time to oogle and plan some future travels. First on the travel to-do list: book a hostel for Budapest in May when my best friend from high-school comes for our 3 1/2 week "euro-trip"!

Number 1 is my favorite: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!! Definitely might take advantage of this. I'm heading to #4 in June, woot woot! I'd love to go to #5 and #7 this year too, hmmm...

Here's the list of cheapest 2013 travels:
1. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2. Nashville, Tennessee
3. Amsterdam, the Netherlands
4. St. Augustine, Florida
5. Istanbul, Turkey
6. Louisburg, Canada
7. Siem Reap, Cambodia (the picture is of the Angkor Wat Temple in Siem Reap).

Where on this list have you guys been or where do you want to go this year?!

And now, here's the link for you to read more and start planning your trips this year wanderlusters. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fodors/7-affordable-destinations_b_2535539.html?utm_hp_ref=travel

Travel on wanderlusters...without breaking the bank!

Fall Break Destinations!

Fall break is coming up...which only means one thing: travel time!

So what are the plans? Paris for a weekend with a friend and then Istanbul for 5 days with another friend.
These two places are on my bucket list so I'm really excited about getting to explore them.

Cross those places off the list for the "best city in Europe" in which I live...keep on guessing!

Until then, midterms and an insane amount of studying will be taking place, but look forward to some cool pictures after my trip! and of course, a few good stories.

Until then, travel on wanderlusters.