I’m often asked: “What’s your favorite country to go to?”
For an avid adventurer, it is a confounding query. Learn how to distill culture, vibes, food, scenery, and all the opposite aspects that shape the international travel experience?
Identifying the nations I even have explored in depth over multiple visits — popular places like Turkey, Nepal, South Africa and Indonesia — is one measure. A more novel approach could be to contemplate the places I expected to go to just once but which surprisingly left me wanting more.
Listed below are the spots I assumed could be “one and done” but which are on my list of return trips.
Rwanda
I used to be unprepared for the natural great thing about Rwanda. Like many, I traveled to Rwanda for the primate trekking. However the sudden closure of the Burundi border meant I had some beyond regular time.
What a serendipitous gift it was to find gorgeous tea plantations, a luscious landscape of a thousand hills, and the singing fishermen of Lake Kivu who work at night from tri-hulled boats.
A village in Rwanda, a rustic with a population of nearly 14 million people.
Edwin Remsberg | The Image Bank | Getty Images
Rwanda gets kudos for its reconciliation after the 1994 genocide. Across the country there are genocide memorials, which approach its difficult history respectfully and transparently.
The primate trekking shouldn’t be too shabby, either. I ventured to Volcanoes National Park searching for the golden monkey, a photogenic sub-species present in central Africa’s Virunga Mountains. I used to be hoping for a close-up, but as a substitute got a detailed encounter. One mischievous monkey found his blissful place between my feet.
Saudi Arabia
At a dramatic cliff named the “Fringe of the World,” I watched the amber sun drift below the horizon on my first day within the Kingdom. The vast, uninterrupted views will likely be hard to top, I assumed.
A couple of days later I experienced one other Saudi superlative while immersed in a fertile green valley surrounded by massive red sandstone pillars. I wandered Wadi Al Disah, or “Valley of the Palm Trees,” in disbelief that a desert environment may very well be so sublime.
The photo Todd Miller snapped at Saudi Arabia’s “Fringe of the World” cliff.
Source: Todd Miller
Wadi Al Disah is the geological cousin of Jordan’s Wadi Rum — but without the crowds. The Nabateans built the now world-famous site of Petra 2,000 years ago. Additionally they built Hegra, a prized World Heritage Site in Saudia Arabia, which is most interesting after dark.
Within the evening, a piece of its monumental tombs is illuminated by 1000’s of candles, creating the mystique of an ancient civilization. Mass tourism is comparatively recent within the Kingdom, and I felt genuinely welcome, because of the Arabian hospitality. The highlight of my journey: a spontaneous offer to go to a Bedouin camp. Our hosts invited us inside their tent compound and shared tea, photos and stories of their nomadic lifestyle.
Montenegro
Some years ago, I cycled through this small gem of a rustic and its mountains, turquoise waters and Orthodox churches. While nearby Croatia gets a lot of the attention and visitors, Montenegro is the place to wallow in Adriatic ambience.
The UNESCO-honored Bay of Kotor is commonly called Europe’s southernmost fjord, but it surely’s actually a submerged river canyon.
Aerial view of Sveti Stefan, a fortified island village with fifteenth century stone buildings on the Adriatic coast of Montenegro.
Feng Wei Photography | Moment | Getty Images
Near the Stari Grad (Old Town) of Kotor, I hiked as much as a fortress and popped right into a Serbian Orthodox church that dates to 1305. Inside I discovered a talkative priest. One way or the other, he and I overcame the language barrier to have a superb chat.
Cycling along the Adriatic Sea toward Albania, I spotted the peninsular village of Sveti Stefan. I used to be just passing through. However the lingering image of that rustic hamlet with red clay rooves, fringed by blue shades of sea, calls me back.
Antarctica
On my journey “Way Down Under” I used to be among the many very first visitors of the season, which begins in mid-November.
In Antarctica the colours are pure and spectacular: limitless, unblemished whites punctuated by fiery orange sunsets. The pristine places we explored on foot and by kayak had been untouched for not less than six months throughout the brutal winter.
Sunset on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Andrew Peacock | Stone | Getty Images
On King George Island, a crew member of our expedition ship reached out to the nearby Polish research base, staffed by just seven members. After a protracted winter, the researchers were beyond longing for some fresh faces. They invited us into their intimate living quarters, generously sharing chocolates, snacks and precious fruit. I’m desirous to return to the White Continent again to experience the planet’s coldest, windiest, driest, and maybe most serene place.
Vanuatu
Vanuatu is one among the least visited countries on this planet, not because it’s not welcoming or rewarding, but due to its remoteness. The voluntary liquidation of its national airline, Air Vanuatu, in May doesn’t help.
Still, this Melanesian country offers breath-taking experiences — including the world’s most accessible energetic volcano, Mount Yasur, known for its natural fireworks of agitated lava. I used to be engulfed in thick toxic volcanic smog with near zero visibility during my visit to the rim.
A tribal ritual in Vanuatu.
Source: Todd Miller
The archipelago’s clear waters and coral reefs are world class. Off the coast of Efate island, I snorkeled over a downed but intact World War II Corsair fighter plane; the pilot reportedly survived the crash.
Vanuatu also oozes tribal tradition. On Pentecost Island we witnessed a land-diving ritual, the unique bungee jumping. During this annual rite of passage, men take a leap of religion from high wood towers with banyan tree vines wrapped around their ankles. Within the background, men wearing penis sheaths and girls in grass skirts ceremonially sing and dance. They are saying a superb dive ensures a bountiful yam crop. That day we witnessed 10 successful dives, which should bode well for the harvest.
