Continental Hotspot

While at work I had one of those conversations about holidays like “So where have you been?” and “Got any plans?”. And that got me in a writing mood so I threw something together. So this is an overview of where I’ve been and where I want to go.

Generally I prefer to travel to dry climates. The drier the better. Basically zero relative humidity high up on a mountain or in the middle of the Sahara is perfect. The wetter the less happy I get. Particularly when it gets cold too. In temperate climates like the Netherlands anything below 35°C is just varying shades of awful.

World scratch map

Do you know those world maps where you can scratch it to keep track of which countries you’ve been to? With the goal to scratch off as many countries as you can? Here’s my digital version so far:

• Apple green are countries I’ve “seen”in the past. Of course there are scare quotes around the word seen because you can’t ever really see all of a country especially not the big ones (in fact I don’t think I’ve even seen everything that’s worth seeing in my own country). I’m never going back to the Scottish Highlands though. Cold damp hellscape.
• Dark green is Austria, a country I’ve been to every year since 2007 sometimes multiple times per year (except for during COVID). It really deserves its own category because I’ve been to Austria almost as often as I’ve been to all other countries combined.
• Light blue are countries that are currently at the top of my list.
• Dark grey are those countries I don’t think I want to go to because they are too dangerous and/or repressive.

I’ve marked Austria in a different green color in the map above because I’ve seen a very large number of places in the country but I still have so much more to see and do there. Check this map of my travel in Austria below. It has the same colour scheme as the map above. Hintertux I’ve only seen during summer when I was hiking across the Alps from Germany to Italy but the slopes looked really cool so I want to go back there for some powder. Salzburg and Wien are also worth revisiting. I am NEVER going back to Taxenbach though. Almost dying in the Salzach once was enough.

Want to visit Top 10

1. China
   • Pro’s:
     
     That needs no further explanation.
     China may also have some cultural sites worth visiting..
   • Con’s:
     The language barrier and the plane tickets.
2. Japan
   • Pro’s:
     
     Hokkaido gets by far the highest quality snow in the world. During winter the high pressure system that forms over much of Siberia brings cold dry air from Russia across the Sea of Japan. As this happens the air picks up moisture and then is forced up by the mountains of Japan leading to enormous amounts of precipitation. Since the temperature drops to between -10 and -30°C none of it melts away leading to awesome pictures like the one above. The cultural sites in Japan may not be Forbidden-City-impressive since a lot it was firebombed in WW2 but they still have amazing places to see too.
   • Con’s:
     Same as for China, the language barrier and the plane tickets.
3. The rest of Austria
   • Pro’s:
     
     My favourite country. I’ve been to so many places already (see the map above) but I really want to hit some different slopes there. My family consistently goes to the same resort because it’s affordable and we know the people there but I’ve grown a bit tired of skiing the same twenty something slopes. Definitely want to try some frozen goodness at Hintertux, Kitzbühel, Arlberg or Saalbach-Hinterglem!
   • Con’s: ehm? Dunno.
4. Egypt (pyramids, Luxor, Qattara)
5. Indonesia
6. Peru (Machu Picchu, checking off a continent)
7. Australia (my family swears by it, also checking off a continent)
8. Georgia (cool culture, cheap skiing)
9. Norway (fjords, mountains, northern lights)
10. Ireland (low hanging fruit really)
11. Hungary (have you seen their parliament? maybe not much else that I haven’t seen before though)
12. Wait, that’s more than 10 isn’t it?