5 once-in-a-lifetime destinations, you can't miss

I always get asked where my favorite place to travel is. I am not sure any of these places are it, but if you get a chance to go to any of them, you better take it. There is a good chance you won't get another one.

1. TIBET

Tibet is first on my list for a number of reasons. In order to get there you have to travel with a group, on a tour, in a private car, with a tour guide at all times. There are a lot of restrictions on foreigners traveling to Tibet, and China is extremely strict about enforcing them. These restrictions also make the trip expensive. Getting all the way to Tibet, and then paying for a tour, is not cheap.

When I went, I had been living in Nepal for a few months. My brother flew out to visit me and we took a tour from Kathmandu to Lhasa by car, and then flew back. I highly recommend doing that option because some of the best sights were in route to Lhasa, not in the city. You would miss a lot by only touring Lhasa.

It was absolutely amazing learning about Tibet, from Tibetans. I usually hate tours but I really enjoyed learning all about Tibetan history, culture, and current events from our guide. We also had the most eclectic group of foreigners that we loved getting to know. Everyone was well traveled and asked a lot of interesting questions.

Tibet is one of the most unique destinations you can visit. Some of the reasons you can't miss it are: the Potala Palace in Lhasa is a must see (for obvious reasons), the thousands of prayer flags at mountain passes over 17,000 feet is one of the most beautiful and peaceful things I've experienced, and watching hundreds and hundreds of Tibetans show their devotion through prostration (laying on the ground worshipping) is completely entrancing. It is a trip you will never forget.

Even though Tibet was bizarrely beautiful, it had its share of downfalls even once you made it. I'd never been so cold in my life. Sleeping in the high mountain passes, in hotels that don't have heaters, left me colder than I'd ever been. I pored hot water in every plastic bottle I could collect, and left them in my bed each night. Also, everyone experienced some form of altitude sickness. Between the cold and the altitude there were a few days straight that everyone in our group was sick. My brother Josh got it the worst. Even when we made it to Lhasa, he wasn't able to get out of bed. He had to be taken to the hospital and given oxygen multiple times. They didn't have a decompression chamber, and he remained deathly ill until we were able to get on our flight back to Kathmandu. In other words, be prepared, and you will love it.

Tibet was bizarre, enlightening, and completely unique. Unless regulations change, I will most likely never make it back.

2. ANTARCTICA

Antarctica was my most recent adventure. I've always felt that it was a once-in-a-lifetime destination. Now that I've made it, I want to go back. It's possibly no longer a once-in-a-lifetime destination for me, but for most people, it will be.

I went to the Antarctic Peninsula with Oceanwide Expeditions. If you are not a researcher, you will most likely travel to Antarctica by boat on an expedition. It is the easiest, cheapest, and most common way to see Antarctica. Yet, it still is extremely expensive, and takes forever to get too!

The two main reasons Antarctica is a once-in-a-lifetime destination are: price, and distance. A trip to Antarctica will cost most people somewhere between $5,000 - $10,000. That one trip is more than I spend on travel in any given year, and I travel a lot. The distance is almost as daunting as the price. It took me about 5 days to get to the continent and 5 days back. That means in a 2 week trip, I was only in Antarctica for 4 days! 2 1/2 days each way are spent traveling the Drake passage by boat, which will make almost everyone seasick.

Despite Antarctica's large downfalls, I could come up with hundreds of reasons why you must go. It is the last great wilderness, which means I found it endlessly beautiful. We were there for 4 days taking an average of 2 shore excursions per day. Each place we visited was completely unique and amazing. We saw endless snow capped mountains, 300 foot tall walls of ice, thousands of glaciers, hundreds of penguins, lots of whales, seals, birds, and land that went on forever. I couldn't look away from the bright blue glaciers, and loved waiting for the ice to break off. It was a mesmerizing place, and time flew by while you were there.

3. GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

While in the Galapagos Islands, I saw more unique species and wildlife than I have anywhere else in the world. Sea lions are everywhere. They are on park benches, streets, and boats. They are sloths above water, and playful and energetic down below. We swam with tons of small sharks, rays, turtles, and even hammerhead sharks. There were wild flamingos, pelicans, blue footed boobies, penguins, crabs, and hundreds of lizards. The lizards were of all sizes, and some were up to 4 feet long. The Galapagos Tortoise is the largest living species of tortoise, and you better not miss seeing them while you are there! It is amazing how many species you will see, how many of each species you will see, and how large the species grow in that environment.

The downfalls to the Galapagos, which make it a once-in-a-lifetime, are almost as prevalent as the reasons to go. The first is, like most once-in-a-lifetime destinations, it's expensive. It is nowhere near as expensive as Antarctica, but expensive none-the-less. It costs a lot to get to, and still does once you arrive. It is also far away from anything, and takes a long time to get to. Once you arrive there aren't many nice beaches, and even less nice hotels and towns. They don't have ferries, but small bumpy speed boats that you take from island to island, taking up much of your day. The people aren't very flexible and customizing tours is almost impossible. Lastly, the water is surprisingly cold, and the land surprisingly barren in places. The downfalls make me not want to go back anytime soon, but despite them, it is worth visiting. I have never seen such amazing wildlife, and in such large quantities.

4. PALAU

Palau is the one destination on this list that doesn't meet the requirement of being expensive. Yes it can be expensive to pay for the flight, but once you arrive it is surprisingly well priced for what you get. I had no expectations of Palau, so when I arrived, I was blown away. Palau is made up of around 200 islands and is located in the west Pacific Ocean. It is surprisingly modern, and is known mostly for it's rock islands and scuba diving. If you enjoy snorkeling or scuba diving, add it to your bucket list.

I started my trip off with a cave dive, which I always love. One of my favorite parts of diving is how peaceful it can be. The silence underwater and the scale of the ocean has always amazed me. Cave dives seem to amplify this feeling. The cave dive consisted of three chambers, all of which you could surface in an air pocket inside. The other activities that you can't miss are the numerous ship wrecks, shark dives, and the chance to swim with dolphins. We also took a rock island tour where we were able to see giant clams, white mud, beautiful beaches, and much more. 

My absolutely favorite part of the trip, which in my mind was totally under-rated by everyone, was Jellyfish Lake. You hike into a lake in the middle of a rock islands, and slip into the side of the lake with your snorkel and fins. The lake itself feels quite and deserted. As you swim towards the center you start seeing jellyfish, and you see more and more the further you go. By the time you find the middle you are surrounded by millions of these jellyfish. They sting, but it is not powerful enough for humans to feel. They have been trapped in the lake for thousands of years and their sting has almost completely disappeared over time. Many of the other travelers enjoyed Jellyfish Lake, but weren't as amazed by it as I was. It is by far one of the most unique experiences I've ever had, and it is definitely makes the once-in-a-lifetime cut.

5. NORWAY

Norway is a beautiful country with endless places to explore, absolutely amazing scenery, and fun vibrant cities. The only downfall, which allows it to be on my list, is price. Once you go to Norway, you realize you most likely can't afford to go back!

One of the days for lunch, we decided to get some fish from a street vendor. My brother ordered a skewer of a white fish, and a skewer of shrimp. Not that big of a lunch, but it ended up costing around U.S. $80. Afterwords, we all decided we were better off going hungry. We thought Norway would be a great start to our diet.

Even though Norway is out of my price range, it is one of my favorite places I have every been. The people are extremely nice, the cities are super clean, and the fjords are unforgettable. I was constantly surprised by the sites that we saw, and loved every place we stopped. I enjoy cities, but I love travel due to all the unique natural sites and landscapes that you can find. Norway has hidden gems almost everywhere. You'll round the corner to a wall of endless waterfalls. You unexpectedly find yourself in crazy-steep valleys. On the train ride from Oslo to Bergen the landscape seemed to completely change every half hour. I could have spent months exploring Norway, but unless the U.S. $ strengthens, I won't be heading back anytime soon.

Another reason why I love Norway, is their style. I love Scandinavian style's and wanted to buy everything I passed for my house. I am not a huge shopper, but I just couldn't get myself out of the Norwegian home stores. I loved them all!

There are lots of destinations beyond these five, that will be once-in-a-lifetime for the majority of people. I definetly have a lot more to see, but these have been a few of my favorites so far, and if you ever have the opportunity to visit an, GO!

Buddhism

 Here are just a few random facts I learned while I was in Tibet and some pictures that I took.

 

I've never known very much about Buddhism. Here are some of the things I've learned about it. More specifically Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is mainly practiced in Tibet, Nepal and India, but it is in other countries as well.

There is not just one Buddha but hundreds of them. Buddha is just the enlightened one. To become a Buddha means you have reached the ultimate freedom, you no longer have worldly limitations. Tibetan's believe there are five sects in Buddhism and I don't remember what each sect is called.

They have five types of burials.  Tibetans are buried by ground, water, fire, stupa, or sky. Depending on who you are or how you died determines what happens to your body. If you die before you are 7 then you are buried. If you are a Dali Lama your body will be dried and put into a stupa. Monks bodies will be burned. Dying from a knife, sickness, or war will lead you to a water burial. Regular people are given sky burial's.

A sky burial is as confusing as it seems. After death the body lives in its home for three days. Family and friends bring money for everything during this period. On the third night the body is chopped up and wrapped tightly in a white cloth. On fourth day son or brother will take body around to temples. After seven days they believe the spirit has left. Between 7 and 49 days it is choosing where it wants to go, while the son is still taking body around to temples. The sky burial part is on the 49th day, they take the body up somewhere high to the top of one of the mountains and leave it so the birds can come eat it. This is my understanding of Tibetan burials. Every burial is much more detailed than I described and has much more to it.

I learned a lot more about Tibetan Buddhism and many of the specific stories about different Buddha's lives. These were just some of the more general facts I was told that I found really interesting. The Tibetan and Nepali culture are so fascinating to me because they are so different from everything I've ever been taught.

Free Tibet

Tibet has become a very restricted country. Everything that comes in and out of Tibet is being censored, first because its China, then even more because its Tibet. In order to go to Tibet as a foreigner you have to go with a group and a tour guide. Individual travelers are currently not allowed. This makes it much more difficult to get into Tibet, and you don't see many other travelers while you are there. We really saw only one or two other groups the entire time we were there, and neither were very large. To enter into Tibet you can either fly from Kathmandu or China, both of which have one flight a week, take the train from China, or bus from Kathmandu. We drove from Kathmandu then flew out.

While most places search you for knives, bombs, etc. Chinese boarder patrol makes sure that you don't have any Free Tibet memorabilia, Tibetan flags, Dalia Lama writings, pictures of Dalai Lama, the word Dalai Lama, or anything of this sort. The Dalai Lama was kind of the head of the Free Tibet movement, so he was exiled in 1959. I wasn't searched for anything else but they took about five minutes scrolling through my books making sure they were all acceptable.  I had a logic puzzle book that they spent a few min. looking at and kept going back to. I don't think he'd seen one before and there were lots of pictures. He kept looking at it like the pictures were of the Dalia Lama. Josh said he's Chinese so he probably was just solving all the puzzles real quick. It was funny how much the logic book really messed with him though.

On the flight out I got on the plane with a big knife in my bag. I went through all the airport security and they never took my knife. They did take my passport into a back room and had me sit on the side while everyone else went through customs. That was a little different. Apparently weapons are fine, just not information.

Our tour guides were a Tibetan couple who were illegally being tour guides. They told us that as Tibetans you can't be a tour guide, and if an exception is made then you have to pay super high tax's to the government and denounce the Dalai Lama on paper. Because of this they have been doing it under the table for a long time.

 They also aren't allowed to leave. I think there was once a point where Tibetans could leave Tibet, and most ended up in northern India or Nepal. Our tour guide left Tibet when he was young and grew up in India. That is what most Tibetan's do. He came back to see his father and then they wouldn't let him leave again. Tibetan's can't leave Tibet, and they are restricted in what they do in Tibet, leaving them with few options. His wife is pregnant and they said when their child is born they will illegally send it to India, its just more expensive to do it that way. Once they do this though they will not see their child for many years. This is what they have to do in order to give their child a balanced education. In India Tibetan Buddhists will learn both sides of the situation where as in Tibet the Chinese are controlling what is being taught. They said they think within about 50 years no Tibetan Buddhists will be left in Tibet, it will completely be Chinese. Young people have a hard time believing in the Dalai Lama because they are taught by Chinese and only about Chinese culture, and how Dalai Lama is wrong.

In order to be a monk in Tibet you have to sign a paper saying you denounce the Dalai Lama. So most Tibetan Buddhists don't believe the monks in Tibet to be real monks. When the current Dalai Lama dies that will be the end of the Dalai Lama's. They said the Chinese will keep electing people but no one will believe him to be true. Tibet culture and beliefs are luckily being preserved in northern India.

Media is also very restricted in Tibet. China blocks many websites such as blogspot and facebook and our guide said if we tried to look up stuff on Free Tibet or how to get on those sites that the Chinese have cameras and then he will be punished for it. He was really scared about us trying to get past the blocks on the internet because he didn't want to somehow get in trouble. He also was super cautious about what he told us. When ever he would be talking about what was going on he would get quite when someone Chinese would walk by. He said that in the media we will hear about a few Chinese being killed by Tibetan's but they never mention that 100's of Tibetan's were killed by the Chinese.

I learned a ton about Tibetan culture and the conflict between the Chinese and Tibetans while I was there. All of which left me very confused. Tibetans are an extremely interesting and unique culture, and learning their views and opinions on things was probably my favorite part about the trip. It wasn't the sites I saw or the things I did while I was there, but the information that I learned and experienced first hand. It was absolutely amazing learning about the unique and completely crazy situation Tibet has been left in.

Seven Years in Tibet

Really only about seven days, though It felt like seven years. I think that I just experience one of the longest weeks of my life.


Tibet has an average elevation of 16,000 ft. making it the highest region on earth. Meaning the sun is hot, the cold is cold, and altitude sickness is a given. We went from 4,500 ft. to over 17,000 ft. in one day. Every single person with us experienced altitude sickness at some level because you are given no time to acclimate. The worst part for me was the cold. In the sun you start sweating, and then you'll walk in to the shade and immediately be freezing. The temperature change is very drastic. The first few nights were absolutely horrible, there was no heat in hotels, so you are chilled to the bone. Your entire body ache's from being so cold.



On a better note. The first few days were breathtaking. I've always loved mountains and so the Himalaya's were a must see for me. In Nepal they are amazing because they move from flat plains, to green hills, to the giant Himalaya's. Driving through them was spectacular. Even when you are at 16,000 ft. they still seem huge! Since the Chinese have taken over Tibet I think the only thing positive they have done for the region is create an amazing highway from the Nepal border to Lhasa. They are in the middle of finishing it and it is probably the nicest thing you will see in all of Tibet. It really made the journey more enjoyable.


At the top of every pass and on many of the mountains there are always prayer flags. Tibetans are very superstitious people and so in order to have safe passage they always do some sort of ceremony and leave prayer flags. The higher the pass the more prayer flags they feel are needed. I figure anything can help when your above 17,000 ft., and it really adds to the atmosphere seeing all the prayer flags flying.



I've also always wanted to see Everest. The day that we were supposed to see it I was so so excited. Unfortunately, something I've been waiting to see most of my life was blocked by clouds. Of course. I was really disappointed. I had really been building that moment up, to see it from a lot closer than we had been able too, and then just had it ripped from me by something so mundane.

Unfortunately Josh got really really sick from the Altitude. While I only was sick for the first few days, he got increasingly more sick through out the drive. After the first few days he was restricted to seeing Tibet from the hotels and car. I think he probably had the worst week of his life, but I was lucky enough to get some joy out of it. I would go see the sites during the day, then come back to make sure he hadn't died while I was away. Run and get him more oxygen, food, etc. Then go out with everyone again. I felt really bad that he wasn't able to really experience Tibet while he was there, but super glad that we made it back to Kathmandu alright. He had a scary week.