Words...and words

Monday, September 17, 2007

Plans for the Next Ten Years

While roaming around in the likes of Paris and Rome last year, I became convinced that I want to visit some of the most prominent cities of the world. I had in mind a number of 30, as the number of cities I wanted to see by the end of 2015, though I had not done any precise enumeration. I still have not done so, but my hope (it's not exactly a binding resolve) is to see most of the great urban centres of the world over the next 8-10 years. A list follows (selected on the basis of my preferences and limited knowledge):

Asia
  • Bombay (done)
  • Tokyo (done)
  • Hong Kong (done)
  • Delhi (done)
  • Singapore
  • Beijing
  • Shanghai
  • Tashkent
  • Seoul
  • Baghdad
  • Damascus
  • Jerusalem
Europe
  • London (done)
  • Berlin (done)
  • Paris (done)
  • Rome (done)
  • Vienna
  • Copenhagen
  • Moscow
  • Prague
  • St. Petersburg
N America
  • New York
  • Boston
  • Los Angeles
  • San Fransisco
  • Chicago
  • Miami
  • Toronto
  • Vancouver
S America
  • Rio de Janeiro
  • Beunos Aires
  • Lima
Africa
  • Cairo
  • Johannesburg
  • Durban
  • Cape Town
  • Nairobi
Australia
  • Sydney
  • Melbourne
  • Perth
Wow! That's a list of 40 already, and I did not even refer a map! Let's do the maths here. 40 cities, 8 finished. Including 2007, I have 9 years to visit 32 cities - 3 to 4 every year on average. This year I will hopefully cross Singapore and Sydney off my list. Will try to do Vienna, Prague, Moscow and St. Petersburg next year. Don't want to think beyond that :)

I have in mind many non-metropolitan environments that I want to visit as well, and fitting them into this city hopping plan is going to be enjoyably challenging :)

In any case, I have decided to have atleast one foreign and one Indian vacation every year. This year's domestic trips are over, of course - both Kerala and Arunachal (also Kaziranga NP in Assam) were awesome. For the foreign jaunt, I will head to Australia in the first two weeks of December (with short halts in Singapore on both legs of the journey). Should be fun!

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