The question game

When I was in New York, we had a company holiday dinner at a great Asian restaurant in the Meatpacking District, and at that dinner, we did something a little unconventional for company holiday parties. At least I think so. I haven't been to many company holiday parties, but perhaps this is what all companies do? Who knows. Anyway, we all took turns asking questions the rest of the company (we're a whopping six-total-person company) took turns answering. These ranged from normal (greatest regret?) to crazier (would you give up sex forever for a million dollars?) to really interesting (what do you fear others perceive you as?). You know, I've worked with (most of) these folks for four years, the others at least two-plus, but it was still really cool to hear what these people answered for various, wide-ranging questions.

It's one of my favorite things -- playing The Question Game -- and, in fact, on my favorite date with Mike (favorite day, arguably), we hid in the corner of our local Barnes & Noble and asked each other questions from The Book of Questions. I like hearing people answer questions. It's just a quirk of mine. It's why I'll stop at every Q&A interview in a magazine, even if I have no idea the interviewee. So, I thought, why not ask my readers (all dozen of you), a question and spend the night (or however many minutes it takes me) reading your answers, getting to know you better.

I like this idea. 

So, in honor of my recent globetrotting-obsession, tell me this:

What is one place (you haven't yet been) that you'd be ridiculously bummed to never travel to in your lifetime?

Place can mean many things, so have at it.

Comments

[HollyLynne]

Ohhh, fun!!!

I'd love to see Egypt. I had a rubber stamp hieroglyphics kit as a kid and "Egyptologist" was one of my first career aspirations (before I figured out that I kinda liked living in the big city!). It isn't exactly an easy place to plan a trip to, but maybe someday when we're retired the husband and I might take a Nile cruise.

[AmyB]

Ireland! My ancestor came over on the Mayflower from the beautiful, green country, so I feel compelled to see it some day. But I just got back (today) from London and Paris, so I will have to wait a couple years for that one.

[Rhi]

Probably Finland - and I'd like to go with my Dad. I'd really like to understand this crazy place our family came from.

[Ariel]

I don't know that I can pick just one...
One of my goals is to sail around the world- so how about I say I'd really like to see the sun rise and set over open water with no land in sight for a week straight? Would that count?
Oh, and I'd like it to be in the Southern Hemisphere- I want time to study the constellations I've never seen.

[Sharon]

Italy. That's far and away the #1 country/place I want to go to in my lifetime. I absolutely love the history of the country, and in the last year or so I've begun reading a lot more about it, as I shockingly learning NOTHING about it when I was in school. I don't know why on earth we didn't, but the schools I went to were pretty lame.

ANYhoodle, I'm obsessed with the culture, history, religion, art, architecture, food and wine of Italy, and must experience it in person some day!

[Stephanie]

Love the book of questions, so I'll de-lurk for this one!

I'm hard pressed to pick between Ireland, for the gorgeous cliffs and rocky-ness...and an island somewhere that the water is sapphire blue and the sand is white and they serve fruity drinks with umbrellas. Yes, this is a goal.

[Carrie]

There are tons of places I'd love to go, but I'll be very sad if I never make it to the Greek islands. They're at the top of my must-see list.

[maggie]

I'm not sure one place tops all the others, but I will be forever disappointed if I don't go to Hong Kong within my FIL's lifetime. Or, rather, his ability-to-travel time. He grew up there, knows it well, visits once or twice a year and since he is all about eating and napping and paying for everything, I think it would be the BEST time.

[A'Dell]

The Seychelle Islands in the Indian Ocean. I've been dreaming about them since I was 17...SWOON.

[Jess]

It's kind of a big answer, but I'd have to say Asia. I am dying to go to SO MANY Asian countries. The top four are Japan, Thailand, China, and Vietnam. In that order.

I also HAVE to go to Australia and New Zealand. And Alaska. And Antarctica (I KNOW). And southern Africa. And a lot of other places. I'd better get busy building up my travel fund, huh?

[Melissa]

Greece, hands down. There are many many places I'd like to visit, but the history, the food, the sights, the sun, the sea ... Greece always seems to top the list.

Book of Questions? I'm going to have to check it out, thanks!

[sensibly Sassy]

Greece, without a doubt Greece

[jodifur]

Wine tasting in tuscanny.

[Shauna]

Definitely Alaska, because my mom took a cruise there when I was very young, brought back an Eskimo doll (who I named Angel Baby) and a book about Alaska and I've wanted to go over since. My husband also wants to go so we HAVE to go in our lifetime. I'm much like you in the sense that I always have to have a trip planned!

[C @ Kid Things]

The only place I've ever wanted to travel to since I was a little kid is Paris. However, I'm terrified of flying, so I'm not sure how well that's going to work out.

[Hillary]

This is kind of lame, considering all the countries I want to go see -- Greece! Italy! Scotland! -- but I would be heartbroken if I never got to see where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived, both in South Dakota and Missouri. I loved those books. I acted out scenes from them as a kid. I still reread them. One of my only lasting twinges about not having a girl is that I won't have a daughter to share them with.

[Laurie]

Malta, off the coast of Italy is my #1 pick for now.

[Melody]

I need to go to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam before I die.

When I was a preteen and a young teenager, I was a little bit obsessed with Anne Frank. I connected with her diary on a very powerful level. Maybe I was drawn in by the way she dealt with typical teenage girl problems, in light of extraordinary circumstances? As cheesy as it sounds, as a girl, I felt a kinship with her.

I've never stopped caring about her writing and her life, and today, I have a huge collection of books about her, in addition to the books by her.

Since going to her hiding place is as close as I will ever physically be able to get, it's something I really need to do.

[Askew Adventures]

This is fun, I also love to hear people's answers to questions. I want to get one of those new cubes filled with questions for my coffee table. Anyway, there are a lot of places I've been too and a lot of places I want to go in my lifetime, but I would be most ridiculously bummed if I don't accomplish getting to each of the 50 states. I've got 37 covered so far. Alaska and Hawaii are of primary importance, with the remainder of New England also high up on the list. Thank you for making me think about this, it's helping me think about what I might like to do for a birthday trip in January. :)

Now I'm curious too, what's your answer to this question?

[Stephanie]

I'm going to totally break from form and say... the alter (or reasonable stand-in for).

[Kate]

Italy and Greece top my list of "must see" places. Although I fear that if I ever do make it, I may never come back. :)

[cindy w]

This is random, but I want to see Antarctica. Can't even explain why, I just really want to go. A friend of my mom took a cruise that left from Argentina and toured Antarctica, and I think it sounds fabulous. It's on my bucket list.

[Kate]

On a sidenote, for those of you that also lust after Italy, may I suggest the books by Marlena De Blasi (A Thousand Days in Venice, A Thousand Days in Tuscany, and The Lady in the Palazzo - and I just saw another one by her called That Summer in Sicily that I haven't read but soon will). The first one is not as well written as the other two, but give a firsthand depiction of life in Italy. These books did nothing to help my obsession and desire to visit and really conjure up some beautiful images.

[MelissaInk]

Greece!

When I was 11 or 12, I read some Christopher Pike (!!!) book (The Wicked Heart, I think, why do I know that?) that took place in Greece. It just sounded spectacular.

Mama Mia and the Olympics certainly re-spurred my desire to go.

I'll get there one day ... without young children.

[Carmen]

I would like to see Machu Picchu. So amazing.

[Lisa@put-it-on-the-list]

Heh. Looks like you have more than a dozen readers. Fun game though!

I'm stuck between wanting to see my birthplace (Frankfurt, Germany) and wanting to see the birthplace of my current obsession (Murano, Italy, where glassworking originated).

Today I think I'd have to go with Murano. But I'm not sure my husband would be able to bring me back! Molten glass is the greatest thing ever, and a ten-year apprenticeship might sate my desire to learn more...

[K]

Alaska for sure and the Mediteranean

[Bethany]

I need to go to Ireland one day -- it's where my family came from.

[Chrystal]

Have been to greece, and it was WON.DER.FUL.
That WAS first on my list. However, since having been there already, my new top of the list is Rome. I'm a LOVER of ancient ruins and am constantly amazed that those structures are standing after centuries and thousands of years. I do need to read up on, and research Rome more, before going, but that will be the super FUN part!

Rome....without a doubt.

[Gaby]

For some reason, I'm dying to get to Seattle. I just have a feeling that I'll love it there.

In the more near future, at nine weeks pregnant, I'm hoping to make it to the delivery ward to deliver a healthy baby.

[Deanna]

Africa, most definitely. It's a big place, and I want to see the entire spectrum. I want to see the big cities of South Africa, and I want to see the primitive, remote places and the exotic animals that seem like they must be from another world. I am fascinated by the people, the terrain, all of it. I WILL get there one day.

Great idea with the questions!

[Erin]

Our dream is to have a sailboat and go up and down the Atlantic coast. Annapolis and the Bahamas in the same trip? Yes, please!

[Kristabella]

I don't think I can pick one, so I'm going to say Europe, because there are so many countries I want to go to.

Also, to go off the beaten path a little, another place I would like to travel would be labor & delivery in a hospital to have a baby.

[Shelly]

I have to go to Scottland. I really want to take my dad, because that is where our family is from, but I will be really super bummed if I don't make it there. I'd like to take my kids and hubby to Vienna, because I went after college, and it was amazing.

[amieable]

I love Stephanie's "the altar" and I'd love to go there someday too.

I want to go to the Grand Canyon and Banff, but since I'm relatively certain I'll get to those places (in my own continent), I'm going to choose CUBA for this little game.

[nicolien]

Oh! I love this question, and the answers you are getting.

For the past 10 years or so I've been trying to go to Iran... and somehow I've ended up going to more than 70 different countries, NONE OF WHICH are named Iran. I even applied for a visa twice, and still I have never set foot there. I keep hoping that all those things that are changing my path over and over again are not ways of the universe to tell me I shouldn't go, because I'm this close to going there this spring...

[Leigh]

Must go to Prince Edward Island. I was a bit obsessed with the Anne books, and even though I have a boy, I plan to read them to him and make him want to go there too. And I get nervous, because every time I read about that place, the articles always say, "Go in the next...years because it will be spoiled after that." I want to ride a bike around the Island.

[Naomi]

So many places but to top it all off would be the Philippines. I was born there and moved to the United States when I was about 20 months old. My mom and I became citizens of this country when I was in middle school so for nearly half of my life I was a citizen of a country I don't remember. And I would love to go before my grandmother passes away. She's in her eighties. I've met only three relatives from my mother's side because they are all back on the Islands. There is just something wrong with not visiting a country that was once yours.

[KD]

I've been to 4 continents and would be very bummed to not make it to all of them someday. But in addition to that, even though I've already been to Africa, if I could take one more trip before I died, it would be to Egypt.

[Mom]

I would love to visit Scotland and look up my ancestry. But I'm not sure that I could stand being on a plane for that length of time. If I stayed in the states, I would love to see Yellowstone.

[Sarah]

I liked your hint that place can mean many things, so I'm trying to think about this a bit differently. And I liked Stefanie's answer of 'the altar' I'll say my grandchild's wedding. Making it there means a lot of really wonderful things will have transpired throughout my life to get me there.

[Miranda]

I adore traveling and married a man who isn't that into globe trotting. :( I've been quite a few places (all you people wanting to go to Ireland GO! DO IT NOW!) but I really want to take my daughter to Paris some day.

For the other sort of place, I'd really like to someday be really truly confident and like the way I look. For various reasons I've never really had that and now that I have a daughter it's so achingly important to me that I provide her with good examples so she grows up loving the amazing little person she is.

[Julabean]

I traveled a lot in college, so there are a ton of places I need to go back to before I die. So I'm cheating and picking a place I've been before and want to go back to and also another place I really want to go to before I die.

The place I want to go back to is Greece, hands down. Most amazing country I've ever been to. Holy moly, it was so cool. Best three weeks ever.

The place I'm going to kick myself if I never get there is Argentina. I've had a fascination with Argentina since I was young, probably thanks to Madonna's EVITA movie. It has such a fascinating history, a diverse geographical spread, and the food is supposed to be amazing. I'd like to cap my 30th birthday with a trip to Argentina and Antarctica, but if one of those places has melted away by then, I'd settle for Argentina.

[Abby]

Right now I am just itching to get to Australia, but seeing as I am still in grad school, it will probably have to wait. Le sigh...
:)

[Mandee]

I'll have to go with Paris. I love all things French and loved every second of my trip to Provence. The opportunity to go to Paris just hasn't presented itself yet. One day. . .

[Heather]

I am pretty sure that I would be sad if I never go to Egypt and see the Pyramids, and ride a camel in the moonlight, and I will be sad if I never make it to Turkey. Gate 1 Travel offers awesome deals to Egypt with excursions to Turkey, and it's permanently on my wish list.

[Jen L.]

I really want to visit California. Never been there. I want to tour Napa Valley, see L.A., visit Sacramento and San Francisco and maybe just drive along the coast.

[Secretz01]

Well you have more than a dozen readers, My place would be Paris... I've tried several times to get there, but always had something come up... similar to your post today!! 12/11!

I love Questions too... Give me some more!
www.keepingsecetz.com