Congratulations today to Atila Ege!

He has become the new number one at our ranking of WHS enthusiasts
And is the first to have passed the 700 mark.

Congratulations! That's amazing number -- 706!

Certainly impressive, doubt I will even reach half that!

I previously saw that he and his wife have a webiste if anyone is interested in having a look, it is mostly in Turkish.

Well I just got to start saving up for this one!

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/around-the-world-in-962-sights-in-1m-package-hol iday-8540497.html

I think it is not possible for 1 million dollar and within 2 year...
that would mean about 1 every 2 days...

And where is the fun in it, having first class travel and 5* accommodation laid on for you everywhere, you would never speak to anyone. It would be like being a member of the royal family, completely removed from the real world and assuming that everything is wonderful where ever you go.

Nope, not for me. Give me guide book that is 2 years out of date, an incomprehensible language and 5 hours of sleep on a bus station window sill in order to get to a small concrete post in a field, and I will be happier.

Though if anyone out there fancies treating me and my Missus to this as a wedding present I will happily forward on our details! :)

It cannot be underestimated how much the journey contributes to any experience. This is best summed up by meltwaterfalls harrowing experience trudging through the snow on new years to reach a closed factory!!!

Also if I ever did have that kind of money to spend, it would be dissapointing for any list enthusiast that 1 year later 25 new sites all over the world would be inscribed. Moreover, skipping all the potentially fascinating tentative sites would feel like such a waste.

For me personally, particularly in the United States, I love road trips. I could not imagine flying all around the US or Canada to see the national parks, this is best done by train or car.

Hardly possible, I think, even if you exclude the most remote and dangerous places.
However, if I would have a travel budget of 1 million dollar, I would calculate as follows: 25000 dollars for each of the next 40 years! And then to have enough vacation... everyone could imagine what would be possible!!


Even if I had the financial means to invite you and your Missis on this trip, I would not do it. As you said, you would not enjoy it. From your previous posts I would conclude, that the perfect honeymoon for you would be a trip to some remote fields or hills in Moldova or Finland or Lithuania to enable you to finally tick off the Struve WHS, :).
Though I feel, that your Missis have some other thoughts. Thus, I think the best is (to get in no difficulties) just to wish you all the best for your private plans this year!

This piece of "news" re the luxury visit to all WHS is complete "puff" designed purely to give Hurlingham Travel and veryfirstto.com lots of free publicity!! I once met a couple who were trying to run through the "1000 places to See before you die" book. Now, as a confirmed "listophile" myself, I have to be careful of criticising the lists of others (!!!) but that book seems to consider that every place in the world worth seeing either is, or is closely linked to, some expensive hotel or resort! These 2 companies seem to be of the same ilk.

962 WHS in 730 days is a physical impossibility. Even if you had a private executive jet assigned solely to your needs I doubt it. There comes a point where a flight doesn't actually save time and you just have to hit the road. And then there are places like Gough/Inaccesible, The Subantarctic islands and Henderson where a good few days at sea are going to be required.

Just out of interest I did a quick plan to see how long would be required to see UK's 25 sites (excluding territories). Even if one doesn't try to provide a worthwhile visiting experience I reckon that around 22 days would be required London back to London - not a quick enough rate of viewing to complete the full list in 2 years (and you would be totally knackered after just this one country anyway - even if you had been staying in the best hotels around)). And that is for a country where transport is relatively easy and distances relatively short. Also it ignores time to travel between countries - another 2 days for UK alone. And can you see someone used to staying at the Ritz being happy to do the long rough drive across Cameroon to Dja Faunal Reserve - perhaps the pygmies would erect a 5***** hut!!!

Lists need to be our servants not our masters! I once remember being in Tambopata reserve in Peru and meeting a US millionaire whose objective was to see 1000 bird species in a year. He had hired a professor of Ornithology to accompany him and we watched him "tick off" Goeldi's antbird by extracting a recording from their library, playing the bird call on their audio unit and ticking the bird off when it came out of the bush to see where this "other bird" was! Having ticked it they moved on in what seemed a rather joyless experience - apart from the "joy" of gaining the tick of course. When I am in danger of placing too much emphasis on a "tick" for any of my many lists I always try to remember this as a salutary warning and try harder to savour the moment and the deeper insights it can provide/support!

Well said, I have been busy trying to visit all of California's National Parks, National Monuments, National Historic Landmarks and National Natural Landmarks. I am well on my way. But as a rule of thumb, I will not go too far out of my way just to "tick" off a place. Either the site is truly worthwhile (worth visiting as a primary destination) or I will consider a visit if in the future I'm passing through the area.

For the Netherlands, it would take about 2 days to visit all 8 on European soil! Just the Wadden Sea is a little difficult, and involves taking a ferry. The other 7 can be done in 1 day by car on a long summer day...

Yep it is impracticable and I doubt anyone would ever buy it, though it has got plenty of attention to company specialising in treats for the obnoxiously wealthy.

However off the back of this, I think you could comfortably see all of Belgium's 11 WHS in one day 9am-5pm (4:00 driving, 4:00 visiting*). Whether it would be fun or enjoyable is a different matter.

*Brugge 45 mins (enough time for a stroll from Begijnhof to the Markt, climbing the Belfort and wander the canals, 3 WHS!), Plantin-Moretus 50 mins to wander around, Palace Stoclet 5 mins (can't see inside), Grand Place 15 mins, Musee Horta 30 mins, Four Lifts 10 mins, Bois du Luc 20 mins, Flint Mines 50 mins, Tournai Cathedral 15 mins.

You wouldn't see the best of everything and you will mis smost of Belgium's highlights but you could certainly tick the whole country's WHS off in a day and then settle in for a few Beers afterwards. You could probably tack on 3 in France (Amiens, Pas de Calais mining, Vauban fortifications) if you really wanted to rag it for the day.


Very true, surprisingly she doesn't seem so keen on a visit here during our honeymoon.
Thanks for the best wishes though!

I would like to see the itinerary for this trip. Did they organize special permits for sites closed to tourism (e.g Rio Abiseo) or temporarely closed (e.g. flint mines)? And how do the reach remote places such as Heard and McDonald or Henderson?

And how do they disguise the women to get them into Mount Athos?

As said by Solivagant - it's only a publicity stunt

But probably with some success. According to this news from a German newspaper, there are already five "serious interested". More than they had expected. And it is claimed that also destinations like Somalia, Congo and Afghanistan are included.

http://www.welt.de/reise/article114691022/Die-verrueckteste-teuerste-Reise-der-Welt.h tml