If you were given $500,000 in travel money, where would you go, what would you do?

Or you can bike, backpack, kayak and string it out for as long as you like. But you have to keep moving.

I’d start here

Then backpack across europe after that.

Then learn to sail.

Then…

The Galápagos, not on a cruise, because it’s amazing, about $1,000 (I’m a local so it’s cheaper for me)
Machu Picchu, with stops in Lima and Cuzco, $1,500 to make it like a boss.
Mexico and the Mayan Riviera probably another $5,000 because it’s a long trip
Drive between Washington State all the way down to Baja California in a fancy roadster, no idea how much but I guess it will have to be $7,500 at least.
Then I will spend a week in NYC, that is at least another $5,000
Then I will fly to Europe, starting in Moscow I will make my way down to Greece making stops in every capital/interesting city, by train whenever possible. That will take me a long time, and spending $1,500 on every stop, and I make 30 stops, that is $45,000 plus another $5,000 for pocket change.
I will fly to Australia and New Zealand, probably spending $10,000 on each place.
Then I will go to Japan, China, and SE Asia, with $10,000 for each place.
The I will buy a ticket with Virgin Galactic for $200,000.
I will use whatever is left to visit the best spots I visited again, until I run out of cash.
And I will travel alone…

I have always wanted to take a cruise around the world. So I would find some comfortable ship that is going to be gone for a year or so, covering all the continents, and book that.

I don’t care to much about being super-active, but I would disembark at the interesting places and sometimes simply stay on the ship. I think I would find the disconnectedness and the time to relax looking out at the sea immensely satisfying.

Banff and Panama Canal are on my list right now if places I haven’t been, but want to see. I’d go those places first.

Probably Australia, NZ, Fiji for a few weeks.

Eventually, make my way to Europe. There are a lot of countries I want to see there. Maybe a river cruise and some ground travel. Stuttgart for my husband, and some traveling to other parts of Germany. He also really wants to see Ireland, so fine we’ll take a trip up there. I’d like to see Prague, Barcelona, Lake Cuomo, parts of France, I think I need three months in Europe, I’m not sure I’d do it all at once.

In America I’d go to Oregon, upstate NY, Colorado, and some national parks out west.

I would gather up my extended family members, including my granddaughter in London who I have never met, and fly everyone to DisneySea and Disneyland in Tokoyo, which is the top rated Disney park in the world. We would all stay at the Disneyland Hotel on the grounds. Then, if there was any money left over, we would fly to Orlando and visit the Disney Theme parks, and as many other parks as possible.

The family members include my six grandchildren, their spouses and/or parents, my sister, niece, her husband and two children, and possibly my Sister in law and her family, for a total of approximately 25 people. I wonder of $20,000 per person would be enough?

Make a bucket list of all the places my S/O and I want to visit (the White House isn’t one of them) and then find a fabulous travel agent to book me a luxurious round-the-trip tour for 2.

I would travel around Europe by rail for a few months then head off for Australia and New Zealand. I wouldn’t book through travel agents. It is more fun arranging things yourself.

Greece, both the mainland and some islands, and Turkey.

Dang. Go to the Pacific Northwest for 2 weeks to see my family there, then down to Amelia island in Florida to see my family there then…...I do not know. Holland and Greece.

Well, seeing how my wife and I spent three weeks in Italy for about $10,000 (in some decent places), I’m thinking 50 different places over the course of almost three years.

Mostly around Western Europe and Canada. Id love to go back to China, but I’m not up for the long flight.

Um, when’s my money arriving?

How much time would I be allowed in utilizing the money?

I’m outfitting an expedition to find King Solomon’s mines. Which I have reason to believe are located in the Philippines. Go ahead, call me nuts. For five hundred grand, I’ll cry all the way to the bank. Just find me a safari jacket and a bush hat, and awayyy we go!

I would act on my fantasy and travel to your place EC, maybe getting some Fluther friends along on the way. Then I would do homestay, Thai-field-trip style. What it means is that I would conform to every habit and tradition you have in your place, to learn about your lifestyle. In the meantime you would have to provide me with a good room and lots of new things for me, also lots of intimacy :D

Then if I still had some money left, I would make a short trip to New York, to pay tribute to Adi where he is currently resting.

I would follow the sca fencing circuit.

Or try different foods around the planet.

I know it sounds real touristy, but I would start with a tour of the Serengeti. From there I would like to visit some places in the Middle East, probably including Morocco and definitely Israel. I could spend a week in France and another in Germany. I have heard from people who visited that Japanese society is different in many ways from Western society. I’d like to see this firsthand and then visit China for yet another perspective.

I’d spend 6 months to a year in Great Britain, then some time in Iceland, then I’d come back and tramp around America (which, sadly, I’ve never seen beyond the Midwest). Or maybe go beyond the US and trek down the Pan-American Highway until I reach Tierra del Fuego or my money and/or will give out.