The Grand Canyon is grand and the Great
Wall of China is great. But what do you think is the world's
must-see spot?
The Society of American Travel Writers recently issued its top-10
list of "most memorable, must see, once-in-a-lifetime
destinations."
Surprisingly, the Hamburger King in
Montgomery,
Alabama, didn't
make the list. Neither did Gatorland in
Orlando,
Florida. Nor,
oddly, did Wildwood,
New Jersey.
I don't know who these guys are or where they've been, but clearly
they have more traveling to do.
I thought I'd publish the group's list, anyway, to see what you
think. If you have your own ideas about the world's must-see
places, send them to me. If I get enough responses, I'll tabulate
them, and publish the results in a future column. My address
appears at the end of this column.
In the meantime, here is the Society of American Travel Writers
list (gratuitous parenthetical remarks, mine):
1. Grand Canyon, Arizona
2. Pyramids of Egypt
3. New York City
4. Paris, France (not to be confused with Paris, Texas,
although it is a lovely city as well)
5. Great Wall of China (is there another Great Wall?)
6. Venice
7. London
8. Taj Mahal, India
9. Machu Picchu, Peru
10. A visit to the land of your family's ancestorS
Let me make it clear right off the bat that I have nothing against
the Grand Canyon.
I nearly froze and starved to death there, but I'm willing to let
bygones be bygones. Besides, technically, it wasn't the canyon's
fault.
There were signs everywhere all but screaming at people to turn
around and go to some not-so-grand canyon if they were not ready
for the arduous conditions awaiting them. This canyon, the signs
warned, didn't suffer those who weren't adequately prepared and
wouldn't follow the rules, those people, in other words, who
insisted on being a moron. I insisted.