Alex / September 13, 2004 10:27 AM

I love London. To me, it's the perfect blend of old and new. I would move there in a second!

Andrew / September 13, 2004 10:33 AM

I'd like to go back to Paris -- went when I was 12, so I wasn't able to really explore.

Also, Japan.

Michael / September 13, 2004 10:38 AM

Venice--breath-taking scenery, wonderful architecture, rich history and beautiful Italian women. There's no other place on earth like this ancient city.

jennifer / September 13, 2004 10:46 AM

I love NYC, and am really looking forward to eventually getting to Germany.

Lucy / September 13, 2004 10:50 AM

New Zealand is gorgeous! On one island and in one trip it combines all of my three favorite S sports-surfing, sailing, snowboarding. Plus the wine, food, people and lifestyle are beautiful.

South Africa is beyond words. Looking out from mountains to grasslands to desert to ocean in one sweep gives you such a incredible sense of everything that is out there to see and explore.

Glacier Nat'l Park, MT is one of this country's less visited National Parks and one of the most superb.

Next summer though I want to visit the least visited of all and what I hear is one the most incredible, Isle Royale in MI. Wolves, archipelagos, submerged land, camping, hiking, kayaking, no cars and only accessible by boat. I think crossing Lake Superior would be a great way to see a wilder midwest.

Oh, and everyone should go to Italy and learn to live and love life like the Italians.

christian / September 13, 2004 11:14 AM

I think I'd like to go to Europe for a period of time. Paris would be up on that list as well as Prague,Venice and many places in Germany and Austria. So basically, the big tour that's not a tour. On of the other places I think I'd like to visit would be the west coast, the whole thing on a big drive. And Alaska, can you tell that I don't go anywhere?

salty / September 13, 2004 11:25 AM

Love: Toronto, Ontario -- truly a melting pot of cultures, an active arts community, clean streets, low crime, politically and ecologically conscience, good public transit, great food (fantastic veggie hot dogs with all the fixin's from street vendors!), and ice hockey ;-)

Love to visit: Reykjavik , Iceland -- for the music and arts scene, to experience the place first-hand

hmmm... I seem to like cold places, and I live in a cold place, but I dislike the cold...

Mike / September 13, 2004 11:26 AM

One of the biggest privelages I've had in life so far was to be able to live in London for 4 1/2 months and work only a 30-hour week through a college internship. I broke my bank account doing it (a pack of cig. there is about $9-10 USD) but it was really amazing. I definitely love that city and I'd sell my grandma for an apartment there.
If it were where I'd like to go, but haven't been yet, I'd say Iceland or rural China.

Louis / September 13, 2004 11:35 AM

Lord knows, I've been all around this world. San Francisco is the best city in the world. Soft sweaters needed all year round, never too hot, never too cold. Mountains to play on north and south of the city. Mountains to ski on 3 hrs away. The best cullinary city in the country. Proximity to Humbolt County. The Pacific Ocean. It is the mellowest most libveral city, yet there are serious cosmopolitan intellectual types there, unlike the pervasive flakiness of southern California. If my family and woman didnt live here, I'd live there.

j3s / September 13, 2004 12:04 PM

My favorite places are probably the South Island of New Zealand for terrain and hospitality, Berlin for best city, and Venice to hole up and write a book in.

Right now I'm kind of saving up for a year-long world trek. Ideal itinerary: start in Europe, visit friends in the UK, Spain, and the Netherlands. Then head east to Prague and other parts of Eastern Europe. After that, a couple months in India, then some trekking areound Nepal, then laying on the beaches of Bali and exploring Thailand. If I had more money I'd then go to Japan, but most likely I'd head back to Australia, visit my old roommates in Sydney before visiting my aunt in New Zealand again. After that I'd love to check out South America, especially Chile, and work my way north through Central America back to Chicago. Ideal and ambitious, but worth dreaming about.

Alice / September 13, 2004 12:36 PM

Rome
London
Santa Fe, NM

Lately I've missed Rome most of all. I'd love to go back, but unfortunately I need things like "money" and "vacation days" to do so.

miss ellen / September 13, 2004 12:57 PM

as i just purchased my first place, i can finally sink my hard-earned $$$ into travel, rather than saving for a down payment - yippee!

early this summer, i was treated to a vacation in ireland; the parents took my family, and we visited the southern parts of the island, and i can't wait to do more!

next up:

paris / amsterdam / london
italy & greece
brasil (before i'm 30, i hope!)
vancouver
lots more europe
australia, to visit my cousin

just to name a few ;)

paul / September 13, 2004 1:34 PM

I love New York and go several times a year, but as they say, I wouldn't want to live there. I'm surprised at how many Chicagoans I talk to that have never been there.

As for other places in America, they're to numerous to mention, but I'm glad there's beautiful places with mountains, beaches and forests that I can get to fairly quickly and cheaply.

Outside America, New Zealand gets another vote from me - some of the most amazing places on earth, great vibrant cities, a healthy and progressive lifestyle and an understandable language.

Jake / September 13, 2004 1:37 PM

Just got back from a week in Paris. And that's a really great city. I think I could live there. My French would have to improve (drastically), but man, what a beautiful, interesting, exciting place.

Shylo / September 13, 2004 2:28 PM

Santa Barbara, CA. I went to college there. I'm not sure if I'd want to go back for the crazy beautiful scenery or to recapture my youth or whatever; I just want to go.

Or Louisiana.

mar / September 13, 2004 2:45 PM

London. I have always said, since I was a little girl, that I would love to live in London as long as I could be paid at American wages.

mike / September 13, 2004 2:56 PM

just got back from the Amazon jungle in Ecuador. I caught a piranha. It was rad.

Joe / September 13, 2004 3:39 PM

How about the western Aleutians? That's a pretty place. Lots of mountains and water. The desolation, however, takes some getting used to...

SR / September 13, 2004 4:06 PM

Cape Town!

It's no Chicago, but it's got a certain "intersectional" quality to it that is intoxicating.

BC / September 13, 2004 5:58 PM

For me, New York is the best city in the US. So much energy. I love it there.

I also like London a lot, and just got back from Santiago, Chile, and plan to move there someday.

Naz / September 13, 2004 6:12 PM

I grew up in London and then Kuala Lumpur, and have been fortunate enough to have travelled throughout most of Europe. All beautiful places.

Places to go:

New Zealand/Australia
Japan
Iceland
Sweden
Greenland/Arctic

Things I want to see:
A glacier
A volcano
A desert

Heather S. / September 13, 2004 10:06 PM

Places I love:

Park City, UT (home of the Sundance Film Festival, lots of mountains, driving distance to Sundance Resort, and Mormons -- joking about the Mormons, of course)

Hamburg, Germany (beautiful architecture, driving distance to the North Sea and Denmark)

South Lake Tahoe, CA (just returned from a week's vacation there -- casinos just over the CA/NV border, driving distance to San Francisco, and tons of mountains and trees)

Places I'd love to visit:
London
New Zealand
Iceland
Sweden

spooky / September 13, 2004 10:22 PM

Paris - excellent, but expensive.
New York - excellent, but dirty and expensive.
Green bay - don't know, never been there.

but my favoritest place of all has to be:

this tiny little place up on whidby island, off the seattle coast called coupeville. Its at the end of the world and so, so beautiful.

steve_sleeve / September 14, 2004 9:53 AM

I definitely love the other two cities I've lived in -- Madison, WI and Twin Cities, MN. Other lovable US cities I've been to: NYC, Seattle, Austin, Portland, Santa Barbara. Probably more.

Everywhere I've been outside of the States has been pretty fantastic as well -- Ireland & Northern Ireland, London as well as some rural UK (anyone ever been to Chaigley?), Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels although the nightlife was a little hard to find there. I've been to various parts of Canada, but mostly on family vacations when I was younger, so I don't remember too much of it.

Places I'd like to go in the future: Germany, Italy, southern France, Australia, Czech Republic, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Hawaii, Jamaica, Brazil, Mexico. Probably more.

Oh yeah, also would like to visit Tortola (British Virgin Islands) -- I almost took a two-year newspaper layout job there but backed out to move to Chicago instead. So I gotta see what I missed.

Thomas Katers / September 14, 2004 11:07 AM

Three places I want to go:

1)Mars
2)Land of the Lost
3)Where everybody know my name

tony / September 14, 2004 11:31 AM

- New York City. It was my adopted home for four years, and will always occupy a special place in my heart.

- Southern CA / Las Vegas. Apart from having numerous relatives there, it's just plain fun.

- Provincial Philippines. Manila pushes my tolerance for population density and crowds, but a few hundred kilometers to the north is an escapist's dream.

I think I would like to visit Rome, Paris, and London. Rome for the history, Paris for the language and the culture, and London...just because.

+mojan. / September 14, 2004 12:01 PM

I'm easy to please: I love Everywhere. I want to go Everywhere. I want to live Everywhere.

But there's a *really* special place on the coast of Italy called Corniglia, and if I could be anywhere right now... that'd be it.

steven / September 14, 2004 12:32 PM

where i've been:
i love new orleans. there's a feeling down there that i haven't felt anywhere else. part psychosis, part elegance, part quiet confidence.

where i want to go:
paris. been dying to go there as long as i can remember. i'd most likely fall in love with it and never want to leave.

Tim / September 14, 2004 1:56 PM

Bay View, WI

Ben / September 14, 2004 2:13 PM

Been to:
Bergen, NO
Toronto, ON
Stockholm, SW
Wilmington, NC
Louisville, KY

Would like to see:
Vancouver, BC
Reykjavik, IS
San Francisco, CA
Nashville, TN
Austin, TX

steve_sleeve / September 14, 2004 2:34 PM

OMG OMG OMG i forgot about new orleans.

that place is awesome.

miss ellen / September 14, 2004 3:00 PM

steve_sleeve, i'm right there with you!

how could i possibly forget the debauchery of nola?! spent about 48 hours down there at jazzfest a few years back (phish in '96 - yowsa!), and what a wild ride.

i'd love to get back there again for jazzfest, but could easily do without mardi gras. all the locals we spoke with told us it's so much better to visit during jazzfest, too.

Roxabunch / September 14, 2004 3:41 PM

Currently Love:
Evergreen Park, Waukegan, Bolingbrook

Would love to go:
Kenosha

Super-JK!

Currently Love:
Amsterdam, London, Berlin, NYC, San Fransisco, Minneapolis, Austin (Texas)

Would Love to go:
Paris, Tokyo, Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Nepal, Iran, Turkey

Audrey / September 14, 2004 4:01 PM

Places I love and have been to:
New York City
San Francisco
Paris
London
Barcelona
Bloomington, Indiana

Places I'd love to see someday:
Australia/New Zealand
Japan/China

Places that have a special place in my heart, but because they are struggling so much I may not return for awhile:
Buenos Aires

Places I'm surprised others love:
Toronto -- the most bland city in the world. I now know why it serves as a backdrop in Hollywood movies when directors need to represent Any City frugally.

Ann VanMoxie / September 14, 2004 4:06 PM

I've never felt so at home (of course, besides actually being at home) as when I'm in Scandinavia, especially the places where my family came from. Sundsvall, Bergen, Gotland, and Stockholm felt awfully familiar when I walked around there, and I can't get enough of the landscape.

Hoping to go to Holland to see the region where my new name comes from. I've also always been attracted to Armenia, as well as many other places in that region, though I think that will have to wait for a while.

amyc / September 14, 2004 4:08 PM

I haven't been to Prague, but I'd like to know that Prague "thing."

Also, I must go to Ireland before I die. The heather calls to me.

Roxabunch / September 14, 2004 4:16 PM

Audry,
I agree with every place you listed, but I'm confused by the Bloomington. Why?

Michael / September 14, 2004 4:24 PM

Ireland's very nice. One of those "can't believe it untill you see it" places.

I would love to spend some time in Berlin and Hong Kong. Tuscany would be lovely, too.

To live???
If I could handle the winters, it would be Ashland WI. Right at the tip of the state, near Bayfield and the Appostle Islands. Clean, honest livin'.

Andrew / September 14, 2004 4:38 PM

I love New Orleans as well, though I fear there won't be much of it left if Ivan scores a direct hit. Pray for NOLA, kids.

miss ellen / September 14, 2004 5:21 PM

I will just reiterate to those who've mentioned it:

Go to Ireland!!

Preferrably around Memorial Day, avoiding the ginormous tourist crush in June / July. Seeing the Ring of Kerry in 70 degree sunlight was incredible. We hear it's about a 70% chance you'll be clouded over, and we happenned upon a day to remember.

And, don't try to drive it, definitely take one of the bus tours from Killarney.

Qwert / September 15, 2004 7:40 AM

I love the north and I love beatiful natural surroundings. Iceland, Montreal, Nova Scotia, and Michigan's upper and western coastlines do it for me.

I wish I could understand the fascination with New York City. I've been there hundreds of times and its just a city to me. Before the computer age New York City was special, but trends and fashion spread from coast to coast in a matter of weeks, and urban mentality can be found in any large US city now. I don't get it.

josie / September 15, 2004 9:19 AM

places i highly recommed:
Thailand, Cape Town, Italy, Bahia, Spain, Vienna, Prague, Lisboa, San Francisco, New York, London and Paris. Life is too short.....get out and free your spirit and mind. Explore the unknown and enjoy the experience of being ALIVE!!!!!

Audrey / September 15, 2004 9:30 AM

Roxabunch,
Bloomington (my alma mater) is a surprisingly beautiful town with fantastically diverse restaurants, coffee shops, and bookstores. It's especially lovely in the fall. Cars are not allowed to drive through the actual college campus, which combined with the beautiful gothic architecture, makes it the perfect walking experience.

It's cosmopolitan, without being a congested city (which sometimes I just need a break from).

steve_sleeve / September 15, 2004 9:39 AM

Re: Ireland

Another fun thing to do while there is visit the Slieve League cliffs in northwest Ireland. Apparently they're the highest sea cliffs in all of Europe, but what's more important is that they're gorgeous.

When I was there four years ago, a friend and I stayed in Donegal Town and hitchhiked (totally safe in most parts of Ireland) out to the cliffs and back. Getting there took about four different rides and lots of walking in between the rides, but while we were there, a couple in a BMW asked us to take their photo, and ended up giving us a ride all the way back to the hostel in Donegal.

kate / September 15, 2004 10:58 AM

i could tell you but then everyone and their brother would go there and soon there would be a touristy gift shop on every corner, 'no trespassing' signs as far as the eye can see, smog blocking the stars and hideous mega mansion spec homes lining the lakeshore.
no offense.
Lucy is on the right track though with Isle Royale. There is no possible way to make someone understand or even convince them of how beautiful it is unless they've seen it for themselves. which is just as well.