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Lonely Planet First Awards Unveiled
Tuesday, 30 Apr, 2010
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Ibiza 3am from the Wouldn’t go there if you paid me list
19 innovative categories of award from: If I won the lottery, to: I wouldn’t go there if you paid me: FULL LIST
Created in association with specialist tour operator Explore, the Lonely Planet Awards are set to discover the British public’s top trip experiences.
Lonely Planet Travel Editor Tom Hall explains: “The awards cover all the elements which make a trip truly unique, from food and culture, to journeys and activities and even who you travel with.”
Each question comes with a shortlist drawn up by a panel of Lonely Planet experts including Co-founder Tony Wheeler, Travel Editor Tom Hall and Lonely Planet Magazine Editor Peter Grunert.
Peter Grunert said: “Rather than the usual list of favourite hotels, spas and airlines, we want to get ‘under the skin of’ what inspires people to travel, from their favourite cultural experiences to their greatest wildlife encounters and historical experiences.”
Travel lovers can vote for their favourite experiences from the 15th April at lonelyplanet.com/awards.
Everyone taking part in the voting can claim a 30% discount from the Lonely Planet online shop and could have the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime ‘Lost Cities of Angkor’ adventure trip to Cambodia and Thailand, courtesy of Explore, specialists in creating unique travel experiences.
The voting site remains open until 31 May 2010 and the results will be published online and in Lonely Planet Magazine from 19 August 2010.
Valere Tjolle
Categories as follows
Greatest Journey
- Cruising the Amazon River
- Driving a 4×4 along the Silk Road from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to Xian, China
- Island-hopping on a yacht through the Greek Cyclades
- Taking the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St Moritz, Switzerland
- Taking the West Highland Railway from Glasgow, Scotland
- Taking an overland truck from Cairo to Cape Town
- Driving the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to San Francisco, USA
- Sailing in a traditional felucca down the Egyptian Nile
- Taking the Ghan Railway from Darwin to Adelaide, Australia
- Going by train, via the Trans-Siberian Railway, from London to Beijing
- Other
Greatest Wildlife Encounter
- Orang-utans high in the jungle canopy in Gunung Leuser National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia
- Koalas by the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia
- Polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
- Mountain gorillas in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Uganda
- Puffins in Pembrokeshire, Wales
- Dragons on Komodo Island, Indonesia
- Grey whales in Baja California, Mexico
- Giant tortoises on Alcedo Volcano, Isabela, the Galápagos Islands
- The ‘big five’ (lions, rhino, Cape buffalo, African elephants and leopards) in Kenya
- Tigers in the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India
- Other
Greatest Food-Place Combination
- Chicken biryani in the Taj Palace Hotel, Mumbai
- Sushi at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Japan
- Grilled sea bass at Ristorante Santa Lucia, Salerno on the Amalfi Coast, Italy
- Cream tea at Otterton Mill, Budleigh Salterton, Devon
- Gumbo at Mr B’s Bistro in New Orleans, USA
- Lobster at Le Jules Verne restaurant on the Eiffel Tower, France
- Pad Thai at Chote Chitr in Bangkok, Thailand
- Steak at La Cabrera in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- A pie floater at Harry’s Cafe de Wheels in Woolloomooloo, Sydney
- Sachertorte at Café Demel in Vienna, Austria
- Other
Greatest Drink-Place Combination
- Espresso in Sant’Eustachio café in Rome, Italy
- Trappist beer at A la Mort Subite in Brussels, Belgium
- Whisky at Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay, the Western Isles, Scotland
- Wine at Viña De Martino in the Maipo River Valley, Chile
- Mojito in the Bodeguita del Medio bar, Havana, Cuba
- Tea at Glenary’s in Darjeeling, India
- Guinness in the Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland
- Tequila at El Mirador de Chapultepec in Mexico City
- Champagne at the Royal Champagne Hotel in Epernay, Champagne, France
- Sherry at Bodegas Tradición in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
- Other
The event I would most like to attend in the coming year is…
- Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany
- Day of the Dead at Patzcuaro, Mexico
- Chinese New Year in Hong Kong
- Carnival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Divali in Mumbai, India
- Venice Carnival, Italy
- New Year’s Eve at Times Square, New York
- Glastonbury Festival
- Mass Games at the Rungrado May Day Stadium, Pyongyang, North Korea
- The Burning Man festival, Nevada, USA
- Other
Greatest Cultural Experience
- A musical in the West End of London, England
- Opera in the Arena di Verona, Italy
- The Admiral Twin drive-in movie theatre just off Route 66 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
- Romeo and Juliet performed at the open air Minack Theatre, Porthcurno, Cornwall
- Karaoke in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, Japan
- Reggae by the beach on a warm night in Negril, Jamaica
- Salsa dancing at the Casa de la Amistad, Havana, Cuba
- Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, Russia
- Authentic blues at the B.L.U.E.S. club, Chicago, USA
- Kathakali classical dance-drama in Kerala, India
- Other
Greatest Sporting Experience
- The Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana, USA
- The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, Houston, Texas, USA
- Baseball game at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, Boston, USA
- The Monaco Grand Prix
- Football match at Wembley Stadium, London
- Australian Rules Football Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia
- The Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon
- Ice hockey at Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver, Canada
- The West Indies playing cricket at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
- Football match at FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
- Other
Greatest Outdoors Activity
- Hot-air ballooning over Cappadocia, Turkey
- Climbing Mount Fuji on a mid-summer’s night with thousands of Japanese people
- Bungee-jumping in New Zealand at the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown, where it was invented
- Trekking to Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas
- Canoeing in British Columbia, Canada
- Skiing in the Tirol, Austria
- Walking stretches of the South West Coast Path, running from Minehead to Poole
- Husky-sledding in Lapland, Sweden
- Cycling a stage of the Tour de France, France
- Snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef off Lizard Island, Northern Queensland, Australia
- Other
My favourite Place to relax would be
- In a hamam in Istanbul
- In a deckchair on a British beach
- In a treehouse in the Costa Rican jungle
- In a farmhouse villa in Tuscany
- On a beach in Thailand
- Wrapped in a reindeer-fur blanket in a Swedish log cabin
- In my local park with a picnic
- In a holiday cottage in the English countryside
- In the spa of a British country house hotel
- In a hammock on a rooftop of a riad in Morocco
- Other
Greatest Historical Experience
- Anne Frank’s House, Amsterdam
- Hearing Aboriginal stories round a camp fire in the Outback, Australia
- A tour of the Pyramids at Giza, Egypt
- Imagining gladiatorial combat in Rome’s Coliseum, Italy
- Climbing Mayan temples at Tikal, Guatemala
- The Acropolis and New Acropolis Museum, Athens
- Walking Hadrian’s Wall
- The Civil Rights Museum in the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was killed, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- Visiting the Taj Mahal, India
- Following the former Iron Curtain border in Germany
- Other
If I won the lottery, I would…
- Rent an apartment in the Dakota Building overlooking Central Park in New York, USA
- Travel into space
- Drive my Ferrari across the Swiss alps
- Hire a private island in the Maldives
- Take the Orient Express to Venice, Italy
- Take a year out, travelling the world in a yacht
- Take a cruise to Antarctica
- Take all my friends for a holiday in a castle in Scotland
- Go on a luxury tented safari in Kenya
- Bet it all at a roulette wheel in Las Vegas, USA
- Other
Aside from home, I would happily stay forever in…
- Australia
- Bali
- Canada
- France
- India
- Italy
- New Zealand
- Spain
- The Lake District
- USA
- Other
If I could only eat one type of cuisine for the rest of my life it would be…
- British
- Chinese
- French
- Indian
- Italian
- Jamaican
- Japanese
- Mexican
- Thai
- Vietnamese
- Other
I wouldn’t go there if you paid me
- 3am on a Saturday night, Bar Street, San Antonio, Ibiza
- Disney World Orlando, USA during the school holidays
- Butlins, Bognor Regis
- Terminal 3, Heathrow airport, at 7pm on a Friday night
- The French autoroute from Paris to the Côte d’Azur in August
- Times Square, New York on New Year’s Eve
- Thai beach during a full-moon party
- Siberia
- All-inclusive resort in Benidorm, Spain in August
- Madame Tussauds on a bank-holiday Monday
- Other
TV/book/film from the last 12 months that most inspired me to travel…
- Coast
- Up in the Air
- The Francincense Trail, with Kate Humble
- River Journeys With Gryff Rhys Jones
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Around The World in 80 days (Comic Relief)
- Last Chance to See, with Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine
- Life (David Attenborough)
- Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey
- Gordon’s Great Escape (Gordon Ramsay in India)
- other
I want to avoid standing out as a tourist by…
- Learning the language of the place I’m travelling to
- Staying in more small local hotels
- Exploring places by foot
- Eating where the locals go
- Dressing like a local
- Using more local guides
- Learning more about the culture of the place I’m travelling to
- Travelling more on public transport
- Learning where the locals love to visit
- Visiting more off-the-beaten-track places
- Other
Person I would most like to travel with
- Charlie Boorman
- Dan Cruickshank
- Gordon Ramsay
- Joanna Lumley
- Kate Humble
- Michael Palin
- Myleene Klass
- Rick Stein
- Simon Reeve
- Stephen Fry
- Other
My British holiday would be better if (sunshine aside!)
- Restaurants were better value
- Train travel were cheaper
- The food were better
- Less traffic on bank holidays
- Fewer crowds at your destination
- It was easy to reach more places by train
- Accommodation were better value
- Every B&B had a boutique makeover
- More attractions to visit were free
- Campsites were more inviting
- Other
Most under-rated British days out
- Seal spotting on the Gower Peninsula, Wales
- Fossil foraging on the Jurassic Coast, Dorset
- Cycling in Suffolk
- Exploring our big cities in August, when many workers are away on holiday
- Boating on the Thames
- Taking the walk to Barafundle Bay on the Pembrokeshire Coast
- Swimming in the ponds on Hampstead Heath
- Visiting a gastropub in the Cotswolds
- Walking Scotland’s wild beaches
- Trying out Northumberland’s seaside fish & chip restaurants
- Other
Valere Tjolle
Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite, special offer at: www.travelmole.com/stories/1142003.php
Valere
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