Top places to visit in 2012
How to get truly, deeply into a year of travel
Factor in your holiday allowance, the cost of flight plus hotel and the various weddings and baptisms you will inevitably have to attend, and your visit time in 2012 is anything but unlimited.
So here are seven places that should come top of your 2012 trip list.
1. Yeosu, Korea
The spectacular uninhibited Baek-do archipelago in Yeosu.
"The Living Ocean and Coast" is the hopeful theme of this year's marine-focused World Expo (May 12-August 12) being held in Korea's coastal city of Yeosu.
From a distance, the event's plankton mascots and sub-themes like "Preservation and Sustainable Development of the Ocean and Coast" and "New Resources Technology" seem straight out of a grad school syllabus -- but look closer and this one promises to be one of the most stylish and sophisticated World Fairs yet.
The event is expected to draw 100 participating countries, and to wow eight million visitors with floating pavilions, dazzling offshore multi-media shows, a vast Ocean Experience Park representing life in the world's five major oceans, and various forms of architectural grandeur (including a mock-up, high-tech, coastal city of 2050) all supporting the idea that human prosperity is inextricably tied to a healthier planet.
2. Antarctica
Turn off your engines and visit Antarctica.
In the final, seventh episode of the BBC nature documentary series "Frozen Planet," viewers are witness to what's considered "the largest recent natural event on our planet" -- the collapse of the Jamaica-sized Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
No matter where you stand on climate change, the White Continent is incontrovertibly, irreversibly changing.
And maybe it's really time to see it without the David Attenborough narration. Huge tabular iceberg "graveyards," frenzies of wild penguins and the most pristine, otherworldly landscape available without a rocket ship are all here.
Quark Expeditions (www.quarkexpeditions.com) runs several up-close Antarctica journeys, including voyages to the continent's remote east coast, rare penetrations inside the Antarctic Circle and an "Introduction to Antarctica" trip that covers all the basics for under US$4,000.
3. Poland and Ukraine
The National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland.
Who doesn't love a major sporting event with "crazy road trip" written all over it?
Euro 2012 (June 8-July 1) -- the 14th European Football Championship -- looks like just the ticket. UEFA's big tournament has decided it's time for something different, with the usual sites of France, England and the like giving way to stadiums in Poland and Ukraine.
That's the farthest "out" this tournament has ever ventured, or likely ever will. All games will be split between eight cities -- four in each country -- with quarter-final and semi-final games in Warsaw and Kiev (which will host the final).
Ticket sales have been feverish since last spring, but fans can log onto the Euro 2012 site's "Tour Operator Programme" to purchase all-inclusive packages from UEFA-licensed tour operators.
4. Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii
Aerial view of the new memorial building that straddles the sunken USS Arizona battleship.
Last year's US$56-million Pearl Harbor Visitor Center project, featuring a new museum, movie theaters and exhibits on a redone seven-hectare campus, makes Hawaii's assemblage of historic naval vessels even more visit-worthy.
Highlights include the deck of the 45,000-ton USS Missouri (aka the site of Japan's surrender), the cramped quarters of the USS Bowfin Submarine and the wreckage of the USS Utah from a viewing platform on Ford Island.
The most arresting site lies offshore at the commemorative and newly refurbished USS Arizona Memorial, situated over a sunken battleship that entombed 1,177 Marines and sailors in its hull.
The restored offshore memorial structure stretching over the huge, shadowy wreck makes its re-debut on May 28 (Memorial Day), marking the 50th anniversary of the monument's opening day.
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