I've been to Torres del Paine. It is worth the time and effort it takes to get there. Basically, everything in Patagonia is worth the time and effort it take to get there.

Agree on Thailand, but one could end in Koh Samui or for a more undeveloped experience Koh Tao.

The drive through Calabria on the way to the ferry near the Straights of Messina is awesome. There are great Vineyards in Ciro as well. I vote for the Italian driving tour.

Definitely a Botswana Safari with Unchartered Africa. Talk about a once in a lifetime opportunity!

While I'd love to go to Vietnam and the beaches of Thailand, there is some real charm in the smaller off the beaten path towns, especially if you stay with residents like I normally do. Then you get the real taste of the land and not the tourist view. I'd recommend, from my own travels

Karachi, Pakistan
Moundoo, Chad
and
Tunis Tunisia

unless you could be hosted by a Millet (gypsy - romano) family in Bulgaria That would be a treat.

peace, rob

Thanks Rob ... sounds like the perfect, and most realistic, family vacation!

Do you get invites from these small town families, or do you just impose yourself on them? Afterward, do you consider yourself as a member of their family rather than what you really are ... a tourist? Surely, you don't hang around there for any family-worthy length of time, do you?

Btw, I have a Millet jacket. Does that count?

Peace right back, Nick.

Nick,

You are right. Somehow I missed the family part. Although I would take my family to everything above except Karachi.

I get invited to these countries to help a band or group do a recording, usually when there is no other option. So no, I don't impose myself.

Most of my trips have been mainly work trips so I'm not really a tourist, I don't get to see the "fun" areas. But I do share meals and evenings with the families and whether for 10 days or 3 weeks, living with a family in these countries gives one a much better, or different, understanding of the culture than visiting the ruins and staying in the Hyatt.

you should try it.
rob

robby, go it. thanks for clearing it up.

coincidentally, i also travel professionally, but as a freelance photographer (i know what you're thinking - more taking, less giving). as such, i tend to stay in one place for quite a long stretch (months). long enough to get acquainted with a handful of villagers and get them at ease with my presence before i even dare bring a camera along.

then, much as yourself (imagine that) i get invited to stay with a family, become a guest of honor at a traditional wedding celebration, participate in ritual slaughter, getting ridiculously drunk - you know, things that you're so intimately familiar with. by that time, everyone's used to me being around with 2 or 3 cameras hanging around my neck. that's when beautiful things happen; photographically speaking.

i, on the other hand, do not fool myself in believing that i've become part of the family and have ceased being a tourist, albeit of a professional kind.

considering myself anything else would be disrespectful of my hosts. being conscious of this fact makes me appreciate them, and their generosity, that much more since family expects this kind of treatment ... a tourist, on the other hand, does not.

been there, done that, will continue to do so.

happy travels compadre,
nick

Been to Sicily four times in the last eight years, two weeks each trip. We loved every minute of our trips and would go back in a heartbeat and, no, we are not of Sicilian descent and have no family or friends there! We just enjoy everything there and have explored most of the island. Beyond Sicily, I would love to travel through Morocco and Greece and have been told that Sardinia is a great place to visit.