Topic: Very serious life advice: please help!

my 2 cents: if you have to ask NL for advice on this, you are not up to hiking in Mongolia or the Middle-East. Get a package holiday to Brasil / Rio and have fun.

It depends what sort of "holiday" you're going for. Are you actually feeling energetic and lively beyond measure? Or are you looking for a more serene yet lustreful atmosphere to accomodate your senses?

Holy crap, he has returned.

I thought you COULD get in as a media person in North Korea, just that you have some 'guides' who follow you around everywhere and make sure you only see what they want you to see. At a conference I went to I saw a talk by Siegried Hecker, who's visited North Korea many times and advises the US government on North Korea's nuclear program, and it sounded quite different to how the media portrays the country.

Mabye North Korea is back on the table then. I'll have to look into this further.

how about backpacking in ireland? it's my dream vacation i've always wanted to go but it doesn't seem like it will be a reality for me with three little kids

I've been to Europe quite a few times now. It's a good place to visit, but overwhelmingly safe. I've got to the point now when I travel - I like experiences, culture shock, all that stuff.

LOL - you assume you cant do anything adventurous in Thailand without it being illegal?
That's a tad unfair. :3

Oh c'mon. Everyone knows what tourists get up to in Thailand

How about a holiday in Cambodia?

I actually went a couple of months ago on business, and took a few personal days afterwards. Saw the Killing Fields, was perhaps the most emotional moment I've had in my travels. Beautiful country though.

My current job means I get to do a lot of travel to South East Asia - in nine months I'm going to be in Myanmar for a conference too. That's the only reason I'm not looking at holidaying there, because I like the region a lot.

none of the above. i went to new zealand to hike the spots they fimed the lord of the rings, and it was awesome!

New Zealand is really, really great. I've been there a few times - Queenstown is probably my favourite city in the world.

I would suggest chillin' in Rio. You're not obligated to do anything unless you want to.You could even do some gaming by the pool. Hiking through Mongolia sounds dangerous (to me at least), especially if you are with a significant other who has recently taken out a like insurance policy on you. (It happens a lot more often than you think. Trust me, I'm paranoid.)

I probably should have pointed out, if I go to Rio I'll almost definately end up wandering into a Favela to see them for myself. I suspect I am most likely to wind up dead going there than any of my other destinations

my 2 cents: if you have to ask NL for advice on this, you are not up to hiking in Mongolia or the Middle-East. Get a package holiday to Brasil / Rio and have fun.

More that I've only got the time and money for one trip, and this'll probably be my last adventure holiday, since I'm now married and my wife isn't exactly keen on me backpacking through badlands, but I've managed to convince her on this one.

So, this is going to be my last adventure. Therefore I'm asking NintendoLife for experiences

I'm as safe at travelling overseas as anyone is likely to be - I've even done the training that journalists that report in warzones do.

It depends what sort of "holiday" you're going for. Are you actually feeling energetic and lively beyond measure? Or are you looking for a more serene yet lustreful atmosphere to accomodate your senses?

I simply want to explore - and hopefully end up with some good stories that perhaps I could sell to a travel magazine or some such.

Thanks for the input everyone! This is great.

Chillin in Rio would sound good to me

If you're hoping to sell your travel stories for money, I'd delay a trip to Rio for a year and a half or so. Everyone's gonna be hopping on the Rio bandwagon for the World Cup/2016 Olympics by then, so you should have no problem selling a Rio story or two then. If you don't care that much about the cash, I'd say Mongolia; it just seems like the best choice of the 3. Keep in mind my travels outside the U.S. consist of about a week each in Fiji, New Zealand and Australia this past summer, so I'm probably not the most knowledgeable on advising you.

Maybe Japan? That way you could visit NCL's building!

The last two options you suggested were great, too. But don't even go to the middle east. it's a bad region with the exception of a few spots like the UAE and the like.

I was going to give you a serious answer.

Then I saw this.

Santiago, Chile FTW