5 Places I Would Revisit in a Heartbeat

I travel to collect memories. I want to look back at my life, many years from now, after my body has packed in and my mind is on its way out, and hope that snapshots of my travels will be one of the few, clear experiences that I cling onto like glue.

There are some places I’ve been that have stayed with me more than others. They’re impossible to forget. Individually, they’re incredibly different, but share a propensity for being close to nature, which is something that only dawned on me until I had written this list.

I live in London, and love cities, but clearly they’re no match against what Mother Nature has to offer: She has a beauty I can do nothing but surrender to.

So without further ado, here are 5 places I would revisit in a heartbeat.

Svalbard | Norway

Svalbard landscape, ice floes

If you follow me on facebook you will know that I am completely infatuated with this place. It’s been nearly a year since I visited this glacier-coated island and there is not a day gone by that I haven’t thought about it. See! I even talk about it like I’m a love-sick teenager! But can you blame me? Just look at it.

However, this place isn’t all about looks. It’s about how it makes you feel. The exhilaration you get when you know there is not a single thing you’d rather be doing. That’s how Svalbard made me feel.  It’s tormenting, so in a way, I hate it too.

Further reading → Svalbard: The Last Stop Before the North Pole

Sabah | Borneo

Sabah, Floating Villages

Half of my family live in Malaysia so I have an affinity with this country. It was the first country I visited outside of Europe when I was seven, and I attribute this trip to unleashing my sense of wanderlust.

I remember the mango trees, sticky humidity, marble floors and cockroaches. Everything felt so exotic and it was at this point in my life that I was bitten by the travelbug, along with a million mosquitoes.

However, my family live on Penninsula Malaysia, I didn’t visit Sabah which is separated from mainland Malaysia by the South China Sea, and is geographically part of Borneo, until I was nineteen. I loved its capital, Kinabalu. It possesses a local feel mixed with a cosmopolitan buzz but without all the skyscrapers you’d find in Kuala Lumper. Not far from the city you can find floating villages, endless forest, mountainous landscapes, and extraordinary wildlife.

Yosemite National Park | US

Yosemite National Park, river

If I think of my Utopia, I think immediately of Yosemite. I love this place and dream about going back.

I remember dancing around in the nature and throwing shapes up in the air. I remember spotting a bear, and singing-a-long- to the Sound of Music a à la Julie Andrews style. I remember retiring inside a cosy tent cabin and snuggling up inside a blanket and listening to the sound of woodland animals.

During my visit to Yosemite, I stayed in a tent cabin with my friend, Harriet. It was basic but all we needed. However, we made an unexpected friend in the middle of the night: a little mouse that had squeezed its way into our tent and became caught somewhere between the crevices in the material. We tried to let him out but he was a nifty, little thing so we accepted defeat and tried to go back to sleep. But he wouldn’t let us. He spent the night furiously trying to scratch his way back to freedom. But there were no winners, he didn’t escape and we didn’t sleep. In the morning we changed tents and that night we slept like dogs, however, next time I’m in Yosemite I want to stay in a log cabin – somewhere a little bit more mouse-proof!

Further reading → Black Bears & Tent Cabins: My Yosemite Experience

Anhui | China

Buddhists, Anhui, China

This province in China is full of nature and local life. I lived here when I was 21 and I’d love to relive some of the memories I have of this place, and I’m very interested to see how it’s changed. Even in the short time I was there new buildings were constantly being erected and I could see marked urban differences from when I arrived to when I left.

Although I enjoyed finding a nice, quiet spot along the Yangtze River not far from where I lived in the city of Wuhu, and took pleasure in seeing how hoards of elderly people gathered together playing marjong in the parks, Anhui is best for its beautiful landscape away from the cities. Don’t miss Yellow Mountain (Huangshan) where Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed, and whatever you do, don’t missed Mount JiuHua, one of the four great Buddhist Mountains of China. The views. Oh the views.

Further reading → Hiking Jiahua Buddhist Mountain in China

Stradbroke Island | Australia

Stradbroke Island, Australia

One night on Stradbroke Island is not enough. It’s a haven of dramatic cliffs, white beaches, and miles upon miles of oceanic views.

To get visit Stradbroke, you need to take a boat from Brisbane. Once you arrive you’ll feel like you’ve landed in paradise. The biggest jackpot came for me when I climbed to a look-out point and spotted whales swimming in the ocean, almost directly beneath me at the bottom of the cliff.

Even thinking about it now makes me wistfully sigh. It’s a sigh of fulfilment, mixed with a strange envy towards the 19-year-old me in this photo!

Where would you love to revisit?

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Hi, I'm Shing

Welcome to The Culture Map, a place where I share my travel guides, adventurous tales, and capture the inspiring diversity of our world.

15 Responses

  1. Thanks for nominating me 🙂

    These places all look incredible. I’ve been to Iceland but never experienced anything in the same league as Svalbard, would really love to visit there.

    I’m struggling to think of ‘revisiting’ anywhere… I have incredibly fond memories of a lot of places – Taiwan, in particular, but also China, Poland, Sweden… I always feel like there is so so much more out there to be explored that I’m not ready to revisit. Maybe in 10 years time that will change though.

    Oh, the beautiful world…

    1. Svalbard is incredible, for someone like you who loves nature then I think you’d find it very intoxicating.

      I’m the same, 9 times out of 10 I would prefer to visit somewhere new but then there are some places that gnaw away at me and I can’t get them out of my head. You mentioned another one of those places – Poland – that’s a very, very, very, very special country.

  2. I would’ve thought Madrid would be in the list. So no to ideal man and yes to husband material city 😀
    I wouldn’t mind revisiting London and Tokyo, just because my previous visits have not felt enjoyable but I know they have potential to be so much more!

    1. Haha, if I had done something like my top 5 cities, then Madrid would have been in there (I did think about him when I wrote this. He’s still on my mind ;-))

      “I wouldn’t mind revisiting London and Tokyo, just because my previous visits have not felt enjoyable but I know they have potential to be so much more!” – I love that you want to give places a second chance. So many external factors can determine whether we like a city or not, and more often than not it’s never the city but rather ourselves or the whether or something equally common. London is an awesome city, and I’m dying to visit Tokyo!!

  3. Such incredible places! The Svalbard islands are so high on my bucket list and so is the Yosemite Park! I like the fact that you listed a lot of nature in this list, as you said, cities are great but they are no match against what Mother Nature has to offer! I totally agree with you!!

    1. Svalbard and Yosemite are my favs too Pam! It’s perfect when you find a place that has both city life and nature – like your beloved Stockholm!

  4. These 5 places are all gorgeous! I can only attest to Yosemite though. We never made it to Stradbroke Islands like you recommended since we didn’t have enough time. I always love how you portray places and can’t get enough of your Norway photos. Thanks for the nomination, Shing!

  5. Thanks for the nomination Shing. If we love a city or country we’ll often go back and revisit. Even though there are many places I haven’t been to I do love the familiarity of returning. This year we’ve been back to Croatia and Turkey is on the list for next month! I’d go back to New York and Paris when ever I could! Actually you could add Rome to that list and Piemonte too. Oh I forgot Sicily! There are so many places! I really must visit your beloved Norway though!

    1. I agree Jenny, it’s a really nice feeling to return back to a place. It’s impossible to get to know somewhere from one visit. It can be tempting not to return to places because the world is so vast and wide and beautiful and the lure of visiting new places is great, but one must try!!

      I’d love to save some money, go back to New York, and try some of those restaurants you recommended. Mmmmm that would be heaven.

  6. Thank you for nominating Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Its been 30 years since I left and I keep wondering why I haven’t returned all these years. Maybe now I have a reason to return to visit.

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