World's Best Travel Experiences: 400 Extraordinary Places

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Overview

Popular actor and award-winning travel writer Andrew McCarthy writes the foreword to this lavish book, offering 400 awe-inspiring destinations chosen by National Geographic's family of globe-trotting contributors; dozens of fun, "Best of the World" themed lists; illuminating sidebars, several by travel and literary luminaries such as Anna Quindlen, Bill Bryson, Gore Vidal, and Pico Iyer; and hundreds of dazzling, oversized, full-color images to bring to life a wide variety of location categories--from entire ...
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More About This Book

Overview

Popular actor and award-winning travel writer Andrew McCarthy writes the foreword to this lavish book, offering 400 awe-inspiring destinations chosen by National Geographic's family of globe-trotting contributors; dozens of fun, "Best of the World" themed lists; illuminating sidebars, several by travel and literary luminaries such as Anna Quindlen, Bill Bryson, Gore Vidal, and Pico Iyer; and hundreds of dazzling, oversized, full-color images to bring to life a wide variety of location categories--from entire countries to mountaintop villages to pristine lakes to ancient wonders. This broad, general interest travel title will appeal to active travelers looking for the next great trip as well as to the many readers who simply love dreaming of visiting far-flung, idyllic destinations, and for those who love to be "in the know" of the next travel trend. Five years after Journeys of a Lifetime hit the stores, fans are eager for the next great set of can't-miss travel hits revealed in this beautiful 2012 gift book.
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Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

National Geographic's annual travel pictorial books aren't just flighty fantasy vehicles; they provide ideas and info for hundreds of wondrous trips and excursions that can remake your life. Their World's Best Travel Experiences spotlights 500 idyllic destinations, ranging from little-known stateside island getaways to exotic places in far-off lands. This full-color, profusely illustrated, giant-sized hardcover also contains fascinating contributions by Anna Quindlen, Bill Bryson, Pico Iyer, Andrew McCarthy, and others. The perfect follow-up to their 2011 holiday hit Journeys of a Lifetime.

From the Publisher
"This book takes you around the world like never before." –GMA.com Gift Guide

“Readers will dip into this book for inspiration for future travel as well as for fuel for beautiful daydreams.” –Library Journal

Library Journal
National Geographic addresses the popular and subjective topic of the best places to visit around the world. Andrew McCarthy (editor-at-large, National Geographic Traveler) writes the foreword to this compilation of destination descriptions, and National Geographic photographers provide many of the numerous illustrations. Organized broadly by category (i.e., "Wild Places," "Urban Spaces," "Paradise Found," "Country Unbound," "World Wonders"), locations are depicted by a photograph accompanied by a few rhapsodic paragraphs and a couple of useful websites. Some places, such as New York City and Tuscany, receive lengthier coverage. Throughout the book there are side features: "In the Know" touches on a relevant topic, such as Sydney slang or dogsledding in Greenland; "Best of the Best" details particular sites, such as Mount Krakatoa in Indonesia and the mosques of Timbuktu (now known as Tombouctou); various luminaries, including Gore Vidal and Anna Quindlen, share short personal experiences in "Places That Changed Me"; and "Best of the World" highlights the requisite top-ten lists, covering diverse subjects like volunteer animal rescue and unusual scuba-diving sites. VERDICT Readers will dip into this book for inspiration for future travel as well as for fuel for beautiful daydreams.—Janet Clapp, N. Clarendon, VT
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781426209598
  • Publisher: National Geographic Society
  • Publication date: 10/30/2012
  • Pages: 320
  • Sales rank: 131499
  • Product dimensions: 9.22 (w) x 11.82 (h) x 1.26 (d)

Meet the Author

Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, KEITH BELLOWS has launched 30 magazines, television, and radio properties and has lectured around the world. He is editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler and project leader of Learning2Go, an innovative program he developed to bring children and parents together around travel as a learning tool. A graduate of Gordonstoun School in Scotland and Dartmouth College, Bellows has appeared regularly on The Today Show and Good Morning America.
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Read an Excerpt

The best place in the world? It’s a big, brash, bold question. And the answer is easy—there are lots of them. For me, it’s the crowded and chaotic suq in Marrakech, and that remote beach on the tiny atoll of Fakarava in the South Pacific. The rocky Burren in the rural west of Ireland, with the late day sun lingering over the Aran Islands, is the best place in the world. And so is my own backyard—New York City’s Central Park.
 
What my best have in common is the ability to excite, to arouse big passions that allow—that demand—bold declarations: This is the best. My best is different from yours. Mine is different today than it was last year, and I bet it will be different next year. It’s as subjective as a sunset, but we all know the feeling when a place, or a moment, takes our breath away and fills us with that feeling of connection, or that sense of discovery, or rediscovery; feelings of being lost, and then found—these are the experiences I search out while on the road.
 
Flipping the pages of this book I can’t help but feel that excitement, that hope and sense of renewal. It makes me want to say, Yes—yes to possibility and adventure. Yes to places I’ve been, and to those I’m yearning to see—the pyramids of Egypt, the Galápagos, Petra, Nepal.
 
The best is a movable feast—the sweeping vistas of Patagonia to the back alleys of Barcelona; Costa Rica’s wild Osa Peninsula to the canals of Venice; Vancouver’s glass- and mountain- filled skyline to the gardens of Versailles. And the best is in the details—where to learn acupuncture in Beijing, or kayak the Cook Islands, or track down the best macarons in Paris. They’re all here. From the Amazon to Zanzibar, the world’s best have been assembled.
 
With some of the premier voices in writing—Mark Twain and Goethe, Paul Theroux and Jan Morris, Bill Bryson and Gore Vidal—and tapping into the finest of the National Geographic Society’s legendary photography, the World’s Best Travel Experiences are at your fingertips.
 
Say yes.
 
--Andrew McCarthy, National Geographic Traveler magazine Editor at Large
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Customer Reviews

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  • Posted Fri May 31 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    The Best Travel Book There Is!

    I bought this for my mother, who absolutely loves to travel, and we haven't put it down since! The beautiful, high quality photos of each place are tantalizing and vivid, and the place descriptions are so lovely, informative, and engaging. We have many trips planned for the upcoming year, inspired by this book!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Fri Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

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