Travel Bucket List of the Week: Holidays RTW!

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Happy #TravelBL Wednesday peeps! The items on this week’s travel bucket list are related to Christmas and the holidays. So grab a pen and keep expanding that travel bucket list of yours!

travel bucket list, Loi Krathong festival

Loi Krathong festival, Thailand (Photo: Robert Pollai)

Holiday travel bucket list item #1: Loi Krathong festival, Thailand/Laos/Burma

I had no idea of this Thai festival’s existence until I heard it was on one of my fellow tweeps’ travel bucket list yesterday at the #TravelBL chat. Happening on the full-moon night of the 12th month of the Thai lunar calendar (usually sometime in November), krathong rafts are released into the water as a way of “paying respects” to the spirits of this element. Fireworks and a huge party are typical of this celebration as well. Who wouldn’t want to go?!

travel bucket list, Vienna Christmas market

Christkindlmarkt in Vienna, Austria (Photo: Manfred Werner)

Holiday travel bucket list item #2: The European Christmas markets

I have heard so many things about the wonderful, magical Christmas markets in several cities across Europe. However, the one that has mostly resonated around me has been the one in Vienna! Although also Luxembourg…and Prague…but they are all close by so I’ll probably cross them all off my holiday travel bucket list at once! 😉

travel bucket list, Australia Day

Australia Day fireworks in Perth (Photo: Nachoman-au, Wikipedia)

Holiday travel bucket list item #3: Australia Day, AUS

We all know that Aussies really know how to party. Then, imagine how it would be to celebrate the first settlement in Port Jackson (nowadays, part of Sydney) with them?! A whole different story! I plan Australia Day celebrations to be top-ranked among the best parties ever experienced once I finally crossed this one off my travel bucket list. When will this happen? I was planning for 2012 or 2013, but it seems that Egypt & the Middle East are calling my name strongly once more. But behold my fellow Aussies, I shall join you soon enough!

Holiday travel bucket list item #4: Christmas in Bethlehem

Some call it West Bank; others Palestine. Tensions keep rising. Regardless of your political views, a vigil on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day celebrations in Bethlehem will definitely take your breath away. The aura and air simply smell differently; the surroundings charged with spiritual energy. I was really close to crossing this item off my travel bucket list 3 years ago, but I ended up spending Christmas in Puerto Rico instead. I, however, plan on joining the solemn vigil & celebration at the place most believe Jesus Christ was born in the future. Can’t wait for that day 🙂

Holiday travel bucket list item #5: The Chinese Lantern Festival

I have always been infatuated with this Chinese type of lanterns–they are romantic and add spice to any room’s decorations. Now, put thousands together and let them fly up into the sky, all during a traditional festival that has been celebrated for more than 2000 years — now that’s just something else! Oh btw, it is to scare the ghosts away, too 😀 it happens on the 15th lunar day of 7th lunar month, which will fall on February for the next 3 years. I wanna go in 2014, just because it falls on St Valentine’s Day — how romantic would that be?!

Want your travel bucket list items featured next week? It is simple: Post your travel bucket list items on your blog, post the blog post link in a comment below, tweet that post with the #TravelBL tag and then cc @latinAbroad (moi!) on it. Y listo! I’ll RT and feature the post on next week’s Travel Bucket List Wednesday. What if you guys take a vacay and I don’t have any new blog posts and lists to feature? I simply go around the Internet browsing and reposting the best of the best for our travel bucket list. Moreover, don’t forget to join us on Twitter #TravelBL chat every Wednesday at 12 & 6:15 pm (EST)! 😀

What’s on your holiday travel bucket list?

Australian superstitions: Part 4 of series

And today we resume the already-popular The World’s Superstitions series, traveling all the way to the South Pacific and bringing back a list of Australian superstitions!

* See a pin, let it lay? You will have bad luck all day. See a pin, pick it up? You will have good luck!

* Remember how Puerto Rico has the Chupacabra? According to Australian superstitions, Aussies have the Bunyip! While the Chupacabra viciously eats all animals in sight around bushes, the Bunyip lives in the water and may eat humans as well!

Australian superstitions, the Bunyip

the Bunyip

* Never open an unbrella inside the house

* Like Puerto Ricans, Indians, and the French, Aussies believe that walking under a ladder is bad luck!

* Throw those long-term plans through the window. Why? Not only do they “tempt” Fate, but preparing for the future actually brings bad omen! They might not work out anyway, Aussies say, so don’t have them.

* Always be the best person you can be. This alone will keep evil forces at bay. In fact, to Aussies, doing your personal best is the equivalent of “knocking on wood”!

* Little accident at the table, spilled some salt? Beware! You must throw some of it over your left shoulder or else it will bring you bad luck.

* Look at the sky. What’s its color? “Red in the morning fisherman’s warning; red at night fisherman’s delight”

* Broke a mirror? Oh no, SEVEN years of bad luck!! Interestingly, in Puerto Rico, it means seven years of bad luck in love

That shall be all for Australian superstitions! Stay tuned as tomorrow we’ll be discovering the superstitions of a whole new country! By the by, if there is a particular country you would like me to research, tell me in your response so I take it into consideration! (Hint: I will probably write about every country I am provided *wink*)

Previous featured countries:
Puerto Rico
India
France

Know more Australian superstitions? Share them in a comment below!