Let your vote count!

The time has come, dear readers, for me to decide where my next adventure lies! So let your vote count, and let me know which place you think I should go. Those who know me know that travel is my greatest addiction (with the possible exceptions of air, water, and chocolate), and stirs my soul. It also keeps me occupied and intermittantly gives me a really good tan.

Fortunately, I've managed to work my way into a professional situation where I'm going to have two whole months... yes, MONTHS... off next year. I've been saving my pennies, and it's time to book the trip. Since I won't have a ton of options to take long trips until... oh... I'm 80 years old... I figured I will have to enjoy what time I have while I'm still young, stupid, and highly mobile. But now, the challenge! I have to decide where to go! So I'm asking you to vote on which of the below trips I should take. (Legal disclaimer: After all the votes are tallied, I will count them carefully, take them to Florida to have the chads verified, and then throw all the ballots out and let Katherine Harris decide...)

Candidate A: China, Tibet, and the Yangtze River
A 22-day tour cultural and culinary tour of the far East, including Beijing, Xian, a 5-day cruise on the Yangtze River, Lhasa, Tibet, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Hong Kong with an added 5 day tour of Angkor Wat and Siem Reap, Cambodia tacked on to the end, just for giggles.

Candidate B: The Adriatic - Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, and Bosnia

A 16-day cultural tour of Zagreb, Sarajevo, Dubrovnik, Split, Lovran and Ljubljana, with a side order of 3 nights in Budapest, Hungary and dessert consisting of 3 nights in Vienna, Austria. Shorter trip, but to a super-cool place with the options of extensions to pretty much anywhere in Europe. Can you say 'cross-continent train extension'? I thought you could...

Candidate C: Amazon River Cruise and Rainforest tour

An 11-night tour of Iquitos, Lima, and an Amazon River Cruise on Río Marañon and Río Ucayali on a privately-chartered 19th-century-style riverboat. Options to add a pre-trip to Bolivia and Peru, and / or a post-trip to Machu Picchu and Cuzco, Peru. Now THAT would definitely require some serious innoculations... and the bugs there are probably bigger than I am... I could run a contest: How many mosquitoes does it take to bleed Beth dry? Sounds like fun!

Candidate D: Thailand, Cambodia and Laos

A 21-day trekking and backpacking tour starting in Thailand's Golden Triangle, where the borders of Burma, Thailand and the Laos meet. Travel by boat down the Mekong River, through Laos' mountains and jungles to Luang Prabang. Then, off to the present day capitals of Vientiane and Phnom Penh, before finishing with a 3 day visit to Angkor Wat. Optional 3-day extention to the serene Thai island of Koh Chang for recovery by snorkeling, beaching, massages and elephant treks. I could also take a trip to my friend Alex's pad in Singapore, cuz hey... it's the same friggin' hemisphere, so it MUST be close by...

Let's feel the power of Democracy!!! On your mark.... get set.... VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, who wants to come with me? (*wink*)

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