Top 10 Best Places I Visited - My Recommendations

I’ve had some time to reflect and I want to share view some of my favorite stories from around the globe. So here are my top 10 travel experiences,

1.     Mordor, Italian Dolomites

So my first crazy experience starts in the mountains of Mordor. Now, surprisingly, these mountains aren’t in New Zealand; rather they are in the Italian Dolomites. So I remember I was in this parking lot in the Dolomites and I saw these mountains in the distance and I just like couldn’t believe what they looked like. So I started hiking towards them and I was just blown away by its jagged peaks and it was so mystical and dreary. The whole landscape just reminded me of something from the Lord of the Rings, so I decided that I wanted to hike down to the bottom of Mordor, so I followed this path and it led me to this cave felt like I was walking into Sheila Flair. Luckily, there were no giant spiders inside I kept walking down and I just couldn’t believe the landscape everywhere I looked, I was surrounded by stunning mountains. The sketchiest part was when I got to this long skinny ladder down the cliff side.

I felt like Frodo and Sam climbing up the stairs to Mordor. I made it down to the bottom and I was just overwhelmed by the epicness of the area. I didn’t have much daylight left, so I was able to explore more. I wanted to climb to the top of those Peaks. So guess I got to go back and do that but anyway. I walked back up the trail and I was able to get some of my most iconic shots ever of me running along this path. With the backdrop of Mordor at the moment, I didn’t appreciate how crazy that landscape was, but now looking back at this footage, I mean it is one of my all-time favorite travel experiences. Who would have thought Mordor was in Italy.

2. The Swiss Alps

So after the mountains of Mordor we head over to Switzerland to spend the night in the Swiss Alps, I met up with my buddy Danny and we drove to this town called Appenzell. Now we got on the cable car to get up the mountain and we hiked for about an hour until we got to the hotel. Now it was only $ 45 to stay in this hotel. I hadn’t slept in a bed for weeks, so I was just freaking stoked anyways. We got all our stuff situated and headed out to find the perfect spot for the sunset now. The reason we went to this hotel is that they have one of the most beautiful mountains. I’ve ever seen.

I mean just so jagged and it’s surrounded by these sheer cliffs, so we hiked around until we find this prime relation right on a ledge. We waited for sunrise to get the perfect lighting. It was cloudy throughout the day, but there was a sliver where the Sun could peek through the cloud. After the sun went down behind the back of the hotel pass out for the night. The next day we woke up – and I got some more epic shots before we hiked down. It – was easily one of the coolest hotel experiences I’ve ever had.

3.     Valle Verzasca Bridge, Switzerland

So, while we’re still in Switzerland, we’re going to head down to Valle Verzasca Bridge to reminisce on one of my favorite cliff jumping sessions ever. So, Valle Verzasca is famous for having this medieval-looking bridge that goes over some of the close river water in the world. I’d never seen this place years ago and I just always told myself I was going to go there and never really knew how I was going to get there. But when I live in Switzerland I was able to go to Valle Verzasca several times because I loved clicking there so much. I remember the first time I got there I was immediately baffled by the beauty of this place.

I mean the water is crystal clear. You can see to the bottom, even though it’s like 30 feet deep, the bridge was a prime place to cliff jump. I'd say it’s about 30 to 40 feet high, took me a while to build the courage to jump. I was able to throw some of my favorite gainers off the water. I also had an amazing time snorkeling in the water there I was just so clear. It was such a fun memory for me, I mean it’s hard to beat cliff jumping in Switzerland.

4. The Island of Hawaii

Next, we head over to the Island of Hawaii, for my all-time favorite wildlife experience, something I’ve always wanted to do is I wanted to go swimming with dolphins when I lived in Hawaii. Why I’m lucky enough to do it? So I and my friends went to this beach to watch the Sunrise bar on the beach. We saw some dolphins jumping out of the water, so we had some flippers and some goggles and we jumped in the water and swam over these dolphins. I mean he was honestly pretty scary because we were so far out from the shore and the water was super deep, as we were swimming. we came across this massive pod of 20-plus dolphins. They were just cruising in the water, they were so calm so chill and they hardly acknowledged that we were in there we swam with them for about 15 minutes before they disappeared back into the ocean. I mean it’s always cool to see wildlife on TV, but when you see it in person in their natural habitat, it’s a surreal experience.

5.     Islands of Greece

After that, we’re going to head over to the islands of Greece to do one of my favorite travel activities I’ve ever done. We were in Zakynthos Greece. Looking for something to do. Greece had recently changed its laws and they didn’t allow us to rent a car without an international driver’s license. I was kind of bummed, but we found an alternative and we decided to rent a boat instead, both of us had never driven a boat before, but the owner of the boat showed us how to work it, and within a few minutes we were off sailing into the ocean blue, we first sailed to this island called Marthonisi we drove around it.

I mean I just couldn’t believe how clear this water was. We drove out to the middle of the ocean and then we headed over to the nearby ocean cliffs. This was my favorite part because Zakynthos is famous for its massive white cliffs of over a thousand feet tall. So we had this whole Cove to ourselves. We anchored the boat and it’s swimming in the water jumped off the boat and had a good time. We finished the day off by driving the boat into the sunset, it was one of my most memorable travel experiences.

6.     Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Italy

Alright so after Greece we were going to go head back to the Dolomites for the most epic sunrise in my life, we were in Tre Cime di Lavaredo and we woke up at 5 a.m. to climb this mountain to watch the sunrise. Now we made the trek over to the base Tre Cime and started hauling along the trail because we were short on time. We got to the sketchiest part and normally unique climbing gear which we didn’t have. So we had a scalp dismount just holding on to some wire that was connected to the rock. I don’t recommend doing that super sketch anyways I got to the top without dying and we got there right when the Sun was peeking over the horizon.

I got some of my all-time favorite shots a meeting on top of the mountain, the combination of the cross with the sunrise, and the backdrop of the treaty made minute from the most memorable sunrise of my life. I mean we spent about an hour or so up there before the other climbers started to climb up. Everyone else was just decked out in gear. I did some sketchy flips on the cliff and got some crazy shots. We made it down safely and to this day it remains, one of the most memorable things I’ve done in my life

7.     Norway’s Arctic Circle

After Italy, we head over to Norway’s Arctic Circle, the experience one of the world’s greatest Beaches. So after my and George’s trip to the Dolomites, we flew up to Tromso in Norway. I remember we got there at like midnight and we immediately made the long drive to the little floating islands on our way to Lofoten. We made a pit stop at the world’s most scenic soccer field, but then we made our way to come to a Lika beach. Now the trail was super muddy and George ruined his white bands, and then we made over the saddle in the mountain, and we finally saw the beach now this place blew my mind. It had mountains that reminded me of Switzerland, the beach had water and sand that looked like the Maldives and it was surrounded by green vegetation that reminded me of Hawaii.

I mean how the heck is this place in the Arctic Circle. It doesn’t make sense. We were there in August, so the Sunset blasted a really because we were so close to the North Pole, and I wanted to climb, through this famous ledge, to get a panoramic view of the beach we weren’t able to make it up in time. I was able to get some of my all-time favorite shots, but the contrast between the orange sunset, the blue water, the white beach, and the green vegetation made it a photographer’s paradise. After the sun went down. We took a different way back and got soaked in some mud as we walked through the swampy marsh.

8.     Island of Mallorca, Spain

So after Norway, we ran ahead over to Spain to visit the island of Mallorca for one of my all-time favorite cliff jumping experiences. So when I look for places to travel, I’m always keeping an eye out for places that are great for cliff jumping. So I remember seeing videos of this ocean arch and I just told myself – I had to go jump off it, so I booked a ticket and I went out to the island of Mallorca now. This was my first trip going alone, so I was a little scared. Anyways I got to the location and I was immediately blown away by the beauty of the water, and the surrounding area when you think of the Mediterranean. This is it: it had the sailboat blue, freaking water, and dozens of cliffs to jump off.

I mean it was paralyzed for me, so when I got there I headed over the arch. I mean my stomach started, getting nervous. When I saw how big it was, it was like 60 feet high. It was the tallest cliff I’ve ever jumped off whenever I got to the ledge and I remember debating if I should just jump off or do a gainer and possibly over-rotate, which would be bad, but I decided to send it and I hocked a gainer off it. I’ve landed perfectly in the water. I just remember I felt so alive and stoked that I did it. I made some friends there and we celebrated on an air mattress in the middle of after I did some cliff jumping. I found some cool sea caves, and a snorkel through I mean that will forever be one of my favorite travel days. I mean just swimming around in clear water, cliff jumping it doesn’t get much better than that.

9.     Highlands in Scotland

Alright, so after Mallorca we went over to the Highlands in Scotland for one of my more sketchy shots that I’ve gotten so last summer I got obsessed with the scenery of the Highlands so I decided I was going to book, a one-way ticket to Scotland, to see what the hype was about now I was just blown away by the landscape. I felt like it was on a giant golf course with some wicked rock formations.

Now I made over to this place called the Quiraing Mountains. Now I had to drive on some crazy roads to get there any way I got to the parking lot and I saw this unique rock formation in the distance. I decided that I was going to climb on top of it, so I started hiking over. I started climbing up the rock stand I debated If it was worth it, I mean it was scary, but I decided to send it and got some of the most epic shots I’ve ever gotten. Everyone around there thought I was crazy. Looking back on it, it was a shady decision, but anyways. I made it down safely and it was one of my more sketchy traveled memories.

10.  Senja, Norway

All right to end this article we are heading back to Norway’s Arctic Circle to experience the Northern Lights. It was at the beginning of September in Norway and the aurora borealis was starting to come out. No there’s this unique mountain in this town called Senja. Now to get this in you, you have to drive through one of the sketchiest Road tunnels I’ve ever driven through but anyways, I made it through the sketchy cave to the little town of Senja. I got to the base of the mountain and I started hiking up now. It was actually a pretty tough hike, but I meant the top, and I was just blown away by the beauty of this mountain.

It just comes straight out of the ocean, one of the most epic mountain peaks I’ve ever seen. I had this crazy idea of spending the night on top of the mountain there so that I could see the Northern Lights over Senja. I found this mossy area right on a cliff and I decided that I would sleep there great idea right anyways. I brought a blanket. I used my camera bag as a pillow. I slept there for a few hours to freeze my butt off and I was just waiting for those Northern Lights to show up. So around midnight, these lights started showing up and it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. It’s just really hard to explain. I looked up into the sky and it looked as if blowing stinks were moving. I mean they were just moving so fast and they were so vibrant. I mean it’s nothing short of magic, so I watched the Northern Lights for about an hour.