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9 January 2003
And help is at hand from staff and students in the Geography department at the University of Sussex, who thought they could do better than the recent 'Holiday' programme's list of '50 Places to Visit Before You Die' (see www.bbc.co.uk/50/). "Several of us had seen the BBC programme and thought the selection could be more interesting," says organiser Evelyn Dodds, the Geography Resource Centre Manager.
Her well-travelled respondents have come up with a diverse list of places in the British Isles and abroad, which should provide some inspiration if you're pondering the destination of your next holiday. Some choices are places students or staff have visited, either on holiday or on field trips - the latter including Thailand, Kenya and the Seychelles.
"Others are places people have read about or perhaps have had lectures about," says Ms Dodds. "Some are quite specific - either to time of day or location, or perhaps to one of those moments you know you'll always remember."
Dr Simon Rycroft, Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Sussex, thinks that in comparison with the national poll, the choices of Sussex geographers are in a sense quite predictable: "One would expect to find such exotic sites among the favoured locations. Professional geographers, and especially Sussex geographers with their impressively global teaching and research interests, have access to a wider range of sources about places in the world."
He finds the most interesting aspect of the survey the appearance of more familiar places, places that are seemingly anything but exotic: Skegness, London, even the Greek Islands. "These choices I think reflect an intellectual shift in geography. We are now increasingly concerned with the importance of the everyday in its broadest sense, of meaningful places whose meaning for us derives from lived-through experience rather than an excitement about difference, and we do well to remember that our exotic choices are, for somebody, pretty mundane."
In the British Isles and Eire Cork Cornwall Dartmoor Eggardon Hill, Dorset Giant's Causeway Lake District: Black Sail Youth Hostel London Mull North Berwick Orkney Oxford Scilly Isles Scotland Scunthorpe Skegness Skye: Cuillin Mountains and Talisker Distillery Snowdonia Western Isles |
Around the world Angkor Wat, Cambodia Antarctica Arizona Atacama Desert, north Chile Black Rock Desert, Nevada: Burning Man Festival Bokhara, Uzbekistan: sunset over Labi Haus Bora Bora, Polynesia Borobudur Temple, Java Brazil California Cape Town, Table Mountain & the Wine Lands, South Africa Cuba Egypt Ethiopia: rock-hewn churches of Lalibela Fiji Galapagos Grand Canyon, Arizona Great Wall of China Greek Islands Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef Iceland Iguazu Falls, Brazil/Argentina Inca Trail and Macchu Picchu, Peru Ivory Coast, Senegal Ko Chang & Ko Phangan, Thailand Kyoto, Japan Kyparissia, Greece Lake Garda, Italy Maldives Marseille Calanques, southern France Mongolia: horse riding Mt. Kenya at dusk New York New Zealand Norwegian fiords Petra, Jordan Pyramids, Egypt Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand Raylay Bay, Krabe, Thailand Rift Valley, Kenya at sunrise Russia Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda South America: ancient temples Southern Chile: lakes, volcanoes, old conifer forests and glaciers Seychelles Sossusvlei, Namibia: sunrise over the 100m sand dunes Syria & Jordan Taj Mahal, India Tikal, Guatemala Tiwi Beach, south of Mombasa, Kenya Toronto, Canada Troy, Turkey Uluru (formerly Ayres Rock), Australia Yosemite National Park, California Zambezi River at sunset |
Notes for editors
Evelyn Dodds can be contacted on 01273 873244. Email E.Dodds@sussex.ac.uk. Dr Simon Rycroft can be contacted on 01273 606755 ext.2364 or 01273 872621. Email S.P.Rycroft@sussex.ac.uk.Press Office contacts: Alison Field or Peter Simmons, University of Sussex, Tel. 01273 678888, Fax 01273 877456, email A.Field@sussex.ac.uk or P.J.Simmons@sussex.ac.uk.
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