A few years ago, when a group of us were planning a weekend trip from Moscow to St. Petersburg, we went down to the train station to purchase our tickets. Somehow we ended up at Yaroslavsky Vokzal, which was across the street from Leningradsky Vokzal, the station with the Moscow-Petersburg ticket office.

Nevertheless, we took a few minutes to scan the list of trains departing for eastern destinations : Beijing, Ulaanbaatar, Vladivostok, Pyongyang…wait, Pyongyang? There is a train that runs from Moscow to Pyongyang? We cracked a few jokes about ditching Petersburg for a trip to North Korea, and then headed across the street to Leningradsky Vokzal, where we should have gone in the first place.

Since then, I’ve been fascinated with the idea of traveling to North Korea, primarily because no one goes there (it’s not exactly a “hot spot” for travel, eh?) and I think it would be interesting to see what it’s like to visit the closed society that exists in the the world’s last Stalinist regime.

Lately I’ve been looking up how exactly you go about visiting North Korea and reading the websites of people who have been there. It seems like you have to go with a group, or, you could go “independently”, but will be escorted by a guide and driver at all times.

The tours leave from Beijing, which is perfect because I’d love to spend a week in China anyways. The only problem is getting a North Korean visa. I e-mailed Simon over at Koryo Tours regarding the visa issue, and he said that Americans are currently unable to get a visa. Damn! If only I had a second passport…a British passport…hmmm…must find British husband.

So, I have a travel goal: IF North Korea starts issuing visas to American citizens again, then I’m going. Of course, that is also dependent on finances and work, however, I’m going to try and get there by 2010. Everyone thinks I’m crazy for wanting to spend a week in North Korea, but if anyone wants in, let me know.

Also, I still want to visit the Chernobyl ghost town of Pripyat (especially after reading this article), but Taline and Crystal were like “Uhhh…no.” Any takers for that one?

My spring break is coming up…March 18 – April 25 (yeah, I know, an incredibly long spring break). I’m trying to figure out where I want to travel. For those of you not at the LSE, the running joke is that it actually stands for “Let’s See Europe” and not the London School of Economics.

To give you an idea of where I haven’t been, check out this map:

See all that gray? That’s where I haven’t been…we need to change this. So, I need some suggestions on which countries to visit. I know many of you have done that “backpacking through Europe” thing, so tell me which cities/countries are “must see”, and any places you hated.

I’ve already got one trip planned…I’m going to Budapest, Hungary from March 19-24. That should be awesome.

I’m seriously considering a week in Egypt…or maybe Morocco.

Anyways, give me some suggestions.