You may recall that last year we came up with a list of the top 10 destinations for independent travelers in 2008 - we did it in-house, all based on input from BootsnAll staff. This year, we'd like to do something a little different and get suggestions from others.

What we're asking for is your suggestions for our list of the top 10 destinations for independent travelers in 2009 - it's not a voting process, these are just nominations, but we're interested in hearing what places you think ought to be considered. You can enter your nominations here, & there's no registration required. That means you can pass this on to your family & friends for their suggestions, too, because they don't have to be a BnA member to nominate a destination.

What kinds of places are we looking for? Well, you'll see in our 2008 list that we included a variety of levels of specificity - from countries, to cities, to regions - and you're free to do the same for the 2009 list. If you think an entire region should be high on an independent traveler's hit list, then nominate that region. If you think something as specific as one particular overlooked neighborhood of a big city should be focused on, then nominate that neighborhood. It's entirely up to you.

Please note that because this isn't a voting thing, nominating the same place 17 times doesn't mean it'll be considered 17 times more likely to make the list. In fact, it'll just get counted once. So save your typing fingers & just nominate each destination you'd like to suggest once. Thanks much.

Oh, and also note that in order for your nominations to be considered, you'll have to enter them into this official form and not reply with your suggestions on this thread. You can reply to this thread with questions or comments, but nominations should be made in the form on that link.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Thanks to everyone who has nominated a destination so far. We've gotten quite a few interesting ones, and several of those will certainly make the list.

We'd still love more nominations so please tell us what you think should be on our 2009 Top 10.

Quite a few people saw our recommendations for 2008, and we really want the 2009 list to reflect our community as much as possible. You don't have to register or anything, just type in your favorite place with a short reason why, and that's it.

We'll accept nominations through the end of 2008.

I think you should stick with your 2008 list, the top ten can't have changed that much in just 12 months...

Can we nominate several destinations?

Craze_b0i, we'll probably reuse the 2008 list next year when no one will notice. Until then, the destinations from last year are the only ones that are out of the running for 2009.

And yes, please nominate as many different destinations as you like. Last year, the BnA staff came up with about 25 possible places, and we chose our top 10 from those, trying to balance them out in different regions.

This year we want more new places to consider, and already we have quite a few interesting ones that we wouldn't have come up with ourselves. Several of these nominations will definitely make the list, and we'd love more possibilities so the final list is more of an interesting mix that might include some mostly-unknown places or some surprises.

Thanks again to all who have participated and to all who will by the end of December.

quote:

Originally posted by rawjer:
...we'll probably reuse the 2008 list next year when no one will notice.

I'm gonna guess this is one of those times that sarcasm doesn't translate well over the net. Cuz that's sarcasm, right? Right?

quote:

Originally posted by Callilucy:

I'm gonna guess this is one of those times that sarcasm doesn't translate well over the net. Cuz that's sarcasm, right? Right?

Yep, that's right.

I assumed Craze_b0i's comment was sarcastic (and funny), so I thought it was worth a try. Just because sarcasm didn't work the last 100 times I tried it on the internet, doesn't mean it won't work on #101. Am I right?

quote:

I assumed Craze_b0i's comment was sarcastic (and funny), so I thought it was worth a try. Just because sarcasm didn't work the last 100 times I tried it on the internet, doesn't mean it won't work on #101. Am I right?

Actually I thought it was a very fine comeback. Touché sir.

Thanks again to all who nominated destinations for our 2009 list. Quite a few of the community suggestions made the final cut, and we could have easily done a Top 20 with all great choices.

The Top 10 Destinations for Independent Travelers in 2009 article was published today, so have a look.