Runestone checked in yesterday with a link to Greenland’s official web site (which just won a Webby Award, which is considered the Oscar of the internet). As a travel destination, we had slotted Greenland pretty far down the list, between Somalia and Cancun. Now we’re less sure. We thought of the island as a frozen wasteland. It still looks pretty frozen, but less waste-y. Amazing vistas, massive glaciers (for now), girls in colorful sweaters, fishing. So, the whole package. Runestone reports flying over Greenland on a trip back from the U.K. and feeling “a tug, a genetic defect no doubt. Racial Norse memory?” The site offers a list of trip options that are oddly appealing: cruising, kayaking, sailing and hiking “in the footsteps of Eric the Red.” Also, muskox hunting.

A couple of other Trips Your Children Won’t Recommend have sailed over the transom this week:

  • Cruising North Vietnam. This is why we read: we were ignorant of Halong Bay, even though it’s one of one of 183 natural sites on UNESCO‘s World Heritage list. Now, thanks to a story in the Chicago Tribune, we are confused about how we could have missed it. (We also ask ourselves how many other undiscovered wonders are out there.) You travel to Hanoi, then catch “a motorized craft dressed up to resemble a junk and providing sleeping quarters and meals.” Cost is variable, from super-cheap to luxurious, with an approximate mid-point being “$834 for three people (two cabins) for two nights, everything included except drinks.” Trips can include kayaking around the bay’s sheer rock islands.
  • Backpacking in Albania. The Telegraph has a feature on Doug Pelling, an intrepid 83-year-old who’s got more stamps in his passport than you do. The story is interesting enough on its own, but we perked up when he recommended travel in Albania. The former communist hellhole has undergone a renaissance (if you believe Pelling, and we do). Yes, travel is still uncomfortable, but that’s the price you pay for a relatively tourist-free experience. “Everything is so cheap, particularly the food and wine, and a spotlessly clean bedroom can be found in a hotel from £12 to £15. Albanians are so friendly and welcoming to their few tourists, who will surely increase in numbers in the coming years.” If half of the reason we travel is to collect stories to deal out later, then the words “Albanian riviera” tell you all you need to know.

Photo of Greenland via Greenland.com.