Travel plans and pre-conceived notions

In about 6 weeks, I leave for 4 months of international travel. Choosing where to go was challenging. There are so many places I'd like to see, or was told by people whose opinions I value that I “must see,” that I would never be able to see it all, unless I win the lottery and never have to work again.

To choose where to go I followed these self-made guidelines:

1. Places that are far away and hard to get to. That means no Europe, because it's a single flight away.
2. Carry-on luggage only, which means...
3. A single season of clothes. Summer clothes are smallest and lightest. I'll split my time between the southern hemisphere (in its summer) and equitorial regions.
4. A mix of “comfortable” places (ie, western or english-speaking) and “exotic” places (non-western or non-english-speaking, usually both.)
5. As a single woman traveler, nothing too far off the beaten path. So hiking along the Iran/Iraq border is right out.
6. No -stans.

Here's where I'm going (not in order), with pre-conceived notions about which places I'll like the best and why. The notions are based entirely on what I've picked up from books or the internet or movies, and what my friends told me. I'll return to this list at the end of my trip to see how wrong I was.

Places I expect to like the most:

1. New Zealand, because it's supposed to be absolutely beautiful and because all the New Zealanders I've met have been super nice, except one redhead, who was not nice at all!
2. Ghana, because it is laid-back, friendly, and beautiful.
3. Sri Lanka, because Arthur C. Clarke, one of my favorite authors lived there. And he was right about so many things, he couldn't be wrong about Sri Lanka, could he?
4. Easter Island, because it's the place on Earth I've always most wanted to visit.

Places I expect I'll like, but maybe with mixed feelings:

1. Cambodia. I love old ruins, and the macabre, and Cambodia has both in the form of Angkor Wat and the Killing Fields.* But I expect I'll also feel slightly uncomfortable there, since the language and culture will be so different from what I know. That will be part of the fun, too, but I won't fool myself that it won't bother me a little.
2. Australia. Everyone says it's awesome, but it might be too much like the United States to really leave an impression on me.
3. Tanzania. If I ever get my safari booked (man, they are expensive!), I'm sure I'll be impressed with this country's beauty and the safari will be a unique experience. But apparently there are touts everywhere that mildly harrass the tourists, and the bathrooms are a BYOTP experience, which won't thrill me. I've heard Stone Town on Zanzibar Island is super cool.
4. Peru, home of Machu Picchu, which I expect I'll love, since it's a bunch of ruins. I speak a little bit of Spanish, so the language won't be much of a problem. But Peru is my last stop and frankly, I fear that I'll be tired and ready to be back home, and might enjoy the experience less.
5. Bali, because while it will be beautiful and have a lot of temples and things to see, it will be heavily touristed. Yes, I know I'm a tourist too, but I'm expecting this place in particular to be beach after beach of westerners.

Places I'm interested in seeing or they wouldn't be on my itinerary (well, most of them), but which I suspect will let me down:

1. Cairo. Wasn't originally on my itinerary, but I chose to stop for 2 days due to forced long layover. I don't expect to see more than the Pyramids and maybe a museum or two in downtown Cairo. I expect to be bombarded by touts hasslings the tourists and men hassling the women.
2. Singapore is supposed to be really nice and comfortable and clean, but that also sounds really boring. Since I had a long layover there, I decided to visit for two days. It won't be bad, just not as engaging as most other places.
3. Thailand, because supposedly it's become very commercialized. That could make logistics easier (language, getting around) but the experience might not be very authentic, if you know what I mean.
4. Chile. I have to be here because that's how one gets to and from Easter Island. Santiago sounds quaint, which I actually might like, but there's not a lot to it. Mostly, I just suspect I'll be missing the most interesting parts of Chile, since it will be cold in the places I'd most want to see (like the very southern tip).
5. Tahiti. This is the only place on my itineray I was not interested in at all but I must be there – for several days no less! – because of flight schedules to Easter Island. I expect it's going to be boring and expensive, with nothing to do but lie on the beach, which is something I'll do but don't love. Probably nice for honeymooners, and bad for single travelers on a budget. But beautiful.

* From the start, I've felt a little odd about visiting Cambodia, a country that slaughtered something like 2 million of its own people within my own lifetime. And I've felt odd about going to visit those places as a tourist. Then I remind myself that tourists went to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, and I myself have been to the Dachau concentration camp, and it seems less odd to do something similar in Cambodia. But still...