With the information explosion in Cyber Space and the world reeling from one financial crisis to another, it is time to design your own holiday. No longer do you have to be limited by what a travel agent has to offer you. Use your imagination and the search engines and see what is out there. Here is one whacky idea that may will guarantee you a lot of head spinning fun.

Design yourself a trip around the world, chasing the biggest ferris wheels. That’s right. Chase the biggest ferris wheels in the world. You will have a sky rocketing trip, as you cruise above the cities of the world, in what is their fanatical drive to outdo each other’s landmarks. Before you start though, you need to know the ‘Ferris Wheel’ has lost it name and is now called the ‘Observation Wheel’.

First you could begin ‘down under’ with the Southern Star in Melbourne, Australia, a mere 120 metres high, built in 2008. It is the only large, permanent wheel, in the Southern Hemisphere.

A quick flight across the South Pacific and you could drop into the exotic tropical island of Vanuatu, formerly known as the New Hebrides. You will find the stopover really worthwhile as you visit the world’s birthplace of extreme sport – the bungee jump on Ambrym Island. It is a truly captivating scene, but not something you want to leap into yourself. The vines are designed by the jumpers, who hope and pray they are just the right length. Not too much length to smash the jumper into the ground, not too short the diver hits the 75 metre rickety bamboo tower. But just enough for the jumper’s shoulders to brush the ground beneath the tower. (That’s a lot to ask from a green vine out of the bush).

Then buzz onto Singapore and take a swirl on the Syngapore Flyer, also built in 2008, to a height of 165 metres. That is around a 54 storey building. A truly great ride if you can handle the dizzying heights. But more to come…

The London Eye will make a great stop next at 135 metres tall. In the not too distant past it was once Europe’s tallest wheely.

Tunnel across to the eternally romantic city, Paris and gaze over the sights from 100 metres up, on the grandpapa of ferris wheels. The Ferris Wheel Of Paris, was built in early 1900.

If you time your trip right, you could make it for the opening of Berlin’s Great Observation Wheel, which is due to be finished in 2009. It will reel a towering 185 metres over the city.

A quick trip down to Dubai and you could observe the opulence of the place from the Great Dubai Wheel, also at 185 metres. You will be able to pick out all the various nations of the world, on the man-made islands from the giddy heights.

Then it is off to overcrowded Asia and the Star of Nanchang, towering over China’s Jiangxi Province, at 160 metres tall. From there you will be able to peer into China’s ever present smog.

Of course, saving the biggest and best to last, you need to arrive at the Beijing Great Wheel, which is due to be completed during 2009, It will tower 208 metres above the city. That is equal to standing inside a 70 storey building, spinning high in the sky. This is definitely not for those have no heads for heights!

All this is a long way from the world’s first ferris wheel, at a mere 80 metres, designed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., as a landmark for the World Fair in Chicago, in 1893. It had a capacity to carry 2,160 people and was powered by two steam engines. It took 20 minutes for the wheel to make two revolutions. Even The Great Observation Wheel of Beijing, will only have a capacity of 1,920 people.

So having traveled the world’s great ferris wheels, oops, observation wheels, it will be time to head home again and enjoy the simple things of life once more, from ground level.

This once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunity to experience all the great observation wheels of the world, will probably be the only ‘round the world by wheels‘ some of you will try.

However, there is a Blue Moon Opportunity you can take part in on a regular basis, (and a lot cheaper). Check it all out at Win A ResortA. It could completely change your life.

This ticket was posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 12:40 am and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this ticket through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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