I’ve been everywhere, man … If you’ve been feeling that way lately, you’re not alone. Many of us have been lucky enough to have travelled for decades now, visiting amazing places and ticking off dream destinations.After a while, it’s possible to run out of inspiration. The world of travel is filled with seemingly endless possibilities, but still, there can come a time when you feel you have done everything you always wanted to do.So, what to do now? Where to go next? What can you plan and get excited for when all the obvious experiences have been enjoyed? In this story, we talk to the experienced traveller, to someone who has seen the sights over many years.Mountain gorilla, Mount Sabyinyo, Uganda.Some of the ideas are deeper dives into familiar regions, others are suggestions for lesser-visited destinations. Some are skills to acquire to open up new experiences and places. Others are grand journeys.These are 20 amazing experiences and destinations that even the hardiest explorer will find exciting and invigorating. If you’re seeking inspiration to take your travels further, this is the place.Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletterGet exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.Tick off the UNESCO checklistSuomenlinna sea fortress in Helsinki, Finland.iStockBy now you have probably seen the Colosseum, the Great Barrier Reef, maybe Iguazu Falls, and possibly the Temples of Angkor. But have you visited Cameroon’s Dja Faunal Reserve or Finland’s Fortress of Suomenlinna? For those hungry for a new adventure, the next great “wow” moment, it’s worthwhile scrolling through the list of UNESCO’s 1273 heritage-listed sites around the world for inspiration. In all likelihood you will never visit all of them, but as a snapshot of the wonder that the world has to offer – and how little of it you have probably seen – this is an invaluable tool. See unesco.orgTake a mature-age gap yearGrab your gang and go on a long-deserved gap year.iStockWhy let the kids have all the fun? It’s something of a tradition for school-leavers or university graduates to take a year off before they start the serious business of a career, to travel the world and enjoy themselves, see the sights and have experiences. So, what are you waiting for? If your travel experience in the past has been made up of small chunks of time away, this is the ultimate way to see the world in a completely different light, to get to know yourself and your destination and just have a whale of a time for 12 months. If you’re retired, it’s a no-brainer. If you’re still working, there are ways and means to figure this out.Discover West AfricaThe Great Mosque of Touba, in Senegal, is one of the largest mosques in Africa.iStockMany experienced travellers have done the safari thing in southern or east Africa. It’s the sort of holiday that gets under your skin, that calls you back for more, which is why so many people return to Namibia and Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania for their Big Five thrills. If you’re looking for something a little different, however, consider heading west: Ghana, Senegal, Guinea, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and more offer some incredible travel experiences, and they’re all rated orange, “exercise a high degree of caution”, by Smartraveller (the same as France and the UK). Explore national parks, vibrant cities, historic sites and more.Go Caribbean island-hoppingLazing on a beach is pretty much obligatory in Saint Lucia.iStockIt takes some effort for Australians to get to the Caribbean. You have to fly over a lot of similarly gorgeous island nations to get to another group of island nations. So this is likely to be an underappreciated area, even for experienced travellers. It’s also the perfect destination for those into country-counting because here you have 13 independent nations within a small space: visit the Bahamas, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda and more with just a few short skips. It doesn’t hurt, too, that these are truly beautiful places with plenty of culture and history. In these parts, lazing on a beach is pretty much obligatory.Learn to scuba-diveScuba-diving opens up the underwater world.This list is going to include several “up-skilling” suggestions because, as a passionate traveller, I believe this is the greatest gift you can give yourself. Every new skill reveals a new way of seeing the world: it will take you to new destinations, it will introduce you to new people and new cultures, and also keep your brain working. So, if scuba-diving is one of those things you’ve always wanted to learn, do it now. Scuba-diving opens up the underwater world – an endless joy of discovery – and provides the impetus you need to visit the likes of Raja Ampat, the Red Sea, the Galapagos, or Belize. The course itself will only take three days, but the change in your travel experience will be immeasurable. See padi.comDo the Big LapIf you’ve never been to Coober Pedy, hitch up a caravan and drive there and many other places in Australia.iStockYou’ve seen the world, but have you seen Australia? There’s another running theme to this list and that’s taking longer to explore places that might already be familiar. You have never “done” a country. You have never seen and experienced all there is. Australia is a case in point. One of the most enjoyable ways to do that is with the traditional Big Lap, hitching up a caravan and driving around Australia’s circumference, taking things slow, stopping wherever you feel like it, getting to know your Coonabarabrans from your Coober Pedys. This country has so much to offer – so take the time to see it. See australia.comLearn a languageHola! Learn a new language and your travel experiences go deeper.iStockYour choice here will be determined by the destination you are passionate about. If Latin America is your thing, then Spanish. If you’re into Asian destinations, Japanese, Indonesian or Mandarin. Francophiles, of course, need to master French. Whatever your choice, and regardless of the level of proficiency you achieve, a new language is an incredibly valuable skill, one that will allow you to see your favourite destinations in a whole new light. When you reach a level of conversational competency in a new language, you can get under the surface and understand cultural nuance; you make more friends and take on traditions. And, of course, you’re making your brain work. You can’t lose here.Explore Japan’s “other” islandsThe subtropical Kerama Islands in Okinawa, Japan.Getty ImagesMany, many Australians have been to Japan by now. More than 1 million a year. So there’s every chance you have already visited Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, maybe Hiroshima, possibly Kanazawa. But that still leaves a whole lot of Japan to discover. This country is split into 47 prefectures, and some of the most interesting can be found on the islands outside of Honshu. Try Hokkaido, of course, but also Ehime and Kochi in Shikoku; Fukuoka, Oita and Nagasaki in Kyushu; and Okinawa, all the way down in the subtropics. And frankly, even if you have been to Tokyo numerous times, you still haven’t seen all of Tokyo. This is a city that is not just vast in size but always changing, always offering something new. No traveller could ever get bored. See japan.travelVisit the PolesAurora Expeditions’ High Arctic expedition takes travellers to Svalbard in remote Norway.This is shorthand for Antarctica and the Arctic Circle, because your chances of making it to both the North and South Poles are very slim. That’s a serious effort. What’s far more achievable is to get yourself aboard an expedition vessel or two and explore these astonishing parts of the world. Antarctica is reachable from Tasmania, though more comfortably from Argentina, and the experience will change your life. The Arctic Circle can be explored from the likes of Norway, Finland and Greenland. Though getting to the North Pole on a cruise is difficult and dependent on perfect conditions, companies such as Aurora Expeditions can take you close on its High Arctic expeditions. See aurora-expeditions.comClimb Mount KilimanjaroScaling Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, is about achieving a goal and sharing it with likeminded people.It’s not just about the climb itself. If you set a traveller the challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, you commit them to a whole raft of experiences, all of which will be rewarding. There’s the preparation, which will involve plenty of exercise, not to mention time out in the wilderness, and maybe a few visits to high-altitude areas. Then there’s the journey itself, to Tanzania, where there will inevitably be time to tack on a safari and maybe a visit to Zanzibar. And then, finally, there is the climb, a shared experience, a bucket-lister for so many people, scaling the highest peak in Africa, achieving a goal and sharing it with like-minded friends. What a gift. See intrepidtravel.comGo beyond the IncasRemains of the historic city of Chan Chan, near Trujillo in Peru.iStockYou’ve seen a bit of the world, clearly. Chances are you have been to Machu Picchu, given it’s a big wish for many, and genuinely amazing. If you enjoyed that, however, it’s worth going back to Peru to investigate the remnants of other civilisations that weren’t quite as famous as the Incas. Consider the Moche, who left temples, murals and burial sites on the coastal corridor of Peru between Trujillo and Chiclayo. Or the Chimu, whose huge adobe capital city Chan Chan can be viewed just outside Trujillo. Or the Nazca, whose line drawings on the desert floor in the country’s south are legendary. See peru.travelDrive across the USThe iconic stretch of Route 163 in Monument Valley offers a view looking northbound towards the Utah-Arizona border.istockFile this one under “going deeper in familiar places”. You have probably been to the US, but how many states have you visited? This country is a continent, essentially, in which every state has its own identity, its own quirks and its own thrills. Best way to see many of them is to drive from one coast to the other. You don’t need to follow any prescribed path such as Route 66 – make your own way through the states that most interest you. Take your time, talk to people, stop over where you feel like it, and appreciate the huge breadth of experiences the US has to offer. See visitusa.org.auExplore the former Eastern BlocThe riverside of Gdansk, Poland, a country not many travellers visit. iStockMore than 100 million people visit France each year. More than 60 million go to Italy. Do you know how many foreign tourists visit Romania each year? About 14 million. Bulgaria gets about the same. Hungary picks up about 20 million. The countries of the former Eastern Bloc – Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Albania and more – are fascinating places with so much to offer travellers, and yet so few of us make it there. There’s a good chance that you, the experienced traveller, have also not seen enough of this part of the world. It’s your job to fix that.See mountain gorillasYou might need to save up for a permit to view mountain gorillas in Uganda or Rwanda.Wildlife encounters don’t have to be rare or expensive to be memorable. You can hang out in your backyard and watch the kookaburras and the rosellas and be pretty pleased with yourself. That said, one of the most exclusive and expensive wildlife encounters on the planet is among its most incredible. We’re talking mountain gorillas in the wild, in either Uganda or Rwanda. The permit alone to see these creatures is $US1500 ($2100) in Rwanda, and $US800 in Uganda. Then you have many other costs to factor in. When you’re out there in the jungle, however, face to face with a band of gorillas in their natural habitat, it all seems worth it. See classicsafaricompany.com.auVisit GuatemalaLake Atitlan with a view to Volcano San Pedro in the highlands of Guatemala.iStockAs with the Caribbean, Central America remains an area that’s less popular with Australian travellers, thanks in part to the efforts required to get there. That’s great though, because it means there’s a sensational part of the world that’s still there to discover. My advice? Sink your teeth in with a visit to Guatemala, an underrated destination with so much to offer. Visit Tikal, the Mayan ruins deep in the jungle. Go to Lake Atitlan, in the shadow of three volcanoes. Visit Antigua, a UNESCO-listed city. Trek the high country in Quetzaltenango. And enjoy buzzing culture throughout. See visitguatemala.gtLearn to sail, charter a boatLearn how to sail, and you could cruise your own craft to Navagio Beach on the Greek island of Zakynthos.iStockIf you can’t already sail, you’re going to need to learn. Take a few classes. Start off small and work your way up. Once you have gained a good level of proficiency, new doors open. Begin with a bareboat charter, hiring a yacht without crew. That means you’re in charge of where to go and when you go there, sailing in the likes of the Whitsundays, the Croatian islands, the Greek islands and more – the sun on your face, the wind in your hair (if you happen to have any) and not a care in the world. This is living. See whitsundayescape.comBecome a sfoglina in BolognaPasta-making is a good lifelong skill that you can teach othersiStockThis, again, is a skill to learn, but it’s also a process to enjoy. A sfoglina is an artisan, someone who can roll pasta by hand, who can take a long rolling pin – usually a metre or so – and transform a ball of egg-pasta dough into a gossamer-thin, round sheet with simple, repetitive movements. This is the sort of thing that looks easy but takes years of practice, years in which you will eat a whole lot of pasta and learn a whole lot about Italy. Begin your journey at Sfoglia Rina, a pasta school in Bologna run by local expert Lorenzo Scandellari. See sfogliarina.itTravel overland in Southern AfricaRent your own vehicle and drive through the Namib Desert, Namibia.iStockA safari is one thing. It’s usually quite stationary, with a home base to return to after each drive. But how about a Southern Africa journey, either joining an overland tour or renting your own vehicle and tackling the likes of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia by road? This is one of the world’s great adventures, and if you’re a seasoned traveller with some four-wheel drive experience it’s probably one you are ready for. It will change your life.Explore the PacificAn island surrounded by a coral reef in Tonga. iStockI’ve mentioned the Caribbean here, but what about some of our closest neighbours? There are so many small nations out there that many of us have never visited: Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Niue and more. There’s culture, natural beauty and the warmest of welcomes to enjoy. See southpacificislands.travelLearn to flyHas being aboard countless flights ever piqued your interest in learning to fly your own aircraft?iStockYou love to travel. We’ve established that. You thrill to the experience of movement, of discovery. You’ve probably been on countless flights in your life. So now, how about flying your own aircraft? A pilot’s licence is surely the perfect gift for the traveller who has seen it all.Again and again… Five destinations that will never get oldThese places will always be exciting, no matter how many times you have visitedFranceWho could ever tire of France – the markets, the wine caves, the bistros, the villages, the beaches, the mountains, the berets, the bread? Any traveller who has been to France understands the pull of this richly rewarding country, and the desire to dig deeper to find more. There’s a reason this place is so wildly popular. See france.frItaly Here’s another nation with endless appeal. There’s geographic diversity, everything from the soaring peaks of the Dolomites in the north to the beaches of Amalfi to rugged islands like Sicily and Sardinia. There’s cultural diversity, marked shifts in attitude, and even in the menu, as you move through Italy’s provinces. See italia.itThailand One of Australia’s perennial favourite destinations has plenty to offer repeat visitors, Bangkok alone is the sort of megalopolis that many people never tire of. The beaches and islands of the south, the myriad cultures and natural diversity of the north – not to mention the kindness and fun of the Thai people – make Thailand one of the true greats. See amazingthailand.com.auArgentina Buenos Aires is one of the world’s great cities, regardless of what is happening with Argentina’s politics or its economy. You can always have fun there. When you factor in Mendoza’s wine country, the majesty of Iguazu Falls, the pampas of Cordoba, the beauty of Los Glaciares National Park, Patagonia, the Andes and more, and you can see why people return. See argentina.travelCanada Who doesn’t love Canada? And who wouldn’t want to return to the Rockies, for all their beauty, for Lake Louise and Banff and Whistler and Kamloops? And how about Montreal and Quebec City, or Nova Scotia, or the polar bears in Manitoba, or Niagara Falls, or the fact everyone is just so friendly and nice? Yep, we will return. See travel.destinationcanada.com