The wonders of the world and the far continents: how to plan the big ones

Some stamps you collect on a Tuesday. These are not those.

The wonders of the world and the continents are the lifetime list, the trips you plan for years and talk about for longer. They're also the easiest to plan badly, because each one feels like its own trip. Most of them aren't.

Group the wonders by region

The wonders of the world, as most lists name them today, are Petra, Machu Picchu, the Colosseum, Chichén Itzá, Christ the Redeemer, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China. The Pyramids of Giza, the one ancient wonder still standing, usually get an honorary spot. Look at them on a map and they fall into a few natural trips.

The Americas. Chichén Itzá is in Mexico's Yucatán, Machu Picchu is in the Peruvian Andes, and Christ the Redeemer stands over Rio de Janeiro. They are far apart, but they share a hemisphere and a few flight hubs, so one long trip can cover more than you would think.

At Machu Picchu, where my Salkantay trek ended.

The Middle East and North Africa. Petra in Jordan and the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt are a short flight from each other. This is the easiest pairing on the list!

At Petra.

At Giza I rode a camel past the pyramids. Camel Ride is its own stamp in Adventures, so that one counts twice.

Riding a camel at the Pyramids of Giza.

Asia. The Taj Mahal in India and the Great Wall in China are a bigger stretch, but plenty of people do them on one trip through Asia.

Rome. The Colosseum is in the middle of a city you would want to visit anyway. It is the one wonder you can see between lunch and dinner.

At the Colosseum.

Those four are the wonders I've collected. Chichén Itzá is next. It's so close to the US that it's honestly silly I haven't been yet. The Taj Mahal is on my list too.

When to go

Season matters more for the wonders than for most trips, because the crowds and the weather both peak. Machu Picchu has a dry season, roughly May through September, and a rainy one. Petra and the pyramids are hot in summer, and spring and fall are easier on your feet. Check the season for each one before you book.

What counts as a continent?

It depends on where you went to school. Many people learn seven: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America. Others combine the Americas, or Europe and Asia, and count fewer. Pond Passport uses the seven-continent model.

Most of them you can collect from a long enough life of ordinary trips. Antarctica is the long pole. Most trips leave by ship from the tip of South America and cross the Drake Passage, which is famous for being rough. It is the stamp almost everyone collects last, if they collect it at all.

How the stamps work

A continent is collected the first time you log a moment anywhere on it. You don't do anything extra.

A wonder you check in to: open the stamp and tap "I've been here." That one tap also collects the city, country and continent around it, so the Colosseum brings Rome, Italy and Europe with it. You can also attach the wonder to the moment for that trip, and it collects the same way.

A wonder stamp keeps the people you were there with, which matters more for these than any other. A wonder is the trip you will be retelling at dinner in twenty years, and you will want to remember who was standing next to you.

If a wonder is still on the someday list, save it to your Bucket List. It moves into your collection on its own when you get there.

Plan around the place

The wonders sit inside countries with plenty more to collect. The Mexico, Italy and China guides show everything else around Chichén Itzá, the Colosseum and the Great Wall, so the big stamp is not the only one you bring home.

How to start

Open YourPond, find the wonders in Pond Passport and check in to any you have already seen. Then add the people who were there.

Pond Passport is free, on the web and in the YourPond app for iPhone.

Browse the wonder stamps · The continent stamps · How Pond Passport works