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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lerxst" data-source="post: 3656224" data-attributes="member: 118326">Indeed they are. These are destinations that we'd been planning on for years, for non-birding reasons. They are graduation / birthday gifts to our two sons that are in college. They are not birders, sadly. But they do love nature. Years ago we asked them to name some special destinations, and these are what they came up with. Hence, Galapagos this Xmas, NZ next Xmas, after we wrap up in Asia - also a bit of a thank-you gift to them for looking after the house while we are abroad all of next year.If I was designing this trip specifically for maximum species it would certainly be a bit different from what I have planned. The entire 'global big year while working' concept is something that popped into my head only recently, after setting up most of my weekend trips. The 2500 number is probably too optimistic, but I wanted a challenging number to keep looking at.That being said, one could certainly pick worse 'home' locations than Bangkok. Plenty of other areas may have more species in their vicinity, but most of those locations won't have two international airports and a plethora of short, cheap flights to other great birding spots. Singapore and Hong Kong might be as good, but I'm not sure they'd be better. Dubai would be my next choice I think.</blockquote>