Sign outside Hello Kitty theme park |
This should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me even slightly: I have a “cat-themed” bucket list. What might that be, you ask? Well, it’s a detailed list of all the cat-themed places I want to visit before my demise. Lest you think that would be a really short list, I assure you it isn’t. There are, in fact, so many fabulous feline-inspired things to see worldwide, that I would need to live (at least) several hundred years to cross them all off.
The wildly popular cat-obsessed blog, Catsparella, only contributed to my longing by featuring some purrfect pussycat travel destinations in a series of great posts called Around the World in 80 Cats. Every day for months I salivated worse than Pavlov’s Dog, and sulked that my pink leopard suitcase and I wouldn’t be heading to the airport any time soon. Here are just a few of the feline-themed destinations on my bucket list:
Hello Kitty boat ride |
It takes a special kind of bravery for a middle-aged woman to admit that she (still) likes Hello Kitty. But I do. And despite the fact that the target audience for Sanrio Puroland is 3-6 year olds, I would go there in a heartbeat, and I would have a wonderful time. Never mind that the reviews on Trip Advisor range from “Every Hello Kitty fan’s dream come true” to “A complete waste of time and money.” Besides, Wikipedia claims that “the park has become one of Japan's most popular attractions.” So there! The park is run by the Sanrio company, creators of Hello Kitty, and features live musicals, restaurants, attractions, parades, fireworks and rides, including an “It’s a Small World” type boat ride. For diehard Kitty fans, the extensive gift shop offerings alone would be worth the trip.