Fighting the Current

my naive restlessness

I've always had this desire to travel. I've never been farther from home than an 11 hour drive. I've always wanted to see the world, all the places off the beaten path (and occasionally traversing it). Sure I want to see the British Isles and Paris and Rome. But I'd still love to see other places. I want to see other Italian cities and their countryside, other European cities--Prague, Berlin, Budapest; Spain, Russia, Greece, the Netherlands. There are places slipping my memory. I have no desire to see Scandinavia, I know that for sure.

But outside of Europe...

In the Near and Middle East -- Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran. Sort of a--correction--A very, very volatile area, especially now.

Asia has always facinated me as well--the Great Wall of China and those spire-like mountains which I never remember the name of, the terra-cotta army (is that even open to the public?) in China, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia.

The South Pacific, eh, there are a couple places: Borneo, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, New Zeland. Australia is unto itself. There is a lot of variety in that country. Outside of the Outback, at least. But I would like to see Uluru. Antarctica I can stand to see pictures of. Too desolate for my liking (and somehow Mongolia isn't... Maybe because it has an actual population, and maybe because my toes wouldn't freeze and turn black the second I stepped foot there).

On to Africa. Egypt, first and foremost. I was nearly obsessed with it when I was a little kid. (I was weird, still am. Get over it.) Outside of Egypt, Morocco, Madagascar, wherever the Serengeti is, the Azores, maybe the Congo.

Ah, South America: Peru (the Inca sites in particular), the Nazca Plain (I always forget whether that's in Peru or Chile), Brazil (the Rainforest, Belem, Rio de Janiero), Tierra del Fuego, the Pampas, and Galapagos.

Central America (keep in mind I'd love to study the Maya or the Aztec): Mexico (Mexico City, Baja, all over the Yucatan), Guatamala, Honduras, Costa Rica.

Last, but not least, the US and Canada. Finally some places I might actually get to eventually. The redwood forests in California, cranberry bogs at harvest, Arizona and New Mexico, the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, the Rockies, the Appalachain Trail, New Orleans, the Florida Keys, the Everglades, White Sands, Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Badlands, Vermont, Hawaii, Alaska. And Canada... Vancouver, the Bay of Fundy... um... There's not much I want to see there. Maybe Nunuvat (however that is spelled).

There you have it. A sort of drawn out list of my places to see to someday.

Of course, I wouldn't just go to those places. I'd have to write about everything, down to describing the dirt. I'd also have to take pictures. Lots.

These desires may have been what sparked a desire I had a long time ago to be a journalist for National Geographic.

It would really help if I could speak any language besides English. Well, any living language at least--Latin does nothing in the modern world, lol. I want to learn other languages--hence my feeble attempts at Russian and Spanish, among others--but you can only get so far without a teacher (and without even tapes in some cases)... Not that I have reached that point. Yet.

It would also really help if I had more than an hour's training in self-defense. Maybe I should take up some sort of martial art. I've never been fond of yelling while exercising though. Jiujitsu, Kung-fu, Karate... I have no idea about the differences.

A shame I lack the linguistics, the funds, the age, health, any available safety, a passport (probably the easiest thing to get on this list), etc. Oh well, I can dream. North America is within some sort of reach though... But I would have to get a full license first, wouldn't I?