wanderlust

[topaz119]

For ancarett: Travel plan if money & time were no object

Hah, if I had the money, I’d be gone for so long it’d be better to just sell my house. Part of my thing with travel is that I can’t possibly know and understand a place if I just go there for a week. I want to stay and have it become part of me. I have a friend who travels a lot, and he keeps telling me that he always is looking for the next new place, and I do get that, but I keep thinking about all the stuff I still learn and find when I go back to places I’ve loved. So, if I traveled, I’d want to spend a while at each place, to the point that I might as just not worry about coming home. (Sadly, every time I investigate regular (ie, non-independently wealthy) people who travel for an extended period of time, I always stumble on the funding issue—selling my house/liquidating my retirement accounts to fund a year or two of life on the road does not seem to be a good trade, so I am still here in my normal life.)

But, if I had the money (and it wasn’t winter), I’d start with a loop through the Western US National Parks, the canyons (Bryce, Zion, Grand) and Monument Valley, and then heading north to Grand Teton and Yellowstone and Glacier.

And then I’d go back to Hawaii for the winter, basing the visit up in the hills overlooking Honolulu and bouncing around to the other islands, especially the volcanoes on the Big Island, but making sure I was around for the Triple Crown (surfing) on the North Shore. Then we could hopscotch across the South Pacific and end up in Tokyo in the spring. Possibly the summer, too, b/c the humidity in Singapore, etc, would probably knock me flat. But at some point, I’d need to see Hong Kong (staying on the Kowloon side so I could have those incredible views) and Shanghai (the girl who sits next to me at the new office has already offered her family’s home as a place to stay, but I have no idea where that might be.) I have worked with too many people from India to be in their hemisphere and not stop to visit, so Pune to begin with and then wherever they tell me to go.

I have no idea how one might go about tracing the Silk Road, but I’m sure somebody must offer a guided trip, which would put me back in Eastern Europe, so a stop in southeastern Poland to see if there’s anyone left of my father’s family would be good. We could knock around Prague and Budapest for a while, and maybe Turkey, as one of my bridesmaids has family there. Italy is always on the list, as is Switzerland. I could live in London and wander around the UK for forever. Norway would also be on the list for the Northern Lights and then it would be good to go south to Africa for the rest of the winter.

See? It just doesn’t ever end. :D

Comments

[lilacsigil]

Tokyo in summer is also brutally humid, if not quite as bad as Singapore! Escape north to Hokkaido for summer!

[topaz119]

Good to know! I will make a note of it, just in case I do win the lottery. :D

[sperrywink]

Sounds like a good use of lottery winnings in my opinion. Always be prepared, heh.

[topaz119]

It's always a nice way to divert myself from the general stupidities of real life. :D

[in-the-bottle.livejournal.com]

I follow a travel blog and this lady did it with her son for FOUR YEARS.

http://www.escapeartistes.com/about/

She's a freelance writer though, so that helps with generating income on the move thing. Read her stuff, she is absolutely hilarious and her entries are always always entertaining. Their adventure in China and enrolling her son in Chinese school for a full term, that was an epic story from start to finish. :D

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! I love reading how people manage the challenge of traveling a lot--she seems really practical and down to earth about the realities (and joys) of life on the road. I foresee a fair amount of reading in her archives!

[ancarett]

What a fabulous set of prospects in your travel dream. I can't travel much between Autistic Youngest, needy Xena and those piddly requirements to pay for everything, but I can dream. It still is fun just to even think about travel dreams.

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, my middle son has a pretty severe anxiety disorder, which spills over into depression, so even if we're going to the beach or to Disney World, it's never a done deal that we'll all be going together. Sometimes he's good to go, sometimes he's fine home alone (he's old enough to live alone) but sometimes it's better if D or I stay home with him and the other one takes the other kids.

I do love to plan it all out, though. I have an apartment in Rome all picked out, just waiting for the right time...

[igrockspock.livejournal.com]

I have traced the Silk Road! If you win the lottery, I'll be your travel guide :)

(But actually, you don't need one. Lonely Planet China and Lonely Planet Central Asia will tell you what to do.)

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

That is EXCELLENT to know, thank you! I would love having a travel companion with experience should the stars all align. :D

[zelda-zee.livejournal.com]

Ooh, awesome plan! My travel priorities are a bit different, but there are some overlaps too. I definitely agree about longer times being necessary. I've never experienced homesickness, so I think I could probably travel forever!

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

I always want to go back to places I've been and loved--there's always more to see and experience. And I like my house, but I'm okay leaving it!