Sometimes traveling overwhelms me. Not because of everything there is to do and see, or the money spent, or the time off required. Not even because of the planning most trips need (that's one of my favorite parts!). No. I get overwhelmed because I feel this desperate need to travel everywhere right now! I don't know why it is that I feel this way. The countries will still be there next year or five or ten years from now. Nevertheless, I found myself nearly hyperventilating at work the other day, thinking about all the places I want to go NOW.
It started with an email from TripAdvisor with a list of the Top 25 Landmarks - World, as voted on by users of the site. You can find the list here. I forwarded it the person I'm going to Thailand and Cambodia with, as we are hoping to go to both Cambodia locations. She responded by pointing out Petra in Jordan, a place I've wanted to see for many years! In turn, I reminded her that we still have a trip to Peru and Machu Picchu planned. From here, it continued to escalate.
Going through it again, I counted seven places I had been to. Seven. And only two in the top ten! This simply would not do! Granted, if all goes as planned with the trips I'm already hoping to take over the next year, I will add three more, but this just isn't good enough! On top of that, I have a friend who lives in Australia and might be moving to the States. I need to visit her before she leaves! Then there's Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. I need to climb that while I'm still young enough (ha!) and fit enough (double ha!) to do it! And Croatia! Before deciding on Morocco in 2009, the original plan was to go to Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Montenegro, but it got too expensive. Pretty sure it's not getting any cheaper!
This led me to create a list of the places I need to go to immediately, a list of places I need to go to soon, and a list of places I've already been but really want to go back to. The outcome of all this was 16 trips, 23 countries and a heart attack. How on earth will I fit it all in?! But I must fit it all in! It was just too much for me to take. I needed a break.
After a quick nap in the lobby downstairs (yes, I nap in the lobby sometimes) I felt calmer. I still wasn't sure how I'd be able to do every trip I wanted to do, and it's possible I won't get to do them soon, but I have so many trips coming up over the next year that there is no need to focus on anything else. I'm incredibly lucky to get to travel as much as I do and for now, I'm going to concentrate on that.
But a little Googling never hurt anyone...
It started with an email from TripAdvisor with a list of the Top 25 Landmarks - World, as voted on by users of the site. You can find the list here. I forwarded it the person I'm going to Thailand and Cambodia with, as we are hoping to go to both Cambodia locations. She responded by pointing out Petra in Jordan, a place I've wanted to see for many years! In turn, I reminded her that we still have a trip to Peru and Machu Picchu planned. From here, it continued to escalate.
Going through it again, I counted seven places I had been to. Seven. And only two in the top ten! This simply would not do! Granted, if all goes as planned with the trips I'm already hoping to take over the next year, I will add three more, but this just isn't good enough! On top of that, I have a friend who lives in Australia and might be moving to the States. I need to visit her before she leaves! Then there's Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. I need to climb that while I'm still young enough (ha!) and fit enough (double ha!) to do it! And Croatia! Before deciding on Morocco in 2009, the original plan was to go to Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Montenegro, but it got too expensive. Pretty sure it's not getting any cheaper!
This led me to create a list of the places I need to go to immediately, a list of places I need to go to soon, and a list of places I've already been but really want to go back to. The outcome of all this was 16 trips, 23 countries and a heart attack. How on earth will I fit it all in?! But I must fit it all in! It was just too much for me to take. I needed a break.
After a quick nap in the lobby downstairs (yes, I nap in the lobby sometimes) I felt calmer. I still wasn't sure how I'd be able to do every trip I wanted to do, and it's possible I won't get to do them soon, but I have so many trips coming up over the next year that there is no need to focus on anything else. I'm incredibly lucky to get to travel as much as I do and for now, I'm going to concentrate on that.
But a little Googling never hurt anyone...
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