OH THE PLACES YOU’LL GO

I have long been developing a list of places that I would like to visit. We all have ideas about what foreign places might be like. We imagine the delights or perils entailed in traveling there. We harbor images of what a place might be like which usually enfolds on our level of attraction or repulsion toward a place. For some reason, Central and South America seem more foreign, more dangerous to me than most of Asia. 

North Korea might be an exception to this of course.

That is not to say that a pleasant stroll around the Favelas of Rio 

would be any more dangerous than strolling through Tiananmen Square during a protest. 

It is also not the case that a trip to South America might hold any more cause for concern than an evening on Frenchmen St in New Orleans. 

In reality these places are where the life is, and if we are to avoid them, we are missing out on some of the best music, most beautiful people, the greatest art, and the pulse of the liveliest street life in the world. I would also miss taking all the best photos.

We choose the places that we would most like to visit based on words, images, scenes that we have conjured up from our experiences. There is not always a pattern or a basis in reality for what we might expect to see and do. We carry our pre-conceived ideas about a place to that place and often see that place through the tint of the glasses that we choose to wear. 

When I lived in India, I would ask other foreigners what they thought of India. The two most common and extreme responses were that it was a very spiritual place or that it was a place full of suffering and death. I would ask these folks what they had thought India would be like before they left home, and I found that their answers would reflect closely how they came to actually see that great sub continent.

So, this Summer I will continue to chip away at my travel and event bucket lists. I will be checking Portugal off in July, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.

Edinburgh

Porto, Portugal

After that, the world is my oyster as they say. Here are some visual highlights gleaned from the Internet.  You can also see a larger variety on my Pinterest board “My Travel Bucket List.” If you would prefer to look at some of the places that I have traveled to in the past you might look at my "Places I Have Been" board.

St. Peterburg, Russia

Thailand

Queensland, New Zealand

Viet Nam

Prague, Czech Republic

Tiger's Nest Monastery, Bhutan