traveling through

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

traveling through

I’m having many thoughts today, so I figured I would write them down.

South America:

In a mere few weeks, I will hopefully be in South America perfecting my Spanish and Portuguese. The details are not ironed-out as of yet, but hopefully soon they will be. A quick price check at Kayak.com tells me that the best country to fly into is Ecuador. Once there, I plan to stay about two or three days. My next stop will be Peru, followed by Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and concluding in Brazil. Realistically looking at things, I believe my best bet is to leave out either Uruguay or Paraguay because I will only be done there for three weeks or so. I’m actually quite excited to be doing a trip like this. I want to really “rough it” – to an extent, of course. Stack on my big backpack with my sleeping bag and prepare to sleep under the stars with the wild animals. I’m planning to climb the Andes, visit the Amazon (would totally love to see the Yanamamo), visit Macchu Picchu, dance tango, and go rafting in Peru, among other things. Unfortunately, my research tells me that, because the Galapagos is such a tourist attraction, it is also a very expensive place to visit – maybe next time. Reading about it and preparing for it makes me more excited. For the most part of my life, traveling has been a major goal – visit as many places as possible. Thus far, I have been to following:

- Rome (Italy)
- Florence (Italy)
- Bologna (Italy)
- Milan (Italy)
- Brescia (Paspardo and some other towns in Valle Camonica)
- London (UK)
- Dominican Republic (DR)
- Vail (CO)
- Denver (CO)
- Las Vegas (NV)
- Miami (FL)
- Greensboro (NC)
- D.C.
- Philadelphia (PA)
- Poconos (PA)
- Bushkill Falls (PA)
- Oswego (NY)
- Chappaqua (NY)
- Geneva (NY)
- Plattekill (NY)
- Kingston (NY)
- Boston (MA)
- New Haven (CT)
- Point Pleasant/Jersey Shore, West New York, Paramus, Paterson (NJ)
- Stopped in random parts of VA and MD

Considering that not many people can afford much, I have surely seen plenty. I am fortunate to have seen these things and should be very grateful.

Let’s see where I stand with my list.

Bold Places I've been
Italics places that will be completed with this trip.

1- London, United Kingdom
2- Wales, United Kingdom
3- Dublin, Ireland
4- Shannon, Ireland
5- Lisbon, Portugal
6- Madrid, Spain
7- Barcelona, Spain
8- Marbella, Spain
9- Andalucia, Spain
10- Amsterdam, The Netherlands
11- Belgium, Brussels
12- Frankfurt, Germany
13- Nice, France
14- Paris, France
15- Monaco
16- Rome, Italy
17- Venice, Italy
18- Parma, Italy
19- Florence, Italy
20- Sicily, Italy
21- Alps, Switzerland
22- Warsaw, Poland
23- Athens, Greece
24- Norway
25- Sweden
26- Finland
27- Russia
28- Prague
South America
29- Caracas, Venezuela
30- Quito, Ecuador
31- Galapagos, Ecuador
32- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
33- Lima, Peru
34- Santiago, Chile
35- Andes Mountains, Chile
36- Argentina
Central America
37- Honduras
38- Panama
39- Costa Rica
40- Guatemala
Australia
41- Sidney
42- Melbourne
North America
43- Cozumel, Mexico
44- Cancun, Mexico
45- Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
46- Acapulco, Mexico
47- Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
48- Cabos San Lucas, Mexico
49- Playa de Las Mujeres, Mexico (I think that is what its called)
50- Montreal, Canada
51- Quebec, Canada
52- Toronto, Canada
53- Vancouver, Canada
54- Nova Scotia, Canada
55- Los Angeles, CA
56- San Francisco, CA
57- San Diego, CA
58- Juno, Alaska
59- Phoenix, Arizona
60- Aspen, CO
61- Vail, CO
62- Maui, HI (we can crash with Josh)
63- New Orleans, LA
64- Maine
65- New Jersey (ha!)
Asia
66- East Timor
67- Java, Indonesia
68- Bali, Indonesia
69- Singapore
70- Malaysia
71- Cambodia
72- Thailand
73- Laos
74- Sir Lanka
75- India (of course)
76- Vietnam
77- China
78- Japan
Middle East
79- Israel (after the wars---which will be never)
80- Pakistan
81- Turkey
82- Iran
83- Petra, Jordan (def. need to see the lost city of stone)

In essence, once I go to SA, I would have crossed out six more places from my list.