battered suitcases

Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life. -Jack Kerouac

Have you noticed my posts are often either about homesickness or travel? Well, here's another ode to travel. Whether or not they ever get around to putting it on paper, everyone has a bucket list, a list of things we want to do before we die. Of course I want to sky dive, bungee jump, ride a horse, write a book, fall in love, get married, blah blah blah, just like everyone else. This is a bucket list restricted to places I want to travel. As much as you can put things like this in order of preference, I tried to list the things I want to do most before the rest.

☐ Live in South America. Become fluent in Spanish.
☐ Bird watch in the Galapagos Islands.
☐ Visit Machu Pichu.
☐ Antarctica. I know, it's really expensive.
☐ Spend a summer working in Yellowstone.
☐ Be a tourist in all of the great cities of Europe.
☐ Do a road trip across America. See everything. Finally see California in the end.
☑ Stay in a temple. Experience life as a monk. (October 2009)
☐ Kiss the ground in Africa.
☐ See the pyramids.
☐ Go on a world tour of abandoned towns.
☑ Hike the Great Wall of China. (August 2009)
☐ Ride the Trans-Siberian.
☐ Swim in the Devil's Pool at Victoria Falls.
☑ Go on a long cruise. (January 2010)
☐ See that giant tree growing over the ruins of Angkor Wat.
☐ See the northern lights from a glass igloo hotel room.
☐ People watch in India.
☐ Travel to the deepest waters of the ocean, out in the middle of nowhere.
☐ Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef.

Writing this really helped me put my head in order. It includes all of my priorities for the next several years. When I was in America I couldn't shake the feeling that no matter how much I'd always believed it was what I wanted and was told it was what I should want, I didn't want the career, the house, the American Dream. It's finally sunk in that what I want is another dream, one that's just as complicated and frustrating to chase I'm sure, but at least it's one I can feel myself wanting to fight for. So, I figured out this is what I want to do with my life: experience the whole world. Essentially it's one easy word. Travel. I can keep my eye on that word, repeat it over and over like a mantra, and I feel everything will just fall into place.