With the Internet, it is so easy for someone to create a journal of their travels and share it with everyone else willing (or bored enough) to read it. I am hoping that it will allow me to post a few entries while I'm on vacation (particularly during my trip to Italy this year). So therein lies my blog's mission statement: to share my love for travel with others.
Last year my vacations consisted of going to San Diego (I went to the Comic-Con for the first time) and India (for the first time). As such, my attentions were divided between the two travel plans (one was in July while the other was in November). This year, my attentions have been divided between the San Diego Comic-Con (for the second time) and Italy (for the first time).
Here's a little background information regarding my trip to Italy: my second cousin sent out an e-mail blast in December explaining that he was getting married in a small town in the Dolomites of Italy (the very north of the country that is close to the Austrian border). Under the impetus of going to the family wedding and seeing the rest of the German side of the family I had yet to meet, I began arranging my first trip to Italy.
Honestly, if they had decided to get married in Switzerland (where the couple is currently living) or Dortmund (where the German side of the family is actually from), I would have gone there. As it happens, my cousin's getting married to an amazing Italian woman so the wedding is being planned in a town just south of Bolzano.
After many discussions with co-workers who had been to Italy and perusing a number of books (most of which are on loan from said co-workers) I managed to come up with a viable itinerary that worked around the September 11 wedding in the north. Unlike last year, however, I am not getting bogged down on the details.
Frankly, I believe my problems with my trip to India stemmed not only from the nightmarish lack of security but also my extremely detailed planning. I planned each day by the hour for each city I was travelling to in India. In retrospect, it was absolutely ridiculous of me to do months ahead of time.
Needless to say, I learned the hard way that I was too much of a control freak. As such, I immediately got bogged down emotionally and mentally when something didn't go the way I wanted it to in India. And by being bogged down, it left me figuratively paralyzed. Of course, the fact that some person tried to break into my room twice in the middle of my first night in New Delhi did not help either.
This time, however, I hope to be looser and take a few tours to connect with other tourists (something I never really did in India). In fact, I've already got tickets for a walking tour of Rome in the early evening, a trip to the Vatican (with the same company), and finally a day tour around Tuscany. Again, I really don't want to plan everything out with the exception of just how long I want to stay in each city (as it happens I'll be going to Rome, Venice, the Dolomites and Florence). It has left me feeling more excited about what will come rather than feeling more regimented like India last year.
India aside, I have a lot of fond memories of travelling. Off the top of my head I can remember loving our family trips to Cholla Bay from Tucson; the family tour of Switzerland and France in the mid-80s; the incredible journey my dad and I took through southern Colorado when we were still living in Denver; and, if I had to pick one more, I'd add the personally defining moment of going to Thailand in the early 90s (when we were still living in Indonesia).
A lot of that fondness boils down to the immersing oneself in the culture and geography of the city. At least, that's the way it is for me. And that's perhaps why, with regard to India, my favourite experience was being on the train to and from Varanasi. I love being in transit while still being able to see the countryside. Like the train trip from Cairns to Kuranda in eastern Australia, seeing the waterfalls and the flora get progressively greener as the train went north to Kuranda.
That being said, I must admit that I travelled a lot more between the ages of 1 to 19 than in my 20s and 30s. It is true that, here I am turning 33 on Sunday and I haven’t travelled as much as I did before hitting 30. I decided last year that my 30s would be different. I have definitely made good on that promise by going to San Diego, India, Ontario and Quebec in the past year. This year it’ll be San Diego and Italy. Next year I am really hoping to either go to Berlin or Scotland. I really haven’t made my mind up about that yet. Just the fact that options for travelling exist in the first place is wonderful.
I’m not a writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I am certainly happy to describe my journeys with whoever wants to read about them so that I may maintain this blog’s mission statement.
Last year my vacations consisted of going to San Diego (I went to the Comic-Con for the first time) and India (for the first time). As such, my attentions were divided between the two travel plans (one was in July while the other was in November). This year, my attentions have been divided between the San Diego Comic-Con (for the second time) and Italy (for the first time).
Here's a little background information regarding my trip to Italy: my second cousin sent out an e-mail blast in December explaining that he was getting married in a small town in the Dolomites of Italy (the very north of the country that is close to the Austrian border). Under the impetus of going to the family wedding and seeing the rest of the German side of the family I had yet to meet, I began arranging my first trip to Italy.
Honestly, if they had decided to get married in Switzerland (where the couple is currently living) or Dortmund (where the German side of the family is actually from), I would have gone there. As it happens, my cousin's getting married to an amazing Italian woman so the wedding is being planned in a town just south of Bolzano.
After many discussions with co-workers who had been to Italy and perusing a number of books (most of which are on loan from said co-workers) I managed to come up with a viable itinerary that worked around the September 11 wedding in the north. Unlike last year, however, I am not getting bogged down on the details.
Frankly, I believe my problems with my trip to India stemmed not only from the nightmarish lack of security but also my extremely detailed planning. I planned each day by the hour for each city I was travelling to in India. In retrospect, it was absolutely ridiculous of me to do months ahead of time.
Needless to say, I learned the hard way that I was too much of a control freak. As such, I immediately got bogged down emotionally and mentally when something didn't go the way I wanted it to in India. And by being bogged down, it left me figuratively paralyzed. Of course, the fact that some person tried to break into my room twice in the middle of my first night in New Delhi did not help either.
This time, however, I hope to be looser and take a few tours to connect with other tourists (something I never really did in India). In fact, I've already got tickets for a walking tour of Rome in the early evening, a trip to the Vatican (with the same company), and finally a day tour around Tuscany. Again, I really don't want to plan everything out with the exception of just how long I want to stay in each city (as it happens I'll be going to Rome, Venice, the Dolomites and Florence). It has left me feeling more excited about what will come rather than feeling more regimented like India last year.
India aside, I have a lot of fond memories of travelling. Off the top of my head I can remember loving our family trips to Cholla Bay from Tucson; the family tour of Switzerland and France in the mid-80s; the incredible journey my dad and I took through southern Colorado when we were still living in Denver; and, if I had to pick one more, I'd add the personally defining moment of going to Thailand in the early 90s (when we were still living in Indonesia).
A lot of that fondness boils down to the immersing oneself in the culture and geography of the city. At least, that's the way it is for me. And that's perhaps why, with regard to India, my favourite experience was being on the train to and from Varanasi. I love being in transit while still being able to see the countryside. Like the train trip from Cairns to Kuranda in eastern Australia, seeing the waterfalls and the flora get progressively greener as the train went north to Kuranda.
That being said, I must admit that I travelled a lot more between the ages of 1 to 19 than in my 20s and 30s. It is true that, here I am turning 33 on Sunday and I haven’t travelled as much as I did before hitting 30. I decided last year that my 30s would be different. I have definitely made good on that promise by going to San Diego, India, Ontario and Quebec in the past year. This year it’ll be San Diego and Italy. Next year I am really hoping to either go to Berlin or Scotland. I really haven’t made my mind up about that yet. Just the fact that options for travelling exist in the first place is wonderful.
I’m not a writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I am certainly happy to describe my journeys with whoever wants to read about them so that I may maintain this blog’s mission statement.
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