Friday Five

From RevGalBlogPals

1) Favorite Destination -- someplace you've visited once or often and would gladly go again
Oh, so many. Right now, I think India. I'd like to spend a month there, wandering around, getting to places I didn't get to in my (all too short) first visit: Varanasi, Dharmaslala, Goa, Kerala. I think India is the most spiritual place I've visited. And beautiful. And of course, the Taj Mahal. I was afraid I would be disappointed because my expectations were so high, but it exceeded my highest expectations.
2) Unfavorite Destination -- someplace you wish you had never been (and why)
I can't think of one.
3) Fantasy Destination -- someplace to visit if cost and/or time did not matter
The Maldives. A fantastically expensive place to visit. Hotels run about $500 a night. Yep, a night. The Maldives average about three feet (or less) above sea level. It is hard to get to, but the scuba diving is fantastic.

A second dream: The Silk Road. I'd like to travel from Venice to Istanbul to Damascus through Iran and Uzbekistan and on through China to Suzhou. I've done two parts of the road: Suzhou and Xian: the eastern terminus and I've done parts of the road (it isn't just one road, but a series of interlacing routes) in Central Asia in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. I'm hoping to do western China next year. I'd love to do the entire "road" in one trip.

The Moon

An Episcopalian priest from Memphis is traveling though Nepal and India (she had planned on Tibet, but that was cancelled). She hiked the Anapurna circuit (a fairly hike around the bases of some of the world's highest mountains) and then almost to the Everest base camp. Her blog is at www.ardreygonzalez.com (I hope I got that right. It is a frustration to me that blogspots can't just automatically convert a webaddress to a link as other websites seem to be able to happily do. For some reason I can't get it to work for me, even though I check and check to make sure I've put things in right.)

4) Fictional Destination -- someplace from a book or movie or other art or media form you would love to visit, although it exists only in imagination
Shangra-La
5) Funny Destination -- the funniest place name you've ever visited or want to visit
Not a destination, but a trip: Katmadu to Timbutu.

I have been struggling for many years with why I have this need to travel and see the world. The biggest disappointment with my cancer is that I had planned to take a year and travel around the world when I retire. I was planning to sell most of my stuff, put the rest in storage and go. But, because I need frequent checkups, it will be five years before (God willing) I would be able to leave for more than six months. And so, I've been dreaming other dreams: volunteering with the Iona Community for several weeks; teaching English in China for the Amity Foundation; perhaps teaching English in Africa or South America.

On the other hand, if this is the biggest disappointment with my cancer, how wonderful and fortunate am I!