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Classmates

I did something I wasn't sure I'd ever do.

(Well, I still want to do that, but I'll have to wait there.)

In the middle of checkng out my old yearbooks Friday night, I got curious about a couple of people from my past--people with whom I lost touch.

Already Thinking About Vacation

With so many travel destinations I long to visit, I'm thinking about the 17 days I'll have off (August 20-September 5, though I could be flexible a day or two either way) and what to do with them. It'll have to be budget conscious, but I think I may be able to get out of the state of Virginia this year.

I'm already wishing I had an extended amount of time off. A friend of mine, Mark, is already talking about his next trip to Vegas. That's his preferred vacation destination, and his next trip with his wife is for a week-and-a-half. He likes it a lot, and he doesn't gamble all the time. He mentioned that I might not like it so much. I remarked, though, that I won't know that until I actually visit the place. It doesn't sound like a place I'd come back to over and over, but I can see myself visiting the Strip at least once.

As for places to visit, I'm not sure. I could do a cross-country drive, or a regional drive in a certain part of the country (not sure which one if I did that; I'm just speculating out loud). I've taken plenty of long car trips, but usually those are all about driving to a certain spot and spending time there, rather than letting the destination be the journey.

I've thought about another trip to the UK. Still plenty I haven't seen there: Ireland, Scotland. And I'd love to go back to London, visit some other areas along the southern coast of England, spend more time in Manchester. I'd enjoy a trip to New Zealand, return trips to South Korea or the Netherlands. I'd love to visit in Scandanavia.

I love to daydream about travel.

As if that wasn't obvious.

Guess I should hit the brochures I picked up at the adventure travel show and look into what I wrote about the places that stood out to me after I returned from it.

This is the kind of thinking I like to do, because it doesn't stress me out. It only starts to become stressful when you realize the means is less than the desire. If my means equaled my desire, I wouldn't be writing this now, and I'd likely be able to start a scholarship fund for the entire planet.

Travel Fragments: Surf's Up In Va. Beach

From my trip to Va. Beach last summer.

Travel Fragments: Tate Modern

Every so often, I'm going to write about some fragmented travel memories. Sometimes they'll be extended thoughts that border on full-blown essays; other times they'll be, like the title suggests, fragmented (what this entry about Tate Modern will be). And at other times, I'll toss in a photo from one of my travels and leave it at that. They'll be as I remember them; as time has elapsed and without the benefit of travel journals, my thoughts may not come out exactly as they happened. They'll be tailored to my memories of them. A lot of times, as I did when I visited Tate Modern, I scribbled, in a frantic way, notes about some things I saw as things I found noteworthy. Photos are natural triggers to memories, letters, music, as are some of the newspapers I brought home--all reminders. So with that warning, here goes ...

My Mind's Trippin'

Piggybacking on these posts, and the fact that it doesn't take much effort for me to think about potential travel destinations, here's mine, in no particular order:

Traveling Around The World In Eight Days

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Jules Verne's death, Laura Bly from USA Today is traveling around the world in eight days, rather than 80, calling it the condensed 21st century version.

Someone else from Seattle that she bumped into in Hong Kong is traveling around the world in eight months. Ahh, I only wish for eight months. I'd probably take eight days just to see how I'd hold up, but naturally I want to linger.

Maps In Beta

Google is beta testing a map feature.  Just trying it out, I was able to find the street I live on in my apartment complex. I typed in my zip code and it took me to the right area too. I'm not sure what else it does just yet, but I'll play around with it.

Where I'll Be Tomorrow

I'm going to see a play for the first time in 15 years (I think it's 15)--Taming Of The Shrew, at the Blackfriars Playhouse Theater in Staunton, which is about a two to two-and-a-half hour drive southwest for me, where I-64 and I-81 meet. The play is in a 300-seat re-creation of Shakespeare's indoor theatre, as the website says. It's supposed to be one-of-a-kind. If I get there early enough, I'll take a tour of it. Shenandoah Shakespeare, the group behind all this, also wants to build a re-creation of the 1614 Globe Theatre.

As an aside, the one-and-only play I was in was Taming Of The Shrew, in 9th grade. I took an after-school drama class, and one of the requirements of it was that each person had to be involved--either behind the scenes or on stage--in at least one play that school year. I played Biondello. I think I was just excited for the opportunity to kiss a senior, since I was a freshman at the time.  Nothing dramatic, but the girl's boyfriend was in the play as well and he would joke about me kissing her. 

The last play I attended (and only one which I wasn't involved)--A Doll's House. I think it was Arena Stage in DC, but I know it was for a community college class.

By The Looks Of The Brochure

It turned out to be an adventure for me returning from the Adventures in Travel expo downtown yesterday.

Well, most of it was uneventful, logistically, until I got disoriented driving in the snow on the way home. Leaving Springfield, which is where the Blue Line starts for Metrorail, I thought I'd try to get into the HOV lanes, thinking they'd still be open going south like they were when I made my trip up around 2:30 p.m.

I thought wrong.

I veered into the HOV lanes only to find out the lanes had switched to northbound (there's a northbound and southbound opening, but in the dark I missed the sign that told me I was heading north), then I got to see what would await me in traffic as I would have to drive 10 miles until I got past the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery and found a place to turn around near the Memorial Bridge, where I got a quick glimpse, from the Virginia side of the Potomac River, of an unlit Washington Monument and a lit up Jefferson Memorial.

By the time I got going southbound toward home, the traffic wasn't as bad as I thought, though in the snow it was going slower, and I got home without further misadventure.

As for the expo itself ...

Where I'll Be Saturday

I'll be at the Adventures in Travel Expo at the Washington Convention Center Saturday. It's been a few years since I've been to a travel expo, so I'm looking forward to being at this one and making the rounds of the various exhibitors, no doubt bringing home lots of travel information.