Travel

I would never consider myself to be a particularly adventurous person (quite the opposite, in fact). At the same time, I really do enjoy travelling, visiting new places, what have you. It's just that I'm not desperately keen to visit places that would require me to be adventurous (even if that's just an assumption my non-adventurous self is making).

So I have no wild, crazy desire to visit much of Africa, for example, even though I'm sure this is a huge mistake on my part. I'm not over enthusiastic about much of Asia, either, though I would like to see Vietnam, possibly China and Japan (not now, obviously, but you know what I mean). I do quite fancy South America - I have long had fantasies involving a beach I once saw in a poster advertising Venezuela, and I'd like to learn tango in Argentina.

I've visited a reasonable amount of Europe - England and Scotland, obviously, but also France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden. And I would like to add the Czech Republic, Finland and Greece to that list.

What about Oceania? Australia always sounds cool, but my non-adventurous self is pretty much batshit terrified of all the spider possibilities and that puts me off (stupid, I know, and I fully assume, acknowledge and admit the stupidity of this); the Pacific islands are undoubtedly magnificent, and New Zealand always looks beautiful. It's just that none of that makes me sigh and dream. Don't know why.

That leaves North America. I'd quite like to visit Quebec, though not in winter obviously. And then, finally, the US. There's a lot of the US I'd like to visit - NYC again, because I had such a good time there last time (my only visit to the US to date - a week in NYC in April 2001), New Orleans, San Francisco, Colorado, Seattle...

Last summer, I took the girls to Bilbao in Spain. An unusual choice, most would say, but it was dictated by the need for somewhere we could get to by train and the fact that the chain of hotels I wanted to use had a "50% off" deal there. No regrets, though, it was a great place. We visited lovely things, did fun things, enjoyed it very much.

For this year, no plans have been made for anything at all yet, mainly because I'm soooooo broke (chronically in debt, in fact), plus no "50% off " mails have reached me yet... I'm thinking maybe Italy this year, but I'm not sure, we'll see.

One thing that is 100% certain is that I won't be going to San Diego this summer after all. Even if I hadn't missed the BlogHer Early Bird rate (which is a truly great rate for a big conference like BlogHer), it was always the REST of the trip that was too expensive: flights (about $750), hotels ($200 a night in the "recommended hotels", and I never got an answer to the question I sent about cheaper options) and the need to spend so many nights in a hotel (San Diego is a LONG WAY from here - it would mean about 6 nights in all), plus "being there" expenses. By my calculation, attending BlogHer would have cost me upwards of $1500, which is just ridiculous. It would have meant not going on holiday with my daughters, and that isn't an option. Plus, given my current (lack of) finances, booking would have been not only unreasonable, but most likely impossible (my credit cards don't work any more so I can't spend any money, take any money out, do anything). So, no San Diego. I'm very disappointed, even though the thought of going was unbelievably scary given that I don't know a single person there and I'm chronically shy, insecure and lacking in self-confidence.

but I am going to make it to BlogHer one day. I know I will. I just hope it'll be before I'm truly too old to enjoy it (if that isn't already the case). Maybe if it's on the east coast somewhere next year that would be easier (quicker to get to, less hotel nights)... I'll see.

So yeah. This year doesn't seem set to be a year of much travel. But I will travel again, I will have the means to do so again. I want to take my daughters places, show them things, help them meet people, absorb new cultures, new things. There's a whole world out there and I want the three of us to visit so much of it....