I admit to not having traveled outside the U.S. very much. And it’s sad because I love going to new places and meeting people and seeing things. However, the U.S. is so beautiful and diverse, there are places here I haven’t seen and should.
My first trip outside the U.S. was when Jack and I were traveling. We went into Canada a fair amount. We didn’t have much time to sightsee or have fun except once, when we rented a car and drove from Calgary to Banff and up the Icefield Parkway to Jasper. What a great time! Besides the scenery, the park at Jasper had opened a little early. We were just about the only guests in the restaurant—where Jack had trout they’d caught in the river practically outside the door. The cabins where we stayed were close enough to hear the rushing water as the spring snowmelt headed downstream. The trip was only for a weekend but it was so special that I remember it as though it were yesterday.
I’ve been lucky enough to have visited Great Britain and Scotland a few 
times. Each has been an enlightening experience. I love Scotland! The people are so friendly and the country feels like home to me. Maybe in another time and another life…? England proper is also wonderful. What a great city York is! So walkable, so historical. I loved my time there. The same for Oxford, where I attended the OxBridge program for teachers one summer. However, I wished Oxford had a few more benches around!
My sister-in-law talked me into going to Italy several years ago. To tell the truth, I wasn’t all that excited to see Italy, but she wanted someone to go with her and Jack encouraged me, so I went. She promised that once I saw Italy I’d want to go back again. The woman spoke truth! We spent time in Venice, Florence, and Rome, Each city was so different, and yet so the same. So much history, so much art. Too much to take in, in any one visit—or two or ten.
So where would I like to go if I were able to travel? I could happily go back to any of those places again. I’d also like to see Croatia and that whole peninsula, and I’d love to meet my pal, Jan in person! Australia and New Zealand, here I come!
I wish!!
What is your dream trip?
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Burning Bridges by Anne Krist: old letters put the lie to Sara’s life. Now, mending her past mistakes while crossing burning bridges will be the hardest thing she’s ever done.
Cathleen Ross is a quirky writer who lives on Sydney Harbor with her husband, daughter and very loved dog, Denzel. As an English teacher and editor, she has always surrounded herself with books. When she’s not giving psychic predictions for her family and friends, she’s writing romances where her heroines always get their man. She’s a multi-award-winning author who regularly hits the Amazon best-seller lists.
Ah! Winning the lottery Who doesn’t dream of this happening? I’ve dreamed of it so often, for years I considered it my Retirement Plan. No. Really.
show it off to Jack. Scotland is one of my favorite places on earth.
For those who remember that TV show from decades ago, you know that everyone who arrived on Fantasy Island always left happier than when their flight landed. If they were lonely, they left with a love by their side; if they arrived to take advantage of someone, they were caught but their supposed victims were saved; if they came despairing, they left with newfound hope. Fantasy Island cured all ills. So what better fantasy vacation than Fantasy Island? Except, I’ve been to the LA arboretum that served as the outdoor FI set and know that it was after all, just a show. My real fantasy island, and where I’d go back if I could, is Great Britain.
magazine to read about a country I had no working knowledge of. So much of what I saw in the magazines I wanted to see for real but of course there was no way. Still, I had a good idea of what was available and sights that might interest me but not my mom and aunt. Nothing disappointed!
I really don’t care for the term bucket list. I’d rather think that my wishes of things to do reside in a basket full of flowers. “Bucket” is a little too rustic for me. I prefer something like this basket of cheery daffodils, each one labeled with something I want to do before I die.
Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Of course, the movie was about self-discovery, and not just doing things you’ve always wanted to do before the Grim Reaper says your time has run out. Since I feel like—for the moment—that I’ve discovered everything about myself I care to, my Basket of Flowers List is about doing things for the sheer desire of doing them.
an eighteen wheeler. When our friends were older and dangling grandchildren on their knees, we were moving around the country chasing consulting jobs. We seized the day in every way we could. But there are still a few things I’d like to do someday. (Someday implies hope and not “better hurry up.”)
exploring it each time I’ve had the chance. Do I have a shot at doing it again? Sadly, probably no.
thought that if I could afford it, I’d rent a cottage in the moors around Inverness and spend a summer writing. That’s my fantasy vacation! It hasn’t come about but I fill my fantasies by reading books in Scottish settings.
train in Waverley Station in Edinburgh I felt as though I’d come home. Maybe I’d lived there before. The city called to me. I wandered at will and had a great time and met some fantastic people. I also loved the area around Loch Ness (so beautiful!), and Stirling and Balquhidder are gorgeous. Skye had light like I’d never seen, and I could spend a week there just looking out over the sea.
back there again. I haven’t given up hope!
and then, when you reach your Golden Years, pick the right numbers and be set up for the rest of time. How great would that be?? Unfortunately, life rarely happens like that. Still, it’s fun to imagine…
foot in Wales or Ireland, so I could probably spend a year or more on just those two islands. And Italy is a place I’d like to spend more time. I’d like to go on a safari to southern Africa, and see the Maldives. If I had the money to spread the trip out (with stops in Hawaii and Tahiti, for example), I’d hop on a plane to New Zealand and visit my pal Jan in Australia—someplace I’ve always wanted to go (despite their poisonous snakes and spiders). Closer to home, I’d like to revisit western Canada, and points here in the U.S. Sounds like so much fun!
yacht, island, wardrobe, and expensive jewelry? Nope. Best off not having any of that stuff. It would be nice, though, to see new places and share the adventure with those I love, which really means spending time with those I love, and we can do that with very little cash at all.