What Places Would You Go?

Next week I plan to get back to posting about the fiber projects I'm working on, and there are (I'm afraid) several of them. But before I leave the topic of travel, Sallie's comment on the last post reminded me that there are lists to be made.

I'd like to start my list of places to see with the Galapagos, as I know a couple of people who have been there. Go to An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel to read what Kay has to say about the place (once on her blog, search Galapagos to find all her posts on the subject).

In talking with my knitting group, I learned about barge travel through canals in France from Marilyn, who was kind enough to bring photos of her trip there some 30 years ago. Without her stories, I would never have known a thing about barge travel, where there is time to walk along the tow-paths and to bike into the passing towns. And Susan, another knitter, said that the best way to see Paris, the City of Light, is to hire a taxi for a ride down the Champs Elysees at night.

So we've already put travel by barge or river boat (and taxi!) through France on our list; but we'd also like river barging in England, Italy, and Germany, and perhaps even some travels in China and Russia.

But you are experts in travel, I just know it. I'm sure you have suggestions of places where you've been or where you'd like to go that we should add to our list.

We are looking for any ideas about any kind of travel, although I might add that we are not very formal people and that we prefer not to be too organized and touristy. To us, slow travel is best, especially now that we have tried the train and loved it.

What do you say? I'd love to hear your experiences and suggestions. 

Travels with Andy: Some Really Good Reading

I've been spending a bit of time every day reading Andy Baird's blog, Travels with Andy. He tells about his experiences on the road as a full-time RVer, and how he discovered that he could retire at 55 and live very comfortably.

Some years back, Andy learned in a retirement seminar that he wouldn't be able to even think about retiring until he had savings, pension, and Social Security income to equal 80-90% of his working salary, and he figured out that would mean having at least $800,000 in the bank. Discouraged, he formulated another approach--the "die at your desk" plan, which essentially meant that he would never be able to retire.

To see how he got from that low point to being able to retire at age 55, you will have to read the website. Even if you aren't interested in becoming a full-time RVer (I'm not, although Andy makes it sound awfully good), you will still learn about culling your possessions, selling your home, living well on a reduced income, buying the best digital camera, taking wonderful photographs, traveling on a shoestring, which state has the best parks, designing space-saving storage, how Amazon.com's membership can pay off, all about buying a Mac (computer) and/or a new car for a rock bottom price (without raising your blood pressure or losing your dignity), and lots and lots of other wonderful things that keep me up reading about Andy's world late into the night.

You'll also find that you can help support Andy's website by using this address (bookmark it to make it easy) each time you go to the Amazon.com page to place an order. It doesn't cost you anything, but Andy gets a few cents for each referral. If I haven't explained the process clearly, just go to Andy's Shameless Commerce page to read about how it works in Andy's own words.

Some Armchair Traveling

Image from PaulTheroux.com

Riding the Iron Rooster; By Train Through China, by Paul Theroux (1988).

I am so grateful to Paul Theroux for taking this journey, as I am sure that I never would undertake anything like it. He describes 22 different train trips through a China that few of us might ever see.

He shares his sleeping compartment, as is the custom in this overcrowded land, with a variety of travelers--even some honeymooners. When he offers to leave the compartment so that they can have some privacy, they cheerfully reply that they will have privacy in the upper bunk. Indeed, in a place where every room of every home features at least one bed, privacy is a state of mind.

He describes a country where almost every natural feature has been reworked by the hand of man--mountains that have been carved into steps for growing crops, rivers that have been swallowed up, and valleys that have been dug over, inch by inch--and where wild animals are almost non-existent and seen always as something to be eaten.

I was fascinated and appalled to read about the effects of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), which the country was recovering from during Theroux's railroad trip. "It was a mistake," most Chinese told him. [While reading the book, I even dreamed that I was working at a school during a cultural revolution, and found that my library was being used for calisthenics, and that I was expected to deliver books to classrooms on a cart, but the cart was in a closet and needed to be put together before I could use it, and the schedule for visiting the classrooms was secret, and, oh, yes, I looked just like Ugly Betty, which had nothing to do with anything].

This was a nice, long (480 p.), and very satisfying read. I really didn't want to put it down, and I read it while drinking cup after cup of tea, of course!