- It's new.
- It's adventurous.
New
I like variety, so I want to go somewhere I haven't been before. Somewhere new has different meanings at different scales, however:- Considering supercontinents, I have been to Afro-Eurasia and the Americas. However, I have no desire to visit Antarctica, because extreme cold scares me. Consequently this scale is too big to help decide.
- Considering continents, I have been to Africa, North America, Europe, and Oceania. This leaves Asia, South America, and Antarctica.
- There are also vast regions I haven't visited within some continents I have:
- In Africa I went to East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania), in Sub-Saharan Africa, so I haven't been to North Africa--or west, central, or south Africa within Sub-Saharan Africa.
- In North America I've been to both North America (Canada, Mexico, and the United States) and Central America (only Honduras, though the plane landed in Belize), but not the Caribbean.
- In Europe I've been to England, France, Germany, leaving southern Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, and eastern Europe (depending on how one divides Europe).
- In Oceania I've been to Polynesia (Hawaiʻi), but not Australasia, Micronesia, or the south Pacific.
Adventurous
As a child, I read high fantasy authors like J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings), C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), and Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea). As an adult, I find travel the closest experience to a quest. Elements encountered in a quest include castles, caverns, long distances, foreign languages, forests, mountains, oceans, ruins, sacred places, sailing, and wild animals. Examples in my travels are as follows:- watching wild animals (including black rhinoceros, lions, and wildebeest) in Ngorongoro Crater, on the Serengeti, or in the Tarangire River valley in Tanzania;
- climbing Kilimanjaro;
- swimming in the Indian Ocean in Kenya;
- camping in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies;
- weathering Hurricane Marty in Los Cabos;
- driving the perimeter of the United States;
- sleeping in a tree house in Georgia, United States;
- walking through Carlsbad Caverns;
- canoeing with alligators in Okefenokee Swamp;
- backpacking across the Cascades to Holden Village;
- exploring the ruins at Copán;
- snorkeling with Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles in Kahalu'u;
- touring the top of Mauna Kea;
- seeing Stonehenge;
- touring châteaux in the Loire Valley;
- visiting Schloss Hohenschwangau and Schloss Neuschwanstein; and
- entering cathedrals in England, France, and Germany.
The question remains: Where should William go? I pose this question to the readers of this blog; recommend a place to go. While I'm asking a question of readers, I'll also ask: What should William blog? Of the score of examples above, only a half-dozen have posts.
[Update: I corrected the date to this year!]
