It's a Big World, After All

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the world.

For Christmas one year, my parents bought us (among other things) a globe. My brother and I (but mostly I) spent hours spinning the globe on its axis, sticking our fingers on a spot and determining that THAT was the place we were going next.

(I can't tell you how many times my next vacation was going to be smack dab in the middle of the Indian Ocean.)

I made my first international trip at age 20. I was all alone and flying to the vast and terrifying land of...Toronto. I was there as a California representative for Job's Daughters and some friends I had only previously spoken with by phone picked me up at the airport to escort me through a week of pig farming, miniature golfing, and gazing at Niagara Falls. But successfully navigating customs all alone for the very first time was one of the first moments in my life where I felt like a "grown up."

A year later, I was living in Montreal and declaring that EVERYONE should move FAR away from home at some point in life.

I've been to Alberta, Ontario and Québec (and technically British Columbia). I traveled twice to Baja.

(Yes, I realize one of those two trips went no further than Tijuana, but it still counts!)

I got college credit for the three weeks I spent in Germany and France.

I've been to 15 of these United States.

I want to do more. To see more. I know that, compared to a lot of people, I have been ALL OVER. I'll admit that I've been blessed. Seeing the Eiffel Tower was a dream come true. Standing at Ground Zero was sobering. And touring a crab boat in Seattle left me just a bit star struck.

I have had amazing opportunities. I was born in Idaho. Raised in California. Spent a year and a half in Canada. Six years in Utah. And in between, I've done and seen more than I ever hoped I would.

But I've got this travel bug, you see. And there are at least a thousand more places I really want to see:

• Mt. Everest and Lhasa, Tibet
• Hawaii
• The Kennedy Space Center
• Red Square
• The Forbidden City
• Kiev
• Costa Rica
• Antarctica (Yes, really.)
  
• Dutch Harbor, Alaska
• Florence and Rome
• Jerusalem
• Sydney

Okay, I'm not really going to name a thousand. But the point is, there are a lot.

The problem is that it costs a lot of money just to drive my car to work every day, let alone to fly off to the other side of the world.

I'm working on a game plan. I'm trying to figure out how I can get to all (or even some) of the places on my list and actually get paid for it.

Have any great ideas?

Where would YOU like to go?