December 22: Travel

I'm participating in #reverb10, a month-long challenge to blog every day of December based on prompts provided here.

Promopt: Travel How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year? (Author: Tara Hunt)

Last night I heard about super sweet deal to Paris: roundtrip, direct to and from Chicago, for $550 — a steal. I emailed friends asking if I could visit over a weekend in March, and went to bed dreaming of breaking wine glasses in Seb's apartment, cooking curry with Ina and knocking on Loïc's door and demanding in person a reason for his silence to my countless emails over the past few months. I woke up. The tickets were gone. Back up to $900.

I was sad, but not too sad. Because I WILL see my friends in Paris again, even if it isn't this March. I don't know when it'll be, but it'll happen. And besides, I have another trip in the works in calendar year 2011, and that is to Australia and New Zealand. Once again, it's to visit friends.

These days, visiting friends is the only way I travel. We can catch up for a few days during my visit, and I have on-site tour guides who are always more than happy to show me their favorite places and neighborhoods. Since this time last year, I've visited friends in New Orleans, my sister in Seattle, friends in New York and met up with a couple on my trip to Missouri. It looks just like a list of places I've been, but every one of those trips was awesome in its own way. This is one reason why I need to get a better lens. So I can take pictures and show these experiences to people.