Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Dream vacations

It's HOT in Boston right now - we're having an honest to God heat wave. Any sensible person would be getting out of town, and fast, but my vacation savings account (yes, I have a savings account just for vacations) and my time off balance are both at record lows right now, so here's a list of places I'd like to be going, though I have no prospects of actually getting there.

Chile

My sister and her husband went skiing in Portillo, Chile on their honeymoon last year:

photo by nessfc on flickr

Oh, that looks lovely. And I haven't been skiing in seven or eight years!

Iceland

I'm not saying you shouldn't go to Iceland in March - I had a great time in Iceland in March. But I think that I would enjoy it even more right now. They're going to have highs in the 50s (F) all week. We're going to have highs in the 90s all week. And there are views like this:

photo by strawberrymaya on flickr

Back in March I was in the very spot where this photo was taken, but all I saw was fog and snow. Alas.

Maine

I love Maine. I have loads of family in Maine. If I had the vacation time I could go up to Maine right now and take a dip in the freezing cold ocean off a rocky Midcoast beach; I could lie in a hammock next to a lake; I could take a boat out to one of the islands in Casco Bay; and there might very well be an aunt or grandmother around who I could mooch a delicious meal or two off of; but it is too much to think of. Here are some photos of Maine.

photo by jkbashkin on flickr

photo by dana_moos on flickr

Bhutan

I bet it's cool up in the mountains right now. And relaxing. Bhutan is somewhere I'd like to go but I expect I never will go, because it is so expensive and so inconvenient. That's part of what makes me want to go - not exclusivity for exclusivity's sake, but the fact that it's an extraordinarily beautiful part of the world where tourism's impact is low. And I mean look at this:

photo by jmhullot on flickr

It makes me want to convert to Buddhism on the spot!

OK, enough fantasies for today. It's nearly time for me to head outside into the 90 degree heat and sweat my way home. Good times.

(Many thanks to the photographers whose photos I've used here and to all those who post to flickr using Creative Commons licenses!)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What lovely photos, and what cool travel ideas!

Peggy said...

Heya! Stumbled on your site while doing research for a trip to Istanbul... Love your photos - the one of the Matterhorn and a sickle moon belongs framed on a wall somewhere. Abs brilliant.

I'm also going to Iceland in a few weeks and have decided that my souvenir will be a lopi sweater!

Cheers and keep on travelling.

Turkey Travel said...

very beautifull photes which call you to see.