oh, to be young and travel...

I would love to be able to travel. To really travel. Go places, see a million different things, meet a million different people, experience a cornucopia of cultures.

I haven't even been to that many places here in the Philippines. I've been to many places in Luzon, having been born and raised here. I've been to a couple of places in Visayas. Never in Mindanao--I'd love to see Davao and Zamboanga.

I've been to Japan once--two hours inside the airport (bleh). I'd love to see Bali and Jakarta, witness winter in Japan or Korea (just thinking about it gives me the shivers--literally). And I'd kill for an all-expenses paid shopping trip in Hong Kong (Pat, pag mayaman ka na, don't forget me!!!).

I've been lucky enough to go on a roadtrip while in the States--8 states, to be exact. But I'd love to see more. I'd love to see Washington DC, and Florida (where I'd look for the famous Miami Ink tattoo parlor and have one done by the amazing Kat Von D).

I'd love to go see Mexico, just to stop wondering what amazing country bred the amazing Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. I'd love to go to Spain, and possibly trace where my family roots came from (my paternal grandpa was Spanish, after all). I'd go to Morocco and get hooked on hookas while reliving those wonderful scenes from Casablanca.

I'd love to spend a month in Europe, going not to the famous "It" cities but the quaint, rustic countrysides of Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England. Go chocolatier-hopping in Switzerland and yodeling ala-Maria von Trapp in Austria. I'd see the sacred and the profane--the birthplace of Jesus in Israel and Count Dracula's castle in Romania.

I'd go to Greece and hoard olive oil. I'd go up and down a million times in the Spanish Steps in Rome, till my knees go all jello and I tumble down in a happy heap.

I'd go to Poland, see the Auschwitz Camp, look for answers as to why people are so. I'd go to Africa and see not just the beauty, but also the strife that I may realize how lucky I am to live a very imperfect yet fulfilled life.

Until I get the money (if only guts were enough to buy me a plane ticket around the world), this is but wishful thinking. Good thing I'm a believer.