Near the end of December and just before Christmas, I caught "Eat, Pray, Love" on one of the movie channels. I'd been meaning to watch it eventually because the movie trailer back when it first came out intrigued me. Plus I'm also a fan of Javier Bardem. I thought it'd be a fun, light movie to kill a couple hours. And it was, to a point.
"Eat, Pray, Love" is based on a memoir written by Elizabeth Gilbert and follows her yearlong travels in Italy, India, and Bali. She learns to deal with her divorce, her spirituality, and falling in love again. The movie wasn't an Oscar contender, and it won't go down in the history of cinema for being one of the best movies of all time.
But "Eat, Pray, Love" resonated with me. I'm not going through the same kinds of challenges Elizabeth Gilbert faced; I'm not looking to heal from a broken relationship or find inner peace. My hurdles amount to finding a stable career, producing publishable written work, and venturing out to find my place in the world. None of those are small feats, to be sure, however even the biggest challenges can be chipped away with small steps.
So I signed up for the travel writing class. I don't regret that or the money spent on tuition, even though I often feel frustrated with the lack of actual writing assignments and any substantial/critical feedback from the other students. I'm learning. That's what's important.
The assignment for this past Wednesday was to list the places I'd like to visit and to write about. The instructor suggested about 50 places, to include places both realistic in the near future and dream locations, and to post the list somewhere I'd see it every day.
My list hit 75 places because I just kept coming up with more and more. These are places I know I'll visit some day and others I know I'll be able to visit in the next couple of years. Just looking at this list gets me excited at the possibilities. And I can't wait until I can start crossing places off of it.
1. Gettysburg, PA
2.
Brisbane, Australia
3.
Sydney, Australia
4.
New Zealand
5.
Hawaii
6.
London, England
7.
Budapest, Hungary
8.
Dublin, Ireland
9.
Glasgow, Scotland
10.
Edinburgh, Scotland
11.
Barcelona, Spain
12.
Seville, Spain
13.
Athens, Greece
14.
Paris, France
15.
Normandy, France
16.
Charlotte, NC
17.
Talladega, AL
18.
San Diego, CA
19.
Los Angeles, CA
20.
Las Vegas, NV
21.
Seattle, Washington
22.
Maine
23.
Daytona Beach, Florida
24.
New Orleans, LA
25.
Newfoundland, Canada
26.
Vicksburg, MS
27.
Quebec, Canada
28.
Niagara Falls
29.
Grand Canyon
30.
St. Maarten
31.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
32.
Calgary, Canada
33.
Dracula’s Castle
34.
Inverness, Scotland
35.
Charleston, SC
36.
Darlington, SC
37.
Outer Banks, NC
38.
Columbus, OH
39.
Richmond, VA
40.
Savannah, GA
41.
Newport, RI
42.
Hyannis, MA
43.
Edith Wharton House, MA
44.
Philadelphia, PA
45.
Gold Coast, Australia
46.
Salem, MA
47.
Japan
48.
Stockholm, Sweden
49.
Watkins Glen, NY
50.
Mount Rushmore
51.
The Australian Outback
52.
Bristol, TN
53.
Nashville, TN
54.
Memphis, TN
55.
Mount Vernon
56.
Casper, WY
57.
Appomattox Court House, VA
58.
Virginia Beach, VA
59.
Rome, Italy
60.
Sorrento, Italy
61.
Florence, Italy
62.
Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius
63.
Venice, Italy
64.
Costa Del Sol, Spain
65.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
66.
Montana
67.
San Antonio, TX
68.
Martinsville/Ridgeway, VA
69.
Concord, NC
70.
Hershey, PA
71.
Erie, PA
72.
Florida Keys
73.
Canary Islands
74.
Fort Lauderdale, FL
75.
Miami, FL
You know where there's a bed (or possibly couch... space nonetheless!) for you for all those Australian adventures! =D
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