A Bigger View

Perhaps it is the cold, rainy weather we have experienced and expect to see more of, but it comes to mind that it would be nice to get away for awhile.  It isn't likely to happen any time soon, but it is an appealing thought.  I know my better half would be all on board as she has expressed similar sentiments in recent days.

It is fun to speculate on where to go, but it seems that either time, or financial considerations have a large influence on the decision.

If time and money were not an issue, there are lots of places I would like to go.  My first choice would be to spend some time on the British Isles.  I would like to spend a few weeks exploring England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.  I suppose it is because I view them as the source of my genetic roots, but they also are the source of the political roots of our country which was founded and populated by large numbers of immigrants from those islands.  There is much history and beauty to be found there.

I also would like to spend time in Australia and New Zealand.  Having a language in common would make travel there easier, but I have always been drawn to Australia.  It might be the animals, or the vast stretches of wide-open spaces, but for some reason it has always held a mystique that is attractive to me.

To be quite honest, there are very few places in the world that I would not like to see.  I could spend years traveling to far off lands.  Some of them are still dangerous places, but at my age that is less of a fear than it once might have been.  I want to see how other people live.  I want to see the landscapes that I have viewed in books and on television.  I want to expand my view of the world.

The American people, for the most part, have a very narrow view of the world.  They see the U.S. as the center of everything and the only place of value.  Most people have little or no grasp of world history.  The existence of this nation is just a blip on the timeline of man's occupation of this planet.  I want a bigger view.  Travel is a good way to achieve it.