I’m a road trip with my best friend. This is only the second time, as an adult, I have ever been on a road trip in which I did not do the driving or supply the car. The one other time where I didn’t drive, my vehicle was in the shop. I ended up paying for the rental van, but I didn’t drive it. This trip, however, is far more comfortable and a lot shorter.
I’ve come to realize that I want to travel more. During the dark times, my travel was severely restricted, both monetarily and socially. I didn’t have the funds to go many places, and the times I did, I went with the group. The group always went to the mountains because the asshole dominating us decreed it. Occasionally, we managed to go to the beach, but that was so very rare.
I want to take long weekend jaunts to nearby cities and see what their culture has to offer. I want to fly across the country and see cities I’ve only seen because of work. I want to see amazing natural sites and wondrous parks. And I want to travel to other continents and nations to see them in person and not just on the news.
Soon, I’ll have a new passport with my new name on it. I am quite eager to start getting it stamped. (Yes, metaphorically, because I know no one actually stamps passports anymore.) I have dreamed of visiting the architecturally historical sites in Italy, specifically those from the Baroque period. I studied Bernini in college and absolutely fell in love with his work and that of his contemporaries.
I want to go to a place where the water is so clear that you can see the bottom of the ocean, hundreds of feet below. I want to see beautiful coral reefs. I want to see impossibly high mountains. I want to see the stars on a desert night where the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye.
These are my travel goals. Soon, I hope to fulfill them. I think I’ll live by the motto: Have Passport, Will Travel.
See you around, World.