Travel Challenges

After about six weeks of being home and looking ahead to another six weeks or so before our next big travel adventure, I begin to get a little antsy. When a travel challenge like "Nine Places You Haven't Visited--But Should" comes into my email box, I can't help but check it out. Are there really nine places I haven't been yet? Am I missing something?

The article at Independent Traveler listed these nine places: Columbia, South Korea, Oman, Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, Singapore, Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh?), Armenia, Chan Chan in Peru and Zambia. I managed to check off three.

We've been to several places in Columbia--always with a cruise excursion or private tour. We like to have a little more assurance of safety in numbers and a guide to hopefully keep us out of trouble.

Pittsburgh is an amazing city with wonderful skyline views and a great amusement park called Kennywood. While their baseball team is not a direct rival of our Cleveland Indians, the football team, the Steelers, have been arch rivals of the Cleveland Browns as far back as I can remember. Kennywood is an amusement park in the traditional sense. It has a variety of rides, not just roller coasters, and a rich history that is recorded on signs for the visitor to read as they wait for rides.

One of the best days of our world cruise was when we teamed up with another couple from our dinner table and found our own guide when our ship docked in Salaverry, Peru. One of our stops was Chan Chan featured in the article at IT. It was a fascinating journey back in time and a glimpse of an amazing people.

So I have three out of nine. It just proves that it's a great big wonderful world and there's lots more to explore.