wanderlust

ever since i met alan - or rather, ever since i had someone to go travel with for trips that don't involve ministry or tkd - i've been totally struck by wanderlust. my passport is actually quite decorated with cool stamps from all sorts of cool countries - but in reality i've seen and enjoyed very few of them. maybe a day of sightseeing here or there, but for the most part, cooped up in second rate hotels or dorms, and confined to gyms and stadiums. not that those weren't fun in and of themselves - they were experiences i would never trade in for the world. but as someone who has money and works damn hard for it - i need to relax on a regular basis.

when al and i first met, we talked about all these places we wanted to go. well, no that's not true. we talked about all the places *i* wanted to go. =) at the time he was still in his whole pious phase of judging people who went on vacation and needing nothing but a cardboard box for himself. he has since come to his senses ... perhaps on a beach somewhere when he realized vacations are awesome.

we went to thailand last winter to visit his family - as with most destinations, it's better when you know the locals. it was a fantastic trip thru the city and the country, we got to zipline thru the forests and also powerboat and snorkel out on the beautiful beaches. definitely going back.

for our honeymoon we went to tahiti and bora bora. singlehandedly the most disgustingly expensive trip, but totally worth it. that was just gorgeous, if you didn't mind being around a bunch of other googly eyed honeymooners and anniversary celebrators who just threw down a ridiculous sum of money for a week.

so in the time between now and when we start thinking about having kids (ie. when spending money on travel will probably not be an option anymore) - i was looking at all sorts of places to go. many to which i've already been, but had never gotten to really see or eat my way through.

greece/turkey/italy
iceland
costa rica
st. lucia
korea/thailand

hopefully good deals will pop up and i'll have accrued enough miles to make these happen =) next on the list, bahamas in december! unless you count california for thanksgiving, but that's visiting parents so it might not exactly be relaxing...