I think that I come by my love of traveling naturally. I am descended from a long line of people who moved from one place to another. You have to go a long ways back in my family tree to find folks who lived in the same location for more than a couple of generations. Although most of my forebears came from somewhere in Europe, they had varied journeys to the North American Continent and once here, they didn’t seem to settle in a single location for long.

My parents were in the aviation business in the post-World War II times when private aviation was booming across the United States. They owned a Beech 18 that was capable of traveling to any destination in the lower 48 in a single day. With a range of nearly 1,500 miles, only more distant destinations required a fuel stop. I grew up thinking that I would one day own and operate a plane with truly international capabilities. I expected private aviation to yield jets that would make international travel well within the reach of the average person. I didn’t figure that one quite right. While there are private airplanes that are capable of global travel, the multi-million dollar price tags put them out of my reach.

Still, I have been lucky to travel quite a bit. I’ve been to Canada more times than I can count. I’ve been to Mexico a couple of times, Costa Rica four times, Europe twice and we had a grand adventure in Australia in 2006. I think that our dream of a grand adventure to Alaska is a goal that we will make sometime in the next decade, though one has to admit that nothing is certain and our dreams and priorities for the use of time and financial resources might change.

But I have come to the age where it is safe to say that there are some grand trips and adventures that I might never take. I’m OK with that. I’ve always felt that having dreams that exceed my capabilities keeps me open to new adventures and excited about the possibilities of the future. For some reason, I’ve been thinking about places that I probably will never visit, but that seem to me to be worth the trip. If the opportunity arises, I’d be open to a trip to any of these places, but if I never make it to these destinations, I won’t feel deprived. Here is a list of places I might never visit:

Victoria Falls, also known as Mosi-oa-Tunya: the smoke that thunders, is on the Zambezi River at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is said that Dr. David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary explorer was among the first Europeans to visit the falls. The island just upstream from the falls bears his name. The falls are neither the highest nor the widest falls in the world, but they nonetheless hold a real attraction for me. It is a world heritage site and the series of gorges through which the Zambezi flows are spectacular. It probably isn’t the best river for canoeing. It is reported that in 1910 a hippo capsized a pair of canoes. The bodies of the people traveling in the canoes were severely mutilated by crocodiles. I’m OK with paddling in rivers with no hippos and no crocodiles.

New Zealand has always held an attraction for me. The two big islands and numerous small islands are the home to the Maori. It has some spectacular mountains and some incredible beaches and there are no plants that produce burs, so the sheep have wonderfully clean wool.

Zanzibar is an island off of the east coast of Tanzania. I don’t really know much about it but I’ve known the little ditty for so long that it seems like it would be worth a trip: Zanzibar, Zanzibar! Zanzibar is very far. You can’t get there in a car. Don’t take your car to Zanzibar!

I’ve always thought that a trip to Lake Baikal would be worth the effort. It is the largest, deepest and perhaps the cleanest fresh water lake in the world. It is also said to be among the oldest lakes in the world as well. It is located in the southern part of Siberia. I love lakes and have enjoyed the wonder of driving around Lake Superior. Baikal seems even bigger and more wonderful. And, while one is at it, the way to get to the lake could involve a trip on the famous trans-Siberian railway. That adventure is beyond my financial means.

And while we’re on the subject of lakes, Lake Tanganyika is the great African Lake. It probably would be best to combine a trip to this lake with a trip to Victoria Falls. It is the second deepest and second largest freshwater lake in the world. Both Tanganyika and Baikal are rift lakes, which mean that they are confined by mountain walls, making them even more dramatic in appearance.

I’m thinking that I probably won’t paddle the length of the Amazon. The Amazon basin covers nearly 40% of South America, so it takes some careful discerning to say which of the many branches is the true Amazon. Most agree that everything below the confluence of the Maranon and Ucayali rivers in Peru is fairly called the Amazon. There are a lot of dangers in paddling the Amazon and for most of the trip it is big water and slow paddling. Probably it is safer than the Zambezi, but it does have crocodiles and plenty of mosquitoes.

I probably won’t figure out how to go to Antarctica. I have no immediate plans to visit Machu Piccu or Angkor Wat, though both are trips I’d love to make. I’m thinking that I may never trek about the base of Everest.

But I’m not yet ruling out the trip to Mars. Denis Tito’s Inspiration Mars expedition is seeking a seasoned couple for a flyby in 2018. The trip will take about 16 months, so that would mean I’d get to celebrate my 65th birthday and our 45th anniversary on the trip. I think we’d be great candidates for the adventure. We get along very well, we know all about living and working together, and we’ve extensive experience sharing a small space (our pickup camper is roughly the size of the living quarters on the proposed space probe). The big problem with that trip is that I haven’t yet figured out how to apply.

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