Traveling
by Jaime Ertel, 3/02

I want to spend my entire life traveling. I want to explore. I want to be an adventurer. I want to experience as many places as possible, particularly Easter Island, Africa, Greece, Australia, Norway, Germany, and California. To explore dozens of different cultures first-hand, rather than waste my life working 40 hours a week just to pay my bills: that would make me the happiest person in the world.

I want to go on a romantic cruise around Easter Island, and then spend a few weeks there with Jay. It's over 2,000 miles from any other civilization (Chili & Tahiti), making it one of the most the most remote and isolated places on the planet. It is one of the most unique places one could ever visit. The people of Easter Island (the Repanui) are some of the friendliest people in the world. And the landscape is supposed to be absolutely phenominal, with achaeological sites, volcanic craters, lava formations, beaches, and beautiful, blue water.

I want to spend a few weeks in Hawaii with my mom. She finally got a chance to vacation there last year with my dad, but I know she'd absolutely love to go back, and for as long as possible. We could spend days doing nothing but laying on the white sand of Waikiki Beach with Strawberry Banana Daiqueris. Instead of going to the gym, I could just walk along the water for miles, climb vocanos, and swim in natural pools. The weather would always be warm and beautiful, a nice change from NJ, the so-called "Garden State." Ha.

I want to grab my friend Tim from Chicago and drag him to California for a few months. I've never seen the West coast and I know I'd have more fun there with Tim than with anyone else. We could hang out at the beaches, go to LA clubs and concerts, shop, eat awesome food, and stay in fancy hotels. We could visit Hollywood. We'd be on no schedule. We have no jobs to get up early for. And I'm sure we'd watch plenty of awesome California TV. :)

Of course I could go on and on... but I'll stop now. You get the point.

The price tag on this life of paradise could vary in so many ways. Maybe I need thousands of lotto tickets and a mountain of luck. Maybe I need to marry a lawyer, or a doctor, or both! Maybe some rich distant relative I've never even met needs to die. Sadly, I suppose I'd probably do just about anything to get out of working for the rest of my life.

Wouldn't you?

This was originally written for the "Thinking Outside The Box " collaboration project.