I sitting around pondering life while I recover from surgery and I had a thought - I have bad timing. I'm going to England and Scotland in September and at one time I had a couple friends there, I think now I may still have 1 or 2. Well I know I have one, but the rest of them might have moved on. I haven't gotten overseas much in the past few years so that is my excuse as good or bad as it is.
But as I think about my "big" trip - probably late 2011 or early 2012 and the places on my short list I'm wondering how I should pick my destination. Ideally, I will be gone at least 3 weeks.
The African Safari
SE Asia
Australia
New Zealand
I don't have any friends working an African Safari so my theory doesn't hold for that. I don't have any friends in SE Asia, but I do think the area is going to change more quickly then the last 2 places on my list. Oz and NZ - I know some people in both, though don't have any close friends. I'm sure I could meet up for a dinner or drinks or something there with the people I know. And well Contiki has an 18 day tour of NZ that sounds nice. And well, I'm sure I'll make some new friends from down under on my next Contiki tour. Maybe it will work out well to hit NZ or Oz first - SE Asia might start installing more "western" toilets by the time I make it there. Ahhh, dreams. But I do think I should give a little more consideration to where I know people when I plan this next trip, meeting up with locals/friends might make the place come to life.
