I’m the kind of person who, when doing the same thing over and over, doesn’t get better at it; I actually get worse. I thrive on what others might call stress, but what I consider stimulus. Travel outside of my local area is my pinnacle. I love seeing new people, eating new foods, adjusting to the unexpected. My normal habit is to not really plan what I’m going to see but to see what happens when I arrive. Sometimes this doesn’t work out so well, like when a famous museum is closed for repairs or something, so I tend to check that kind of thing first, but part of the Not Planning increases the opportunity to learn something other than the thing I came to see. I’ve had some great food, seen some amazing sights, and got some unexpected tattoos following this path.
For now, however, I must make do with at least a little bit of planning and a little bit of thinking about where I actually want to go. I’ve made it through the warm places I wanted to see more of when I was on cruises and have made a new list:
- Egypt (river cruise maybe?)
- Petra
- Tallinn, Estonia (first cruise stop ever) and Berlin (only saw Museum Island, must see more)
- Sicily (interested in the Islam/Catholic handoff, also Norsemen)
- Rome (saw the big things, want to see more)
- Various small Greek islands
- London, but when it’s warmish
- Tuktoyaktuk (24 hour sun)
- Venice
- Japan is creeping in
- Israel (has a lot related to my previous field of study, also the Crusades are interesting)
- Bangkok (I need a week of massages to reset, and hope to go in November)
- Malta (Crusaders!)
If you have any other suggestions, please let me know. I am also actively pursuing remote work so I could maybe put all my stuff in storage and just go to these places during the year, then staying with friends when I am in Canada (paying them rent, of course). Just so my mom doesn’t get upset, it’ll, of course, have to pay about what I’m making now so I can keep saving for retirement.
The destination that keeps floating to the top, though, is a return to Sardinia. I was there in July 2018 and loved it. I want to see more. That’s what I am currently planning in anticipation of more accessible travel in summer or early fall 2021. I’ve already got a bit of an itinerary and a couple of things I want to repeat. The plan is to fly into Cagliari, maybe stay overnight in the Holiday Inn in Cagliari, which looks delightfully reasonable, rent a car and drive to Oristano, then Alghero, Olbia (although this is negotiable), and end up at the B&B I stayed at last time for four or five days of relaxation, maybe some day trips, and maybe redo the sailing trip I did last time, one of the highlights of all my trips ever.
It’s easy driving in Sardinia and there are a lot of small sights that don’t get a lot of traffic. I’ve had good luck with VRBO so far, also open to B&Bs but because I’ll have a rental, they’ll have to have parking. Of course, I’d love to stay inside any of these towns, but if I need to stay on the outskirts, I’d need a way to visit without the car. At each stop, the plan is to wander the streets, see the sights, and take day trips to other attractions. It appears that swimming with dolphins is a thing around Olbia, so that would be cool.
As the island is not that big, I’d like to plan stops for while driving between towns. Oristano is less than an hour from the Holiday Inn and imagine there are sights to see along the way. It’s about two and a half hours’ drive if taking a long way around (SS130 and SS126), but maybe there are more things to see?
Oristano to Alghero is about two hours, depending on route. Alghero looks to have a lot of local attractions as well as outlying sights. The drive from Alghero to Olbia would include a stop at Castelsardo, a citadel, as well as suggested views and restaurants, taking about two and a half hours. The last stretch would be from Olbia back to Pula and the B&B. This looks to be almost five hours total drive if sticking to the coast but over two hours faster if crossing to Oristano and then down. I’m assuming it’s because of the highway and speed limits but I’ll have to see. I’m kind of wanting to drive the coast but there might be some interesting things in the interior. Any insight into this issue would be greatly appreciated.
GoldenRationalism 