Where To?: So where should I go this year? What should I visit? Any thoughts?

I am once again tempted to hit the Caribbean simply because it is close, yet tropical. Still, with the exception of a single day on St. Barts many years ago, I have never been to a spot there that I felt the need see again. It's possible I have not found the right place. I have had the notion of a more off-the-beaten path trip; maybe Saba or Montserrat or Dominica or all three.

I have never been to Europe and strangely, don't feel any particular compulsion to go. I probably should -- how can you consider yourself a traveler if you have never been to Europe, right? But I would hate to waste precious travel time going somewhere just from peer pressure.

A closer hole in my travel resume is Mexico. I would like to see Cancun and the Maya Riviera, simply because I have an affection for man-made monuments to commerciality and Cancun certainly qualifies. More recently the town of Zihuatenajo on the Pacific coast looks nice.

I always have major journeys in my fantasies, such as the South Pacific (Oceania, Australia, or Southeast Asia), or even somewhere in the Indian Ocean (The Maldives -- yum). But the expense is huge and the travel is arduous. I would want to plan for three weeks at least in any of those places and do a multi-locale tour. Feasibility issues, to say the least.

Likewise with adventure holidays like, say, the Galapagos or the Masai Mara. Those would be cool, but the generally require formal tours and that means double occupancy and frankly, I know few people who can free up the time and I gave up on strangers as roommates after college.

It may end up being a year of re-visits, which would be fine. Hawaii could stand another visit, this time including the Big Island. Tahoe is all worth more time. A spa trip will be in order should I drift into unhealthy behavior at any point. The Northwest and the Northeast are both somewhat unexplored by me. I could throw in weekends to Chicago and Manhattan. I still haven't gotten back to New Orleans. Closer to home, I have been threatening to get to the Stratford Festival in Ontario for quite some time. So whatever my time and money circumstances, I do not want for things to do.

However it falls out, I'm sure you'll hear about all of them.