Oh, the Places You (Won’t) Go

 

Day 4: Places I Want to Visit

This is both a difficult and an easy topic to write about. Me being me, I always have a lot of  places on my list. That’s the easy part. Writing about them is harder, because of course I’ve never been to them so I don’t know what they’re really like. 

Morocco and Dubai and Saudi Arabia have been at the top of that list for as long as that list has been in existence, since I was 12 or so maybe. Ironically, their allure has not diminished. In fact, the trip to Egypt I referenced yesterday and time spent in Israel on that same trip, only made me want to visit these nearby countries more. By now everyone’s bucket list has at some point or another included Marrakesh, but just so you know, I wanted to go there first. 

Nahanni National Park. I would love to paddle the untamed Nahanni River, cower in the shadows of massive granite, laugh at the antics of mountain goats and sheep, strike see a real live caribou off my bucket list, relax in wild Kraus Hot Springs, fight with a grizzly bear. Kidding about the last one. 

Palau. I’m kind of obsessed with this country right now, have been for a while actually. While reading a book about Oceans -which, by the way, I found to be a fascinating topic I hadn’t realized I was interested in (4th grade science books don’t do a great job in portraying the vastness and mystery of the oceans)- I learned so much about this country and so much about the world and so much about the ocean and animals that life in it. This country, It’s so tiny and so remote, surrounded by thousands and thousands of miles of outlaw ocean. Climate- and land-wise, it is the polar opposite of Canada, but that’s not the only reason I’m interested in it. It has ethical and climate issues that, while not unique to Palau alone, are compounded by its tininess and remoteness. Many of this tiny beautiful country’s residents rely on tourism to support themselves, but at the same time this tourism is starting to destroy the country itself. What do the tourists come to Palau for ? Its oceans, reefs, and beaches, mostly. One of the major problems is garbage disposal. Becos I’m an uneducated girl from Canada, this quandary had never crossed my mind. I mean, you just put your garbage at the end of the driveway and someone else takes it to a landfill and becos there’s arguably endless land to expand the landfill as it fills up, waste disposal isn’t really an issue in my country. But what happens when You live on (or visit) a tiny island? Where do the tons of generated garbage go on a teeny tiny island? Into the ocean -where else? And what does that garbage do in the ocean? It destroys reefs, clogs beaches, and kills marine life. Tourists don’t come to Palau to see dead fish and plastic-wrapped reefs and play dodge the pop bottles in the waves. Other people-menaces facing this country is poaching and illegal dumping of oil or other garbage into the remote corners of their waters.  These are issues that the people of the country have taken a firm stance on to protect their country; they have trooper stations on far flung islands to guard against these atrocities and patrols on boat as well. Other menaces can’t be so easily stopped. Changing weather patterns have created wild tropical storms that have been getting wilder every year and, along with rising water lines, have chased people from some of their small island homes to bigger more populated islands. 

Okay I’m done about Palau. Maybe. I know a lot of people scoff and climate change and protecting the environment, but I believe in a version of both, and maybe that’s why I love Palau. 

Australia. I want to learn to surf there, among deadly jelly fish, man eating sharks, and magnetic rip tides. And once I’m done there, I’ll hop across the ocean to Papua New Guinea. Did you know that native names for the country include these : Niugini or Niu Gini? I don’t know the story behind this, but unfortunately I can imagine how the name (spelling) got changed. 

Croatia. I’m not exactly sure why I had put this on my destination list becos I’m not super much of a Europe fanatic, which, I decided the other day, is maybe due in part to many hours spent in ubiquitous European airports as a kid. But about Croatia. I’m gunna keep this one on my list anyway becos if I suddenly find cheap plane tickets to Croatia I would be delighted to go there. I’m pretty sure if I would go there I would fall in love with the country cos I have a tendency to do that whenever I visit a new place. 

Indonesia. The Mediterranean. Somalia. Djibouti. China. Anywhere in South American. Nepal. Basically anywhere that’s not North America or Europe. 

Now that I’ve started, it’s hard to stop writing about destinations. But I have to. And if any readers want to leave their dream destination lists in the comments or pm them to me, I’d be delighted. I love this topic.