Happy travels in 2010

I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions but I am going to brush the dust off my blog and try hard to keep up on it. In my own defense, I had computer problems for the past month. Perhaps I can blame that and the stupor from holiday overeating, which resulted mostly from food I cooked myself...

Although 2010 will likely be another lean year, I'm not going to let it get me down. If there's one thing I learned from my first trip abroad, it's the virtue of optimism. I came across my passport during a recent attempt at housekeeping (neatness is not one of my virtues either) and realized that it expires this year. Has it been ten years, a full decade, since I ran into an old friend at mass on Christmas day who said that we should go to Italy? And several days later, after the turn of the millenium, that another friend said, "Why not? What are we waiting for?" At the time, a major trip seemed so out of reach for so many reasons, but gradually I understood that the chief obstacle was my own attitude. I could think of ten good reasons why I shouldn't have even let it enter my mind, most of which had to do with money and practicality: "I don't have any money put away. And how would I be able to save enough? I just started a new job not too long ago so could I even get the time off?" I went on and on until I finally said to myself, "I want to do this and I can find a way!"

Of course I did find a way as I have for many trips since then. I try to remember that now since things for me and many, many others have been tough lately. When you're out of work or facing the possibility of losing a job, you aren't exactly in a position to finance your next cruise or jaunt to Europe but... you can think, wish, and hope for the day when you will be able to go again.

So I've been daydreaming about:

- taking a cruise (ideally on the new Queen Elizabeth, shown above)

- going back to Italy but to a place I haven't been before

- a whole week at the beach

- and in between, short hops to Las Vegas, New York, etc.

What about you?