It’s definitely travel week here on ye olde blog. Completely unplanned, I assure you! But, upon reflection, considering the tagline of ‘To beyond and back’, it’s actually rather fitting.
Today we’re not peering into the past, however, but embracing the future according to this week’s WANAFriday blog prompt: If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
Ooooooh.
Anywhere? Really?
This is a really hard question, because there are so many places I want to go: South America (especially Peru… and Patagonia), North Africa (especially Morocco), Mongolia, the area around the Caspian Sea, Everest Base Camp, Antarctica…
The list is literally endless.
My current most immediate hankering, however, is to walk the Mont Blanc circuit in central Europe. The mountain lies on the border between France and Italy and is the highest peak in the European Union. I have no desire to climb the mountain itself, but there’s a walk you can do that circumnavigates the peak in about two weeks. Here’s a link to the Intrepid Travel guided walk — and it’s taking extreme self-control not to book myself on a trip here and now…
The description on the Intrepid web site: Undertake one of the most dramatic walks in Europe. No amount of training can prepare you for the staggering beauty and degree of diversity that is contained within the Mont Blanc Circuit. Postcard perfect villages, cerulean glaciers, striking alpine vistas, challenging passes and rewarding days await on this walking adventure through France, Italy and Switzerland.
- Follow the Grand Balcon trail
- Walk through fields of wildflowers
- Traverse alpine pastures to Champex
- Pass through France, Italy and Switzerland
- Get up close to breathtaking glaciers
- Follow ancient Roman roads
Doesn’t that sound amazing?
I am desperate to do this walk. Not only do I absolutely love mountains, but don’t you think it sounds like a fabulous research trip for a fantasy writer? Might even be tax deductible…
So, right now, that’s where I’d go, if I could go anywhere. Where would you go? Does anyone else like walking/trekking holidays?
***
And now it’s just occurred to me that I took this prompt to mean “anywhere in this world“… Because, if out of this world was an option, then just imagine the places one could go: the moon… Middle Earth… Al-Rassan… [head explodes]
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Other participants in this week’s WANAFriday blogfest include:
- Kim Griffin — who tells us why she wants to visit Paris, Australia and Hawaii
- Siri Paulson — whose destination of choice is a little out of this world…
- Janice Heck — who reveals why she’d go back to Paris
- Cora Ramos — who shares her favourite mode of travel: the wandering road trip
- Liv Rancourt — who reveals her yearning to revisit Hawaii
- Nikki McCormack — who shares a bunch of recent photos from Ireland
- Tami Clayton — who says she wants to go to Hawaii too (that’s three votes for Hawaii!)
Further posts will be updated when they’re live.
To participate, simply write a post to the prompt and tweet to #wanafriday, then hop around and visit all the other posts (and link to them if you wish).
Image credit: Wikimedia commons
E V Gregory 
I am not a trekker, but I have friends who are. One friend is hiking the Appalachian Trail in Eastern US (2000+ miles), and now well over half-way. That’s a bit tough for me, although I do like to walk. I do admire people who have the stamina to do that. I am not quite ready to sit by the pool and vege state either–I still have desires to travel back to Europe and Asia.
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I’ll have to look up the Appalachian Trail — sounds like something I’d like to do (at least part of it)… I love trekking, but I do mix it up with a more cultural and historical mode of travelling too. (I’m not one to sit by the pool, either!)
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That looks COOL! I would totally love to do it, too. Hmm…
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I know, right? There’s an expedition in the planning; you should should totally come. 🙂
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I can imagine the view would be truly amazing. I couldn’t do it, but I’d love to be a fly on your shoulder. The air must be so fresh. I can close my eyes and imagine it.
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Me too, Cora, me too. The very thought gets my heart pounding! Fresh air and exercise. 🙂
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That would be an amazing trip. If I were to attempt a long hiking trek, I think I’d start closer to home and see if I could complete the entire Pacific Crest trail. It goes from the border of Canada, all the way down the west coast of the US, and ends in southern California. I’m not a terribly good camping person, though. I might need to hire a sherpa to drive an Airstream camper and park it at each of the places I stop for the night. That’s allowed, right? 😉
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There are some walks here I could do, but we don’t have mountains anywhere near the scale of anywhere else… Nor the history…
Oh and, yes, staying in little inns/teahouses/lodges is taken for granted. I’m sure not lugging a tent, sleeping bag and cooking stuff with me all that way. 😉
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Count me in… I want to go to all those places too. They sound amazing.
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Yay! Nice to meet a fellow fantasy writer and traveller.
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Wow! Now I want to go! The description sounds amazing and the material for your writing would be endless.
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It would be an amazing trip for many reasons. I was trying to wangle it for this year, but it’s not going to happen… Sounds like we could get a party up!
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That walk sounds absolutely amazing! I too have a thing for the Alps. Like you, I do not desire to conquer their heights, but to drink in their beauty.
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Well said, Elizabeth!
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I had not heard of that walk and it sounds wonderful. I have heard of (and thought about doing) the trail between France & Spain, El Camino Santiago. Not sure I could do the whole thing, and I would get a bus to carry my gear, but I’d sure like to give it a try.
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Oh, are you referring to the Pilgrim Way? I want to do that too! I looked at doing some of it when I went to Spain a few years ago, but it didn’t work out… I don’t mind carrying some gear, but there is a lot to be said for porters of any variety!
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Since the prompt doesn’t seem to be limited to terrestrial destinations, I’m going to go with Titan. Saturn is one of my favorite planets and I bet the neighborhood would be a cool place to hang out.
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I like your reasoning! Imagine living with the planet and its rings so close…
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