Travels

I posted 10 minutes ago. Babysitting can be so productive!

So MChes and I are nuts about traveling. Here's our plans for the next couple years:

Nov 2007: Thanksgiving in Utah, of course!
Dec 2007: Montana with the Monsters
Aug 2008: Olympic peninsula alpine camping and temperate rain forest hiking
Feb 2009: Costa Rica
Sept 2010: Peru

Up to Costa Rica is pretty firm, and I've spent too many hundreds of hours planning for and dreaming of Peru for that not to happen. It was going to be Sept 2008 except we had scheduling and money issues.

So, after that where we go depends on where we are living. If I get a CERN fellowship we'll be living in Switzerland so our travels will be mostly European, though we'd love to swing by Madagascar or Tanzania if we can. So here's our list [mostly mine, MChes's list and mine are, shall we say, complementary]

1. Papua New Guinea. Some day I'll write a whole post about why I'm so attracted to there. Or seven.
2. Madagascar. This will get a post too.
3. Peru. Most biologically diverse place on the planet.
4. Costa Rica. 100 more species of birds than North America in a country the size of West Virginia. And the plants and mammals and scenery... fantastic. And you probably have no idea what kind of crazy animals exist in the world until you've gone through a guide to the fauna of tropical America. Or been there.
5. New Zealand. This one isn't about diversity. It's about wild places, scenery, crazy birds and the cold. What's not to like about a place where birds evolved into every niche normally filled by mammals?
6. Tanzania/Kenya. Usambara mountains, seregeti. Need I say more?
7. Kamchatka. 7th looks far down the list, but let me tell you I've been dreaming of this trip since the 2nd grade. That's a true story. It might seem odd that somebody as obsessed with the tropics is also in love with tundra, but it's true. I could spend my whole life on tundra and be very very happy. Plus I prefer cold weather.
8. Bhutan/Nepal. This one isn't about biodiversity either. It's about a lot of other things though.
9. Botswana. Okavango is just about the wildest place on earth.
10. Hawaii. 40 species of honeycreeper. It would be my 49th state.
11. South Sandwich Islands/Antarctica. The real deal, some day. Not exactly for biodiversity... but the biomass is rediculous.
12. Norway, Iceland, Australia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Brazil, Ecuador and the Galapagos, Indonesia. Each of those has been on a top-three list at some point in time and each one would still be sweet beyond belief.

What makes me want to travel? Wilderness, wildlife, photography, ecology, adventure, experience, boredom, curiosity. And the goal is to finance the travel with our photography, which is on the verge of commercial viability after our Alaska trip this summer.

Now you know me better. You know what I think about when I can't sleep at night, when I'm supposed to be working, and when I'm in class.