Eclectic Views

    
I've got a hell of a lot of places where I'd love to go but either don't
have the time or don't have the money (or both). What's your fantasy travel
itinerary?
  

    
The current trip I'm lusting after despite not being really able to take
about two months off next year is the passage from Easter Island to Tahiti
via Pitcairn and the Marquesas on Soren Larsen, the squarerigged sailing
ship I had the pleasure of spending just under a fortnight on as voyage crew
in 2002:

http://www.sorenlarsen.co.nz/V216_Easter_Island-Tahiti_2005.htm

Why? Well, having had a small taste of shipboard life I'd love to go on a
longer ocean passage (last time was mostly island cruising) and really get
into the rhythm of the three-watch system. I've always found islands
fascinating, for some reason (hey, I live on one, albeit a rather large one)
and the South Pacific particularly fascinating - huge expanses of ocean with
tiny specks of land dotted around the place, clear blue water (unlike the
north Atlantic), whatever.

And there are virtually no other ways to reach Pitcairn Island than by sea,
although heaven knows what the place is like at the moment with half the
adult population on trial for child abuse. Soren had a good reception there
earlier this year, though, so I guess life goes on.
  

    
Great topic!

I'd love to drive the Alaska Highway one-way, through Canada to
Fairbanks, taking it slow, camping along the way.  Then I'd take
a sleeper car on the train from Fairbanks to Anchorage.  Then a
cruise down the Inland Passage from Anchorage to Puget Sound.  It
would make for a very nice summer.
  

    
I've always wanted to tour Micronesia.  Most likely I'd fly Air Mike
from Honolulu -> Majuro -> Pohnpei -> Chuuk -> Guam, with side trips to
Kosrae, Yap and Palau.

Don't ask me why; I'm not sure I can explain it.  I was fascinated
with the place as a child, and still try to keep up on the news from
there from time to time.  The fact that my brother's odious
ex-girlfriend visited once and hated it only enhances the allure for
me.
  

    
Angkor Wat. 

Somerset Maugham wrote in 1930 that it it needed but "the glow of
sunset or the white brilliance of the moon to give it a loveliness that
touches the heart." 

Many years later, at age 90 or so, and after roaming the world for 70
years, he wrote that he was done with life, that life no longer
appealed to him, etc., but that he would like to make just one last
trip to Angkor Wat, the most beautiful place on earth. 
  

    
For some reason I favor really out of the way places, mostly islands like
Skellig Michael, Kerguelen, Heard, St. Kilda, Tristan de Cunha, and
Inaccessible.  I check out the Tierra del Fuego webcam now and then.
  

    

Alaska.  I'd like to see Alaska.
  

    
party at <wolfy>'s!!
  

    
I'd love to be in New England right about now, touring around,
checking out the foliage, visiting local fairs, staying at little inns.
  

    
Great time of year for New England, for sure.

Lately I've been daydreaming about a trip to Costa Rica. I've been looking
at vacation rentals at www.vrbo.com and been imagining staying in a little
shack next to a nature preserve and seeing monkeys springing about on the
deck when I get up in the morning. And counting all the different kinds of
hummingbirds I can see from the porch. And maybe even venturing off into the
forest for even more wildlife sightings.

And bananas. Damn, I love eating local bananas in tropical climes. They
taste sooooooooooo much better than supermarket bananas in California.
  

    

Hey, come visit anytime, gang.   The foliage is good this year.
  

    
Right now, I'm starting to fantasise about a semi-developed plan I had for
walking from Land's End to John O'Groats a couple of years ago - my then-
girlfriend and myself got to the stage of running the idea of eight weeks of
leave past our employers before other events overtook it and the planning
had to be put on hold.

Now I'm not doing much other than sitting around at home (although some more
work would be nice, please) I have plenty of time to pore over maps...
  

    
thanks to this topic, I contacted that site from early on, the one
with "square-rigger" cruises, and got the brochure.  We've never been
that much into travel per se, but this is starting to intersect early
fantasies and loves.  We may instead opt for the nearer-to-home cruises
in the Caribbean available as "windjammer" cruises.  But the whole
idea is very exciting to me;  we did a lot of sailing in small boats
when I was a kid
  

    
I think the right sailing trip depends on what you want to do - if you want
to get involved in the pulling-ropes-and-shouting-two-six-heave type affairs
and actually become part of the crew (albeit, in my case, a total newbie)
ships like Soren are fantastic. However, facilities on board usually reflect
this (small cabins, scarce fresh water so few and fast showers, manually
pumping the heads). If you just want to soak up the ambience of being on 
a square-rigger but with more modern facilities and less blisters on your
hands, there are ships out there which are basically sailing cruise ships. 

Inbetween, of course, there's a whole range of different options. 
  

    
Mike, i got the brochure in the mail, but it did not really sound like
the Soren is an "interactive" sailing vacation, but you say it is? 
The spartan facilities etc, would nix it for my wife, but the hands-on
part would fulfill some of my childhood fantasies...
  

    
I think they try hard not to scare people off by implying that you're
expected to dive straight in and help out with everything that's going. In
reality it's completely up to you whether you do everything that's going or
just take in the atmosphere. Most people seem to do something inbetween.

Officially, SL is a Sail Training Ship - you're signed onto ship's articles
as crew for the duration of your trip. I'm not sure why this is, but I
suspect it's related both to insurance and the fact that you can do things
like climb the rigging, stand watch and take the helm which regular
passengers probably aren't supposed to do.

I chickened out of doing much climbing of the rigging - went up to the
platform once, but that was it. Some of the other VCs were out on the yards
after a while, but not me. I did clamber out on the bowsprit to stow some
sails, though - it's quite an experience to climb around with nothing
between you and the Pacific Ocean churning under the bow but the rigging. At
least if you fall off the mainmast there's a nice solid deck below.
  

    
reminds me of one of Ishmael's meditations on metaphysics while up in
the rigging of the Pequod....

I have a cousin who never quite finished her PhD in marine biology,
who years ago spent a couple of years bumming around the south pacific.
 I got the impression from her that crewing on ships is still a very
hang loose affair;  she herself just dropped off a ship to spend
several months on some island, then picked up a berth on another ship
later.

To me, the notion of eventually going up in the rigging is a very
enticing proposition.  But, like Ishmael, I'd have to be doubly sure my
footing was sure...
  

    
This would be a good time for me to recommend my *NEW FAVORITE BOOK*!!
(since this is perfect 'armchair travel' topic stuff:

"The Sex Lives of Cannibals : Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific" 
 by Troost, J. Maarten

Funny, exotic, wonderful, worthy. Buy this book today!
  

    
Were these German cannibals by any chance?
  

    
(laughs)
  

    
<http://www.codysbooks.com/product/info.jsp?isbn=0767915305>
  

    
Seeing as we're mentioning books, Jim Cottier (who regularly skippers Soren
Larsen) has written one too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0850364825/
  

    
Only one left in stock at the moment -- not bad!
  

    
I've been thinking of either riding my bike from California to Florida
(I've moved to Key West) or around Australia.

On the other hand I had a job interview here on Monday and it went
well. I'm supposed to have another next week.