Five Places Calling My Name

Yeah, okay.  I admit it.  I hear voices.  Well, only one voice really.

"Traceyyyyyy.  Ohhhh Traceyyyyyy."

It's not a man's voice and it's not a woman's voice.  It reminds me of the sound of rustling leaves on a windy day and sometimes has the intensity of the sound of whistling steam from the hole on a near-to-boiling tea kettle top.  Faint but not faint.  Shrill but not shrill.  Its name, I know, is Wanderlust.  And, nutty or not, this voice has been in my head and my heart for a long, long time.  We are one and the same.  That is my reality.

I answer the call of Wanderlust often by surfing the Internet, flipping through the pages of travel magazines, re-visiting some of my own travel stories, chatting with travelers, accepting press trips, posting travel photos on one of my Facebook pages, and - almost always - by booking a flight...or two...maybe even three.  

Sometimes I make long drawn out travel plans and other times I don't. Sometimes my motivation to travel to a particular destination comes from a casual convo with a friend and other times it might come from an Instagram post.  And while asking a maniacal traveler (that would be me) where in the world she has never been yet wants to go might be answered with a quick "everywhere," there are some places that - for one reason or another - call out her name.  Here are five international destinations that happen to be calling out to me...

The South Pacific

Enchanted at an early age by the fictional island of Bali Hai, I have wanted to go anywhere in the South Pacific for as long as I can remember: Tahiti, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa....  And yes, I can imagine myself sailing with My Fella in the seas of the South Pacific.
"Here am I, your special island. Come to me. Come to me...."

Siam Thailand

 

This movie is still one of my all time favorites (and yes, I even loved the re-make).  It is - admittedly - the root of my desire to visit Thailand, as it is wrought with texture, rich colors and culture.  

Casablanca

Casablanca is yet another movie that has influenced my desire to visit its movie title namesake.  I did go to Marrakech for the first time this November past, but have yet to go to Casablanca, Morocco's largest city located on the Atlantic Ocean.  Notice a movie pattern yet? *giggle*
Here's looking at you kid.


Spain

I don't remember the first time I saw tango performed (or flamenco for that matter), but what I do know is that the drama of the dance (as depicted in the movie Moulin Rouge, above) and its origination in Spain is one of my motivations for wanting to visit España.  Barcelona is on my calendar for August, so that will take care of that.

Brazil


Even before I knew there was a movie called Orfeu Negro (aka Black Orpheus), I knew I wanted to go to Brazil.  And while I hear Carnival is quite the party, I just want to hang out and soak in the culture.  I leave for Salvador de Bahia in three weeks.

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Do you ever hear the voices of Wanderlust calling your name?



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Note:  Because I can think of way more than five places I'd like to go, and because no traveler could be content to name just five, here are ten more places on my international To Do List and five on my domestic To Do List:  Zanzibar, Indonesia, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Montreal/Quebec, Vietnam, India, Maldives, Easter Island, Guadeloupe; the Florida Keys, Charleston, N.C., The Hamptons, Grand Canyon, Vermont.  And yes, of course, there are more.

Antarctica did not make the list.

This post is a part of the Traveling Brown Girls Blog Carnival and this is the final carnival stop on the circuit.  For more travel stories, please visit Carnival Host BrownGirlsFly.com on Travel Tuesday, April 9.