Over There! #MFRWauthor Blog Challenge Week 17

Hello, and welcome to another installment of the MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Challenge.

This week's question is: The Top Five Places I'd Like to Visit

I've included a Linky at the end of this post so you can visit everyone's submission to this week's Hop.

I know it sounds ridiculous to say I Love to Travel because, let's be honest, who doesn't?

A more accurate or realistic remark might sound more like this: Who Can AFFORD to Travel?

Right?

Not me!

But, dreams are free and here is mine.

#5

Crete

Home to the Ideon Cave, which was the birthplace of Zeus.

But also for the food, the atmosphere, and especially the photo ops standing near all of the white buildings with blue awnings/rooftops/shutters... and with the Mediterranean as a backdrop.

I learned in one of my Linguistics classes that there is an island off the coast of Greece where the language is so obscure that even Greeks have trouble understanding it.

Fascinating stuff, so I'd like to hop over to that place as well, just to look around and LISTEN for a time.

#4

Brighton, England

Just for the day.

Because while there, I'd like to see ALL of England, Scotland, and Wales, but I watch a lot of YouTube channels, and one of my favorite channels hails from Brighton.

She does a lot of walking/driving around in this city, and it has fascinated me to the point of wanting to step inside the quaint, tiny shops, take a lot of pictures of the ancient buildings and colorful side streets, and to be able to say I stepped out on the famed pier.

Just not during peak summer tourist season, when this same beach becomes overcrowded to the point of not being able to see sand for skin.

No thanks.

#3

St. Petersburg, Russia

And, speaking of Architecture, Ancient, and Colorful, nothing seems to hold a candle to this place for me.

My sister-in-law is from here and still possesses a cool accent after ten years, and I studied Russia from high school onward when she arrived to make me feel less than knowledgeable but no less fascinated.

Her father is my best bud; a delightful old man with a wonderful smile and with about as much thirst for knowledge of America as I have for Russia, and we both love to watch Tennis!

We hit it off right away.

Her mother is my babki and a font of ancient wisdom in the health food/home remedy department, which I'm told a lot of Russians seem to prefer over institutionalized medicines.

So now I have a special fondness for carrot cream, birch bark, and Kefir.

The history, the culture, and the people are why I'd be delighted to say I've been there, done that.

Not so much for the food, but I know I wouldn't starve there, either.

This is probably my answer to everyone else's Vietnam choice.

#2

Alaska

Until my son had to do a Poster Report on this state in 6th grade, I hadn't ever shown the slightest interest in it, but as he and I got into the research details about the flora, fauna, climate, elevations, history, the natives, etc., my mind started to switch gears.

Then came Northern Exposure (which, I know, was filmed in Washington, but...), one of the first TV series I got hooked on and watched every single episode of, helped to add fuel to a simmering fire inside of me.

Later on, when my Fantasy Romance novel idea struck, it was set in this largest State in the U.S., so I began my research again, forced myself to sit in front of a television to watch a few History Channel and A&E programs located there, and then follow an Alaskan page on Facebook.

I'm hooked despite the cold and desolate feel of the place.

And for the past few years, my Michigan has suffered far worse winters than Alaska, so climate change is more of a reality for me than it is for others.

There is just way too much to see, do, and experience in this humongous state NOT to want to say you've been there at least once.

I just want to see the Northern Lights, a glacier, and some real wildlife.

#1

Iceland

More Auroras!

Actually, I'm able to see them right here in Michigan 😊

But, I can't say sigur rós is from here!

A 2010 episode of Top Gear had Jeremy Clarkson cruising around the smooth-as-silk roads in a Ferrari F430, and James May drove a modified Toyota Hilux pickup toward a live volcano, which actually went Kaboom a week later!

courtesy Top-Ten Worst Things About Iceland (ironically)

The imagery just took my breath away as I watched that episode (a mere five years after it originally aired) but I've enjoyed sigur rós much longer than that.

The two combined make for one mighty intense urge to want to go there, see everything, touch as much as I can get away with touching, and film until I can't find anything left to film.

Then find someplace warm and snug at night to lie down on my back and stare up at the night sky, which is sure to amaze even more.

Well, in-between all the shopping, sightseeing, tourist-trapping, food eating, and hot-springs soaking, that is.

I think when some people go to Pinterest in search of the perfect Inspiration photos for their Fantasy novels, they'll land on something from Iceland and stop to stare before thinking... Yep, this is it. This is what I'm going for in my story.

Me, too!

Thank you SO much for joining me today and experiencing a journey I'd love to be able to take some day.

Please be sure to click the linky links below to discover more people and more journeys.