Memories That Could Have Been

My mind wandered off to all the faraway places suggested in my last post’s comments, guesses for the places my five travel photos were from.

Places that I didn’t even know were on my bucket list suddenly appeared there (and I thought I had already emptied the bucket).

Why – Iceland, Cuba, the Kalahari – yes, I certainly could have gone to all of those places, gladly. I can see myself there now, dancing salsa in Havana, wearing a white dress against my tanned body, feeling the soft night breeze on my face, feeling like I don’t have a worry in the world.

And I can see myself in South Africa, too – after a successful wildlife safari from a hot air balloon, a local guide would have driven me in a jeep to the Kalahari glacier (looking just like it does on Google Images)… I actually did have a friend who was always inviting me to Cape Town and to their beach house somewhere on the coast (with sharks!) but I never found the perfect moment to go. (In my mind, I traveled there several times.)

Ecuador apparently sounded like a place I could have been to, and I agree. Maybe if I had taken a different turn somewhere in life, made a very small decision differently, it would have spiraled off to another direction, leading to yet another decision and then another… maybe I would have ended up in Bogotá or Rio de Janeiro. Another friend used to tell me, when I was younger, that one day, somehow, I’d end up in Rio (because I dreamt of it back then.) I don’t know yet if she was right.

Someone in my comments suggested Canada. I would have liked to have gone to Canada, having met so many Québécois along the way in France, with their French accents that I couldn’t ever understand a word of (after 12 years of studying French!)

But, these are places I’ve never been to. The correct answers to the guessing game are in the slideshow:

#1 Samaná, the Dominican Republic. Guessed correctly by Amor from We Travel Happy – well done!!!

#2 Perito Moreno glacier, Patagonia, Argentina. Correct guesses: Arielle/The Wayfarer, Marina (“Bc this is how the end of the world must look like”), Pooja, Alison, Amor, and Andy

#3 Montevideo, Uruguay. No one got this right, but Veronique suggested Argentina which isn’t far off – they’re neighbors after all!

#4 Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii. Arielle and Lorelle/A Mindful Traveller said it was from the US, which is technically true

#Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey. Correct guesses by: Peter, Alison, Andy, and Lorelle. Well done, you super globetrotters! Another neighbor, Greece, got some votes too – could well have been a church in Greece!

Thank you all so much for playing with me! I loved it!

On another note, blogging has made me create a new list of places I’d like to travel to. Places I barely knew existed before reading about them in other blogs. So far, the list only exists in my head, but let me jot down a few…

Piran, Slovenia – because it looks beautiful
Siena, Italy – same reason
Holbox, Mexico – paradise beach!
The Keukenhof Gardens, Holland – flowers!!
Rovinj, Croatia – salsa festival
Annecy, France – because I lived in France for a while but never heard of this place

St Petersburg (only 300 km away) has also been on my to-do list forever. But the visa requirements make me feel lazy, and the visa-free options make me feel suspicious. Montpellier has been on my mind (a re-visit), but the flights from here are insanely priced. And a beach holiday is way overdue. Still quite a while before we can teach the babies to snorkel, but I’m looking forward to it! (Right now, they’re learning to eat!)

Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend!