5 awesome must visit places I have never been to
You can call this my fantasy travelogue. [ Day 13 of “One Day, One Blog”]
I have a Bengali friend who sings amazingly well. A mutual love for good food and a total lack of concern for our grades in college formed the basis of our friendship. In the past couple of years, I have been avoiding him — which is kind of easy, given that I live in Kerala and he lives in Switzerland. Chandu and I have a standing invitation from him and his lovely wife to visit Switzerland. Despite being people who love to travel, we still haven’t made the trip.
Why?
You see, these governments are incredibly narrow minded. They insist on things like a “Passport” to allow you to travel. Mine expired a couple of years ago and I haven’t quite gotten around to renewing it. Yet.
( For all the friends reading this and pulling your hair out — I have started the process. I think I should get it in 45 days).
The Governments and International affairs cannot put shackles on the mind that has been bitten by the wanderlust. So my flights of fantasy have often taken me to these wonderful places. I have no freaking clue what I will find in these places but this is how they appear in my day dreams.
If I could paint, I would mesmerize you with the stunning images of these places that I have conjured up in my mind. Since that is not something I can do, allow me to take you on a trip to these wonderful places as they appear in my reverie.
- Scotland
The land of rolling hills, highlands and the Loch Ness monster; the home of Braveheart and my hero Lochinvar.
“O young Lochinvar is come out of the west,
Through all the wide border his steed was the best”
Do you remember the first love of your teenage years? Mine was Lochinvar. At a time when you didn’t know that something called the “internet” would completely revolutionize the way you access information, the only way you built pictures in your head was with this thing called imagination.
I built the most romantic image of a young gallant knight and as I grew up, the aura I built around the character was transferred to the place he came from.
The majestic mountains, the pristine lochs, castles shrouded in mystery- I promise I will come one day to walk through the deep glens.
2. Turkey
I have this recurring dream, of an old book-seller whose shop is located in a bustling street in what could be described as a flea market. The place has a nondescript entrance and you would certainly not find it if you went looking for it. I wander into it by accident and there I find this treasure trove of old books and a guardian of those books, a man older than those ancient books.
I don’t know why I have this dream. Again and again. Perhaps, some residual past life memories resurfacing?
I need to look for this place in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul.
3. Afghanistan
When you hear Zeb and Haniya sing “Bibi Sanam Janem”, the magnificent folk song of Afghanistan, you are overwhelmed that a land which created something so profound is so ravaged by war. Man created this beauty. And man killed all this.
I used to worry my family a lot with my romantic notions of war torn places. What if I took off when the fancy struck? They were mighty relieved when I got married but I am actually more likely to do these crazy things now that I have a partner whose love for adventures are more unhinged than mine.
4. The Von Trapp Family Home
You may know them from “Sound of Music”. But I discovered the Von Trapp family at the back of a cupboard in a forgotten corner at my friend Khristine’s house. The year was 1994. Khristy and I were deep in preparation for our board exams. Supposedly. I went in search for something to read and discovered this forgotten book from her Dad’s library, “The story of the Trapp Family Singers”
Since then, this book has been my bible whenever I needed an escape from reality. It is difficult to explain why this book means so much to me ( perhaps worth exploring in another blog?)
But the companionship that developed with the Von Trapp Family has created a longing to visit their home in Salzburg, Austria
5. Machu Picchu
Given my love for the outdoors, I doubt I am going to walk up the mountains. But if there is one place where I think the spirit of Indiana Jones still lurks, it should be wandering around the relics of the Incan Tribes.
I picture myself wondering at the architectural genius of the ancients, possibly accompanied by the souls that walked this path thousands of years ago. I will loose my way and walk down the dark tunnel and lo behold lies the lost Golden Idol.
Reality check — given that “losing the way” is a specialty of mine, this might actually happen.
Some of you may have visited these amazing places. I would love to know what you think of them.
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Friends, this is the Day 13 of my odyssey to write one blog EVERY DAY for the month of May 2017. “One Day, One Blog”
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