Just In Case... My Travel Wish List

When my daughter came home from the beach with her uncle, she told me she would be asking Santa for a boogie board. I'm not sure that's what she will actually end up with, but it got me thinking. 

Not about Christmas exactly. I am still not through Halloween. And I am not the kind of person who begins prepping for Christmas in July. I try not to think about it until the dishes are clean from Thanksgiving. If I buy gifts too early, I forget that I have them. Then I end up buying for that person again in December anyway. This is not me being funny either... it has actually happened. I bought my sister a snow globe (inside joke) in the summer. And then I found it two years later when I moved out of that house. 

But it got me thinking about my wish list. There's not a long list of things I'd really like. My Christmas wish list is usually a gift card to Barnes and Noble or Target. I'm a huge fan of both stores. And I can do an insane amount of monetary damage in either. It's always nice to have a supply of gift cards to soften the blow. 

For me, I'd rather go places. I want to experience things. I want to see stuff. I want to take my kids to see things. I want my husband and I to escape the crazy, stress-filled world we live in. My Dad asked me the other day what I'd do if I had $10 billion... I was really disappointed that this wasn't a preface to "hey, we are secretly trillionaires and now you and your sisters are billionaires." He was just asking hypothetically. I said I would buy a house, pay off all of our debt, pay my parents back for their investment in my frame shop, and I would travel the world (with my hubs and kids, and probably on a yacht I just bought). And I would do a lot of secret charity work. 

So I thought I'd create a list of sorts... places I really would love to go. Some I've been to, most not. Some are generic, some more specific. A few alone, most with the hubs, some with the monsters. Feel free to add to my list. The more, the merrier.

Take Me Away...

• Paris, France - been there before, want to take the hubs and maybe the monsters. Who am I kidding? They would kill me if we went without them. 
• Castle shopping / castle hopping in the Loire River Valley... with my $10B I would also buy a chateau.
• Ireland 
• Norway - This is mostly for the kids. Rea has a fascination with the country and would like to visit. If she goes, Mommy does too. 
• Auschwitz - Don't judge. I studied the Holocaust for years. And spent a great deal of time teaching it (it's a requirement in FL for English teachers). I think Stu would like to go as well, so he can join me. 
• Alaska - but here's the catch: indoor plumbing is not a luxury, it's a requirement or I will skip this thank you. 
• A Mediterranean cruise - preferably a Disney cruise. But beggars cannot be choosers. 
• On my cruise, or separately, I'd love to visit Greece. There is something about the crystal waters and white architecture that calls to me.
• A tour of the pyramids - Ancient Egypt has always fascinated me. I'd want to really go in and look around the tombs. 
• Mt Everest - not to climb it. Hello, cliche much? I want to stand at the bottom, or fly around it in a helicopter. And I would shake my head at all the crazy nuts who have climbed it. I think I have to see it in person to appreciate that athletic feat. 
• Fiji, Bali, Bora Bora - some place remote with crystal clear turquoise water and bungalows over the water. I think I could spend a month there. Alone or with the hubs. =)

So, what do you think? What would you add?