My Golden Ticket

Yesterday after school, a friend and I went on a 6 mile run. Besides the fact that this was the first time I had run in snow and had ever run that far, I was surprisingly fine. My goal was to survive to see the sun rise the next day. Fortunately, I found this to be no staunching challenge; the whole way I even carried on a conversation with my fellow running mate. So what do you talk about while running 6 miles in the snow?

Seeing as we both love to travel, our conversation headed straight towards our mutual passion. Last summer, she traveled to Ecuador; I went to China. This upcoming summer, we both hope to head somewhere, who knows where.

This got me to thinking.....what are the top desired places to travel to? And, what are the top visited places? Seeking I answers, I turned to the trusty ol' 3Ws, the world wide web.

The first site linked below lists 100 Famous Wonders from around the world. They make up a great majority of the top desired destination of travel. I would highly agree with the list. If money was not an issue, I'd have been to each place already. Fortunately, the trip to China I mentioned above did grant me the opportunity to visit a few on the list, including the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the San Francisco Bay (in transit home from China). It sounds strange, but I get excited merely looking at the pictures even though I own no magical ticket to any of them. How wonderful it is to dream......Feel free to dream with me: http://famouswonders.com/.

The Famous Wonders sight takes a look at destinations around the world. But what about here in the United States of America? What are the top 25 Most visited tourist destinations in this country? For answers, I turned to: http://www.thetravelerszone.com/travel-destinations/top-25-most-visited-tourist-destinations-in-america/. Sadly, I have only visited 1 out of the 25 on the list: Disneyworld, Florida. I am not ashamed; traveling costs. I do hope this fraction increases with time until it no longer is a fraction, but a whole number....25/25.

So what is your fraction? Do you hope to change that number? Only you know. Not everyone cares to travel. My friend and I, we do. And every day, I am looking for a different Golden Ticket. Not one from Willy Wonka to his chocolate factory; a ticket that could take me abroad, up, up, and away.......

*Image courtesy of "I've Got a Golden Ticket!" @ http://7m7y.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/charlie_golden_ticket.jpg