TRAVEL|TAKING OFF
Travel Will Soon Get Easier Again So Escape With Me Now And Then
Where you can expect the unexpected without leaving home
It’s been a month since I last published a collection of travel stories from Taking Off!?
My attention has been diverted by quite a few things lately. I’ll include links at the end of this story that will shed more light as to what I’ve been doing — things that YOU might be very interested in as well!
But first, here are excerpts from and links to the wonderful travel stories that have been submitted to Taking Off these past few weeks:
By Alan Asnen:
People often ask me why I have so few friends where I live here, in The American South, and especially why so few — as in none — male friends and the answer is quite simple.
Common. As in nothing. In.
So. I am running out of ideas to get people like you to read the story and pump some money into his machine.
What does it take? A couple of minutes out of your precious day. In order to donate money to a charity. Nothing more.
NOT. ONE. DIME.
Or you could write something yourself.
Do a bit of promoting and get others to read it.
What could it hurt?
What would it cost other than a few moments of your time thinking about helping something or someone you’ll never know.
Being one of the oldest cat’s on this fence, I come from the age when doo-wop was still young and Frank Sinatra was still skinny. I mean alive and skinny. He’s skinny again, to be sure. As will we all be some day…
By DeeDee:
So, where does your passport stand?
Currently, the countries globally ranked at №1 are Japan and Singapore.
The countries with the lowest ranking are Iraq at №110 and Afghanistan at №111.
I hold an Australian Passport, and that passport is currently ranked 7th in the world.
It was this flashback that made me remember that whoever was closest to the TV had to crawl to the knob, give the sticky knob a turn, and had to wait until mom or dad yelled, “Next!”
Slowly feeling the static electricity making my arm hairs stand, I secretly didn’t mind being “The Remote.” Chances were that I would use my electrified superpowers against one of my sisters as compensation for giving up my spot on the floor.
If you’ve been to my Medium page, you know I love to travel. So far, I’ve been to 9 countries, 28 states, and numerous cities. Each time I book a flight, I include these in my Packing List.
They haven’t let me down, and in some situations, I was grateful to have them with me for those “just in case” situations.
It took one year to transition from sticks and bricks to nomadic life. In 365 days, I needed to sell 90%+ of our belongings and remodel our RV. My goal was to make it feel like a tiny home. To do so, I adopted three decorating rules:
Brighter is Better.
Adapt.
Fit my taste.
By P. Venkat Raman:
The Road Trip Itinerary: Highlights
Below is a look at the whole trip. I intend to write companion stories that will expand on the visit to each park and other notable locations and events. I will update this story accordingly to link to these posts after they become available.
We planned this segment from Fremont to Indio as a simple, boring, long stretch of freeway driving that was expected to be uneventful. Of course, that was not to be!
As we were cruising along on I-5, Google Maps reported a slowdown on the freeway due to an accident that would delay us by 30 minutes. It offered us an alternate route. And we took that alternate route. Big mistake.
Our first target location on this road trip was Tucson, AZ, to start off by visiting the Saguaro National Park. So, just like Day 1, we planned yet another simple and long stretch of freeway driving from Indio to Tucson. Entirely on I-10, making it even simpler. Unlike the day before, Day 2 had in store an entirely different experience for us.
On seeing that the route took us right through Phoenix, a brainwave struck me.
By Krista Marson:
I’ve pulled up my old itinerary, and I’m going to explore as much of this holiday as virtually as I can. I don’t intend to burn through this, but take my time and go rather slowly. I will post this trip in “daily” installments (for I am finding out that doing virtual tours takes a whole lot of time!).
Come join me on my virtual vacation!
We definitely would have had a whiskey in one of those pubs! My hubby, Ryan, happens to be a whiskey aficionado, so I asked him to write me a little something about what we missed!
Apparently, we would have drank some Bushmills:
By MN:
Rouen Cathedral is said to have the highest minarets in France, I have never witnessed Notre Dame in Paris but I suspect if you have, this cathedral will not disappoint you. Gothic art live for you to breathe in, Monet’s presence would not surprise me here, a favorite theme of his from what I understand, I mean dream. I think there was mention of the tomb of Richard the Lionhearted, do I have your attention yet? About an hour travel from Giverny by bus or train.
As I drive on it, I’m amazed by the beauty of the blue water that’s on the right of my view, with a few huge ships just floating on top of it.
‘’Wow, this place is beautiful,’’ I say to myself.
There’s just water all over this city. It’s like being on an island (just my guess).
Corpus Christi has many places that are worth checking out. One place I love to go to when I drive there is North Beach.
This beach is beautiful. It makes you want to get an apartment or a house in Corpus & go there every day.
I’d like to introduce some of you to another travel publication that Warren Patterson runs called, Globetrotters:
He’s running a contest this month for which I wrote a story:
We both think that it’s a good idea for our writers to publish in both of our publications.
However, please note that I use the term “travel” very loosely in Taking Off, which is why some stories feature local travel and even time travel.
This publication is about taking off on foot, in a car, by plane or in the mind. It’s about taking off of work, school or life in general. Old stories, new stories and imagined stories that feature these various forms of taking off, including masks and hats, are all welcome.
I also run another publication, Pure Fiction, which is hosting a writing challenge/contest for the month of February:
There have been some fantastic submissions so far, including some by the same people who write for Taking Off. JA Vassili are having a lot more fun with this than we expected and look forward to hosting more in the future.
She published the following story today that is good for any newcomers to read:
These are some of the reasons why I’ve been busier than usual this month.
I appreciate all of you who have submitted stories as well as those who are still cooking up stories to share in the future.
Yvonne Tse, Vivian Oguguo, Richard Steele, Joel A. Johnson, Crystal A. Walker, Warren Patterson, MN, Alan Asnen, DeeDee, Krista Marson, Perri Michelle, Misty Rae, Shannon Piérre, Sara Burdick, Ticapo, KiKi Walter, Kim Baker, Gerald Washington, Tooth Truth Roopa Vikesh, P. Venkat Raman, Niharika Chhabra, dick, JA Vassili, J.J. Pryor, Jack Road, Ivery del Campo, Graham Cooke, Gianni Bawn, Gabriela Francisco, F. Leonora Solomon, Ellie Brooke, Denise M. Day, Judy Derby, Denise Stephens, Citizen Upgrade, Y. Chwyldro, BichoDoMato, bakagaijin, Andrea, Alexandra Christensen, Robert Pomeroy
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