It's a bit of an old news, but I want to mention some travel plans for the future even as I reminisce a major past trip.
Before long, I expect to be in New Orleans, possibly the biggest gap in my US travels. I am planning on spending three full days there - should be enough to get the basics, like the French Quarter, taken care of, plus meet a few local friends. Again, this is my first visit to New Orleans (or Louisiana for that matter) and this should be lovely! Unfortunately, it'll be unlikely that I head out to see my longtime friend Christy Cole of Christy's Art Blog, since she's located close to Shreveport, 250 miles away.
I do not expect to use a car in New Orleans, but I have already reserved my air transportation and lodging. While the logical airline choice for New Orleans is Delta, because of its name coming from the Mississippi Delta, and Delta indeed flies nonstop from Los Angeles, I will stick to my usual lesbian-friendly airline, United, with its own nonstops, to take advantage of elite-level perks while I still can. In fact, I used a $150 apology credit from my previous United journey - a nightmare flight out of Toronto.
Later on in the year, I expect to see my business wind down quite a bit. That may free up more time for travel, while maintaining a reasonable amount of income to fund the trips. Ideally, I would like to spend a week in Japan, which is my biggest East Asian travel gap the way New Orleans is my biggest US travel gap. Most of that week should be spent in Tokyo, while a side trip to Kyoto for two nights or so will let me experience traditional Japan. I need to see my schedule to determine how this will be carried out, however; if I somehow decide on resuming my South Korean meditation regimen, I could pull off a quick Tokyo weekend from Seoul very easily, the way I had done Hong Kong. Once I check Japan off, Taiwan will be my final East Asian gap to fill in, though I would also be very interested in covering the parts of mainland China I have yet to see.
Other destinations I can consider are the Canadian Rockies as well as some points within the US (Boston definitely needs a return visit, as I have NEVER had a chance to explore it). Returning to Europe is not on my agenda this year. And while Latin America and Southeast Asia also deserve my attention, for now I want to concentrate on filling in the gaps in the parts of the world I had covered previously.
I do hope I can cover both New Orleans and Japan this year in a satisfactory manner!
