'O World, I cannot hold thee close enough!'

At long last, we are finally at the stage where we - or I, principally - can contemplate a long trip and know that it is not just some fancy that is in truth an impossibility. I have been busy at it too. Checking with United about flights and rewards travel and such. Checking websites about traveling with toddlers. Reading about possible destinations.

Funny thing is, now that it is actually something that can happen, I am at lost about the destination. The problem is not a lack of imagination or desire; rather, it is the opposite. There are just so many places I can think of and want to go to. But given the reality of having a young child and limited resources, the fact that the day and age of cheap travel will certainly be over soon (on account of the predicted $200 per barrel of oil by 2009), and the fact that air travel is not exactly an environmental thing to do, we might well be limited to travels within North America soon. In short, this might be our last chance. This might well be a momentous decision!

I suppose I am being a little melodramatic about this here. But really, I am very excited about our upcoming trip. We think it would be Peru (to see Machu Picchu) or Argentina (to see Buenos Aires and Patagonia). I should clarify that there is nothing imminent about "upcoming" here. The plan is to go somewhere in April or May 2009. Why plan so far ahead? Because I plan to use the last of my miles I have with United for this trip and one needs to plan way, way ahead when it comes to redeeming miles. Besides, half the fun is the planning anyway. For now, for me, begins the trip to that faraway place! What would it be like now that we have Zoe? Would she be a sturdy and inquisitive traveler? Would she be awed by the sights? Would she embrace the winds, the sun, the skies, blue, grey or starry?

God's World

O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists, that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart, -- Lord, I do fear
Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year;
My soul is all but out of me, -- let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.

Edna St. Vincent Millay