Where I've Been

I've travelled a lot, but still love to find areas of my own country (Scotland) to explore. Earlier this year we went to Orkney again. Hadn't been there for about 10 years.

When we were younger, we were Munro Baggers. Not anymore, though!

Ireland is also a great place to just 'pootle' - and find where the road leads.

Ishbel,
Thank you for stopping by and for your reply. You are pretty new to Gather, so welcome!

I will return to Scotland again someday, I loved every minute there (and so close to Boston USA, there's no excuse!)

I will check out Ireland someday--goodness knows I eat enough Irish food, beer, and watch enough Irish films. :)

Have a great weekend,
Leah

Great idea, and great list, Leah. How about the Pilgrimage from southern France, over the Alps, to the cathedral of St. Santiago De Compestela, that has been made for a thousand years by peregrinators wearing cockle shells (the symbol of the saint, whose bones were the sacred relicary that provided the reason for the journey). This saint, reputed to be the brother of Christ (you figure that one out, but it has to do I think with garbled Biblical translation) was the saint of the Reconquista, that animated hundred of thousands of knights to come to Spain as they went on Crusades as well to fight against the Saracen invader. The pilgrimage of Santiago de Compestela, in Galicia, is done every year through spectacular Mediterranean valley, mountain, and plateau landscapes, but every six years it is celebrated as a worldwide event. Jan Hersh turned me on to some magnificent music by Oliver Shroeder entitled El Camino, that is inspired by this journey that tens of thousands of spiritual pilgrims as well as tourists still make annually. Check out this link, with photos from the actual pilgrimage in the summer.
http://www.oliverschroer.com/view_gallery.php?id=2

I started my map at Trip Advisor too. I put maybe 25% of the places I've been. I'm very fortunate to have been so many wonderful places. United States highlights for me include: Savannah, GA; Blacksburg, VA; Chicago, IL; Canyonlands, UT; and Woodstock, VT (that would be an easy road trip for you). Highlights of International destinations include: Marrakesh, Morocco; Ha Long Bay, Vietnam; Nova Scotia, Canada; Ilulissat, Greenland; Weimar, Germany; Budpest, Hungary; and anywhere in the Alps. For road trips, I much prefer smaller highways to Interstates. There's more of a chance to come across something interesting on the smaller roads and less chance for obnoxious traffic.

Hi Leah! How about making the trip from Arlington. Virginia to Dallas, Texas? Or Dallas, Texas to the Los Angeles area, or Dallas to Memphis, or Dallas to Phoenix and Sedona, Arizona, or Dallas to San Diego, or Dallas to Denver, or Dallas to San Francisco, Dallas to New Orleans, Dallas to the Florida Keys, Dallas to Tampa, Dallas to Utah, Dallas to Minnesota, etc...or Germany to Bern, Switzerland, Germany to Amsterdam, Germany to Rotterdam in Den Hague, or Germany to Brussels, Germany to Cologne, Germany, Germany to Milan and Venice via Bern Switzerland, Germany to Austria, Germany to Paris, France in my Monte Carlo no less, London to Ireland, the list can continue as my parents brought us up doing road trips all of our lives plus we lived in Germany for twelve years so since it is so centrally located we found ourselves on the go all the time!! I can go into more details as far as the routes are concerned if need be. And there are so many other trips that we've taken to Greece, my mothers homeland of Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Peru and China, hope I haven't forgotten anywhere...
Thanks for the article and thanks for permitting me to relive some of these memories as well!!

Cool site! I looked at your travels and then joined and set up my map. You can see mine here at

http://www.tripadvisor.com/members/TravelingEpicure

I have lived in so many places and visited more that it is hard to list. I do love Scotland. Lived there for 3 years. Japan was fun and Ethiopia was interesting. I graduated high school in Hawaii. Seen most of the US. Hope to see the rest one day

Wow, John...thank you! I'm saving this in the 'idea bin' for sure. :)

Jessica B,
Yes--Woodstock! Our family friend just sold this HUGE house she had in Woodstock...more of an estate actually. And we all used to gather there...fantastic for new years eve and a mid-summer weekend. I miss it. :(

Wow, Kathleen! Keep us posted on your upcoming trip plans.

Dorine,
I love TripAdvisor, I use it for all my trip planning. My favorite is that they have local advisors and they write right back to you to answer your questions. The ones for Iceland have been amazing, I love talking to people that live in the particular country. I'm heading to check out your map now.

Rhonda,
Yeah, I've switched planes in so many cities and never ventured beyond the airport. And I've wanted to. (you know how they put up the huge posters in the hallways to entice you to stay?)

Lucky you for getting to live in Scotland!

Esther, thank you...glad I could cause you to stir up those old memories!!

Forgot to say: I've done 'road trips' in Dubai, in Singapore and in Australia, as well as Germany, some of the Greek Islands (you soon run out of road on some of them!), France, Italy and Spain.

We have been so lucky, as a family, to live and travel around the globe.

BUT, home's best!

Northern Cascades Highway the day they clear off the avalanches.

I sure do love to travel... I'll have to give trip advisor a try. Thanks for this great information.

Ishbel, I agree!

James, that sounds cool.

Anita, Tripadvisor.com is wonderful--I think you'll enjoy it.