marthasoft

One of my best friends is working here (in Gobabis) in the Peace Corps right now. I am almost done planning my trip to visit her in December. We are going to spend time in her village as well as road-tripping, safari-ing and whatever else you do in Namibia (look for Brangelina?). It’s getting very exciting as I have almost finished getting my shots, and most of the reservations and research are about wrapped up.

People ask me all the time why this is on my list. I confess that initially I added it simply because Marfa was what I called myself as a child (before I could pronounce the “th” sound).

But then when I started to read about it – the lights, the art, the small town feel, I became very serious about going here. It may still be a ways off, but it’s at least on my list, which is a start!

This place is a much cooler version of a zoo. First you walk around to all the animal pits. There are lynx, bobcats, cougars, coyotes, bears, foxes, wolves, owls, eagles, TONS of cool animals. And even though they’re in enormous cages, you can still get pretty close to them. After you’re done walking around & eating cookies in the cafe, you hop on a 35-40 minute tram ride around the rest of the 600+ acres, where you see up close and personally: elk, moose, deer, goats, buffalo, swans, bighorn sheep, pretty much every animal there is. It is a blast – if you like animals, you will love this place.

Albany is a small (pop. 1900) town in Northwest Missouri. Shadowfax, the local bar, is owned by my friend’s uncle, & is the hit of the town. Try to go in the Summer when they conduct the annual Farm Olympics!!

Great people, amazing different climates, and the ability to do pretty much anything outdoors that piques one’s interest – that is Peru in a nutshell. I surfed sand dunes, hiked in the mountains, and trekked through the jungle, all in a matter of a couple of weeks. Definitely need to go back – I had an amazing experience.

But there are tons of other places worth seeing as well that get zero press. I spent a week here in 2004 split between Prague and Karlovy Vary. Karlovy Vary is a very interesting and beautiful city with supposedly magical healing hot springs. Everyone walks around with these little ceramic sippy cups to dip in the springs throughout the city. Prague is of course amazing. I went on a not-very-scary ghost tour, a lovely boat ride/tea, and spent plenty of time just wandering around the never boring city. Best place you’ve never heard of? The tea room on Nerudova in the Castle District – the owner plays all Portishead, all the time. Plus the teas are all custom blended to heal whatever ails you after a day of sightseeing.

I was on vacation in Sweden in 2004, and was able to visit Stockholm & Malmo. Sweden is an expensive country, but definitely worth visiting! I stayed in a hostel which used to be a jail – the rooms are all jail cells! Stockholm is one of the most stunningly beautiful cities. And speaking of beautiful, Swedes are notoriously gorgeous…it’s intimidating how good looking everyone is. Listening to them talk on subways and in restaurants will crack you up – they really do sound like the Swedish chef from the Muppets. Malmo is worth way more than the day I spent in it – I would like to go back for a week, it was a lot of fun.

...if you go by land mass…Denmark owns Greenland… I was here on vacation in 2004 and fell in love with the country. Roskilde is a very cool, Viking-feel town. And of course Copenhagen is amazing. What a unique and stylish city! Everyone there is so design conscious, even the five-year-olds dress better than me. It’s almost unnerving. I have never almost been run over by a bike so many times – I loved it! Also: easiest place for an English speaker to travel – they speak better English than anyone I know.

Have you ever felt homesick for somewhere you’ve never lived, only visited? That’s Ireland for me. The people in Ireland are the greatest – every time I go, I make new friends. I’ve traveled around Dublin, the West (Galway area), and all over the South, from Dingle to Kilkenny. I love the pubs of Ireland, they are truly its heart and soul. Besides the stout, though, there’s plenty more, from beautiful landscapes to quaint villages to the most charming accents. I never knew I liked studying history until a friend gave me a historical tour of some of the historical buildings in Dublin – the country has a fascinating, if heart-wrenching, past which I never grow tired of reading and learning about. I recommend you watch the movie “Michael Collins” before you go.

But I am sure all of it is true. Tuscany is a nice, away-from-it-all region (for now…tourism is getting crazy there…). I spent a very nice ten days there visiting Florence and Siena. Of course the Chianti and pesto are awesome. If you are going to see art, as many people do, make sure you get reservations on the web ahead of time. I recommend doing a visit to wineries if you can, as well as getting outside of the larger towns and driving around to the smaller villages. Don’t forget to bring back limoncello.