okawim travels►

I have never really considered myself as a "hopeless romantic," but on recent investigation, I have realized that maybe I am. For one thing--I like happily ever afters. And for another, I'm a huge fan of the movie series Anne of Green Gables. (I know, I know--I'm really weird.) I mean, I even want to read the books. Because I enjoyed these movies so much, I decided that our first travel destination will be Prince Edward Island (or PEI, as it's more commonly known).

Fasten your seat belts and get ready for...lots of boring stuff that I've written.

PEI is an island located off of Canada in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The island rolling green hills, red soil, beaches, and woods. It joined Canada in 1884 and is now connected to the large landmass that we know as Canada by a 9 mile long bridge. The cities are Charlottetown and Summertime; there are also 7 towns. It's a close-knit kind of place with a population of 138,000. There are many things to do there (especially if you are an Anne fan like myself).

Wow. I realized that I don't really like doing this research project-esque work. Oh well, that's what I get for thinking that niches like "life" and "whatever I want to write about" are too boring and run of the mill...

I would like to visit PEI because for one, it looks so beautiful (see above picture). For another, I've always been attracted to calm, peaceful places. I really like small towns as well. I don't really know why, maybe because there's that romantic quality to them. Err, yeah. Whatever.

You know, it also looks a lot like my grandparents' village in Japan. Wow, so many parallels.

I don't know about you, but I'd really like to visit this peaceful green place. (Yeah...I know, I'm the worst travel agent. But, you never know until you try...and fail. Right?)

Thanks for reading.

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Image found here.

I have a confession to make: My knowledge of the world outside of my front door is pretty limited. Actually, let me correct that: My knowledge of the world outside of my front door that is backed up by my own personal experiences/observations is pretty limited. Because, I guess I do know a thing or two about the world and the people who live in it. Of course, anybody who's read a book with an accurate setting of a place they've never been to, watched a travel documentary on TV, or talked with their Chinese/German/Australian friend knows the "rough outline" of a place they've never traveled to.

Such is the case with me. I haven't been to many places, but I know about other countries because of books, TV, and friends. Ah, the beauty of communication and cultural diffusion. (Ha, my AP World History teacher last year to include "cultural diffusion" in any essay I write to get automatic brownie points.)

To put the truth, plain and simple, I'm a Vegas kid. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm one of those people who doesn't understand the harshness of the January blizzards or melting in the July humidity or even the gloom of no sunshine for a month straight in April. Maybe that's why I want to see the world so much, to feel like maybe I'll be able to understand something.

Oh, the amazing power that must go to those people who can understand the situations of people in China or Africa! I would love to have that kind of understanding--that power that helps you realize that "Hey, maybe my life isn't so bad after all. I mean, I have a house, a warm bed, a family, and no potentially fatal diseases."

My dad has this kind of understanding, because at one point in his life he had lived in Korea for three years. He understands that Americans always want more--a bigger house, a better car, a faster something. "In Korea," he says, "the average house was about the size of our dining room and maybe half of the kitchen." But, he would go on to explain about how they were happy, even if according to us, they were definitely worse off than those in lower class

This knowledge is probably the reason why my dad is so good with money and why he's not greedy or materialistic.

I want that. That clarity. That proof. That knowledge. That power.

And that's why I want to travel--real traveling, not this book/Google traveling journey that we're going to embark on together, but that'll be fun too.

(And yes, I know that this wouldn't be something you'd find in a travel book and I apologize, but we'll start that...next time.)

Ciao. ;]

[End Note: Ciao means "goodbye" in Italian, in this case at least. Sometimes it means "hello." But I'm leaving, so it's "goodbye."]

To speak the truth, I'm incredibly jealous of Peter Pan. I mean, not only is he young forever (though, this means that he will always act immature), but he can also fly. What we saw in the movie was Peter being able to fly all on his own, but in my opinion, he probably needed a lot of help from a certain Tinkerbell in the beginning. If you've seen the movie (or read the book), then you would know that there were times when Peter Pan ignored poor Tinkerbell and left her alone and depressed.

Dang. Peter Pan is such a jerk! (One of the negatives of not growing up is that you never grow out of your stupidity.) Does he not know how lucky he is to have his own personal pixie that's filled to the brim with pixie dust?

Pixie dust. If I had a plastic Wal-Mart bag full of that, then I would finally be able to fulfill my dream of traveling the world.

I want to visit every country, meet all the different kinds of people in the world, experience all the amazing cultures, and just see it all. (Though, there are some places that I have no desire to step foot in. Like Greenland and Antarctica. A high of -1000°F is just not my thing.)

There's just one tiny problem. Well, first off: I do not have the money for this. Second off: I do not have the time for this. Third off: even if I had money and time, my parents would not take me anywhere and probably wouldn't let me go anywhere alone either. Fourth off: this was definitely more than one tiny thing.

And that's basically the reason why I'm here, writing this blog post. I want to experience the world, honest to God I do, but for the time being, I'll just have to substitute the "real traveling" part with some "real Google-ing."

And there we have it, ladies and gents: The reason behind the madness and the blog title.

I am going to travel and I am going to learn about cultures and places and people. The only thing is that I'm going to be doing it in the comfort of my own home, sitting on this rolly chair.

Lame? Probably. There will never be anything like real traveling, no matter how advanced our technology is in the future.

Interesting? Hopefully. I'll try at least. Maybe I'll be able to compose a nice little travel guide book through this blog.

And if all else fails, at least when I actually do travel, I'll know something about something.