Places 2 Go

I'm not big on the obvious tourist type stuff. I equally enjoy beach holidaze or city breaks. I grew up by the beach so the lazy nature of 'island time' feels more natural to me. Perhaps that's why all of the places on this list are islands, or in the case of The Netherlands, below sea level.

UK & The Netherlands

I really miss my M8s in the UK and after going back four times a year, every year I got used to seeing them often. Because of "president" Bush's recession and the dot-bomb I haven't been back for a number of years. I want to incorporate a "Queer as Folk" tour of Manchester and a trip to a tawdry little amusement park in Overtoom, Netherlands. I would love to be in Amsterdam for Het Koningindag again, but really any time of the year when the weather is nice would allow me to practice learning Dutch and to have fun of course.

Mauritius

The Dutch killed the Dodo bird when they made Mauritius a colony. If it wasn't such an ugly bird, it would probably be the poster-child for the conservationist movement, but Panda's have the feel good factor and whales have majestic grace so they won out. Louis is named after the capital city, Port Louis, so I have to take him there at least once. The tulpen boerderijen on the edge of the ocean look so beautiful and there's hiking and shopping and beaches to keep us occupied. It's still off the beaten path a bit so we won't be swamped by too many tourists, though I'm sure that's changing.

Palau

They've been building up an American pressence as a fall-back arc from the Phillipines. I should probably go soon before they finish building the U.S. Military Base on Babelthuap, north of Koror. I've a feeling they're going to ruin this American Colony just like they did to Guam. Palau has some of the greatest SCUBA diving in the world and there are several easy dives that include sunken ruins from WW2 battles. Seeing them means the world will have to avoid WW3 of course.

Australia

Back in the 80s my sister and I worked for the US importer of Kraft's Vegemite. We took turns wearing a kangaroo suit and passed out free samples at trade shows and cultural events. In 1984, we worked a party for the Australian Olympic team at the consulate general's mansion in Los Angeles. Crocodile Dundee even turned up, though we spent the majority of the event sweating in the kangaroo suit and didn't get to mingle otherwise. Also about that time, we had an exchange student from Brisbane for a while and about ten years ago, my sister went to visit her. I've heard so many grand, adventurous stories about the place that I've always wanted to go and see it for myself. My British solicitor moved to Melbourne a couple of years ago, and a couple of my Aussie pals moved back recently, so I have even more incentive to visit.