George Mallory's famous quote to the New York Times for his reason of climbing Mt. Everest was plan and simple. "Because it's there". Of course, this was the early 1900's and everyone who had a brain the size of a pea would have thought he was crazy. However, isn't that what rumbles in the bellies of everyone struck by the "Why Not?". Adventures take on the impossible. They find purpose in the challenge. They conjure up an impossible goal and make it a reality. This will be a chance to learn. To push themselves to extremes and dream about becoming the first to do the unthinkable. Heck, isn't that what TV ratings are all about? Now I'm not going to the bottom of the ocean or to the moon. Nor am I hunting down a lost tribe on another continent. Hundreds and thousands of people have hopped on a plane and went to Europe. However, doing so without the aid of a travel agent and with one carry on luggage....I suspect a few have excepted the challenge. Our (my husband and I) plans begin months prior to our leaving the comforts of home. Decisions about where to go, where to stay and what we want to do sprinkle our evening conversations over dinner. We have our favorites and we have a bucket list. Choosing where to go is the challenge.

Traveling opens up the wonders of our world. It allow us an opportunity to connect to another (or multiple) cultures. This is an opportunity to step out of the mainstream and step into another slice of the world. Traveling allows me to connect to other people as well as afford me the circumstance to see people differently. Why not go to a place that scares me? Wouldn't that give us all the opportunity to learn about people who live entirely different before we bomb them? No that wasn't meant to be political opinion but I can't help but think about traveling somewhere counterintuitive to our culture would open our minds. I would think twice about destroying a part of the world if I knew more about it's people and the similarities we might have. "Fear is for people who don't get out much". That's what I would tell the New York Times.