I am browsing through the book by Patricia Schultz “1000 Places to see before you die- A Traveler’s Life List”. As I am skimming through then book’s table of content, I am immediately taken back by noticing how short the Latin America chapter is (which includes Mexico, ALL of Central and South America). My first thought is “How could she not have included more of this amazing continent. There are soooo many more places in South America that EVERYONE should see before they die. My next thought brought me back down to earth (South American soil, in my mind, of course!) “I know that everyone’s travel list is and has to be different for each person.”

I stumbled across one of Alan Levine’s post “Top 0 Lists for 2007” earlier today, where he sarcastically makes fun of the recent “List making” wave that has hit the blogosphere. I do agree with some of the comments, that these Top-10- Lists are highly subjective, but I don’t believe that any list author (at least I am not) is trying to sell their list as the ONLY truth, the only “best” tools, sites, bloggers, videos, etc. there is out there. I simply see them as suggestions and highly valuable for others who are just starting out with “whatever”. Let that list be about web2.0 tools in the classroom or recommended destinations for travelers with newly acquired passports and airplane tickets in their hands.

Patricia Schultz writes several things in her introduction of the book, that hit home and not only apply to the physical traveling to foreign countries but to uncharted territory in the educational world. Follow along and see if you can find the parallels:

The urge to travel- to open our minds and move beyond the familiar…

…St. Augustine of Hippo: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only one page.”…

…travel changes us, sometimes superficially, sometimes profoundly. It is a classroom without walls…

…I was reminded time and again that travel is always personal, and that no two people walk away from the same experience with the same memories…

…With travel, our minds become more curious, our hearts more powerful, and our spirits more joyous. And once the mind is stretched like that, it can never return to its original state…

…Some people travel only to look, while others come to see…

…The more time you spend coming to understand the ways of others, the more you’ll understand yourself…

Posted: 28. December, 2007 at 11:50 pm. Filed under: Geography, Global Awareness, Travel.
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