The Travel Bug

Yep. I’ve been bitten by the travel bug yet again. It’s about time, since my last trip was a few months back (our honeymoon to the Dominican Republic + beach week with the Keller clan, both in July).

(Kevin and me in the DR):

For me, the urge to travel tends to come in waves like this, so this latest itch is right on schedule. I’m most definitely my father’s daughter in this respect. Thanks to Richard Swindle, I have the exploration gene hardwired into my DNA.

The thing I love about trips isn’t just the actual time spent traveling. Don’t get me wrong, that is the best part. Almost as energizing, though, is the preparation and anticipation portion. Just knowing I have a trip coming up — even if it’s months away — is enough to cure the travel bug. I can focus on reading about the destination, scouring the Internet for reviews on hotels, restaurants, and attractions, asking friends for advice and tips, and planning what I’ll pack. It’s a guaranteed instant cure.

Unfortunately, at the moment there’s not a trip in sight. And, with Kevin in business school, the likelihood of a trip in our near future is relatively slim. His weekends are generally full of studying and group meetings, and don’t leave much time for trips to the grocery store, let alone a weekend — or (gasp) week — away.

And that’s okay. Not only do we lack the time for a trip, we also lack the money at this point anyway.

But I can dream, right? Maybe starting to think about where we should go will help with this whole travel bug business. It’s worth a try, I guess.

Here goes.

Hypothetical travel destination: Sweden

I feel as though I’m somewhat destined to visit Sweden. (That sounds far more dramatic than it actually is.) What I mean is, my dad’s love for travel can be traced back to the time he spent on a Rotary Exchange trip to Sweden. He spent time learning to love the people, the culture, the food (even the raw eggs), and taking covert side trips to Russia. Thanks to that experience, my father not only loves travel (and passed it on to my sister and me), he loves all things Sweden. Need some proof?:

• As a family, we trekked to the Atlanta IKEA on the day it opened (June 29, just days before my dad’s July 1 birthday — which was amazingly coincidental) upon his request.

• He drove a Saab for years. (Did you know they have air conditioned glove compartments, to keep chocolate from melting? Terrible cup holders, though. Priorities, I suppose.)

• He relishes using terms such as “osthyvel” to refer to a cheese plane and “senap” for Swedish mustard (it’s delicious, if you haven’t tried it), and I grew up with a hearty stock of lingonberries always occupying pantry shelf space (wonderful on pork chops).

• Even my name — Anna — is a common Swedish name, which likely brought it to the top of the baby names list, if even subconsciously.

And so for these reasons, and for the simple fact that Sweden is awesome (so I’ve heard — and from people besides my dad), it’s currently my number one choice as a travel destination.

Has anyone visited Sweden? What country/city are you dying to visit?