It's a Lonely, Lonely Planet

After lambasting (yes, I used that word, just a tiny bit incorrectly, but this is still why Tom Skilling should propose to me) Lonely Planet for their weird-but-thanks-for-the-publicity-anyway report on the Las Vegas Springs Preserve, I later tweeted how happy I was that I had ridden on one of Lonely Planet's top 5 epic train journeys, the California Zephyr.

My lambasting is here.
Lonely Planet's story on the Springs Preserve is here.
The California Zephyr route is here.

Mere hours after that tweet, I was disappointed to find that I have stayed at ZERO of Lonely Planet's top 10 world airports. I had been confident that O'Hare would be on the list, but it wasn't. The airports are mostly in Asia, which is one of the four continents that I have yet to visit.

I have only been to one of their top 10 European train stations, too. I am disappointed that Barcelona Sants did not show up. The extremely expensive hotel there is where I stayed in the wake of September 11, 2001. Madrid Atocha didn't make the list, either. Neither did Zoo Station, and come on, when an entire U2 album is named after a train station, that station does deserve a mention.

This is why I should write for Lonely Planet. I judge them harshly now, but if they hired me, I wouldn't. Although...Oakland? OK, maybe not.

Admittedly, I am a collector of places (and things, but I'll talk more about things later in the summer). I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with it, although it's not advisable to compare your place-count (or your thing count) to that of other people, because we all have our own unique styles and experiences.

Top 10 lists, "best of" articles, and "1,000 things to do before you die" books are interesting because they are someone else's idea of what has value, and it is worthwhile for me to see whether I agree with the writers. It's fun to complain when I don't, and even more fun to congratulate myself when I do. More than that, however, they are motivational. For example, I have enjoyed both Venice Beach and the Mediterranean coast in southern France. If neither of them are on the list but the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare made it, exactly how amazing are those cliffs? And I resolve that one day, I will see them for myself.

Since I've only had five of Lonely Planet's 40 Amazing Experiences in Europe (requires a PDF download), I decided to turn my attention to National Geographic's "The World's Most Beautiful Places."

There are 100 of them on the list. I have been to 15, but two don't count, because they are the Mojave Desert and the Midwestern Plains. So, I have been to 13. The way I figure it, I have just a little more than half my life left. I should get to steppin'.

And I can.

Because check out what I took yesterday.

That's my INDEX finger, you cynics! 

And that, my lovely readers, is also The Chain. We have come a long way. Next stop (well, there may be some before then, but a stop that's coming soon): the Wigwams on route 66 in Holbrook. Watch for updates. xoxo