I’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes wondering what the frack to write for the ‘ol blog, and I’m drawing a blank. I’ve been working full-time in retail for the holidays on top of freelancing, so lately I hardly have time to shower. My friends avoid me. I don’t know what I was thinking, taking all this on.

So for the time being, I’m switching back to typed post rather than handwritten. It’s that or no blog at all.

Fortunately it’s been a lovely distraction from the ongoing depression that has been sucking the energy out of me since I returned from South America. You know, the ongoing post-trip depression that won’t go away until you have verified other travel plans. So far I have a resort vacation booked for the Dominican Republic in May…but that’s a vacation, the kind of thing where I’m reunited with some old friends for a wedding and we sit on a beach and drink pina coladas and rotate every now and then to sun our backs.

But THESE destinations are on my wishlist for 2012, and with any luck, I’ll get there. It won’t be early in the year, as I have some BIG, BIG life-altering news coming up soon. Don’t wanna count my chickens before they hatch, in the meantime. Or something.

Anyway, these trips all require at least 3 months each, so I better move fast. Good thing I have a handful of housesitting accounts.

Greece

Durr, it’s only what I talk about ALL THE TIME. I can’t even look at pictures posted by fellow bloggers because the envy swallows me up and I want to stab people. And there’s the fact that Visit Greece sends me weekly newsletters being all “YOU in Greece!” and every time I receive one I think it’s an invitation and my heart flutters. Fortunately, Mike Swoden (a fellow Greekophile) and I are hatching some sorta plan. No idea what it is yet, but it’s gonna be sweet.

(Photo: Eustaquio Santimano)

I wanna do western Greece, hit up Thessaloniki and then make my way through the mainland towards the islands. Then I wanna spend a couple of months sailing from island to island, hitting up ancient sites and indulging the Classics geek in me. Even as I write this I get extraordinarily excited. You know, the kind of excited that makes you feel nauseated? ANCIENT TEMPLES OMG.

Ireland

If I’m going to do Ireland again, I’m gonna do it right this time. I’m going to head to Cork and dig up my family history, then jaunt over to Galway to spend some time on the west coast. I think I’d settle in Galway for awhile. I think I’d settle into Irish pubs and fiddle music and explore the connections between there and Newfoundland. I think Irish music is the most beautiful music in the world, and I’m taking dance classes after Christmas.

(Photo: qbik)

Then I might even head up to Belfast, see what Northern Ireland is all about. Thoughts? Should I?

Iceland

Earlier in the year I did a bit of social media work for a company called Mountain Taxi and stayed in close contact ever since. I had to do a lot of Iceland research in the process, and found myself devouring article after article about the country. I haven’t been to Iceland, but it feel it’s a lot like Newfoundland in the way that it’s a world apart from everything else.

(Photo: o palsson)

Waterfalls, fjords, glaciers, and the rockin’ city of Reykjavik… I want to go off-roading, Super Jeeping, hiking, glacier walking. I want to party in a notoriously fun city and chase puffins around. Where else in the world does a Prime Minister invite tourists to have pancakes with him?

That’s it. Three major trips, plus Halifax to visit Cailin and some other great friends. I should probably move fast.