Those are the biggest two lies of the century. Money is everything and money does buy you happiness. I've traveled world wide because of money. I feel so alive when I'm traveling because I don't have to worry about work. Vacations relax my brain, my body and my life—and my creativity increases. When I get back home and go back to work, people even tell me I look refreshed.
The last two vacations I spent were on cruises (2007 & 2008) in the Mediterranean. Some travel books reveal the Mediterranean is the best spot in the world to take a cruise. This is due to the good climate and the calm waters of the Mediterranean. On the cruises, my time was my own and being pampered was the crew's top priority for their passengers. I was pampered so much that my creativity spiked and I started writing books on each cruise. I hope to have one of my books completed either late 2008 or early 2009.
Traveling also afforded me the opportunity to meet new people and experience new things. I can say I've met people from England, Turkey and Bangkok. I've purchased such-and-such in Venice, I bought this trinket in Paris, I purchased this item in Hong Kong and I bought this souvenir in Prague. I've stood at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (This is an incredible experience.), I've been to St. Mark's Square (a.k.a Piazza San Marco) in Venice, had a boat ride in the long tail boats (a.k.a James Bond boat from the movie, Man with the Golden Gun) in Bangkok and I've visited La Sagrada Família in Barcelona. And yes, Barcelona is a fantastic city. These are just some of the things I've done.
When I first started working for a new company several years ago I told several of my co-workers that I've traveled all around the world. My one co-worker said she was too busy to travel. Another employee commented that he never has been outside California. He said he didn't need to since California offers everything he needed. I feel sorry that this guy actually believes this.
There's another guy where I work and he says he would never travel outside the United States because people in other countries will chop your head off. I asked the don't-chop-off-my-head-guy, where on the news have you seen this and what countries? He said, "Well, I don't remember where but I've seen it." I said there are more murders in this country per year than most industrialized countries put together per year. He said, well, if they kill you here, they don't chop your head off. I wish more Americans would use their brain.
I've heard we have a lot of gun related deaths in the U.S. but I wasn't sure of the totals, so I've tried to locate some gun death totals per country but it's not so easy to find this information. I've found some interesting information listed below:
U.S. fire-arm related deaths in 2001 is approximately 30,000.
http://harvardmagazine.com/2004/09/death-by-the-barrel.html
Canadian fire-arm related deaths in 2001 is 842.
http://www.statcan.ca/english/ads/82-003-XPE/pdf/16-4-04.pdf (page 43 of the PDF)
Australia fire-arm related deaths in 2001 is 333.
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi2/tandi269t.html
[These are not active links, you'll need to copy and paste them into a browser if you are interested. Sorry about that, not enough time to link them.]
So, two points, money is everything, money does buy you happiness and there are lots of murders in the U.S. Hey, it's my blog, if I want to make these points in one blog I can!
I'm trying to say it seems that some people in the U.S. are satisfied by living here and don't see the need to experience other cultures and people despite the fact there are incredible things outside of the United States—and for many countries, it's probably safer to be traveling outside the U.S.A., ta boot!
Of course that brings me to another point for a blog about the "culture of fear" in the U.S.A. created by Bush to push through Homeland Security and to take away our rights. Another blog, another time.
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