Guest Post: Lauren’s bucket list

Lauren is the writing shutterbug behind Ephemerratic, where she shares narrative travel stories, local food finds, gobs of photos, and her partner Todd’s collaborative travel art. When she’s not on the global road, Lauren is a marketing and communications consultant in San Francisco, her favorite place in the world.

Since the travels I take with Todd tend toward the erratic and the experiences we most enjoy most are ephemeral (hence, our Ephemerratic travel blog), my travel bucket list is erratic and ephemeral as well.

While each of these travel bucket list items has no lasting tangible value —and some may seem a little, well, weird — when they finally happen, I expect them to be experiences that I’ll treasure more than any souvenir.

1) Talk politics and culture with a Columbian – in Spanish

“What do you call someone who speaks two languages?” — Bilingual
“Someone who speaks three languages?” — Um, trilingual.
“Someone who speaks one language?” — American! 

I may write a mean metaphor, but I can only do it in English. I’ve never been swift at learning another language, and my half-baked efforts at learning Spanish have thus far been confounded by confusion with the little high school Italian I still remember. One day, hopefully not too far off, I’d like to travel to Columbia with enough Español in my noggin to have a meaningful conversation about politics and culture with a local. And why Columbia? ¿Por qué no?
(photo credit newbeatle)

2) Visit the Girardin Brewery in Belgium and meet my kin

In the U.S. my family name is uncommon, but in Belgium, from whence my people hale, my people are famous for making ale. More specifically, they make a lambic ale (and a gueuze and a kriek) that’s got a puckering tang and a champagne nose that’s hard to find, even in a beer-forward town like San Francisco. I have no idea if I am related to the brewers at Brouwerij Girardin, but I’d like to meet a few of those Belgians to see if we’ve share some features and even a genetic preference for bitter beers.
(photo credit Bernt Rostad)

3) Take up an offer to “manage our show” in Gujarat, India

While bonding over the shared experience of chasing illusive Indian tigers in Ranthambore National Park, Todd and I were befriended by three generations of the Patel clan. We would love to visit this amazing family in their home turf of Gujarat, where Hardik, the father, has pledged to “manage our show.” And when we’re there, we hope we can pay back some of their wonderful generosity.
(photo credit Meanest Indian)

4) Break a law in Bhutan

I’m a law-abiding citizen — I don’t cheat on my taxes, I use hand signals when biking — but the high-cost of entry into Bhutan just makes me want to do something illicit once I’m there. Unfortunately for a potential law breaker, most Bhutanese laws exist to foster the population’s constitutionally protected Gross National Happiness and so seem reasonable, if not darn right decent. Except for Bhutan’s laws prohibiting freelance journalism and the right to information in a government-owned media environment. In that case, my big mouth might get me in trouble.
(photo credit Michael Foley Photography)

5) Travel to Tokyo on an expense account

This is perhaps the most unrealistic of my travel bucket list dreams. You see, I’m a self-employed entrepreneur and so any expense account I’ll get to travel on will probably be self-funded from my own pockets, hardly the point of an expense account. However, since I enjoy ramen to an unhealthy extreme, my Tokyo per diem needs are quite reasonable, should anyone want to send me overseas on a ramen reconnaissance (hint, hint).
(photo credit Steven Geyer)

Thanks to Jetpac and Catherine for not just inviting me to guest blog about my travel bucket list, but also indulging my unusual spin on the subject.

Armchair travel with Lauren and Todd on their creatively independent adventures at ephemerratic.com, Twitter, and Facebook.

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