Dreaming of travel

As much as I enjoyed being a sports writer, I would absolutely love to be a travel writer.

You know, a mix of Anthony Bourdain, Rick Steves and Andrew Zimmern (well, without the animal organs).

I've recently become enthralled with Bourdain's series entitled "The Layover," which airs on the Travel Channel -- and can also be found on Netflix. The premise of each episode is that Bourdain (a fascinating character) spends 48 hours or so in a given city and highlights that location's highlights. For Bourdain, though, the highlights are rarely (or ever) the typical tourist traps most travelers flock to. He doesn't go to Alcatraz in San Francisco or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I'll admit, I've been guilty of stopping at a tourist trap or two in my time.

Walking the Great Wall of China in 2007. (I'm the guy in the red shirt.)

Anyway, what always fascinates me about that show is the fact that Bourdain can truly enjoy himself in any city in just a short amount of time. This makes me optimistic for my upcoming trip to Europe with my wife, during which we'll be seeing a lot of cities -- but none for any real length of time. The key, it seems, is to go in with an open mind and let the city show itself off.

The idea of being a travel writer absolutely appeals to me. This world of ours is such a big, beautiful place and there are so many cities/countries/regions to see. Very few people are lucky enough to travel to different continents, to sample foods from all over the world, and to experience the vast array of cultures out there. Bourdain, Steves, Zimmern and others do, and I'll admit, I'm jealous.

My international travel is limited. First, Canada doesn't count (and I've never even really been to a major city there; only to the same area for fishing a few times). In high school, I traveled to Germany for a three-week foreign exchange program. We visited Berlin and Munich before staying with a host family for two weeks. As a 16-year-old, it was an amazing experience -- and my first (and currently only) time to Europe. More than a decade later, so many things from that trip have stuck with me.

In front of the Forbidden City in Beijing

More recently, I ventured to China for another three-week excursion through the University of Minnesota. It was a three-credit class that focused on the globalization of sports. We were there in 2007, just as the city of Beijing was making its final push to host the 2008 Olympics. There was something truly humbling and eye-opening about experiencing a culture so different from my own.
As a 6-foot white male, I felt eyes were constantly watching me wherever we went. One random girl even ran up to me at Tiananmen Square, took her picture with me, and then ran away -- as if I were a movie star. Kind of a neat moment, I guess, but a bizarre one for me.

During that trip, I tasted foods I never thought I'd try (duck's feet...not my favorite), saw sights I'd only dreamed about seeing (the Great Wall, for one), and tried speaking a language that was very foreign to me. I took one semester of Chinese to prepare for my trip, but it wasn't much help. Thankfully, several people in our group spoke proficient Chinese, so we got by just fine.

For most of us, traveling just about anywhere is an expensive endeavor. I watch shows like Anthony Bourdain's or read books by Rick Steves and I daydream about what it would be like to get paid to travel the world.

Maybe some day...