"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move."

Last night we had rain. It was a gentle rain, and I left my bedroom window open so I could hear it as I fell asleep. This morning, I shut my windows. The rain left the day chilly. It's only 62 degrees. Rain is predicted for tomorrow. The paper said to expect a wetter July than usual.

I haven't traveled in a year and a half. My feet are itching to move. I want to see new places and revisit familiar places. I want to wander the narrow streets of an old town and stop to eat at a small restaurant serving only local people and offering a menu I can't read. I want to sit outside at a cafe and drink coffee and watch the world pass by me. I have planned a few trips but only in my imaginings. There's that trip back to Ghana. I dream of being there in 2011 to celebrate fifty years of Peace Corps and fifty years of Peace Corps in Ghana. I can also see myself in Istanbul at the markets haggling for goods. Botswana is on my list, maybe a game park and the falls. I'm thinking Guatemala or El Salvador. I can stumble through a bit of Spanish. I keep saying maybe next year.

No one else in my family has this need. They don't pore over maps of the world or check fares. They don't read travel magazines. They don't plan trips in their imaginations or see themselves worlds away. That makes me the lucky one.