I’ve always had an aversion to standing in line. I think that goes back to the Expo ’67 World’s Fair in Montreal. Several of the most popular exhibitions could only be seen if you were willing to stand in line for hours. Which may be fine for an adult who knows what they are going to see, but I was a pre-teen.

As a result I missed a few of the more popular pavilions. The Czech pavilion is the only one I remember offhand – the line was always too long for me. Some others, like the U.S. pavilion, I managed to see by racing to be at the beginning of the line as the fair opened for the day.

At a World’s Fair you can travel the globe without ever leaving the site. I’m not sure if that early experience gave me the travel bug or made me feel I had done it all – I think I saw exhibits from more than 100 countries in that summer of 1967.

Still, the past couple of years have felt strange as travel has ground to a halt. The travel bug is back. I want to go places and see things. Do you feel the same way?

Assuming travel will once more become safe and common, where would you like to go? Is it too early to make plans?

I have a number of trips planned for 2022. One in Canada, a couple to the United States and another couple overseas. Some are business, others pleasure, and I’m hoping to combine some pleasure with the business. If someone else is paying the airfare, can I stay a couple more days and explore somewhere I haven’t been before? There is so much to see.

There are a number of places I have traveled to that I have meant to write about here, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Some days squeezing in the time to write is a challenge. Who am I kidding – that is most days. Maybe if it was a paid job instead of a hobby…

Today though, I thought I would throw in a couple of pictures from one of those unwritten posts. On my first visit to Rome, in 2009, I broke my unwritten rule about lineups.

We had been in St. Peter’s Square for a papal audience, and the second it was over, I raced to line up for entry into the Vatican Museum. I don’t remember how long it took, maybe a half an hour to go through.

There probably isn’t any amount of time that is sufficient to absorb all the treasures in the Vatican Museum. I don’t remember how many hours we wandered, but it wasn’t enough. But when you are traveling, sometimes you have to keep to a schedule.

I’ve been to Rome three times, if my memory is correct. There are lots of places i have never been that are on my theoretical bucket list. I’d probably pass up most of them though if the opportunity came up to spend time once more in the place they call the “eternal city.”