I’m on a plane at least a dozen times a year. Most of the trips are work-related but hey, any opportunity to venture outside of my land-locked state is wholly welcomed. Travel will always play an important factor in my long-term plans for my life and career. The more remote, the better (like the photos below).

As such, I found this quiz at the Best Trip Choices website to be rather engaging. Quizzes – or perhaps my reaction to them – are a lesson in ambivalence. The idea behind them is to find out something about myself. But more often than not I take the quiz to see if the results match what I want to believe about myself. I want a positive reflection of the ideal me. I want an ego stroke.  It becomes more of a quest to validate the quiz than to learn any ground-breaking truth that could disrupt the universe of me.

But regardless, I took it. And yes, it was fairly accurate:

Mid-Venturer

Your venturesome spirit leads you to seek out unique and interesting places to visit and especially to make each leisure trip different from others that you have taken.

Totally agree. I hate going to the same place twice. Even a visit to the same state warrants a dizzying itinerary to tucked-away towns. And we better be doing something. I can watch TV and go to the mall back home. (Okay, I really don’t but you get the point.)

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However, there’s a big difference between you and your true venturer friends: you like a comfortable bed at night (no sleeping under the stars), a warm shower, and meals that you can trust rather than taking a chance on native foods.

I hate this. I want this to be categorically wrong. It makes me sound like a diva. It makes me feel like I should be battling Mariah Carey for the grotesquely overpriced penthouse suite in some NY highrise. Unfortunately it’s not entirely false. I want to rough it. I want to commune with nature. I want to be Thoreau. I can do without TV, phones, computers, hot water, and a commode. But at the end of the day, I need running water and electricity for my iPod. I need music. And I’d prefer a sleeping abode without bugs.

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The press has given your group a name — the jet-set.

I wish the press would stop.

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Like pure venturers, you like adventure travel — but of a different type. Physical exertion is fine, if it isn’t extreme.

I’m plagued by a preternatural fear of heights. This prevents many extreme adventures from my consideration. But I guess this depends what is meant by “extreme.” Zip lines, ATV-ing, dune buggy-ing, sand surfing – sure. Downhill skiing or wrestling with alligators – uhhh…

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Rather, you’d prefer to stop in lesser known old cities and enjoy the ambience created by old buildings that exude their own sense of importance and romance, especially if they’re not listed in guide books.

Off-the-beaten path. I don’t care about your big cities and popular tourist sites. I crave the odd little pokey places, unknown towns, obscure sites.

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Typically you read more than most — books, magazines and newspapers — and watch TV less. When you turn on the “tube,” you are much less likely to prefer any of the top ten sitcoms or “soaps.” Instead, you’ll seek out dramas, special news magazine format shows, and selected sports (as football and basketball; you have less interest in baseball or hockey).

They totally screwed up the sports. Soccer is my first choice, followed closely by hockey. You can throw in boxing, martial arts, and rally car racing as well. You couldn’t pay me watch baseball, though. In any type of currency. In any dimension of reality.

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You may prefer participating in individual sports, such as skiing or singles tennis, rather than those that are more social such as golf or bowling. You are likely to own exercise equipment at home, a treadmill or a stair climber.

I have no exercise equipment at home other than weights and a yoga mat. And bowling is a sport?

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Others look to you for guidance and direction on what to buy, choices to make in their lives, and the kinds of trips that they might like to take.

God help them.

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I find it interesting that they made no mention about “my” travel habits. I am notoriously unorganized and tardy. All of my travel misadventures revolve around these two traits, but that is an entirely different post.

And speaking of zen for the new, here are some photos of very foreign, almost extraterrestrial, landscapes. I have definitely jotted these down for future planning. More beautiful places in the world here.

Blue Lagoon, Iceland

Haleakala National Park, Hawaii

Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California

Pamukkale (hot springs), Turkey

Erg Chebbi Dunes, Morocco

The Wave, Arizona

Giants Causeway, Ireland

Giant Hand in Atacama Desert, Chile

Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia

Torres del Paine, Chile

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