ABOUT ME:  My name is Carol and I live in a small town in the Midwest region of the US. By all accounts, my life is pretty normal……I work full time, own a home, and am a doting grandma to 5 beautiful grandchildren. I love wine, music, gardening, cooking and spending time with my soulmate Scott riding on the back of his Harley Davidson. But my true passion lies in traveling and photography and lately I’ve been a bit worried about my total obsession with it and getting to all the places on my bucket list before my time on this planet is through. It’s really been all consuming but I finally have a diagnosis—–It is Dromomania that I have been suffering from. For those not sure what that is, it is defined as “a term used to describe people who have a strong emotional or even physical need to be constantly traveling and experiencing new places, often at the expense of their normal family, work, and social lives. Yep…that’s me…a travel addict in every sense of the word. Like an alcoholic, gambler, overeater, or any form of addict, I need to travel and there isn’t a day when I don’t think about it in some form–where my next trip will be and who with, memories of the places I’ve been or the people I’ve met along the way. I don’t think that there is a cure or support group for travel addicts, not that I would seek one out or join. I am comforted by the diagnosis but don’t really want to be cured. I believe that travel broadens the mind to different cultures and perspectives on life and enriches the soul with the knowledge that no matter where we live, we are all more connected and similar to one another than we would think. It certainly feeds my soul and I think I am a better person, companion, friend, and mother because of it. I also tend to travel a bit different from most people seeking out not the most popular destinations or tourist spots but the roads less traveled stopping often along the way to capture what’s growing there and who calls it home. And I, like everyone, loves a good luxury hotel but can tell you that my most memorable night to date was spent in a berber tent in the middle of the Sahara desert. For me, it’s more about the experience.

ABOUT THE BLOG:   I’m certainly a latecomer to the blogging community and can’t believe I haven’t done it sooner. The initial itch began after receiving and skimming through the book “1,000 Places To See Before You Die“.  While I felt the list was impressive, it certainly wasn’t mine and I decided to create my own as I go…hence the name of this blog….”A Thousand Places”.   It’s what I believe travel is really all about….connecting with the people, cultures, flora and fauna of wherever I am and telling the story through the lens of my camera. Photographing the adventure brings me joy long after the trip is over. In fact, I can instantly be brought back to a moment simply by looking at a photo—-the sights, the smells, the emotion of that instant. It’s why I’m seldom without a camera in tow and I’ve been known to sacrifice packing more clothes to fit more equipment. With stacks of travel journals and thousands upon thousands of trip photos stored neatly on external hard drives, I guess I’ve really been somewhat of a “blogger” all along…..just not of the electronic kind. That’s where the second itch came. More of a nudge really from friends and the universe to share this love of travel and passion for photographing it with the world. So here it is…..my countdown to a thousand places. A diary and running list of stories, photos, and recommendations for the places I’ve been so far and a bucket list of the places I hope to visit in the future.  What sets me apart from most travel bloggers is my age (let’s just say over 50) and the fact that I do not live a nomadic life. While sometimes I do get a bit envious of that lifestyle, truth is I love my home and its contents and have no desire to sell it all just yet. Most of my things bring back fond memories and are treasured mementos of places I have been. I also, at this point in my life, could never be too far away from those precious grandbabies. One other thing that sets me apart from other bloggers is that I haven’t been paid to travel making my bucket list fully self funded. That means the order I tick someplace off the list is always changing and dependent upon a lot of things….economy and safety of a certain country, travel deals, my availability and, most importantly, my current finances. What connects me, however, with all travel bloggers is our passion for adventure, curiosity of the world and its inhabitants and the need to experience as much of it as we can. I hope that through this site and my lenses I can inspire you to get out there. I’m living proof that it’s never too late to get started and I can almost guarantee your life will be much richer.