Happy Friday! National Geographic's Drives of a Lifetime

From one of my favorite magazines, Natty Geo Traveler, I want to present an older article called Drives of a Lifetime. There are some really awesome driving trips in there - Cascade Lakes and Mount Hood in Oregon, Italy's Amalfi Coast, Vermont's Cheese Trail, Provence in France, and on and on. I love these lists. Happy Friday!

BusinessWeek: Most Expensive Summer Homes 2010

I never get tired of Bloomberg BusinessWeek slideshows like this one titled Most Expensive Summer Homes 2010. Which one is your favorite?

Scotland's Hebrides

In the same vein as my Western Australia wanderlust, I present to you a kickass series of National Geographic photos of Scotland's Hebrides islands. I haven't been to the upper highlands or the islands around Scotland, but this looks amazing. Even a basic Google Image search for 'Hebrides Scotland' turns up amazing photos. What's the most photogenic scenery you've been to, and how does this compare?

Ave: High Speed Trains Done Right

Today BusinessWeek (my old standby) has an article up about the high speed Ave trains that cross Spain's plains. I took a Madrid to Sevilla trip when I was in Spain and it was a great experience. The Aves might be a good template for a US high speed train, which Obama has set aside $13 billion in stimulus money for.

Western Australia

In the vein of cool places we'd like to go, I think there's something really appealing about Western Australia. Not just Perth, but the whole scope of the undeveloped natural land there. Something about it reminds me of the American West when it was still developing - a kind of frontier land. It seems like a place where you could have adventures like this LA Times travel writer and get lost from the world. Plus there is a city there called Monkey Mia, which tickles me. Does the allure of unspoiled nature entice you?

Strangers on a Plane

I just got back from New York and really enjoyed it (though some think traveling is a waste of time). I had a question though - do you talk to the strangers you sit next to on planes? Do you only respond if they initiate it? Do you prefer to have no contact and simply sleep or read?

Where would you go?

If you had 7-10 days to travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go, and, of course, why?