Wanderlust - Trying to Scratch the Itch

It has been a little over nine weeks since we last traveled anywhere. It was a trip to Seattle to see our kids before they moved to Tokyo. We've cut back on travel some this year to try to ease the deficit in the travel budget with our World Cruise coming up next year. Wanderlust has struck and we still have a couple of weeks before our annual dive trip to Grand Cayman. The itch to go somewhere is worse than a poison ivy rash.

Adding to the discomfort are the emails I get from some of the travel websites featuring the best places in the world to go and see. I was just looking at one from Smarter Travel that features 10 Romantic Islands. We've been to five of them: Kauai, Santorini, St. Johns, Bora Bora and St. Lucia.

Santorini in Greece is the only island we have actually stayed at for any length of time and yes, it is a romantic place. Sunsets are amazing. Food is unbelievably delicious. Atmosphere is perfect. The pace is such that it gets you to slow down and smell the roses or the bougainvillea that strikes a colorful contrast to the mostly white buildings that hug the seaside cliffs.

The other islands we have only visited by cruise ship so our stays there were only a day at best. We've stayed at Maui but I believe Kauai is a bit less crowded and the Waimea Canyon was beautiful. St. Johns is a much slower paced island than its close neighbor St. Thomas. The French Polynesian Islands are all romantic idyllic places to visit and we've stayed at Papeete and Moorea in over-the-water bungalows.

Smarter Travel lists five other islands: Maldives, which I've always heard is good for diving, Cape Breton Island off the coast of Canada, Anguilla in the Caribbean not far from St. Martin, Capri off the coast of Italy near Naples, and Nantucket off the coast of Maine. Of those five, I've put Cape Breton and Nantucket on the bucket list. Don't know if that's helping the itch though. I think the only way to get relief is to pack a suitcase and go.