When I was young my mom used to haul me to garage sales pretty consistently. One such day I encountered a large stack of National Geographic magazines. The detailed images, maps and stories appealed to my sense of wonder and I asked my mom if we could buy some. She told me they were overpriced (no idea if this is true or not) so we didn’t get any. Still I was intrigued and found the school library had some so when most kids were checking out the fiction books or Where’s Waldo I was reading about faraway real places.
When I turned 13 my dad bought me a subscription and so my collection began to grow. I plastered the maps all over my walls (much to their chagrin) and would make plans to visit each of these locations just as soon as my newfound career as a photojournalist began. One day the familiar yellow bordered softcover book of awesomeness arrived with a large odd looking stone face on the cover. Captivated I dove in and learned of the people of Rapa Nui, the birdman cult and those massive stone heads known as Moai.
Known to most as Easter Island because it was “discovered” by European explores on Easter Sunday 1722 this incredibly remote island has continued to fascinate me and the world alike. It is the subject of countless investigations and archeological digs and was always my destination when making practice records while working at Worldspan. To this day it holds the top spot on my travel wish list.