Worlds to Visit

We’ve all done it. Especially when we were kids. We thought about how cool it would be to visit the worlds we read about. Imagine meeting the characters and visiting all the amazing and fantastical locations! I somehow seem to have carried this through to adulthood. My mind is often wandering through the worlds I have read about or even into worlds that I make up myself in my own crazy mind. Yes I know, it’s pretty geeky. But I like it, so leave me alone Mrs NW!

Not necessarily all the worlds I find interesting would actually be great places to visit though. Westeros seems a tad dangerous, and Luthadel would be pretty grim with all the ash falling from the sky and those nasty inquisitors stalking about with wedges of metal stuck in their heads. Some places seem quite nice though. They would be great for a holiday away from the real world. Let’s pack our bags and take a look at the places that I would visit, you know… if I could.

Yeah, this one is pretty much a given for anyone who read these books as a kid. I would totes be in house Gryffindor and have the mad Quidditch skills. Taking classes and learning how to cast spells and make potions would be pretty fun too.

Larry Niven’s novel Ringworld blew me away. The book is mostly about exploring this mysterious and magnificent structure known as a Ringworld which is basically one big ring that surrounds a star. Niven went to a lot of trouble to explain how it all works, the night and day cycles, the structure of it, and also the mysterious empty buildings and strange plants. As you can imagine, the thing is absolutely massive so you could easily spend a lifetime exploring it and seeing all the sites. The best part is the hotels are free – but they do lack that critical ambience you might be shooting for with a romantic getaway.

Riding elephants in India? Riding camels in Egypt? How about riding fudgin’ gigantic sandworms across an alien desert!? Nuff said.

I’ll send you the selfies.

This place is great. You get to jump around in zero gravity and shoot your friends. Not lethal shots, it just immobilizes them. You get to do this over an amazing vista of planet earth that you can see out of the transparent structure surrounding you. You might get signed up to fight in a war against aliens but just try to ignore that bit.

Middle Earth (don’t pretend to be too cool, you know what book this is from)

There’s something for everyone here. Strolling through the quaint and picturesque Hobbiton and exploring the glorious Misty Mountains. Getting lost in Mirkwood and making your fortune in Erebor. Only the hardcore crowd should go to Mordor though, it’s a long walk, and I suggest taking a ranger or a wizard with you so you don’t get lost.

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