Globe-Trotter

DREAMS OF TRAVELLING the world come frequently to some, and much less frequently to others. For me, I often dream of seeing the Pyramids of Giza, the Colloseum in Rome, the Empire State Building in New York City, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and for some reason I know for sure I'm going to visit all those places someday, it's just a matter of when.

I want to improvise my way down to Monterrey, Mexico and back following my graduation, and have actually drafted the areas I'll be stopping at on my way down, but I'm not sure how much money I'm going to need to pull of a venture like that. As far as I've planned, it won't be very coordinated, but I will have plans for if something goes slightly or totally wrong along the way.
I just really hope I don't get robbed, kidnapped, murdered or even worse along the way, because I know that passing through Texas as a Liberal Atheist can be more then a risk if I'm not careful, because by now near the end of the Bush regime, every person with common sense must know it's impossible to reason with a religous Republican.

I don't usually discriminate groups of people for anything, but for me, Republicans and Conservatives are ones that you can easily put into categories:
-They're usually quite self-centered, and willing to put corporations before the common people.
-The majority of American Republicans are Christian, which gives them the ridiculous privelege to point their holy military crusades to the Middle East as something that is willed by God, as opposed to a desperate search for oil .
-They usually strongly oppose the idea of homosexuality, and in some cases will try to supress homosexual rights.
-On occasion, they can be seen as more pro-caucasian.

There are plenty of other stereotypical points that I could list, but I won't because I've only just realized I've gotten totally sidetracked from my original subject of travelling the globe.

Back to the subject of travelling the world, I've encountered a very slight amount of people who would rather stay at home for the rest of their lives. For me, it's hard to understand these peoples mindsets, because I can't imagine living without the curiosity of what else is out there aside from this stick-in-the-mud small town.
I usually end up interrogating these people (unintentionally) about why they don't want to travel the world, and usually get bleak, dead-end awnsers like "I don't really know, just doesn't really sound like something I want to do." I usually look at them for a few moments, awe struck by their lack of curiosity or awareness of the world around them.
I have the same sort of confused awe when I meet people who don't like hearing about current world news, and usually get an awnser like "the news is to depressing, sad, and confusing for me," and wonder how sensitive these people have to be to ignore the entire world around them like that. Some live with the very self-centered ideology of "ignorance is bliss," which I strongly oppose because, in my perspective, paying no attention to the world around you makes you a clueless, uninterested idiot. I don't say idiot in the context that I hate the person, but more in the context that they're obviously not very smart and, as it would seem, don't know very much and have no right to have opinions on things such as religion, government, or how things should be.