Ballooning the USA. Hot air ballooning is perhaps the most elegant form of travel, using minimal fuel to ascend then drifting effortlessly with the prevailing winds. Most balloonists use ground transport to move back upwind and start again. Imagine instead using modern communications to contact a series of people on the ground who engage the adventure crossing North America from west to east. Many would trade a meal and a night’s shelter for an opportunity to ride along on a segment of the trip. In a pinch, a gondola with minimal supplies becomes a suitable shelter. Nearly everyone could make referrals for more contacts downwind. Better than a balloon would be the ultimate aircraft.

Sailing Lessons in the Caribbean. My cousins live on a sailboat home-ported in Belize. It would be wonderful to spend time with them learning the ropes and living lightly. Fish, tropical fruits & greens comprise an excellent diet. In a tropical climate what more do you need beyond good company?

Intercontinental Music Tour. A band of super talented performers recruited in Rio de Janeiro and outfitted with a custom bus & truck that convert to a stage could thrill audiences at every stop along the highway north to the USA. Aided by some promotion from the entertainment industry venture capitalists from their destination, they could be the hottest thing to hit the USA since the Beatles. I’d like to be an advance man for such an act.

Gunk hole to Dar es Salaam. Four people could live aboard a Warrem catamaran on a journey up the western coast of North America. Leaving Seattle in early spring permits an easy journey to a mid-summer crossing through the Aleutians to Russia. You could be safe in the South China Sea before winter. If the four people had a gift like entertainment to share with people in ports along the way, it could be a fascinating way to spend a year or five. The cat could be beached for repairs and would be safe in shallow harbor.

Tramp freighter alternative. On a similar route to that described above, one could book a cabin on a slow freighter. Picture a small freight container carrying the tools of a freestanding portable video studio, including photovoltaic cells and a satellite transceiver. We’re not far from being able to webcast such a journey, continuing along Tazara rail to Kapiri Mposhi and by truck into the swamps of Shikapwasha, Moye’s village.

African Arts Center. With the latest in broadcast equipment a studio of the theater arts could share the explorations of this generation’s most creative Africans with the world. Based on a self-sustaining estate near, say, Johannesburg, the facility could also function as a school for performers and a forum for peaceful resolution of community conflicts.

Long overland trek. Trace on the globe an arc from Lake Tanganyika across Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Tibet and Burma. That route touches some of the most fascinating and maligned cultures of the world. I have always been delighted by the results of facing such challenge with an open heart. I’d love to travel with no more than I could carry on my back among the people of that arc. I’d estimate a minimum of eight months, but allow a lifetime. Linguistic preparation alone could take years.