11 Fictional Places I’d Like to Visit (and maybe retire to).

This has been prompted by a Top Ten Tuesday Blog I saw on several sites recently and, as with all things Internet related, I decided to steal it for my own use…. So, here are 11 Fictional Places I’d Like to Visit in no particular order:

Westeros (Game of Thrones)
Only a Summer Vacation obviously! Some sneaky Kevlar disguised as leather, a few months weight and stamina training and a couple of hundred hour’s sword training and you’d be fine… probably. But what adventures could be had, what amazing sights seen, what stories you could bring back and sell to HBO….

Arakis (Dune)
Although not big on the idea of actually riding a Sandworm I’d imagine that a weekend on Arakis could be rather interesting. Not only would travel time be nothing to talk about as space folded around you but you could pick up some spiced food to bring back to boost lifespans, see visions and get those cool blue in blue eyes without the need for pesky contact lenses. The only downside I can think of is the inevitable dry skin issues I’d have to suffer through. Is there enough moisturiser in the known Universe to cope with Arakis? I can’t help but wonder.

The iRobot-verse (Isaac Asimov)
Super intelligent robots that are NOT dedicated to killing you… Where’s the downside?

Sunnydale (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Yes, I know…. I’d like to *visit* somewhere notorious for vampires and monsters…. For FUN?!? But think about it for a second. Not only would you get a chance to meet the Scooby Gang but you’d get to see, experience and (hopefully) survive some really weird encounters that would change your appreciation of the limits of reality. That’s not something that happens every day – except in Sunnydale!

Jurassic World
I mean… who WOULDN’T want to live in a world where dinosaurs walked, flew and swam amongst us? Just think of the possibility of seeing a real (OK, highly genetically modified) Triceratops for the first time or even a Tyrannosaurus Rex from a safe distance. No matter what the entry fee was to the park (short of lost limbs) I’d pay it.

The Sprawl (William Gibson)
I’m sure in the future that there will be a vanishingly small percentage of people who refuse to get cyber implanted enhancements and wander the world as nature intended. I could pretend to be one of those people in The Sprawl between Boston and Washington. Seeing some of the original Cyberpunk ideas up close would be pretty awesome as long as I had some reasonably advance stealth gear to hand – although by then no matter what I picked up here (no matter how ‘cutting edge’) would probably be about as effective as paper down at street level. Hopefully my organs wouldn’t be worth much on the black market or I could convince Molly the assassin to bodyguard me for a few days….

The Matrix
Although I’d only be up for a temporary ‘jacking in’ only as long as a ‘knew Kung Fu’ and believed in myself enough that I could at least dodge bullets if not stop them in their tracks. There’s something very attractive about being in what appears to be the real world and still being able to do impossible things like jumping between buildings and taking out three units. But if any Agents turn up I’d take Cypher’s advice – and RUN!

Lyra’s Oxford (His Dark Materials)
Anyone who has read Pullman’s trilogy must be curious as to what their own personal daemon would be. I’m guessing that mine would, rather inevitably, be a cat and probably a ginger Tom. Of course the only way to truly find out is to go there. I’m guessing that, eventually, your daemon would appear. After all just imagine the scandal, the fear (and disgust?) of being in Lyra’s Oxford *without* a daemon by your side. Then, of course, there’s the possibility of travelling to other Oxford’s through the holes created by the Subtle Knife. To see all of those other worlds would be really something despite the risks……

The Federation (Star Trek)
A world at peace where an individual’s greatest accomplishment is the perfection of themselves. A world without money, poverty, hunger or want. A world connected to other worlds by FTL ships in a universe populated by countless humanoid races who all seem to speak 20th Century English…. Sign me up! Maybe I could sneak a communicator back in my backpack. After all it has all the basic technologies in there. We’re pretty good at reverse engineering things so in a matter of a few decades….. Warp Speed!

The Culture (Iain M Banks)
A galaxy spanning civilisation designed for comfort or adventure if you want it. Being a natural misfit it wouldn’t be long before I was picked up by some passing Ship Mind and spirited off to Extraordinary Circumstances division for training and deployment on a planet of habitat of interest to the leading Minds of the Culture. I’d just need to make sure that I was fully ‘backed-up’ just in case anything happened to me. I’m sure that work could spare me for a few weeks secondment. Just think of the experience I’d be bringing back.

Pandaria (World of Warcraft)
I fell in love with this place as soon as the mists cleared. Breathtakingly beautiful, lush green rolling hills, blue skies (with the odd storm cloud in the distance), abundant wildlife (about half of which is actively looking to bite you), majestic Chinese architecture and human-form Panda’s dedicated to Family, Friends and Food. What a great place to retire, reskill as a Mage, set up house with a friendly Pandaran woman and go on great adventures. Even if/when you die you get another chance after respawning and fixing your gear. Just some more practice, buy some better gear, learn a few more spells, maybe get a few friends to tag along and go KILL that monster to show it who’s boss NOW!