I would like to let you in on a little secret: I have never been outside the country, I have never been west of the Mississippi, and I can count the number of times I have traveled outside of North Carolina for vacations and road trips on both hands. I desperately want to travel, but as your textbook broke college student, often the destinations I want to see are just out of my reach. It hurts a little seeing friends posting pictures from London or Greece or Peru on Facebook and Instagram, of course, but mostly it just inflames my passion to travel even more. As JRR Tolkien once wrote: “The Road goes ever on and on / down from the door where it began. / Now far ahead the Road has gone, / and I must follow, if I can." So, here is a nice countdown of the top 11 places I want to go so that you can be just as filled by wanderlust as me.

11. Japan

Now, I am no weeaboo, but the culture of Japan is absolutely fascinating in its richness and its difference from our own western culture. I am a firm believer in the idea that you should expose yourself to as much diversity and as many different ideas as possible in order to become the most well-rounded person you can be, and I can scarcely think of a more beautiful place than Japan in which to experience a whole new culture.

10. Uxmal

What can I say? I have an archaeology minor. I like big pyramids. I like old things. Uxmal is one of the best Mayan sites we have—just look at that picture! It’s 130 feet high and over a thousand years old, and it isn’t even all there is to see in the ancient city of Uxmal, which also features a palace, a ball court and so much else. The Mayans were really freaking cool, guys, and the chance to look at their architecture up close would be a dream come true.

9. New Orleans

Not all of the top places I want to see are outside the country. As I said, I have never been west of the Mississippi before. Now, New Orleans kind of straddles the Mississippi, but parts of it are certainly to the west of it. Nola just seems like such a great place to be, especially with friends—with any luck, two of my best friends and I will be able to cross this off my list come fall break, but until then, I will just have to stare at pictures and sigh while I listen to Louis Armstrong on Spotify and dream of laughing with my friends in the French Quarter.

8. Istanbul

It’s Istanbul, not Constantinople, but that’s nobody’s business but the Turks. This is maybe a place that I could stand to put on hold for a while, given the current political climate in Turkey, but ultimately, it’s still somewhere I would love to see someday.

7. Greece

I could go on about how much I love my classics major and archaeology minor. I could go on about the history and beauty of Greece. I could go on about the musicality of the Greek language and the achievements of Greek architecture. The truth is, though, that I really love Greek food and would probably put tzatziki on everything if I could. I would be drowning in Greek food if I went to Greece, guys, and I want it so bad.

6. Yosemite

Theodore Roosevelt once said that “to waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.” There are few countrysides as dramatic in their splendor as the United States, and I intend to see some of it and have my breath properly taken away from me.

5. Giza

I’ve already gushed over one pyramid—it’s only natural I should want to see the really big ones, too. The Great Pyramid at Giza is the last remaining ancient wonder of the world, and it continues to be a marvel of engineering even today. I don’t think I really have to expand further on why I want to see Giza.

4. The Moon

Now, don’t laugh at this one. Great strides are currently being made in the field of space tourism, and a number of countries are gearing up for the idea of a permanent moon base. Now, if the average life expectancy for a man in the United States is currently 77, and we can anticipate that this will only go up, so I should at least make it to 2072. I think it’s perfectly reasonable that we will be taking vacations to the moon by then, and I, for one, would love to make it up to that big orb in the sky.

3. The Mojave

I want desperately to go camping out in the Mojave under the night sky in October and to look up and see the night sky laid out before me. I want to hear the quiet of the desert, and I want to see the mountains all around me in the distance. I want to see canyons and quant little road stops so far from a real town that you wonder how they find any employees. There is something that seems a little bit magic about the desert of the American southwest to me, and I want to see if it feels that way in person.

2. Israel

Israel is number two on this list for a few reasons: as a classicist, I love old things, and Israel has a great many very old things. As a prospective traveler, you may have noticed my love for the Mediterranean. I confess a certain attraction to the idea of sunshine and olives. Finally, it is only natural that as a Jewish person, I would love to travel to the land of my people. So many of the places on this list have been chosen for history. Well, this is the big one where the history is one that I have some small share in, and the mere prospect of going there and being able to see Masada or the Western Wall gives me goosebumps.

1. Rome

Every other summer, my university does a month-long program in which students and a few professors live and learn in Rome. Many of my friends have done this, and it’s changed all of them. If you can be homesick for a place to which you have never been, then I am homesick for Rome. I have this picture in my head—it’s a silly picture, really, but it’s mine—of an afternoon in the city, sitting near some monument as I watch the people go by and scribbling away in a notebook, maybe that book I’ve always wanted to write. Maybe a little Dean Martin is playing on my phone. Like I said, it’s a silly idea, but if there is anywhere I could go, it would be the Eternal City. This list is full of me romanticizing a lot of places, but, well, I suppose it’s fitting that I romanticize Rome the most—it’s where we got the word, after all.