Jane Goldstein, a Boston corporate attorney, was turning 40 when she decided she needed to scale Kilimanjaro. Climbing for eight days with a cast of characters that included a recent widower, her best friend, and four Texans, Goldstein grew fond of the Kilimanjaro-trekker’s mantra of pole-pole, Swahili for “slowly.” It was, she says, “a wonderful pace of life.” Closing in on the summit, she realized the purpose of her trip: it made her feel like she could do anything.

Goldstein’s tale is hardly unusual—midlife restlessness is so common it seems like a cliché. But psychologists say it’s real: a period of discontent that can produce feelings of boredom, doubt, anger, and unease. Traveling has always been a remedy, but more people are forgoing cars and tattoos these days in favor of real-world exploration.

Other than climbing Kilimanjaro, though, what sort of journeys are we talking about? Here is a sample:

Photographing the Tibetan Plateau, Tibet: Environmentalists say the Tibetan plateau, an elevated landmass that spans Tibet, China, and India, is in imminent danger of melting. Learning-based workshops lead caravan tours throughout some of the more remote regions of the diminishing plateau—home to the highest percentage of Tibetans anywhere in Tibet, and a place where Tibetan culture is at its best preserved—with hands-on instruction on bringing home the sort of photos that’ll undoubtedly top the neighbors’ snaps of the Grand Canyon.

Biking through Umbria, Italy: Pedaling through expansive vineyards, olive groves, and medieval hill towns is visually rewarding in itself, but at the end of a good, long haul, what’s better than a celebratory glass of Orvieto? Group cycling trips through the Italian countryside expose travelers to new friends and make accessible foreign ground not typically covered, while good food and wine minimize the boot-camp feel. The best part? Seeing Italy without concern for calories.

Check out the full story for other ideas, everything from surfing in Fiji to teaching English in Cambodia to spending some time at the Esalen Institute in California.

Had Mr. McCloskey and his allies had their way, the border might not be there at all. For decades they preached of a distinct “bioregion and eco-culture” reaching roughly from southeast Alaska through inland British Columbia and down to Northern California. Pristine peaks, cascading waterfalls and a shared way of relating to it all would transcend national boundaries through what Mr. McCloskey called “a swearing allegiance to a life in service of the place.”

Purists (and parodists) still talk of secession, from both countries, and Mr. McCloskey still has flags he designed for the nation that would be…Business leaders and elected officials took the Cascadian dream and worked to make it a brand, a cross-border powerhouse of trade and tourism tilted toward Asia, the Arctic and the new, all to be linked by high-speed rail, a green economy and a sense of independence from Ottawa and Washington…

Yet Cascadia remains elusive. A few Web sites still promote the idea. “Ecotopia,” a 1975 novel by Ernest Callenbach that helped inform Cascadian thinking (but excluded British Columbia), has found a new audience as environmental awareness increases, and Joel Garreau’s “The Nine Nations of North America,” published in 1981, which unites parts of British Columbia and the West Coast into an environmentally minded whole, can still be tracked down.

As the article suggests, two interesting books that delve into the culture of this region are Ecotopia and The Nine Nations of North America. The latter book is an intriguing look not only at the Pacific Northwest, but also at eight other cultural regions across the continent, including New England, Dixie and MexAmerica. The book may have been written in the 1980s, but it still rings true today.

If you’re a more sedate person and prefer to be an extreme sport spectator, you might want to check out one of the Halls of Fame in North America that are dedicated to some of the winter sports. I just published an article on this topic for Examiner.com. An excerpt:

Figure Skating Hall of Fame - Colorado Springs, Colorado: From Sonja Henie, Peggy Fleming and Dick Button to Katarina Witt, Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton, dozens of Olympic champions and all-time greats are enshrined in the Figure Skating Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The museum also features the world’s largest collection of memorabilia and films related to the popular sport of figure skating.

Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame - Ishpeming , Michigan: Michigan may seem like an unusual choice for the Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, but the city of Ishpeming is where the National Skiing Association was first organized a century ago. This Hall of Fame focuses on Americans, but honors more than 300 individuals, from early pioneers to such recent Olympic champions as Picabo Street and Tommy Moe. The museum has 15,000-square-feet of exhibits, including a large collection of skiing memorabilia and archives.

On the other hand, if you want to be involved in some adrenaline-producing activities, then head over to this MSNBC story, which profiles a few of the world’s best activities for thrill seekers. O.K., so you won’t be matching wits with Shaun White on the halfpipe, but there are plenty of options here to get your heart racing.

Rock climbing, Yosemite Valley: They say Yosemite Valley is climbing mecca, with climbs coveted by “rock heads” far and wide, and a degree of difficulty that has necessitated many technical innovations. Even today, as the most demanding ascents have crumbled, aficionados still point to El Capitan, Yosemite’s 915 meter granite wall, as the planet’s greatest rock climb. Be prepared to self-rescue: it is illegal to camp at the base of any wall.

Zambezi Riverrafting, Zambia and Zimbabwe: The British Canoe Union classes this white-water run as an extreme Grade V: violent rapids, steep gradients, massive drops. One of the rapids is called ‘Oblivion’ and is said to flip more canoes than any other on the planet. Commercial operators like Safari Par Excellence operate on both countries’ shores. July to January serves up the best water conditions.

Running with the Bulls, Pamplona, Spain: Ever since Ernest Hemingway popularized the event, running with the bulls through the narrow streets of Pamplona has come to symbolize some kind of macho pinnacle. Bull runs start at 8 a.m. every day from 7 to 14 July; runners must enter before 7:30 a.m. Once you start running it is technically illegal to stop.

Whatever you do, enjoy! And see you in London in two years, or Sochi in four.

Bora Bora - Nothing says “ultimate honeymoon” quite like Bora Bora. The word is out — and has been for some time — about this French Polynesian island’s extraordinary natural beauty, and Bora Bora’s remoteness and high prices have kept the island’s luxurious mystique intact. Enchanting Bora Bora belongs to the exclusive, “so-preposterously-gorgeous-it-doesn’t-seem-natural” club of travel destinations. Even the most jaded globe-trotter duly drops his jaw when confronted with the spectacle of the lagoon and the iconic silhouette of Mount Otemanu in the background. Many visitors, in fact, never get farther than that perfect tableau of paradise, but excursions to the main island and its lofty interior are how you’ll get to the real heart of Bora Bora.

Mauritius - Isolated in the Indian Ocean, 1,243 miles east of mainland Africa, Mauritius may be tiny, but there’s never a shortage of things to do. With a coastline ringed by coral reefs, and calm, clear, shallow lagoon waters, the island is ideal for all sorts of water sports; the unspoiled interior offers sights of spectacular natural beauty as well. Tourism on Mauritius is a relatively new phenomenon, however, and so far it’s definitely geared toward the higher-end traveler. Mauritius today is an amalgam of Creole, Indian, Chinese, and French peoples (there was never an indigenous population), with Creole and French the dominant flavors. Its most famous resident, however, may have been the flightless dodo bird, a rare species discovered here by the first Dutch visitors and soon driven to extinction by the settlers’ wild pigs and macaques.

See the profiles of all 10 islands, from Canada, Chile, Kenya and beyond. Or better yet, check out the book and read about all 500 of them.

 

In Birmingham, you can then begin your journey along the Alabama Civil Rights Trail. The main attraction here is the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, a museum that re-creates the world of racial segregation and the civil rights clashes. It is across the street from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where four young girls were killed during a 1963 bombing by the Ku Klux Klan.

 

Another two hours south is the town of Selma. There, you can stop at the Edmund Pettis Bridge, where 500 people were attacked by state police in 1965 while they participated in the Voting Rights March. From here, you can follow the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail, which commemorates that march.

 

It’s just over an hour to Montgomery, where Dr. King was a preacher and some of the most famous civil rights incidents took place. You can tour the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where King worked; the Dexter Parsonage Museum, the home where King and his family lived; the Rosa Parks Library and Museum, which pays tribute to the woman who sparked a year-long city bus boycott; and the Civil Rights Memorial, designed by the architect Maya Lin, that honors those who gave their life to the civil rights struggle.

 

Finally, less than an hour east of Montgomery is the Alabama town of Tuskegee, which is not connected to the civil rights movement but is renowned in African American history for other reasons.

 

First, you should visit the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site. It’s the only historic site located on a functioning college campus. The school was founded in 1881 as a teacher’s college for African Americans and grew to prominence under the leadership of Booker T. Washington. One of the school’s most famous professors was George Washington Carver. Today, you’re able to visit some of the university’s earliest buildings, including The Oaks, which was Washington’s home. Another attraction is the George Washington Carver Museum, with exhibits on Carver’s life and scientific achievements. Additionally, the graves of Washington and Carver are in the Tuskegee University Campus Cemetery.

 

Also in town is the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. Exhibits at Moton Field tell the remarkable story of the thousands of African Americans who were trained here during World War II to fly and maintain combat planes. Since the military was still segregated at the time they had to be trained at a different facility from white pilots, but the Tuskegee Airmen became one of the military’s most respected group of fighters.

 

You can read my full story here, and you can follow the journey with this Google map:

View Black history road trip in a larger map

Harar must have blown Rimbaud’s senses away. It still bewitches travelers with a riot of color, scents and unique lifestyles, where Islam meets Christianity, Arabia and Asia join Africa, and trade between regions and cultures flourished over 1,000 years of uninterrupted urban life…

Trade and religion shape Harar’s life. Ethiopian Muslims consider it the fourth most sacred Islamic city, with 80 mosques and 200 holy graves of saints.

It was closed to non-Muslims until, in 1855, the British explorer Richard Burton, a fluent Arabic speaker, donned Arab dress and snuck into the city for 10 days. He left a lively account of his trip.

Check out the full story. Or, for another view of Harar, you can also pick up Paul Theroux’s book, Dark Star Safari. Theroux stopped in Harar and other places in Ethiopia during an overland journey across Africa, which he recounts in this excellent travel narrative.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac, 1957
When this semi-autobiographical work was published, the New York Timeshailed it as the “most important utterance” by anyone from the Beat Generation. Though he changed the names, the characters in the novel have real life counterparts. Salvatore “Sal” Paradise (Kerouac) from New York City meets Dean Moriarty (fellow beatnik Neal Cassady) on a cross-country journey fueled by drugs, sex and poetry The novel’s protagonists crisscross the United States and venture into Mexico on three separate trips that reveal much about the character of the epic hero, Moriarty, and the narrator.

Travels With Charley John Steinbeck, 1962
Near the end of his career, John Steinbeck set out to rediscover the country he had made a living writing about. With only his French poodle Charley as company, he embarked on a three-month journey across most of the continental United States. On his way, he meets the terse residents of Maine, falls in love with Montana and watches desegregation protests in New Orleans. Although Steinbeck certainly came to his own conclusions on his journey, he respects individual experience: He saw what he saw and knows that anyone else would have seen something different.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenanceby Robert M. Pirsig, 1974
A deep, philosophical book that masquerades as a simple story of a father-and-son motorcycle trip, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenanceis Pirsig’s first foray into philosophy writing. Their motorcycle trip from Minneapolis to San Francisco is also a trip through Eastern and Western philosophical traditions. His friend, a romantic, lives by the principle of Zen and relies on mechanics to fix his motorcycle. Pirisg, on the other hand, leaves nothing up to chance and knows the ins and outs of maintaining his bike.

Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon, 1982
After losing his wife and job as a professor, William Least Heat-Moon sets out on a soul-searching journey across the United States. He avoids large cities and interstates, choosing to travel only on “blue” highways—so called for their color in the Rand McNally Road Atlas. Along the way, he meets and records conversations with a born-again Christian hitchhiker, an Appalachian log cabin restorer, a Nevada prostitute and a Hopi Native American medical student.

See the entire list of 11 books in the full story. What titles would you add to this collection?

Fallingwater- Built between 1936 and 1939, Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece is one of the most famed creations of American architecture. Constructed atop a rushing waterfall, the home’s cantilevered balconies and rough-hewn stone materials offer a breathtaking organic interplay with the natural surroundings. Located about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh in the Bear Run Nature Reserve, Fallingwater is now the only major Wright-designed house to open to the public with its furnishings, artwork and setting intact. The home has received 4 million visitors since opening its doors to the public in 1964.

San Francisco’s “Painted Ladies”- Between 1849 and 1915, about 48,000 Victorian-style homes were built in San Francisco to accommodate the city’s growing population. Adorned with bright colors to enhance their elaborate architectural details, these homes were first referred to as “Painted Ladies” in 1978 by writers Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their book Painted Ladies: San Francisco’s Resplendent Victorians. While thousands of these vibrant homes still grace the streets of San Francisco today, the six Painted Ladies on Steiner Street, bordering Alamo Square Park, are by far the most famous. Often referred to as “Postcard Row,” this line of homes standing in front of the San Francisco skyline has become a classic image of the city.

Monticello - Designed by founding father and Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson himself, Monticello is one of the most famous examples of neoclassical architecture in the United States, with its classic use of symmetry and stately brick exterior. Construction on the home began in 1769, although several of its most famous features were not added until later. The dramatic dome, for instance, was added in 1800 after Jefferson visited France and was influenced by architectural trends in Paris. The west front of Monticello has appeared on the nickel since 1938; however, the dome and west portico are not necessarily the “front” of the house. In Jefferson’s day, guests would enter through the East Front into the entrance hall, while the family would enter through the West Front into the parlor.

See the full story for the other seven iconic choices, many of which would make a nice addition to any travel itinerary or road trip.

Each day, I walked across the city from my apartment in the 18th arrondissement to school in the 15th arrondissement. I traversed neighborhoods and crossed boulevards and the river Seine on my way to class. For breakfast, I stopped in cafes along the way and ordered a tartine, a crusty baguette slathered with butter and preserves, and cafe au lait. I passed open-air markets, where I purchased baguettes, fresh fruit and runny cheese for my lunch. I continued on, passing restaurants and bistros, pausing to read menus posted outside their doors, window shopping for dinner just as I would for shoes.

At school, I learned to make sauces, stocks and reductions, how to clean fish and poultry, sharpen and use my knives. I learned the basics of pastry and how to cook an egg. I was instructed on how to cut vegetables, roast salmon, prepare coq au vin. I shared my food from class with the dishwasher, who tirelessly worked in our kitchen, cleaning our pots and pans. I was eager to return home from school without leftovers; I had other plans for dinner. My love affair had started. I had a rendezvous with a French bistro for dinner.

I discovered the neighborhood bistro early on. Accessible, convivial and unfussy, the bistros beckoned to me when I returned home from school each day, tired and hungry with no interest in more cooking. Their entrances were warmly lit and festively decorated. Sounds of conversation, laughter and the wafting aroma of delicious food coaxed me into their cozy environments. I would slip into a seat at a small table in the middle of the bustle, sitting elbow to elbow with my fellow diners. I was alone yet in good company, sharing in the enjoyment of eating.

Travel and food always makes a great combination for both experiences and storytelling. Read more of the rest of the author’s French cooking experiences in the full story, which includes recipes for beef bourguignon, potato gratin, and more.

Technology as well as the ability to travel has helped many students and educators reach out to learn and to teach others how to institute a global learning environment. The following list of top fifty education blogs show the broad reach in this effort, with blogs listed in categories that range from studying abroad to e-learning technology and from international diplomacy to cultural resources.

Check out the full list for an idea of what other people who are interested in the world are writing about.