How does that sound?

I have a friend in Bangladesh, and she was taking a little jaunt up to Khatmandu. I know next to nothing about Khatmandu (next to nothing being I know that it is a place and it is called Khatmandu. Nothing would be minus that information), but it has a nice ring to it.

While the sound of a place isn't the only way I decide where I'm going to travel (okay, I don't really have a defined set of criteria, but this probably wouldn't make the list. It would be one of those added bonus things), there are some places I would love to say I'd been to just because it is so fun to say. For example, Cheboygan. It just rolls off the tongue. Schenactady? Fun to say (and I have a friend who grew up there, so that counts for something). Cochabomba. Quetzaltenango, Guayaquil. Toowoomba--I totally want to say I've been to Toowoomba. There are a lot of fun country names too. Azerbaijan. Burundi. Liechtenstein (fun--and the capital is fun to say too. Vaduz). And all the former USSR republics? I have no idea how to even pronounce them, but they always make me wish I did.

Finding cool places is the strongest argument for the continuation of printed maps. Trying to find cool place names in Google maps just isn't the same experience at all. Maybe it's the archivist in me talking, that part of me that will never become paperless, but I think it is true all the same. I will probably never travel to most places in the world, but it's fun to dream. And to say all those cool place names!