In a fit of righteous rage Jamie recently reminded me that my Blog was suffering. Guilty as charged. I've been playing a new computer game called Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Because it snidely tracks actual time spent on the game, I know that I have spent 92 hours and 13 minutes since Thanksgiving (the US version) with this marvelous, insidious parasite.

How does this relate to travel?

Considering its 7 planets and baker's dozen of sentient species, more than anything it is a travel game. The worlds are wonderfully rendered, the non-sentient beasties are wicked creepy and best of all, I get to use my own toilet.

This reminds of the movie "Total Recall" where the earth-bound trogdolyte proletariat could visit exotic locations as part of a lucid dream experience. Of course it all went horribly wrong and Gov. Arnold had to brutally slay several speaking actors and countless extras. Which is, essentially, the plot of the video game too.

So this begs the question. Do we lust to travel so we can experience the exotic. Or do we really just want to slaughter, exploit and enslave? I don't know. History says the latter. But maybe we've evolved. Lots of folks think the dollar has replaced the sword (and bacterium) as the weapon of choice. Maybe that's something to remember next time you're waving the green things in front of the quaint natives.