Another man's exotic

I will admit I have never been there, but I have heard stories and just the name seems so exotic. Belize City, Belize. If you don't know, Belize is a small country on the Caribbean coast just below Mexico. In fact if you look at the map you would think Belize was created for the sole purpose of screwing Guatemala out of some prime beach.

I'm thinking of Belize today because I get regular updates from American Airlines on their great deals for last minute trips. When AA has too many empty seats, they deeply discount last minute fares. It seems Belize City is always on the list. Obviously there just are not enough folks wanting to go to Belize City on a regular basis. Today the list of destinations that needed more visitors was:

Belize City Belize
Corpus Christi TX

Ft. Wayne IN

San Angelo TX
Texarkana AR
and Wichita KS

No offense to these fine towns, but unlike Belize City I have been to all of them and I'm not sure they compare. How are you going to compete with a city that when I did a Google search here are some of the pictures that come up?

Come on Corpus Christi is the only other place on the list that even has a beach.

You know the old saying the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I suppose there are folks living in Belize City, who would love a chance to vist San Angelo, Texas. They do say they have every recreational activity under sun in San Angelo.

It struck me, because I realize I have lived in places other folks choose to come to and spend their vacation. Yet I rarely think of my hometown as a vacation spot. Vacation seems to mean that you are going somewhere much more different and exotic than where you live. Maybe if you live in Belize City you dream of snow in Colorado, I can't say because as much as I love the beach, living in Houston about an hour from Galveston is as close as I have ever come to living on the beach. Granted there were days in August in Houston, when Colorado sounded really appealing, but it never seemed "exotic".

According to Wikipedia, Belize City's sister city in the US is Ann Arbor Michigan. (Hey you have to dream big)

In fact, when I was 6 my folks brought me to the DFW area for vacation and I remember having a wonderful time. Of course lot's of places seemed exotic compared to Corinth Mississippi. And yes, Corinth is a vacation destination for Civil War buffs.

But, even at the young age of six, I was pretty sure DFW did not have a cool giant blue hole surrounded by reefs.