Fly Me to the Moon. Or Anywhere.

Confession: Sometimes I check out travel health insurance quotes over at Kanetix.ca so I can daydream about actually traveling somewhere. It's future-adventure porn for the girl with a day job. It gives me permission to fantasize about getting that stamp on my passport. Yes, travel-health-coverage options make me happy. They reassure me that I'm living in a responsible dream world. That secretly planning to pack a bag and leave it all behind is hardly reckless; it's brilliant.

I'm a practical dreamer. Or a dreamer who's too practical. I can talk myself out of almost any exciting idea because it doesn't line up with the self-imposed expectation to be responsible, careful, discerning and sensible. This isn't always a bad thing, but I'm starting to realize that part of being responsible is pursuing the things that inspire me. And sometimes that means just tossing aside the sensible and jumping into the big unknown.

I still dream like a little kid. But thanks to my friend the Internet, I can weigh the practicality of Nadine's Fantasy Land. My impromptu Kanetix parties have me comparing insurance options and rates as if the whole world is at my typed-out fingertips. It's my own Choose-Your-Own Adventure game filled with endless new scenarios. I can decide on a cyber-whim that I want to go really far away for a really long time. Or maybe just to Buffalo for the weekend. (They have The Olive Garden, you know.) And knowing that I can get a tooth fixed, a prescription filled or emergency care provided in some far away land makes the jet-setting idea more thrilling. It makes it seem more real.

This might take the fun out of daydreaming for some. But I like to know what my dreams are getting me into.