Fernweh.

That's a German word I discovered recently. It has the same general sense as Wanderlust, although as I had it explained to me, it has more of a sense of "loving faraway places." I like the very sound of it; it sounds like something faraway, exotic.

I'm currently indulging in a No Reservations marathon. I love this show. It's hosted by chef Anthony Bourdain (who also hates Rachael Ray, hooray!), and he goes to some insanely interesting places. There's little gimmickry; he doesn't dive into maggot stew or pickled calves' brains at each turn, looking for the most stomach-turning dish in each country. And he's not exactly Samantha Brown: he smokes, drinks, and swears, and he doesn't pose jauntily with national landmarks. He doesn't retread the same tired tourist traps every episode: he's been to Moscow, Tashkent, Edinburgh, and yes, even New Orleans - but after Katrina. And he had some pretty harsh things to say, too. His is not a glossy show.

What he does do is engage with locals and attempt to understand their cultures, even when they don't necessarily reflect his own. I admire that. A recent episode dealt with Gaugin's French Polynesia, but rather than taking us to yet another beach with scantily-clad Americans holding neon drinks with umbrellas in them, Bourdain delved into the nightlife of Papaete with...Polynesian transsexuals. Yes, transsexuals. They're called Mahu there; men who desire to lead lives as women. It is something of a tradition there. Bourdain ate poisson cru - a raw fish dish that's "perfect hangover food" - with them and listened as they told him about their dreams; one wanted to find a husband, another wanted to be a doctor. He didn't crack jokes about their boob jobs or ridicule the one for wanting a husband; he listened as they explained what their culture was about.

This is the sort of thing I really want to do. No, will do, one day. I suffer from acute fernweh. I think we as Americans are too narrow-minded to truly appreciate what makes even our own country good, let alone anyone else's. I want to get past the Ugly American stereotype. I want to learn what makes someone on the other side of the world tick. I want to see the Cape York Peninsula before it's destroyed by tourists looking for a crocodile-populated Disneyworld. I want to learn Italian and order gelato from a shop that only the locals know about. I want to go for a hike in Crete and not worry about getting lost, because I am where I need to be. I want to live in London, because of all the places I've been, it's the one that feels most like home, even with the crazy fruit vendors and the constant if faint smell of damp paper.

I firmly believe it's important to appreciate what you have and make the best of where you are; I learned this the hard way. I've been in some amazing places and sometimes wanted only to go home again, and I regret it. And it's no good to just want another stamp in your passport, although mine's been feeling awfully neglected of late. You can travel the world and never actually see anything; I've been on trains next to people who talked about "doing" Dover, Windsor Castle, and Canterbury in one day, and I felt unspeakable pity for them, because I've spent a day in just the Tower of London and not felt like I've seen and understood it all. You have to travel with open eyes and an open mind (and, often, an open wallet, alas!), and that's what I like about Bourdain - I learn something about the countries he takes me to, even though it is only armchair travel. There is so much more in this world than my hometown, my state, my country, and I want to go, see, hear, touch, taste it all.

Well, okay, maybe not poisson cru.