You did say that since your operation you wanted to get in as much travel as possible, because you are on a clock. But we're all on a clock. In a way your misfortune is a gift, because you have the urgency of time. We all have the urgency of time, but we don't feel it so acutely.

This is a wonderful ambition. I think I've told you before that my undergraduate degree is in history...not a popular major, especially for women. However, I love feeling the continuity of time, of the connection with the past. Geology is even more exquisitely that than human history. You can 'see' past epochs in the rocks. You can feel them in a way that a book or picture would never give you.

Of course don't take samples. Those rocks have been there since time immemorial. They belong there. They tell a story. You, we, all of earth has a part in that story. We don't need to 'own' it to have it.

Good luck. Please take us on the trip with you when you go.