Choosing my next adventure

We're getting to the halfway point of 2010, so it's time to start planning trips for 2011! Besides the usual research/pleasure trips to Oxford and Missouri, I'm thinking of going back to Harar, Ethiopia, for two months. I absolutely fell in love with this medieval walled city of Sufis, and I know someone who will rent me a house in the Old City.

As I've been planning my return, an old problem has cropped up. If I return to a country, I don't get to see a new country. This was always a problem with my return trips to India, another place I love.

Here are some alternatives. For the price of a two-month trip to Ethiopia, I could do three or even four shorter trips. One would be to The Gambia for ten days, a trip made cheaper by since my wife gave me a gift of a free ticket whenever I want to go. That was almost two years ago and I still haven't used it! Another trip would be two weeks hiking around Montenegro, with its beautiful coastline, rugged green mountains, and historic hilltop castles and monasteries. Even after these two trips I'd still have enough money to hike across Luxembourg and do some easyJet long weekend somewhere!

Tempting. . .but Harar is calling me.

I'm torn. What should I do?

Photo of Kotor, Montenegro, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.