The Everywhere blog

I hate admitting this. I really do. But there are parts of the world that I've put off seeing simply because of the local insect population.

Ok, I can feel the numerous pairs of eyes rolling already, but I swear this fear stems from a real place. It's not the lame trials and tribulations of a prissy chick who is sent into cardiac arrest because she sees a Daddy Long Legs on the kitchen ceiling, or "eeeek" it's a house fly.

No, what I'm talking about is how I've consistently put off going to Koh Samui in Thailand, where my pal's dad owns a resort, because the stories she spins about the ridiculously enormous spiders that like to hang out in the town power lines gives me the willies. (She estimates their diameter spans at least one foot.) The worst, she says, is when she's venturing out at night, and she can't see the arachnids hanging out, but she knows they're there.

And just writing that last little passage, by the way, has made my entire body itch. Quite literally, I am sitting here scratching every part of my body. If I wasn't at work, I'd probably stand up on my chair.

There's also the story of a pal who went on an absolutely breathtaking trip to New Zealand. I especially liked the parts where she talked about a spelunking expedition. Until she got to the part about New Zealand's very famous insect, the Giant Weta. Some of these bad boys grow to be as large as rats. Holy hell! In fact, a little research reveals that New Zealand overall has a rep for harboring the world's most giant insects, ever, on earth. She was cool when the tour guide pointed out the constellation of glow worms that blanketed the cave's ceiling. But further along in the tour, it became crystal clear that the ceiling was kind of moving, and when the tour guide explained that all that vigor was actually an enormous population of cave weta, an incredibly common, incredibly harmless, but oh so terrifying, insect all over New Zealand. She got out of there faster than a rocket.

Yikes! 

Have you encountered creepy-crawlies during your travels?  Did you take any pictures of 'em? If so, follow this link to contribute to everywheremag.com. Please write descriptive captions to go with your photo so we can get a sense of what we are looking at, how it all came to pass, how you reacted to the creature at hand. Tag your stories/photos with the label Bugs. Looking forward to the squirming!

Photo courtesy of New Zealand's Department of Conservation