Oops, sorry, didn't read all your question before writing this....
Alaska. Been wanting to drive from Texas To Alaska for a long time. I think I'm about a year away from being able to do it.
I also like the Southwest. New Mexico, Arizona, Utah or Nevada. Beautiful scenery and really cool tourist traps (I'm a sucker for tourist traps...6 legged calves, 3 headed chickens...).
Just hop in the good old automobile and travel through time.
Texas Texas west of Austin and north of San Antonio, might be the next best thing to crossing the Atlantic.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.