I’ve talked about this with sports journalism colleagues over two or three decades.

What is the best sports assignment in print?

Because I spent three decades in American journalism, the answers sometimes would be “covering baseball home and road” … or “being a major metro’s NFL writer” … and somesuch. Maybe “international sports reporter” which a few papers set up for the person who led Olympics and, perhaps, World Cup coverage. (In the U.S. that made sense; really.)

But even before I arrived in a distant land, I thought the argument was over.

Coolest beat ever?

Covering Formula One racing, full-time.

The ultimate in globetrotting journalism. Exotic lands, rich people, fast cars, rich people, fascinating cultures and rich people at every turn.

Check the 2011 F1 schedule.

Wouldn’t you be interested in seeing all of those cities/countries?  How many have you not been to, before? Half? Nearly all of them?

And someone else is paying you to travel … and once you get there you are watching the world’s favorite form of motor sports, hanging out with jet-setters and super models and billionaires — once you get out of the press room, of course.

Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Istanbul, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Montreal,  Valencia, England, German, Budapest, Monza, Singapore, Japan, New Delhi, Abu Dhabi, Sao Paolo …

That sounds like some fantasy itinerary. The post-college “world tour” for the super rich.

And your publication pays for you to go … and (here is the best part) still pays your salary. And here is the second-best part: The overtime or lieu days you accrue, coming and going, probably make for a long time off over the winter.

Sweet. The traveling F1 writer.

We have one of those blessed creatures in our very own sports department, at The National. For the first time, the paper has assigned one writer to travel to every F1 event.

His name is Gary Meenaghan and, yes, he knows he’s on the greatest gig … ever. He’s about 30, indestructible and teeming with energy, as many of us were at that age, and he’s good. He will do a very nice job.

Not to say it’s easy, or all just lounging by the pool or rubbing shoulders with royals and tycoons. It’s a competitive beat, and the travel can be daunting. Frankly, I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t have wanted to do it more than once or twice at any point in my life. Look at all those monster trips, and think of how many 10-hour flights are involved, how many time zones you go through.

And even if I can marvel at the schedule, I concede that I find F1 racing quite dull. It may be the highest form of the sport, but race day is not flattering to it. Almost no one passes anyone else. Almost zero lead changes after the first or second corner.  Only a handful of drivers can win any race. It is not a great sport, in my mind.

But the locales!

If I were Meenaghan, I’d be Scottish … but I’d also be tempted to buy one of those steamer trunks to carry my stuff in, just so I could put on all the stickers from the countries I visited (while expensing every move I made) … and then just sit the sticker-plastered trunk in the corner of my living room, smiling whenever I looked at it.

“Yeah, but that was nothing like the weekend in Barcelona … and I’m not even talking about when Vettel put it into the wall …”

Anyone with a differening viewpoint … love to hear about what you think is a better job.