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Old 07-09-2010, 06:10 PM
 
Location: Texas
211 posts, read 565,014 times
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No. I live overseas and have traveled a lot. All my traveling is leisure, with the exception of the rare workshop that I attend in another country. Honestly, what I have found that I want the most is a nice house, in a quiet town, with a pool and books to read. Achieving this has become my priority.

Of course, it's easy for me to be so flippant since I have chosen to live abroad for the past seven years (and have a great job). Even a trip to the local grocery store is an educational journey.

Scott
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Old 07-09-2010, 09:24 PM
 
Location: Sunshine Coast, BC
10,781 posts, read 8,710,224 times
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Yes, DH and I love to travel and now that the kids are grown, we can make it more of a priority. Even when the kids were younger, we liked to travel with them and they love it. One of the reasons we're moving from Australia back to Canada is to have easier access to the sort of travel we prefer. Perth is so far from everywhere, hence very time-consuming and expensive to travel elsewhere. It hinders us from being as footloose and fancy-free as we'd like.

I was born in Australia but my parents moved us all to Canada in the 70's - their reason: just to experience living in a different country. When we got to Canada, we did roadtrips just about every year, mostly through the US and went to Europe every few years. My parents weren't rich, they are very frugal and know how to travel cheaply so we tended to travel more often than my friends did. So my adventurous streak was developed early on, by my parents. I also tend to be frugal in everyday life, just so I have money to travel.
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Old 07-10-2010, 05:12 AM
 
Location: in the southwest
13,396 posts, read 44,948,113 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pigeonhole View Post
Traveling is a priority ...I'd say undoubtedly, like annek...but there's something weird in my interest in traveling : I do it seriously, do my homework before, take it first and foremost as an education, like if I xas taking courses at the university. I don't travel for pleasure, I hate in fact the state of utter exhaustion I can feel after red eyes flights (for instance), but, still, it is for me necessary for my moral and intellectual balance.
I am probably a bit more relaxed than you about it, but I do appreciate this.

For me, what travel is *not* is oneupsmanship. It is not a long list of destinations that you trot out at cocktail parties. I dislike the attitude behind the Century Club, it turns travel into collecting stamps.

Not that I feel I am on a "Mission from God" or something, but I do like to get more out of my trip than a tan or a bigger belt size.
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Old 07-10-2010, 06:00 AM
 
2,015 posts, read 3,373,989 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueWillowPlate View Post
I am probably a bit more relaxed than you about it, but I do appreciate this.

For me, what travel is *not* is oneupsmanship. It is not a long list of destinations that you trot out at cocktail parties. I dislike the attitude behind the Century Club, it turns travel into collecting stamps.

Not that I feel I am on a "Mission from God" or something, but I do like to get more out of my trip than a tan or a bigger belt size.
I've had people make the comment about transferring at some airport, or landing to refuel, and the bonus of this is supposedly being able to SAY you were in that country. So?? You didn't visit if you didn't leave the airport.

I like to share where I've been with people as they may interested in going and want to know what it's like, or have been there as well and we swap stories. I like to hear about countries others have been to that I haven't.

It is pretty cool though to do that Tripadvisor 'cities I've been to' map and look at where all your dots are on the globe.
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Old 07-10-2010, 06:32 AM
 
Location: in the southwest
13,396 posts, read 44,948,113 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yankinscotland View Post
I like to share where I've been with people as they may interested in going and want to know what it's like, or have been there as well and we swap stories. I like to hear about countries others have been to that I haven't.

It is pretty cool though to do that Tripadvisor 'cities I've been to' map and look at where all your dots are on the globe.
Indeed, anything that is a priority in one's own life is usually good fodder for conversation--I scroll through long lists, yet enjoy hearing other people's well-written travel stories, especially if it is a destination that especially intrigues me.
And I have one of those Tripadvisor maps, also the Virtual Tourist one (however, I haven't updated it in ages! )

I guess I just have kind of a complicated attitude about travel; I'm simultaneously cynical yet hopeful--with a dash of pragmatism.

On the one hand, I sincerely believe that travel can foster peace and understanding as people reach through their cultural filters to shake hands. It really can break barriers and increase a person's understanding of the world and his place in it.

On the other hand, travel can be a relaxing vacation from the mundane workaday existence and perhaps also one hell of a good time.

Finally, travel has become yet another consumer good, and the competition to buy and sell it has become fierce over the years. At a backpacking site I moderate, we once had some guy (from another well known travel site) lurking; he was trying to sniff out the hottest new young people's destination. This is what it has come to, a silly keeping up with the joneses situation, sometimes at too dear a cost.
I deplore what has happened at the Galapagos Islands, it never should have become a t-shirt destination IMHO.
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Old 07-10-2010, 08:44 AM
 
Location: San Diego
5,026 posts, read 15,262,480 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yankinscotland View Post
I've had people make the comment about transferring at some airport, or landing to refuel, and the bonus of this is supposedly being able to SAY you were in that country. So?? You didn't visit if you didn't leave the airport.
I have a friend who had a layover in London but never left the airport. She kept bragging to everyone how she's been to London and has a passport stamp to prove it. When I asked her to tell me all about her visit there and the sights she saw, she became silent. Yea, I don't count layovers as an actual visit to a city!
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Old 07-10-2010, 09:08 AM
 
2,015 posts, read 3,373,989 times
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Originally Posted by MAK802 View Post
I have a friend who had a layover in London but never left the airport. She kept bragging to everyone how she's been to London and has a passport stamp to prove it. When I asked her to tell me all about her visit there and the sights she saw, she became silent. Yea, I don't count layovers as an actual visit to a city!
If she didn't leave the airport they wouldn't have stamped her passport! Your friend is full of sh**.
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Old 07-10-2010, 09:21 AM
 
Location: San Diego
5,026 posts, read 15,262,480 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yankinscotland View Post
If she didn't leave the airport they wouldn't have stamped her passport! Your friend is full of sh**.
Actually, that part I believe. My family is in Poland. Almost every single time we fly, we have a layover because Krakow is closer to their house than Warsaw and there are no direct flights there. The last 2 layovers were in Amsterdam and Prague. While we never left the airport, I have stamps from both. They make you re-do security and do passport control there, whether you leave or not. That's been my experience every single time I fly to Poland.
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Old 07-10-2010, 10:35 AM
 
2,015 posts, read 3,373,989 times
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Originally Posted by MAK802 View Post
Actually, that part I believe. My family is in Poland. Almost every single time we fly, we have a layover because Krakow is closer to their house than Warsaw and there are no direct flights there. The last 2 layovers were in Amsterdam and Prague. While we never left the airport, I have stamps from both. They make you re-do security and do passport control there, whether you leave or not. That's been my experience every single time I fly to Poland.
Hmmm....I've had layovers in Dubai and other places but no stamp unless I leave the airport for overnight stay. I've also had layovers in Amsterdam but no stamp.
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Old 07-10-2010, 11:45 AM
 
Location: San Diego
5,026 posts, read 15,262,480 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yankinscotland View Post
Hmmm....I've had layovers in Dubai and other places but no stamp unless I leave the airport for overnight stay. I've also had layovers in Amsterdam but no stamp.
I have a passport full of them, most recently from January. I've gotten one every single time I go to Poland, via another country's airport.
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