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Travel light? What's that? Yeah it is probably one fault I have, I take so much stuff. With no laundry available or the willingness to waste time finding one I need clothes for every day. I do pack such that I haven't taken anything I didn't wear so there is that.
There's just some set of travelers who finds bizarre virtue in being able to say they only brought two pairs of underwear on a trip and they just washed them out in the hotel sink every night.
Sure people will talk about cost and having a good enough vehicle to get to those places, but the National Park Service is one of the cheaper things one can do, relative to Disney and other resorts.
Especially when you get old enough to buy a park pass. I now get in for free for the rest of my life, which is nice.
Especially when you get old enough to buy a park pass. I now get in for free for the rest of my life, which is nice.
I got it just before NPS drastically raised the price of senior park pass (but it is still a good deal after the price increase).
IMO Disney Theme Park in US is very unfriendly to Senior. While another Disney Theme Park overseas offers Senior discount ($13 for 65+), those two in US just offer discount to children but not Senior.
There's just some set of travelers who finds bizarre virtue in being able to say they only brought two pairs of underwear on a trip and they just washed them out in the hotel sink every night.
Me, I pack to avoid doing laundry along the way
There's some middle ground here.
We're doing 10 nights in Europe next month. The last 5 nights are at AirBnB with washing machines. I don't need to pack 10 pairs of underwear. We have 4 nights in a hotel in Rome. If I have a clothing debacle, there's a laundromat a block away if I'm too cheap to pay the stiff hotel laundry charge. 8 euros later, all my clothes are clean.
In late-September, we're renting a house in Galicia a couple hours north of Porto, Portugal for a week. We were there a few years ago. The house has a washer/dryer. 3 or 4 days of clothes is really all I need to pack.
I've taken many ski trips all over the world. A wheeled double ski bag, boot bag with backpack straps, and a large wheeled drop-bottom duffel bag. I usually pack enough inner layers to go 5 ski days and wash/line dry all the breathable inner layers in the bathtub every 4 days. It's not like I'm going to trust anyone else to wash my expensive ski gear.
I remember a business associate once sending a sweater out in the hotel laundry. It came back infant sized.
Missing out, IMO. I've not been to Laos, but Cambodia has incredible archeological resources, a fascinating turbulent recent history, and some truly wild spaces all for a very affordable price.
There is probably something of interest in every country but few of us have the time or money to experience a fraction of it. We must all prioritize based on our resources and interests, and while I might agree with your view of Cambodia I wouldn't agree that I am "missing out" by choosing to have other experiences instead.
There's just some set of travelers who finds bizarre virtue in being able to say they only brought two pairs of underwear on a trip and they just washed them out in the hotel sink every night.
Me, I pack to avoid doing laundry along the way
I travel very light, so doing the “sink washout” approach works for me. It’s not for everyone, of course.
There is probably something of interest in every country but few of us have the time or money to experience a fraction of it. We must all prioritize based on our resources and interests, and while I might agree with your view of Cambodia I wouldn't agree that I am "missing out" by choosing to have other experiences instead.
Totally agree with this. I'm personally very interested in Cambodia but haven't had the time off from work or the money for airfare to make it there yet. We all have to prioritize.
We just had three weeks in Vietnam and could have done a Cambodian extension, as did about a third of our group. We decided against it for a few reasons. Cambodia is a much poorer country than Vietnam and I do not cope well with severe poverty. That is why I ended up crying in San Francisco when we walked from Union Square to Civic Centre, past all the homeless living in an extremely affluent country. I also got very upset in Mexico City, though it was a long time ago, seeing the number of children begging.
Also, I have read that the main temples and sites in Cambodia are completely inundated with groups of Chinese tourists in particular, making it hard for people to see them properly. It is also quite distressing finding out how the volunteer tourism there has been badly exploited, with children being removed from their families to be placed in facilities.
As well, the visa is expensive and if we were to put aside the other issues it would be better to stay for longer than we had on offer. I refuse to go to India for much the same reasons, though all we know who have been there love it.
We all have our comfort level and it is good to push it a little. But maybe not go too far over it when at the end of the day, travel is supposed to be enjoyable.
I agree with time being the biggest factor. And second money. Several on here quoting....it's only a few hundred for this flight or that flight. But if you are in your prime earning years, you also mostly likely have a family. So multiply that number by 4 and it suddenly skipping that latte doesn't make that much of a dent.
When I quote the price I have paid for upcoming trips, it is to get the attention of people who never look for the cost of trips to certain destinations because they have the belief that these destinations are beyond their means. That is the first hurdle that most people have to jump. The next comes to time, there are people who think nothing of driving from New York to Florida for a vacation which can take more than 12 plus hours but these are the same people that cringe at the idea of taking an 8 hour flight to Paris. No one tells somebody if they drive to Florida they need to spend at least two weeks down there to make the time worth it, yet that is what we say when someone thinks about going to Europe.
I don't care if there are people who have no desire to travel beyond the US, their state, or even the city that they live in, but I will push back against people who discourage other people who want to travel beyond the place they are now with reasons that have little or no basis in fact.
the majority of generic Americans have no interest.
You're conflating being interested and being able, those are two entirely different things. Someone working as a waitress in Omaha might love to go see Paris, it doesn't mean they will have the opportunity to go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StealthRabbit
USA does not educate it's young for inquisitive and adventure.
That's funny because I just read an article about how many Chinese want to reform their education system to more like USA that encourages curiosity, innovation, and risk taking more than the rote knowledge testing focus of their own.
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