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I'm in the navy so traveling is basically an unwritten perk of the job. I've seen half the continental United States at this point, 4 continents and about 5x as many countries and I'm still 27. Even with that "travel resume" I'd never look down on another person for traveling different/less as all our interest are different (as they should be).
As long as you have an open mind, you can find/do something interesting in just about any city... some of my best/foundest memories are in "no named" towns and "lesser" cities
I'm in the navy so traveling is basically an unwritten perk of the job. I've seen half the continental United States at this point, 4 continents and about 5x as many countries and I'm still 27. Even with that "travel resume" I'd never look down on another person for traveling different/less as all our interest are different (as they should be).
As long as you have an open mind, you can find/do something interesting in just about any city... some of my best/foundest memories are in "no named" towns and "lesser" cities
Thank you for your service. Great point! Yep, people are still judging other people unfortunately. There are interesting things about any city just gotta have an open mind. But, a lot of people don't have open minds, they're very close-minded. They think a city is terrible if it's not constantly hyped up or talked about. Some people will look at you crazy if you say you enjoyed visiting the "lesser" cities since you've done a lot of traveling being in the military.
It's ok to have preferences, but a person shouldn't go out of their way to dog something in order boost themselves up, or places they live in or like. A lot of people fail to realize that true travelers aren't people who just travel to the places that are popular but the ones that go off the beaten path.
Now I'm interested about Cairo. What could have been?
Cairo, IL sits at the confluence of two major rivers, the Mississippi and the Ohio. I had always assumed that it would be a quaint, Mark Twain kind of place; a place with a cool history, sitting at the junction of two major trade routes and all. In other words, it could have been to river history what Williamsburg, VA is to colonial history.
But then I actually visited the place. Yes, seeing the river confluence was cool. But the rest of the place is an absolute dump and I couldn't wait to get back out. Such a shame, really. Rarely have my expectations of a place been more thoroughly destroyed by actually seeing it as they were with Cairo.
Cairo, IL sits at the confluence of two major rivers, the Mississippi and the Ohio. I had always assumed that it would be a quaint, Mark Twain kind of place; a place with a cool history, sitting at the junction of two major trade routes and all. In other words, it could have been to river history what Williamsburg, VA is to colonial history.
But then I actually visited the place. Yes, seeing the river confluence was cool. But the rest of the place is an absolute dump and I couldn't wait to get back out. Such a shame, really. Rarely have my expectations of a place been more thoroughly destroyed by actually seeing it as they were with Cairo.
That's too bad to hear. It stinks when a place doesn't "Hold water" (forgive the pun), compared to what we imagined.
Probably someday it will get it's time to revamp and grow. It's a cycle for cities I think and almost a "rite of passage" to go through great growth and sad decline.
But as this relates to the topic, at least you can say you've been there, and had an enlightening experience, not positive, but you learned something about the place! I always just saw Cairo as a spot on a map (I don't mean that negatively, just that I know nothing about the area), and images of a mini Cairo, Egypt popped into mind (which I know is completely inaccurate).
That's too bad to hear. It stinks when a place doesn't "Hold water" (forgive the pun), compared to what we imagined.
Probably someday it will get it's time to revamp and grow. It's a cycle for cities I think and almost a "rite of passage" to go through great growth and sad decline.
But as this relates to the topic, at least you can say you've been there, and had an enlightening experience, not positive, but you learned something about the place! I always just saw Cairo as a spot on a map (I don't mean that negatively, just that I know nothing about the area), and images of a mini Cairo, Egypt popped into mind (which I know is completely inaccurate).
That's actually how I see it. I have not been to a lot of the "must see" places of the world. But I have been to some of them. More than that, I've been to some offbeat, unique places that only a relative handful of people ever visit. Cairo is one such place, and I have zero desire to ever see it again. But I've been to others that I thoroughly enjoyed, including such obscure locations as Barrow, Alaska (northernmost town in the U.S.); Na'alehu, Hawaii (southernmost town in the U.S.); Fishers Island, New York (where a scene from The World According to Garp was filmed); Coalwood, West Virginia (setting of the movie October Sky); and Midway Island, Pacific Ocean (setting of the key World War II naval battle). None of these places are tourism hotspots; but it's precisely because of that that I do consider myself at least somewhat well-traveled, having gone to such out-of-the-way places.
But I won't look down on someone just because they've visited London or Tokyo.
Thank you for your service. Great point! Yep, people are still judging other people unfortunately. There are interesting things about any city just gotta have an open mind. But, a lot of people don't have open minds, they're very close-minded. They think a city is terrible if it's not constantly hyped up or talked about. Some people will look at you crazy if you say you enjoyed visiting the "lesser" cities since you've done a lot of traveling being in the military.
It's ok to have preferences, but a person shouldn't go out of their way to dog something in order boost themselves up, or places they live in or like. A lot of people fail to realize that true travelers aren't people who just travel to the places that are popular but the ones that go off the beaten path.
I appreciate it!
One of my favorite cities I've ever visited was Birmingham, Alabama when I when I was stationed in Mississippi 3 years ago. There was a college football game in Tuscaloosa so we decided to just do a day trip to the city before the game.
Weather was great, everyone in the city was soooooo nice (southern hospitality is a real thing) and the food was amazing. The polar opposite of "backwoods AL" stereotype the state/region gets.
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It stinks when a place doesn't "Hold water" (forgive the pun), compared to what we imagined. 
