<p>I’m curious about where people have been (countries and also parts of the US). Where are the favorites? The places to avoid based on your experiences? Are there places you’ve been to over and over? Exotic locations? The defining moments?</p>
<p>As a family, we love to travel, travel, travel. But there are so many destinations on our list we haven’t been to (yet!).</p>
<p>How about a general travel thread. . . .</p>
<p>"I’m curious about where people have been (countries and also parts of the US). Where are the favorites? The places to avoid based on your experiences? Are there places you’ve been to over and over? Exotic locations? The defining moments?</p>
<p>As a family, we love to travel, travel, travel. But there are so many destinations on our list we haven’t been to (yet!)."</p>
<p>I’ve been to all 50 states and my kids have been to most. I think younger S missed about 2 states including Hawaii (but not Alaska). Older S has been to everything, I think, except Alaska.</p>
<p>I’ve also been to: most of Western Europe (with kids), Togo, Benin, Egypt (with younger S, who was in elementary school), South Africa, Korea, Japan, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada (with kids), Guatemala, and Belize.</p>
<p>Fave place abroad: Paris, where I spent several summers, including with my husband and younger S. To enjoy Paris get Rick Steves’ guides, which give valuable tips on how to get along with the Parisians. Next fave: Barcelona: beautiful, friendly, vibrant. I also would like to go back to Quebec City in the winter so that I could cross country ski again on the Plains of Abraham. </p>
<p>Fave places in U.S.: San Francisco, Santa Fe, Painted Desert, that lovely route from northern Calif. down the coast to Monterey, Pacific Northwest. I would like to visit Alaska again, this time in the winter so as to see the Northern Lights. I also love D.C.: There’s always something interesting and free going on.</p>
<p>Where I would never go again: Jamaica. I got tired of people trying to sell me stuff that I didn’t want. I also have no desire to visit the Caribbean again as laying on lovely beaches got old fast. I like cities and more sighseeing and fewer folks trying to sell me stuff.</p>
<p>Overrated: Niagra Falls, particularly the U.S. side, which is filled with tourist traps. </p>
<p>Place that I would go to again only on a tour: Egypt. I would go only if I took a tour because the tour guides would keep away the various hustlers, who basically ruined my trip when I traveled there with my S. Every place we went, people were trying to trick us into going elsewhere – places where their relatives just happened to be selling something.</p>
<p>Overall, I’ve seen most of what I want to in the world, and am fairly happy to stay home, though I still end up taking a couple of trips a year.</p>
<p>My first big trip was when I was 15, and traveled with my sister and my grandparents to spend the summer in “the old country” - Sweden. Returned there last year for a shorter visit, and it is still my favorite place to visit. I prefer trips that include visiting people - family or friends. I have found I have a better experience (being warned away from traps, etc), and I am more of a people person, so I really enjoy settling in and seeing how people live.</p>
<p>As a child, most of our family trips were camping to go rock hunting, so I’ve seen quarries all over the US! Tried camping once with my family - my kids loved it, but I never realized how much work it was for the parents! We went to Colorado. It really was a memory making time, but I couldn’t wait to get clean again.</p>
<p>Grew up in PA, so have been to Canada numerous times. I enjoy Toronto. Would like to return to Montreal as an adult, because I don’t remember much of it. </p>
<p>H and I went to Cancun for our 10th anniversary, and did not enjoy it - there were highlights, but we also got tired of hustlers, and H got very sick from something he ate.</p>
<p>We’ve tried to travel a bit in the 3 years we’ve been in Europe. We do like to go one place and stay, rather than hop all over just to say we’ve been there. We’ve been to (in order): Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungary (friends there); Salzburg, Austria (many times - it’s a favorite); Bern, Switzerland (also several times - family there); Sweden (mid-southern areas and Stockholm); Venice, Italy; Strasbourg, France; Rome, Italy; London, England (friends there). Of these, London and Sweden have been our favorites. </p>
<p>We’ve also been to many places in Germany, of course. We really like Munich and Berlin. Also enjoyed Leipzig, Hamburg, and others. We live an hour from the Czech border, and have been there a couple times, but have no great desire to spend any time there. Prices are great, though, and many people like it. Just doesn’t do anything for us that we can’t get in safer places.</p>
<p>There are many other places we’d hoped to get to, but like most folks, both our vacation time and our finances have limits. It’s funny to get emails from people back home who seem to think we are on a 3-year vacation, and don’t understand why we haven’t seen this or that yet. We’ve travelled more (on vacation - not counting business travel) in the past 3 years than we have in the entire rest of our 25 years of marriage. And that doesn’t count 3 trips home to the US.</p>
<p>In the US, I enjoy NYC for brief periods at a time. Too intense for me, for long periods. I’ve been all over the east coast - enjoy New England, Florida, and many places in between. I’ve never been to Texas or most of the west between Colorado and California. Never been to the Grand Canyon. Never been to Hawaii or Alaska. </p>
<p>Would also like to go to some places outside Europe. But I think I would go with a tour group. We’ve done all our travelling on our own, which has been fine, but we haven’t had any choice here, since there aren’t a lot of English-speaking tour groups available from within Europe. But to go someplace like Asia or Africa, I would want someone else in charge. I’d also like to visit Australia.</p>
<p>Glad there are places still to go - would hate to think I’d already seen it all!</p>
<p>OK, I’ve been all over Oahu & have also visited Lanai, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii in our lovely state of the same name.</p>
<p>We’ve spent some time in SF & LA as a family. I’ve also spent 3 years in Davis, CA & 3 in Eugene, OR. Have visited many of the national parks in the southwestern US (as a family & as a grad student). Haave always loved national pakrs–Muir Woods near SF, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce, and of course the north & south rims of the Grand Canyon, as well as smaller Havasu Canyon. Have been to NM, including fascinating Carlsbad Caverns. Also have enjoyed St. Louis, San Diego, Williamsburg, DC, Shenandoah National Park, Denver, Grand Rapids, NYC & upstate NY (including Niagra Falls). Also loved Atlanta and New Orleans. The kids have come with us for all of this. Also spent 5 weeks traveling the East Coast from NYC up to Montreal & down to Williamsburg – just me & hubby.</p>
<p>Am not overly fond of Nevada–too many gamblers & tinsel for my taste. Without the kids, hubby & I have visited Venice, Rome, Rottenberg, Paris, London & Bath. I have been to Taiwan & Hong Kong before I met hubby. Hubby has been to Australia & many of the South Pacific nations, as well as Orlando and Nashville, all on business.</p>
<p>Like I said, we are REALLY fond of national parks & staying inside them whenever possible (probably related to living on a small island). We also love traveling with or to meet folks we’re fond of–it really helps make the trip extra special for us. </p>
<p>If we had to choose our least favorite place, it would be Nevada because we’re not fond of the cigarette smoke, gambling environment, chemicals at the shopping malls, etc. (we’re all pretty allergic & fumes set us all off), tho have enjoyed driving around Lake Tahoe.</p>
<p>My sister-in-law has been all over the world, including Antartica, Tibet, multiple trips to China & will soon be touring Africa. My great-aunt has also been around the world. My folks traveled to much of the world as well & recently returned from a trip to Japan, Russia, and Rome. I enjoy travel, but only when I have the leisure & money to enjoy it (like at least 2-3 weeks at a time for trips–longest was 5 weeks).</p>
<p>We’ve been to SF & LA the most often, because we have family/close friends there. We’ve also been to Denver often & enjoy that city as well. Yosemite is a place we always love & have been to many times. We also have been to Disneyland several times, tho unfortunately kids & hubby aren’t fond of rides or crowds. Have been to New Orleans twice & enjoyed both visits–especially the food.</p>
<p>I agree that the suggestions in the Rick Steves books are useful and can help yo see more of the “real” area you’re visiting, instead of the “American tourists only” zones. We used his book in planning our 3 week Europe trip over 10 years ago & had a great time, without breaking the bank!</p>
<p>Our family has done a lot of travelling, all together and separately. Some of our favorite places in the U.S. are Cape Cod, Ma. (particularly Woods Hole, Chatham, and Provincetown), Williamsburg, Va., Charleston, SC, Savannah, Ga., Carmel, Ca. (and the coastal drive from there down to San Luis Obispo), Destin, Fla. (the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen in the U.S., and I spent much of my youth on the great beaches at the Jersey shore), New Orleans (which sadly will never be the same), Mackinac Island, MI, New York City.</p>
<p>Honorable mention would go to: Cooperstown, NY (truly a gem), Nashville, Scottsdale, AZ., Santa Fe, NM., Asheville, NC, Santa Barbara, CA.</p>
<p>Outside the U.S., a few of our favorites: Vancouver, BC, Lake Louise, AB, Quebec City, PQ, The Muskokas, ON, London, UK, Torremolinos, Spain, Prague, and Mombasa.</p>
<p>One of my favorite cities is Toronto and we’ve been fortunate enough to live here twice, and it’s where we’ve raised our Ds longer than anywhere else. Truly a great place to live or to visit!</p>
<p>Colorado, baby! Summer and winter- nothing like it. God lives in the Rockies.</p>
<p>If you like world history Italy is the place to go. I remember how stunned I was by the enormous ruins in Rome.The power of the empire being so right in your face. And the Vatican and it’s museums gives anyone a true sense of the power and influence of the church through time as well. If you go there please also don’t forget Tuscany. Not only is the enviroment beautiful but Etruscan ruins and towns are fabulously interesting and more off the path of foreign tourists.Please take in the Paleo of Siena in July and Aug. which is a highly ornate and colorful horse race around the Medieval town square with representative horses from the provinces of Tuscany.</p>
<p>In the U.S., vacationed in San Diego, San Francisco, Boston, Cape Cod, Tahoe, Grand Canyon, Maine, Vermont, Santa Fe, Austin, all over the East Coast. Can’t pick a favorite…each trip was outstanding.</p>
<p>Outside of the U.S., England, France, Monaco, Italy, Korea, China, Brazil. Loved Brazil, China and Italy.</p>
<p>Somehow, Australia does not call out to me. Anyone been there and loved it? My sister-in-law lives there and has been asking us to visit for years now. Would love to see Morocco, Tibet and Egypt.</p>
<p>It seems that every place has some special qualities that make memories, and the most vivid are made in your late teens and early twenties. I spent much of my childhood in Hawaii, hiking in the mountains, becoming involved with environmental issues, learning the endemic flora and fauna. In college I spent a summer in Alaska at a geology field camp and hitchiking around the state - an incredible experience, impossible to duplicate nowadays. On spring break a group of us backpacked in the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico, one summer I lived at a field station in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.</p>
<p>As part of my husband’s post doc we spent a field season at Palmer Station in Antarctica. That adventure included travel through Argentina, crossing the Drake Passage, and intimate acquaintance with penguins, leopard seals, elephant seals, blue-eyed shags, skuas, and all the other intriguing life forms on the Antarctic continent.</p>
<p>Other adventures: kayaking in southeast Alaska, touring Cape Breton (fell in love with Cape Breton fiddle music), rafting down the Grand Canyon, backpacking on the tundra at Churchill, Manitoba, numerous visits to Sanibel Island for the birds and shells. D1 attended college in Oregon, so we’ve explored the Pacific NW coast and rain forest.</p>
<p>Our next big adventure will be the Galapagos Islands. Someday maybe New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, who knows?</p>
<p>"It seems that every place has some special qualities that make memories, and the most vivid are made in your late teens and early twenties. "</p>
<p>I agree with the first part. As for the time of the most vivid memories, that depends on the person.</p>
<p>For me, my most vivid memories of trips are the summers that I spent in Paris, which occurred when I turned 50 and afterward.</p>
<p>Keep 'em coming. I especially like the personal stories. Here’s one of mine: </p>
<p>We were in a remote part of Slovenia, in the woods, suiting up to enter a cave. Our contact there had been detained, but he sent someone we did not know to take us into the cave (beautiful, btw: a series of something like 22 lakes separated by short dry routes). Suddenly his cell phone rang. He talked in Slovenian for a moment and then handed the phone to us, saying “It’s for you.” We were stunned. It turned out to be a woman in the tourist office of the small town that was about 20 or 30 kilometers away. I had been in earlier that morning to exchange some money.</p>
<p>Unbeknownst to me, I had dropped a significant sum of American dollars on the floor - all of my cash for the trip. She found the money, knew my wife and son and I were the only Americans in town at the time, traced me through a series of calls - to a secretary at an institute (Why else would an American be in town?) to one of the researchers to another person to the original guide to the current person standing in front of me. She had my money and wanted me to come by to get it.</p>
<p>I would say that this shows how great it is in Slovenia, but as we’ve traveled to remote villages and towns, we’ve found the people to be quite incredible.</p>
<p>We love Paris, but I don’t think we would’ve rcovered the money had I dropped it in a tourist office there.</p>
<p>On our last trip to Romania, I was asked to write a forward for a book on Romanian Caves that was being published there. I sat down and in just a few minutes wrote out my thoughts. I gave them to the authors/editors of the book and the next time I saw them, they told me they had changed a few things and gave it back to me to review. It pretty much said what I had originally written, but for them to edit it, it had been translated into Romanian, then back into English for me to review. It was yet going to be translated into Romanian again, and then translated BACK again for the English language version of the book’s text. So here it is, explaining some of our thoughts about Romania and the caves there, but after the series of translations. Some of the maudliness (is that a word) and stiltedness is my own, however. I can’t blame it on the translations:</p>
<p>*We came in 1983 from the United States to spend two weeks studying caves in Romania. Working with a team from the Emil Racovita Institute of Speleology , we were able to see some of the most famous and spectacular caves in Romania .</p>
<p>We saw wonders unlike anything we had seen in the U.S. or any of the other countries we had visited. The beauty of the underground landscapes was breathtaking. The trip was designed for only two weeks. We had no thoughts before we came that we would ever visit Romania again.</p>
<p>Yet we have returned as a family, sometimes bringing other friends, six times more. What happened that we continue to visit Romanian caves again and again? Part of the answer is that to visit the caves, you must travel through the countryside. In doing so, you see the surface landscape and meet the people of Romania .</p>
<p>We hiked over the mountains of the Mehedinti. We were invited to a country wedding by a procession of revelers through a village. We had an outdoor lunch of mãmãligã with a shepherd and his wife. We watched as a small girl in a pretty dress, who was entering the first grade, waited for a school bus - a horse-drawn wagon picking up the children. We were awakened in the morning by the sound of cow bells outside our tent. We hiked the peaks of the Fãgãras when the ice and snow were already on the ground in October. We did all of this and much more.</p>
<p>We saw more than underground Romania ; we met Romania herself. Another part of the answer was the friendship we developed with the cavers that we met there. These were people that, on the one hand, were serious cave explorers and environmentalists. Facing dangerous and uncomfortable situations, they continued to push the underground frontiers. And of course they were highly protective of what they found, fighting for conservation of the caves and the surface environments where the caves were located.</p>
<p>But they were also friendly and warm. Our friendships were cemented with stories around the campfire each night. Even when the stories were in Romanian, which we did not speak, the sounds of the voices and the warmth of the fire worked it’s magic.</p>
<p>We met other Romanian cavers and their families. Our son, not yet born on our first trip, now knows the children of our friends. The hospitality of these cavers has been without equal.</p>
<p>There is an old rhetorical question: If a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one to hear it, does it make a sound? There can be a similar question for the caves: If a cave remains undiscovered and in darkness, can it be beautiful?</p>
<p>The beauty of caves is a quality we humans assign to them. But once discovered and once seen in our lights, we have an obligation to the future to preserve these caves.</p>
<p>In the caves of Romania , where the beauty is beyond compare, we see that preservation happening. We hope that our son’s children will come to Romania and enjoy the country, the people, and the caves as much as we have.*</p>
<p>(I just reread this again and it’s pretty much “groan” material, but hey, I’m NOT a writer.)</p>
<p>Dig; Are you a cave spurlunker? (???what is that word?)You know what I mean!</p>
<p>If you are, weren’t you afraid you would catch a rare bacteria or be bitten by a bat?</p>
<p>Guilty. I only got sick once (dysentery). I was on a research team where we were collecting parasites from the fur of bats (in Romania) and working in a guano-filled cave. If you want to lose a LOT of weight in a BIG hurry, I have a solution for you! The side effects are a little drastic, however.</p>
<p>
I got sick just reading about it.</p>
<p>For our family, travel time is time to reconnect. My kids agree that our trips are some of their best & happiest memories to date. That’s what they spoke of during their interviews to get into HS when asked what they enjoy as hobbies. Haven’t done much caving, but have been to a few very “tame” cave tours, which we did enjoy. </p>
<p>Don’t think I could handle getting parisites off any creature <shudder>. Guess I’ll stop envying scientists their “free” or subsidized trips. <grin></grin></shudder></p>
<p>Digmedia; Naw, that didn’t happen to you did it? You are very brave.In central PA spurlunkking is very big especially at some colleges as a pastime. There are so many caves the kids wiggle through. Every once in a while there is a news story about a kid who got himself stuck somewhere. They all make it out okay.
They do say there is some fabulous archeology to be found in caves especially in France, Israel and I suspect in Romania, too. I would have an interest in that sort of thing. Sounds like a facinating hobby.
Did you ever read The Hot Zone? I think in that book there is a story about a deadly rotovirus found in bat droppings and how it was transmitted to the USA in a animal bitten by the bat. Another one of those facinating, scary, true story books.<br>
Great story about those Roamanian caves. Ah…in Sept number 4 heads off to college and hus. and I can finally enjoy a few trips!</p>
<p>I love to travel - When I first started travelling in college I only went to places where the dollar was strong. Because of this I have seen some interesting parts of the world. My favorite of all the places I have ever been in all my life is Turkey. I went for a vacation and ended up staying 6 weeks.</p>
<p>Ireland
England
France
Germany
Andorra
Switzerland
Belgium
Holland
Romania
Bulgaria
Morocco
Tunisia
Nevis</p>
<p>Modified list for the states to include only the places I would return to or recommend someone visit for vacation!
Northeast Harbor. Maine
Southern Utah (not necessarily Moab but good starting point)
Near Glacier Nat’l park, Montana
San Francisco
Boca Grande, Florida
Philadelphia, PA
Boston, MA
NYC
Washington, DC</p>
<p>I am a museum junkie so that is why I would go back to the last 4 places</p>
<p>One place that I have not been yet but am dying to go is Alaska.</p>
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<p>I’ve been to Australia 4 times (3 times on my company’s nickel, once on my own dime). I am a big fan. One of my pipedreams is to live in Melbourne 2 months of the year. On one of my trips, I was there for 10 weeks, and my sons were with me for six weeks.</p>
<p>A list of highlights in Australia</p>
<p>-Snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef
-The Kuranda Railway/ Sky Rail/Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park in Cairns. Hands down the best tourist package to do in a day
-Theatre in Sydney (including of course the Opera)
-Backpack in Tasmania followed by Spa day and dinner at Fee & Me’s in Launceston
-The Jewish Museum in Sydney (and all of the art museums)
-A full day outing with Echidna Walkabout in Melbourne
-Night tour of the old jail in Melbourne</p>
<p>I could go on and on, but these are the ones off the top of my head.</p>
<p>Much of North America. Love New Orleans, New York, Florida pan handle, all the canyons in Utah and Arizona, Cascade mountains, California national parks, Victoria Island.</p>
<p>My faves around the world…Mexican Yucatan, Peru, Honduras, Italy, France, England, Ireland, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Rarotonga… </p>
<p>Lived in Europe for a short time, Asia for two years, Australasia for nearly five years. Highly recommend expat living at some time in life.</p>
<p>Dreaming about a GAP year…</p>