OT: i hate to travel. Odd?

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=scaredyclassic]”alan bennett describes in one of his journals how, during a visit to egypt, he found himself trapped among cohorts of tourists trudging wearily though dusty wastes of sand and rocks under a merciless sun: the famous,site he had come to admire looked merely like a,stone quarry full of sweaty crowds. he wondered if tourism was not like pornography: a desperate search for lost sensations. the fact is, the only impressions that truly register on our sensibilities are accidental–we did not seek them out (let alone book an organised tour!”

simon leys, THE HALLS OF USELESSNESS, P.488.[/quote]

Love your musings scaredy. So true. Look at facebook. People all take selfies at the same sites.

[spdrun]

FlyerInHI: Plenty of non-boring parts of the US. You just have to venture off the beaten path and not only go where everyone else is going.

[flyer]

Visiting friends and family (many happen to live in very interesting places) is the only time travel appeals to us now, and I agree that retiring from the rat race is one thing, but retiring from life would be extremely boring at any age.

We plan to stay involved in multiple challenging projects (film, real estate, investment, etc., etc.) as well as with kids and grandchildren for as long as we’re breathing, and most people we know feel the same.

One of our neighbors is in his late 60’s–holds multiple patents–and is still working on others. We honestly don’t know anyone who is completely “retired,” regardless of their age or financial status.

[scaredyclassic]

sex tourism.
adventure tourism.
tour groups that visit gang territory in l.a.
war tourism.
poverty tourism.
club med tourism.
pilgrimages.

what have i missed?

[svelte]

We enjoy traveling up to a week a month. If it starts going north of that, we start dreading it.

[scaredyclassic]

so 7 days.
you kill a day getting there and back.
5 days.
minus a day to recover.
4 days.
and probablt about a day of planning.
3 days.
you get sick or tired.
2 days out of 7.
basically you lose 70 perc of a week, to be physically somewhere else.

although sometimes my favorite part is reading a book on a plane. but id rather read it in the temecula library.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=scaredyclassic]so 7 days.
you kill a day getting there and back.
5 days.
minus a day to recover.
4 days.
and probablt about a day of planning.
3 days.
you get sick or tired.
2 days out of 7.
basically you lose 70 perc of a week, to be physically somewhere else.

although sometimes my favorite part is reading a book on a plane. but id rather read it in the temecula library.[/quote]

Haha… That exactly how I feel.

I’m a slow traveler now. The first day, I want to relax, sit at a cafe, lounge around

[The-Shoveler]

My wife usually has all the time planned out from the minute we hit the tarmac,

We average about 4-5 hours a night in the hotel, I get home I have few few hours before I am due at work, I go to work and collapse LOL.

[svelte]

[quote=scaredyclassic]so 7 days.
you kill a day getting there and back.
5 days.
minus a day to recover.
4 days.
and probablt about a day of planning.
3 days.
you get sick or tired.
2 days out of 7.
basically you lose 70 perc of a week, to be physically somewhere else.

although sometimes my favorite part is reading a book on a plane. but id rather read it in the temecula library.[/quote]

The planning? We get to decide what new experiences we are going to have to get us out of the same old daily rut.

The trip out there? Get so see and meet all types of interesting people at the airport, on the plane, around town.

Sick on a trip? Hasn’t happened to us yet, though for awhile we did tend to be sick the day after returning. That hasn’t happened since we switched to healthy eating, maybe a coincidence I’m not sure.

Tired? Hell yeah but it’s only because we pack so much into each day that we’re exhausted when we get home. I make the most out of each trip, my wife has to tell me to slow down and let her sleep a bit. It’s not in my nature though.

I have to say I do miss my own bed when traveling, but it comes with the territory. All the new experiences, people, places, smells, sights…all worth it.

Not saying that our outlook is better than someone who doesn’t like to travel…just the way we feel about it.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]FlyerInHI: Plenty of non-boring parts of the US. You just have to venture off the beaten path and not only go where everyone else is going.[/quote]Agree, spdrun. But I would add that the traveler who lives at or near sea level (ex: SD) would need to “acclimate themselves” at 5K altitude one night and 8K altitude the second night before venturing up further, whether by vehicle or foot.

And drink plenty of water and no alcohol 48-72 hours before ascending. Although mountain adventures are spectacular and offer the participant memories of a lifetime, they are not for the inexperienced driver, the faint of heart, someone with a fear of heights or someone with heart problems or other chronic, poorly-controlled health problems.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=flyer]. . . One of our neighbors is in his late 60’s–holds multiple patents–and is still working on others. We honestly don’t know anyone who is completely “retired,” regardless of their age or financial status.[/quote]I’ve got a relative like this and I always visit his tool and die shop when I’m in town. He’s “semi-retired” but keeps extremely busy filling “special orders” for local businesses. He’s invented so many interesting things and also holds multiple patents … which seem to take a l-o-o-ong time to wind their way through the “system.”

[bearishgurl]

I travel to see friends and family … 95% by road. Although I have been to many “tourist traps” in several states in the past, especially when my kids were younger, I have avoided them in the past decade or so. I would rather visit people in their homes or have adventures with them (i.e. winery-hopping, skiing, jeeping, hiking, etc). I travel for adventure and to see my peeps. I don’t care if we sit at their kitchen table and look at old photos and drink coffee most of the day. Or put photo albums together. Or tour their miles of leased land in their dirty-but-comfortable dually pickups to check livestock tags and count heads. Or visit family gravesites with flowers. Or ride horses. Or take a potluck to a family party. Or ride around in their restored “vintage” cars. ETC.

Except for the (crowded) Napa/Sonoma “crush” season and certain ski holidays (MLK and Presidents Day, which I now tend to avoid, due to long lift lines), I would prefer going off the beaten path to places where animals outnumber people. I have the Rubicon Trail and the Grand Tetons/Yellowstone still at the top of my “bucket list.” :=0

As an experienced “motor-lodge queen extraordinaire,” I don’t get up to leave the next morning until I am rested as the next motel or the friend/family member I will stay with the next night don’t care when I arrive.

I have driven coast to coast several times in 3-3.5 days (SD to/from GA/FL) with another driver where we alternately slept and switched drivers, never stopping for lodging. During those years, we both worked FT and were more pressed for time. But I am too old to do that now and my eyesight is not as good at night as it once was. I now drive just 7.5 to 11 hours per day … and possibly one day per trip I drive about 13 hours.

Due to a condition I “inherited” (vertigo), I don’t do well at all with turbulence on planes, especially over the airports I would have to land in. And I have rented and borrowed many vehicles while on vacation and don’t care for them … due to the frustration of getting an unfamiliar vehicle (frequently in the dark) with no time to figure it out. I like to have my OWN vehicle with me and I want the freedom to come and go as I please … everywhere … or even completely change my plans at the drop of a hat.

Now, if we could just get rid of the east/west roving, makeshift “Homeland Security” forced vehicle immigration “checkpoints” along I-8/I-10 which delay and interrogate AMERICANS in their OWN DAMN COUNTRY, road trips would again be what they should be … the ultimate freedom.

A very tall, beautiful wall built at the int’l border should do the trick :=]

Having traveled by road thru ~20 states multiple times on multiple highways, there is so much to see in this great country of ours! You can’t see anything from an airport terminal while you are changing planes. It’s the best learning experience you will ever have or could ever give your children. For those who have never done this, you should try it sometime! It will open your eyes.

[mixxalot]

I hear ya! I love visiting new places but the physical aspect of getting on a long crowded commercial flight, dealing with the TSA hassle security checkpoints and painful flight is not pleasant. I have less desire now to travel than years past when I was younger. Plus San Diego is such a nice place to live that one can take a staycation for free and go to the beach for an enjoyable time.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=spdrun]FlyerInHI: Plenty of non-boring parts of the US. You just have to venture off the beaten path and not only go where everyone else is going.[/quote]

I am anti small towns or college towns that you mentioned before.
Ski resort don’t count because you go there for sports, not for the towns.
Towns like Santa Barbara don’t do anything for me. I’d rather take a trip to Panama City or Mexico City.

I don’t like national parks. Boring. The American countryside is mostly mono agriculture with vast tracts of the same. It’s not like European villages.

San Diego is fine. Nice weather, but boring. I like Honolulu and NYC. That’s about it. Not crazy about SF. It’s a small town that thinks it’s big but still acts small.

[mixxalot]

true and the hole in the wall places that I like are definitely not Americanized 🙂

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