SuperSoulFighter said:

I'm from Holland and wherever you go, you'll always find some Dutch I love to travel, but unfortunately I'm a little short on cash these days. But I'm very happy to have been to Central America (Guatemala, Mexico) and East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia.) Not sure about the US. I'm a wildlife lover, so Yellowstone might be good. So here's my question to the Americans: who's been to Yellowstone? What's it like? Great wide open or tourist trap?

You know, I'm American but I've hardly been to any of our national parks. So much of my travel has been focused on cities or getting out of the country, I'm missing SO MUCH that is right here in the US.

I want to change that in the near future. Still planning on Peru for my big vacation this year, but after that I'm going to look at all the national parks here.

imago said:

?

I guess this is posed mainly at Americans since those in smaller countries tend to have more opportunities to travel outside, but I guess if you're European, then I can rephrase the question for you guys as not having been more than a 2 or 3 hour plane ride from your home.

Please tell me your story.

One of the things that fascinates me is my own 'Thai' family in Isaarn. Some have never been more than a 4 or 5 hour car ride from their homes....like EVER. This amazes me.

My brother has been to Chicago - and that's his only trip out of state. He's never even been on an airplane.

My mom has been to Texas and Hawaii, but that's because my dad was drafted into the Viet Nam war and he had basic training in Texas (so she went with him) and she met him in Hawaii while he was on a leave from the war. That's it. And that was before I was born.

My aunts (on her side) all think I'm the most adventurous person in the universe with all the traveling I've done, and I don't even think I've done that much!

For my family, a lot of it comes down to priorities and money. My family has probably never been able to afford that kind of trip (my brother now has 4 kids) and they've never saved up for it cause something else came first. Vacations as a child were always spent at a cabin or resort on a lake in Minnesota and that's how my brother vacations with his family.

I can remember coworkers in the past commenting how "lucky" I was to travel and I always told them it's not luck, it's planned. I just choose travel over other things.

TonyVanDam said:

1. I've have yet to travel outside of the USA because I do NOT have a passport and I do NOT make enough money to travel outside the country.

2. I'm from Louisiana, but currently lived in Arkansas (for now). I have NOT travel further than.....

a. Houston, Texas

b. Springfield, Missouri

c. Panama City, Florida

In other words, I have never travel outside of the south. But I'm working on it.

You got that right. Hell, I don't trust my raggedy car when I go across town so I sure wouldn't trust it out of town. And as for renting a car, flying, etc., then you've got hotel expenses, food expenses, etc. I hear people all the time talking about how they spent like a thousand dollars on their vacation. Hell, that's about what I've got in my emergency money savings and if I were to spend that, then that damn car would end up breaking down on me, I'd have no money to get it fixed, I'd lose my job, and I'd end up homeless. The South knows how to keep people here. Only pay them enough to survive and no extra because if anybody with good sense had extra, they'd be getting the hell out of here.

SuperSoulFighter said:

I'm from Holland and wherever you go, you'll always find some Dutch I love to travel, but unfortunately I'm a little short on cash these days. But I'm very happy to have been to Central America (Guatemala, Mexico) and East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia.) Not sure about the US. I'm a wildlife lover, so Yellowstone might be good. So here's my question to the Americans: who's been to Yellowstone? What's it like? Great wide open or tourist trap?

I've been to YEllowstone. It is beautiful and magnificant. Not at all what I would consider a tourist trap. I mean sure, it has tourists so of course there are some souvenir shops and stuff but...not a trap at all.

just google it to see a tiny bit of the beauty. it's over 2 million acres, approx 60 miles wide by 60 miles long.

[Edited 3/13/13 9:37am]

I haven't left the house since Christmas only to see doctor and dentist.

But i have gone to Canada,but no one thinks that country counts for anything.

Been to Mexico twice

As a child I traveled to Honduras many times.

As an adult, I traveled to Cancún (Mexico) for my honeymoon and to Puerto Rico the following year.

Shortly thereafter the kids came. Haven't been anywhere else outside of the USA.

I have this dream that one day soon my shit will fall into place and I will have the means by which to visit at least SOME of the places that I want to see before I die.

i guess apart from financial constraints some people just don't have the urge to want to see the world. i will say that after travelling the world that the grass is not greener. i enjoyed and absorbed the experiences i had, but bottom line is home is home

Some people just really don't.

My husband is one. He'd be perfectly happy to not travel. He'll go see family and friends and go fishing, but other than that he has no interest in seeing the world whatsoever.

PurpleJedi said:

As a child I traveled to Honduras many times.

As an adult, I traveled to Cancún (Mexico) for my honeymoon and to Puerto Rico the following year.

Shortly thereafter the kids came. Haven't been anywhere else outside of the USA.

I have this dream that one day soon my shit will fall into place and I will have the means by which to visit at least SOME of the places that I want to see before I die.

Now I see why you start many vacation threads. My brother's third child is due any day now and everyone in our family has acknowledged that his traveling days by plane are OVER.

ZombieKitten said:

I'm outside of my country right now!

You've been outside your country since you were two-years old.

sexton said:

I travelled around the world in 2006 for 10 months and currently reside in South Korea, where I have been for 5 years. I have no intention of going back to England (my native country) at present.

SuperSoulFighter said:

artist76 said:

I am American and have been to many different countries, and every continent except Australia and Antarctica, and I have studied and lived abroad (and speak several languages). But I must say, I never really got to know a non-West-Coast American or traveled within the U.S. until I went to law school, and the diversity of cultures within the U.S. is vast and striking. We all supposedly speak English and are all the same Americans to the rest if the world, but really, there's a lot of great differences from region to region. I find it fascinating, in some ways more so than traveling abroad.

That’s a good point, I think, and something that really gets overlooked. You’ll often see some people making rather pissy comments about the % of Americans who never leave their country or continent, and perhaps there’s some fair criticism in that but there’s a whole lot of variation in that continent that shouldn’t be dismissed.

Personally I don’t travel anymore and never want to travel again. I dipped my toes into some of the northern US when I was younger and also took a few trips to the Canadian rockies, but I haven’t been out of my home province (except for business travel) in a good twenty years. I just don’t like the mechanics of it: I don’t like flying, don’t like hotels, and especially do not like being away from my home and the routine of my daily life. I suppose that shows me up as being rigid in the way I live, and that’s not always a positive thing but I think there’s something to be said for understanding yourself & your motivations and knowing what makes you content. I like doing other things, and those are the things I’ll do with my time when I retire.

ZombieKitten said:

Guess I'm gonna have to come up there then

Winnipeg is not the most dynamic place to visit.

damosuzuki said:

sexton said:

PurpleJedi said:

As a child I traveled to Honduras many times.

As an adult, I traveled to Cancún (Mexico) for my honeymoon and to Puerto Rico the following year.

Shortly thereafter the kids came. Haven't been anywhere else outside of the USA.

I have this dream that one day soon my shit will fall into place and I will have the means by which to visit at least SOME of the places that I want to see before I die.

Now I see why you start many vacation threads. My brother's third child is due any day now and everyone in our family has acknowledged that his traveling days by plane are OVER.

In my youth I had aspirations to be a well-travelled man by this age. The fact that I've never once crossed the Atlantic is depressing.

Once I get this stupid divorce out of the way and can settle my finances, I should be able to make some serious plans.

But I have visited Disneyworld, Sesame Place, & Six Flags more times than you can shake a stick at.

The only other country I've been to is my second home, Canada.

At first the language barrier was a challenge, but eventually I did learn how to speak fluent Canadian.

SuperSoulFighter said:

Alright, Jedi, as we're fantasizing, where d'U like to go?

Man...there's so many places I could fill the thread 'til it gets locked.

Off the top of my head;

• Tahiti (specifically; one of those cabanas on the water in Bora Bora)
• Spain (Barcelona most of all)
• Rio de Janeiro
• France (Paris and the Riviera of course)
• Egypt (pyramids)
• Mexico (Teotihuacan, Isla de Mujeres, Baja)
• Argentina & Chile (one trip can do both)
• Thailand (don't tell Imago)
• Cuba (while it's still undeveloped)
• China (the Great Wall & Forbidden City...bucket list items)
• Croatia (I heard it's beautiful)

...I could go on & on...

In reality, my next trip outside the country will probably be to Canada...either to Niagara Falls or to a friend-of-a-friend's lake house near Montreal.

I have been a few 100 miles into Mexico. However, I am not sure a border country should count? I would say that going into a border time would not count.

Pokeno4Money said:

The only other country I've been to is my second home, Canada.

At first the language barrier was a challenge, but eventually I did learn how to speak fluent Canadian.

Glad to hear it eh -

Empress said:

Pokeno4Money said:

The only other country I've been to is my second home, Canada.

At first the language barrier was a challenge, but eventually I did learn how to speak fluent Canadian.

Glad to hear it eh -

Amazing how much I learned sitting in a Timmie's listening to others talk aboot their hydro bill or how they can buy a liter of pop at Zeller's for a toonie, eh.

Pokeno4Money said:

Empress said:

Glad to hear it eh -

Amazing how much I learned sitting in a Timmie's listening to others talk aboot their hydro bill or how they can buy a liter of pop at Zeller's for a toonie, eh.

LOL - It's actually litre eh. Sometimes you can get the pop for a loonie too.

OnlyNDaUsa said: