# Your opinion on travelling?



## BlocQuebec (Sep 13, 2006)

What is your opinion on travelling? There are two common opinions that people will give when you ask them this question. Which is yours?


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## monkeyronin (May 18, 2006)

I can't imagine too many people don't like travelling, especially here of all places. 

That said, I much prefer to live in a place for a few months or years as opposed to just taking a visit. for example, if given the opportunity, I'd rather live in 5 diffrent cities than visit 20. but then again, this can be quite difficult,


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

Love it.


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## VanSeaPor (Mar 12, 2005)

I need to do more. The world is a wonderful place.


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## gonzo (Jul 30, 2006)

Travel has helped shape who I am.:yes:


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## schmidt (Dec 5, 2002)

Heh I can't imagine life without travelling!

I'm already too excited and counting down for my next trip: 27 days!!!


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## auckland16 (Nov 13, 2006)

Traveling is the best way to get new expierence!


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## grzes (Sep 3, 2004)

I can't imagine my life without traveling... it's impossible for me to spend more than 1 year in a single city.....


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## FREKI (Sep 27, 2005)

Who doesn't like travelling?

I couldn't imagin my life without a few weeks in another country each year.... that would be so boring...


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## Bitxofo (Feb 3, 2005)

It's the BEST thing you can do in your life!!
:happy:


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## schmidt (Dec 5, 2002)

Mr_Denmark said:


> Who doesn't like travelling?
> 
> I couldn't imagin my life without a few weeks in another country each year.... that would be so boring...


Living in such a small country, that's not really difficult. I get really excited when I have the oportunity of crossing my country's border, let alone crossing the ocean. 

Why did god make plane tickets so expensive? 

(sif I believed in god haha)


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## FREKI (Sep 27, 2005)

^ Planes is currenly the cheapest way to get around Europe if travelling for 250km+ 

Living is a small country IS great imo... I can basicly spit to Sweden and places like Berlin, London, Paris, Oslo and Stockholm is less than 2h away..


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## jmancuso (Jan 9, 2003)

it takes 11 hours just to cross texas


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## Iggui (May 17, 2005)

i'm against it. people should stay where the earth goddess put you, unless you're still a forager/hunter-gatherer (which is no one on this forum).


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## Brad (May 19, 2006)

I often remember a year by the places I visited.


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## Majevčan (Jul 20, 2004)

Love it


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## schmidt (Dec 5, 2002)

jmancuso said:


> it takes 11 hours just to cross texas


Yep, and here it takes 8 hours to get to Argentina. And I'm in the thinnest part of my country! 

I wish I could reach several world cities in a couple of hours. But the closest ones are Sao Paulo (7h away) and Buenos Aires (25!!!), lol


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## Bitxofo (Feb 3, 2005)

jmancuso said:


> it takes 11 hours just to cross texas


It takes 12 hours just to cross Spain, but you can fly it in 1h 30min.


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## ♣628.finst (Jul 29, 2005)

Living in Western Canada--- flight access to Northwestern Europe is very expensive, sadly. I enjoy travelling to nice places, especially North America, Northwestern Europe, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.


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## Yank in exile (Nov 12, 2006)

I love travelling. My budget has restricted me to road trips in the past five years, but even those have taught me something about travelling that have given me pause about being too adventuresome in the future.

From now on I plan to do a lot more research as to what sort of treatment to expect in any country I may plan to visit. Entering middle age and becoming a little less flexible physically as well as emotionally (though no less curious) has led me to value comfort and courtesy a lot more than I did in the past. Now that I am a little more secure financially I'm willing to shell out a bit more to gain those advantages, and thus I'm even more upset when service providers fail to deliver—especially when I find myself being treated differently than other patrons at the same establishment.

I spent two months travelling across Canada and back this Summer (my third cross-continental trip in five years—the previous two being in the US), and I was patently shocked at the miserable treatment I received as a woman travelling alone. This has never happened to me in the US or in Europe, and it didn't take long to realise that my American nationality was not the issue (with a BC-registered car and Canadian credit and debit cards most people took me to be a clueless BCer and not necessarily a foreigner). 

As far as I'm concerned my money is as good as anyone else's, and when I see white middle-aged males dining alone getting better service than I do (though, as an American, I can practically guarantee you that I'm a better tipper), with the only difference between us being gender, I find it more than a bit galling. Nearly everywhere I went, no matter how nice I was (and it got progressively more difficult as I went along) I was treated with offhand contempt more often than not: I believe this was because evidently the sight of women travelling alone (whether for business or pleasure, and my trip was a bit of both) is sufficiently rare as to engender incredulity at best ("You're really making this trip _all by yourself_?" What am I, 12 years old?) and insufferable rudeness at worst. I don't think it was because of inflated expectations either (after all, I've lived in Canada long enough to have much lower expectations of customer service than in other countries) or "American arrogance" (again, I've lived here long enough to blend in, more or less)—especially, as I said, I saw others being treated with courtesy by the same people who were anything but civil to me. Mind you, I'm not looking to make friends for life here—just to be treated like a fellow human being, and with the same consideration as everyone else.

Travelling has always been a pleasure and an adventure for me, and this was the first time that the behaviour of others has made my trip a consistently miserable experience. We all have the isolated rude waiters, cab drivers, hotel personnel, etc on trips—and over the years I've learned to take these in stride—but when this becomes the rule rather than the exception it makes the whole experience feel like a depressing waste of money and time than the uplifting undertaking it is designed to be. After so many years of gadding about and loving it, this past trip has forced me to reconsider any more foreign travel if this is what I have to "look forward to" in the future.

I would be interested to know if any other women (especially Americans) who like to travel alone have had similar experiences—or, conversely, who have found countries where they have been treated with respect even though they weren't travelling with a male companion. I'm not about to change my gender or citizenship, so I would like to know of places I can go where I can regain the joy of travelling—or at least not regret the trip.


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