Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
  • Pages:
  • 1
A question for the group on travelling abroad; Why do we do it?
Topic Started: Apr 5 2010, 03:59 PM (978 Views)
RosemaryTwo
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
Many people here travel abroad and seem to really enjoy the experience.

I count myself among them.

I got to wondering exactly why we enjoy travelling abroad. Several obvious reasons jump to mind:

-- to experience a different culture

-- to experience different cuisine

-- for the sake of an adventure

-- to vacation -- i.e. to get away from daily obligations

-- to visit a homeland where our ancestors may have come from

-- to see and experience important monuments, museums, and artifacts


Are there other reasons why we travel abroad? What are they? Just wonderin' what y'all think.
"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
sue
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
I think it's the culture I most look for. I just love seeing how other people spend their days, how they live their lives, how they behave, how they speak. Seeing how different cities tick, how they are put together and how people live in them.

Oh and the history. Thrills me seeing 13th, 14th century buildings, for example, thinking about all that has passed by them.

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
RosemaryTwo
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
It is interesting, isn't it, that as much as the world is international, each city and culture retains so much individuality.

I think there is something else too -- you see your own country and city differently when you return. International travel gives one better perspective.
"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
The 89th Key
Member Avatar

R2 - I think you've hit all the main reasons why I travel. It's also because it's a rare treat and, as with most things, the value is increased due to its rarity. I have the biggest vacation of my life coming up in June. Can't wait! :excited:
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
RosemaryTwo
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
Good point, 89th. The time and money to travel are a luxury, of course.

I still wonder if there isn't a pull for a person to travel far away from his home and then find his way back home again. There is something to the idea of travelling to a far off land and surrendering yourself to live with only what you can carry with you. You are forced to get by with your wits and intelligence and no sense of familiarity.
"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
RosemaryTwo
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
And please expand on your travel plans???
"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Axtremus
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
Let's see ...

-- making money ("business trips," "overseas assignments," "international conferences," generally finding better paying jobs than what one could find in one's home country, e.g., Mexicans traveling abroad to the US)

-- building resumé ("study abroad," "international MBA training program")

-- seeing things one cannot see in one's home country (example).

-- doing certain things that would otherwise be illegal in one's home country (e.g., drinking alcohol in France before reaching the age of 21, smoking pot in Amsterdam, eating various endangered species in China, running from bulls in Spain)

-- getting cheaper medical care (various surgeries are cheaper in India and Thailand; prescription drugs can be had cheaper in Canada)

-- scoping out potential tax havens to "retire" to :devilgrin:

-- being fugitives, hiding in countries that do not have extradition treaties with one's home country to avoid arrest

-- snob factor
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
musicasacra
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
Axtremus
Apr 5 2010, 04:59 PM
-- building resumé ("study abroad," "international MBA training program")
True. 3 graduate-level credits for traveling in Hungary, Germany, and Italy, FTW!

But our niece studied for a year in Paris and Madrid. That pwns mine, I was a latecomer to these study abroad ideas.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
musicasacra
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
sue
Apr 5 2010, 04:10 PM
I think it's the culture I most look for. I just love seeing how other people spend their days, how they live their lives, how they behave, how they speak. Seeing how different cities tick, how they are put together and how people live in them.

Oh and the history. Thrills me seeing 13th, 14th century buildings, for example, thinking about all that has passed by them.

+ 1
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
blondie
Bull-Carp
You folks are so fortunate. Some day I'd like to travel off this continent. For now though, I'm having a blast visiting different places in the U.S. . I'm pretty fortunate too to be living among many cultures here in my Canadian city. The more I get to know others the more I want to visit their homelands.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Axtremus
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
One more ...

-- marrying and/or having an affair with a foreigner.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ivorythumper
Member Avatar
I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Ax: you forgot off-shoring money.
The dogma lives loudly within me.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Horace
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
Count me amongst those (if there are any others) who think that travel is overrated. Granted, flying for me is way more uncomfortable than it is for most people (I'm tall/mildly claustrophobic), but even beyond that I've never felt particularly enlightened after visiting another country. It can be interesting but I'd rather save the money and effort.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Mikhailoh
Member Avatar
If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
When my brothers and I were small we all went on a family vacation to a dude ranch in the UP of Michigan. One night they had a talent contest, and the three of us sang 'The Bear Went Over the Mountain'. We won.

But.. I digress. I think that song says it all.. the bear went over the mountain 'to see what he could see'. And so do we. It is in our nature to wonder.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
VPG
Member Avatar
Pisa-Carp
To meet girls. :thumb:
I'M NOT YELLING.........I'M ITALIAN...........THAT'S HOW WE TALK!


"People say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look."
Ronald Reagan, Inaugural, 1971

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
VPG
Member Avatar
Pisa-Carp
Ooops, I mean to see pianos in far away places. :whome:
I'M NOT YELLING.........I'M ITALIAN...........THAT'S HOW WE TALK!


"People say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look."
Ronald Reagan, Inaugural, 1971

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Aqua Letifer
Member Avatar
ZOOOOOM!
I see the world and visit stunning, exotic locales so that I can join the Army.










Wait. Reverse that.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
The 89th Key
Member Avatar

RosemaryTwo
Apr 5 2010, 04:41 PM
And please expand on your travel plans???
Oh - don't want to hijack the thread. Just 2 friends and I are going to Europe to watch the World Cup games with the locals. About 3-4 days in each of London, Paris, Rome, and finally Bari, Italy for a total of nearly 13 days. I hope to get a picture of us cheering with the locals in each country while we watch their team play (and of course root on the USA when they play).
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
RosemaryTwo
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
VPG
Apr 5 2010, 07:46 PM
Ooops, I mean to see pianos in far away places. :whome:
I did try out my Grieg on a giant Faziolli in Harrod's.

I had a small audience -- my husband and boys not included. :silly:
"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
RosemaryTwo
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
The 89th Key
Apr 5 2010, 08:19 PM
RosemaryTwo
Apr 5 2010, 04:41 PM
And please expand on your travel plans???
Oh - don't want to hijack the thread. Just 2 friends and I are going to Europe to watch the World Cup games with the locals. About 3-4 days in each of London, Paris, Rome, and finally Bari, Italy for a total of nearly 13 days. I hope to get a picture of us cheering with the locals in each country while we watch their tame play (and of course root on the USA when they play).
That will be a blast. Wow.

We watched a lot of soccer at dinner time in the pubs. That was fun -- right now is playoff time I guess. :cheers:

My boys bought scarves from some team or other (Fullham?) and wore them around and got lots of comments. One Beefeater yelled at them in the most polite accent, "Fullham?? Really?? I do believe you're quite better than that!" :lol:

Also, at one point we were waiting for the Paris Metro one evening while apparently thousands of Parisians were on their way to an important match. One car pulled up full of young male revellers. When the car stopped they went into a loud chant and jumped up and down in unison to make the car bounce. It was quite a spectacle (we waited for the next car :popcorn: ). As best I could tell, they were either shouting "Ole, Ole, Ole" --as in a bullfight kind of "ole" -- or "Cafe au Lait, au lait, au lait." The former made more sense but when one is working in a second language, one can't be too certain. :wink:

"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Mikhailoh
Member Avatar
If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
That's what the Brazilians used to chant with great vigor year after year whenever Gustavo Kuerten was playing at the tennis Masters' Series here. Maybe they were Brazilians.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
JBryan
Member Avatar
I am the grey one
I generally travel a man but I wouldn't mind the opportunity to study abroad.
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne


There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it".


Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.

Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

From The Lion in Winter.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Axtremus
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
ivorythumper
Apr 5 2010, 06:03 PM
Ax: you forgot off-shoring money.
See my first post in this thread, 3rd bullet from the bottom.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
The 89th Key
Member Avatar

RosemaryTwo
Apr 6 2010, 03:43 AM
My boys bought scarves from some team or other (Fullham?) and wore them around and got lots of comments. One Beefeater yelled at them in the most polite accent, "Fullham?? Really?? I do believe you're quite better than that!" :lol:

Also, at one point we were waiting for the Paris Metro one evening while apparently thousands of Parisians were on their way to an important match. One car pulled up full of young male revellers. When the car stopped they went into a loud chant and jumped up and down in unison to make the car bounce. It was quite a spectacle (we waited for the next car :popcorn: ). As best I could tell, they were either shouting "Ole, Ole, Ole" --as in a bullfight kind of "ole" -- or "Cafe au Lait, au lait, au lait." The former made more sense but when one is working in a second language, one can't be too certain. :wink:

R2, I'm sorta expecting an experience like this (see video from the movie, EuroTrip) -



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxR-bdoP57c
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
blondie
Bull-Carp
Horace
Apr 5 2010, 06:27 PM
Count me amongst those (if there are any others) who think that travel is overrated. Granted, flying for me is way more uncomfortable than it is for most people (I'm tall/mildly claustrophobic), but even beyond that I've never felt particularly enlightened after visiting another country. It can be interesting but I'd rather save the money and effort.
I like what you say Horace. You're honest.
I too am very anxious on planes [yeah, claustrophobia]. The packing aspect beforehand is extremely taxing for me. It takes me weeks to pack beforehand. My family gets very upset with me during this time. My enjoyment of traveling is diminished because of these things. This is why I so enjoy getting to know people here who've lived elsewhere. Still, I'd like to travel to a couple of far away places before I drop. It's very expensive and I still have to think real hard to justify the cost of trips. I don't have lots of money for travel. Traveling alone as a girl is different too. Perhaps men forget this. I don't venture too far away from my hotel after dark; I limit what I do during the day to public venues. I don't drive much at home so I'd never rent a car when traveling. I like big cities with good transit. I enjoy shopping, symphony, opera, art museums, public monuments, these types of things.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Enjoy forums? Start your own community for free.
Learn More · Sign-up Now
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic »
Add Reply
  • Pages:
  • 1