New Place Vs Return To Wonderful Old Place

[yakers]

I thought of this when kaudrey posted about where to go after Alaska. I thought why not go back to Alaska? I was just up to northern Canada & Alaksa and I loved it, can't wait to get up there again. (see thread on The Trip Of My Dreams) I remember visiting England many times before the call of other places exceeded the call of returning there. Maybe because I try to spend enough time in a place to really get to know it and I become attached in the process. My wife likes the South Pacific but will happily visit new islands.

There just seems to be a tension between terrific places I have been that I want to return to and the call of other, new places. How do the travelers in this forum handle this 'tension'?

[Caroline]

How do the travelers in this forum handle this 'tension'?

By remembering a couple I knew who went to the same little resort in Canada, on the same little lake, with their same aging friends... for THIRTY FIVE years in a row!! Yikes!

Another way of looking at it -- I can return to any place when I'm older and less able to get around. The more places I see now, the more places I have to return to when that time comes.

I remember visiting England many times before the call of other places exceeded the call of returning there.

My arguments aside, maybe you've already come up with the best answer yourself.

[jambo101]

Toss a coin.

[Bestwifeever]

Go to all of them--"make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold".

[Sarah in SC]

Yakers, we've got this dilemma right now--we are really thinking that we want to return to Mongolia next summer instead of planning a trip to somewhere new. I feel like we should really think hard about covering old ground, but there is so much there we didn't get to explore. I don't know the answer to your question, but I'm thinking that the tension never really goes away. But there is nothing wrong (to me) with returning to a place you know and want to explore further.

[Goonie]

There are places that I like to return to time & again, and there are always new places that I want to go to and explore. So the easy way for me is.....do both!

I really like the east coast of Florida, have made several friends around there, and also have quite a few friends who either over-winter or live around the Orlando area. There are also a lot of things that we like to do and/or see while we're there each year, so we go back year after year.....'cause we like it!

However, on the other hand, there are sooooo many wonderful places all around the USA that we want to visit.....we do that too! We are always going to new places, seeing new things, enjoying new experiences, trying to eat all of the magnificent food! Along the way we usually find a spot or two that we'd like to return to for further exploration and enjoyment. Most places we enjoy our visit, and we're glad we made the trip, but we don't usually foresee our return there. Not because it wasn't nice or enjoyable, but rather that we'd just prefer to spend time in as many new places as we can.

There are places that we've been to, that we have either returned to or are planning to return to. Like the northeast.....my folks used to go out there every year for a few weeks and loved every minute of it. I've only been out there once for a very brief stay. So in October I'm taking my Mom out there so she enjoy some of the places that she and my Dad used to visit and enjoy together, and so that I can see and experience the places that they always talked about. We're also going back down to San Antonio in December, because we enjoyed our stay there so much a couple of years ago.

In the past, 80's and 90's, I used to go to NYC several times a year, and also out to SoCal at least twice a year (by Amtrak). I loved every minute I spent in both areas, so I always planned trips to each every year. Many of my Cali friends have moved to other states (mostly eastern states), so I slowly ended most of my trips out there. I really miss my trips to NYC, and hope to get back out there someday soon....Maybe next year! I was supposed to go there in July '07, but I had too many other things going on. So I'd planned on going this past July, but alas.....I hit the same dilemma....just to dang busy!

Anyway, I like to mix the old with the new! Return to some places regularly, and hit as many new places as possible! It works well for me! YMMV

Happy trails!
goon

[unclemick]

Johnny White's Sports Bar(Bourbon Street) on tuesday in time for Gustav?

Nah - I skipped Katrina.

Was there a few times in the 70's though.

heh heh heh - .

[GoodSense]

If I have time and energy, and am planning a trip to a far away place, I'll always pick a new place. However, there are times when I just want a quick get-away, and don't want to do much planning at all. Then I return to a place I visited before since I already know how things work.

[Want2retire]

Originally Posted by unclemick

Johnny White's Sports Bar(Bourbon Street) on tuesday in time for Gustav?

Nah - I skipped Katrina.

Was there a few times in the 70's though.

heh heh heh - .

We might be at the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield on Tuesday, if Gustav is going to be down here. We'll play it by ear. I know for sure that we won't be in a bar on Bourbon Street, since we never are.

When we aren't evacuating, Frank and I love traveling by car on very spontaneous vacations. We go where we feel like going at the moment, and do what we feel like doing. Sometimes an itinerary can be as confining as cubicle walls.

We don't really have any desire for Travel with a Capital Tee, such as outside the country. But if we did, maybe we would try to follow our desires and go to whichever place we felt like going to when the time came to make plans. There is nothing wrong with going to the same place again, if that is more appealing than trying someplace new.

[Meadbh]

I've had good and bad experienes going back to the same place. For example, in my 20s I went to the Canary Islands with friends, and had a ball. Then my parents decided to go, and asked me to accompany them. It just wasn't the same!



But recently i've found some places that I really like and have happily returned many times. Then it becomes comfortable, anticipation without anxiety. Right now I don't need any more anxiety in my life.

[LOL!]

Originally Posted by Goonie

There are places that I like to return to time & again, and there are always new places that I want to go to and explore. So the easy way for me is.....do both!

+1

You just need to take at least 2 vacations a year.

[Midpack]

Originally Posted by yakers

There just seems to be a tension between terrific places I have been that I want to return to and the call of other, new places. How do the travelers in this forum handle this 'tension'?

We usually take one big vacation each year. We deliberately go someplace new every other year, and choose a favorite in alternate years. Has worked well for 30+ years.

[unclemick]

I seem to have experienced the 'you can't go back effect'. With places changing dramatically, or so it seemed over the yrs.

Astoria,OR area - after the bridge
Portland, OR
Greater Seattle
Greater Denver
New Orleans
Mt St Helens
Huntsville
etc, etc.

Alot of changes over the decades.

heh heh heh - at 5 or 10 yrs between visits you really see some changes. . I suspect if you lived there - it would be the slowly boiled frog phenomena.

[DangerMouse]

I like to expand my horizons by shaking up my vacations a bit, though our habits of the past few years don't show it as most of our vacations involve pilgrammages back to our homeland. Maybe a rotation system would help - something new this year, next year a favourite from the past?

However we are going to Kaiui for Thanksgiving which is a different island for us and we did manage to go to Tahoe for a long weekend.

I'm all for trying something new as that may actually become your new favourite place to go.

[Tempesta]

You may have the universe if I may have Italy - Giuseppe Francesco Verdi

so yeah given a choice, I would return over and over to the place I love the most, Italy....well maybe with small visits to other places here and there

[kaudrey]

yakers - I hear you about Alaska. I could definitely see going back to explore areas we didn't hit this time. But, I have a list of too many places that I want to explore, so I won't, for a while. I could travel for the next 20 years and not hit all the places on my list, and that is what propels me to pick new places. I pretty much want to "see the world", and I can't do that if I go back to places I've already been!

Having said that, over the years, I have been to Bermuda 3 times (although all when I was quite a bit younger).

[brewer12345]

We split the difference. We seem to go back to Puerto Rico every 2 to 3 years, since it is an easy trip from the northeast, has a lot to offer, is tropical without the hassles of leaving the US, and is pretty easy to do with kids. But we also like going to new places, so we mix it up.

[TromboneAl]

A big advantage of going back is that you already know the ropes. That is, which hotel is good, which restaurants, which route, etc.

[Goonie]

Originally Posted by TromboneAl

A big advantage of going back is that you already know the ropes. That is, which hotel is good, which restaurants, which route, etc.

That's one of the many reasons we like going back to the same area in FL every year. We've found some very good family owned restaurants that we really like, as well as a couple of smaller 'chain' restaurants that please our taste buds. Plus the local community orchestra has it's annual winter concert while we're there....$4 admission! And probably best of all is the fact that we've been going there long enough I can easily find my way around, I know a lot a shortcuts, backways & alternative routes to get wherever I want to go, and I've pretty much figured out most of the areas to stay away from.

[brewer12345]

Originally Posted by Goonie

That's one of the many reasons we like going back to the same area in FL every year. We've found some very good family owned restaurants that we really like, as well as a couple of smaller 'chain' restaurants that please our taste buds. Plus the local community orchestra has it's annual winter concert while we're there....$4 admission! And probably best of all is the fact that we've been going there long enough I can easily find my way around, I know a lot a shortcuts, backways & alternative routes to get wherever I want to go, and I've pretty much figured out most of the areas to stay away from.

Yup. If I hadn't been to PR so many times, I would not have been able to show my MIL and daughters the young men running their paso fino horses down the main drag in Playa Naguabo on a Saturday night as we were heading for dinner.