How well traveled are you?

[TXBev]

Never really stopped to count, thinking by the continents is more interesting. The actual # isn't as important as the experiences that you had in each place. Probably my favorite was a month in Australia. Many of the places I would not want to go back to again. Times have changed and not for the better. Only cruise I've done was a 10 day whale watch out of San Diego and into the Sea of Cortez. Only 35 people - very nice. Not sure I want to be with a few thousand people on a ship.

 

[martyp]

15 - not so many but I am living in Thailand.

 

[sengsational]

I think there is a bit of a contest mentality in travel. It was once the case that only the tiniest fraction of people on the earth could manage to do any travel at all. That gave travel a reputation for showing off. And humans, in general, are status machines.

That being said, there's a heck of a lot more to going somewhere beyond your local stomping grounds than impressing other people. And if you are going to post a metric, it certainly makes sense to specify which, in order to make valid comparisons.

 

[brett]

Our travel habits changed post retirement.

Much longer trips, 8-9 weeks, and we became slower travelers. Also very spontaneous carry on only travelers.

Not unusual for us to spend a three weeks or more in one area. We happily spend 8-9 weeks in Greece, Italy, Thailand/Vietnam, Mexico, etc. Just travelling about spending a week or so in each stop. Sometimes longer.

We changed our lifestyle and downsized to a lock and leave HOA to facilitate frequent travel. No pets, no plants. Lawn gets cut and snow gets cleared while we are away.

 

[braumeister]

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."
-- St. Augustine

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
-- Mark Twain

“Once a year, go somewhere you’ve never been before.”
-- Dalai Lama

 

[MichealKnight]

6-10

I've done 9 countries....though a few Caribbean Islands where I got off the boat, watched DW buy magnets for the fridge while I just wanted to be back on the ship with a burger. So in reality my total is 5.


Now, as a family with 2 younger kids - so far we've done just domestic, we love our Florida beach vacations, Vegas, a few Carib cruises, etc. But now with a teenager and a 10 year old - a goal of mine is to have them be somewhat traveled and exposed to different countries and peoples before the are 'on their own'. Of course - balancing that with being retired in my 40s, with hopefully 2 college tabs coming requires choices. Also - in my old life when things were rolling I was used to traveling in absolute gluttonous comfort and I think those amenities will now have to be cut down a bit, if I am to accomplish more travel which is fine - it's good for kids to see travel that is not all first class, all with no lines, etc. Some bumps, bruises, delays, etc are part of life.

ALSO.....if "1" is a yum-yum who wants to snap a picture of himself by a landmark, not learn a thing , rinse and repeat. If a "10" is one who wants to live with the locals, really immerse in life within a new country. I guess for us as a family my goal is to be a 6. To that end my budget and plans are this:

*Vancouver (days before an Alaskan Cruise. DW and I have done two. Would like to take kids)

*Asia. While it's huge - thinking a combo of Singapore and India.

*Europe - a decent length cruise. But...something like this would be 3 full days in pre-departure in a place like Rome, and 3 days post-cruise in London, Barcelona, whatever.

Plus one more. Could be South America, could be different part of Europe.

Wanting kids to have no fear of travel and new places, languages, customs.

Also ,if they get to college, I don't want it to be where everyone has traveled and all they have seen is Vegas and Florida (even though I'd be content with that the rest of my life lol)

 

[Scrapr]

Lots of well traveled posters here. I'm at about 16 or so. I don't count US states. In the 60's we drove across the US (before Interstates) 3 times to see family. Then after getting married & BC (before child) we did several trips to the Caribibean for a little diving. Then we bought a vacation house & our of country travel was stopped. We had great times at the vacation home. After kid was launched we were able to do a little travel. Now in retirement I'm a maniac to get to everything I want to see. Went to Rome & Sienna in March. 5 weeks on the continent for Ireland, Scotland & Paris in Sept-October. I'm not going to get to everything and that's OK. I love it here in the PNW

 

[MC Rider]

As much as air travel sucks these days, I am fine sticking to road trips. There is lots to see in California that I have not seen. The only thing that makes me consider air travel is grandkids 3000 miles away. I am working on their Mom to come out here and see the old farts.

 

[Car-Guy]

I certainly remember the poll/discussion we did on this topic a few years ago... My numbers haven't changed, IIRC. 13 countries that I spent one or more days in. Add another 5 or 6 that I simply passed through. I'm not going to try to remember all the US states that I've hung my hat for at least a night but it's probably about 25 or 26. Add at least another 6 to 8 that I just passed though.

 

[raypep]

We had an interesting discussion about this some years ago. I was surprised then at how well traveled some of us were, so I though it might be fun to update it as many of us are now getting back to traveling again after the pandemic times.

For the purpose of this, we can use the "country" definitions of the Travelers' Century Club, which is pretty generous.

Also, any time on the ground will count, so as to make it even more generous.

I just added a couple of new ones, and I've increased my total count to 41. I realize I have no chance of ever getting to 100, but I'm certainly not done yet!

I have visited 109 countries . Many related to my career in the Foreign Service