Places you've been, glad you went....

[Moemg]

Tahiti ,Bora Bora & Morea . Glad I went but no interest in returning .

 

[Meadbh]

We maybe only have 10-15 years traveling left in us physically. We're gettin' it while the gettin's good.

Very true. This year I have had only one local trip to date, with one to the U.S. coming up in the Fall. I am enjoying the pleasures of my locale and friends and have honestly not had a desire to travel further. I am waiting for an inspiration: something that really interests me. Perhaps I will do a big trip in 2016.

 

[PhrugalPhan]

Portugal - Lived there for 3 years and happy I did it, and will be fine not going back.


As for the US, Phoenix comes to mind. Nothing green there - after a week there I couldn't imagine how you can live like that (and I was asked to go live there and quickly turned it down).

 

[jjquantz]

Alaska - we spent two weeks there in 2000. One week at Denali and environs (train ride to and from) and a second week on a small cruise ship in the Inside Passage. It was spectacularly beautiful, and I enjoyed every bit of our trip. I would readily go back -- after I run out of all the other places I want to go.

+ 1 on Alaska. We were there for about a week a few years ago. DW had to be there for w*rk and I tagged along. Got some great photos of whales, moose and other wildlife. But, when you get right down to it, DW and I aren't real outdoorsy types and, in Alaska, there aren't many other choices.

 

[NW-Bound]

I have enjoyed all the places that I have visited, domestic or foreign. Several, I would not mind going back to, but life is short and the world is big.

As for the US, Phoenix comes to mind. Nothing green there - after a week there I couldn't imagine how you can live like that (and I was asked to go live there and quickly turned it down).

We do have green. The plants and trees that we water stay green, the ones we don't die.

No trouble with having to mow grass where we do not want it to grow. Not even weed survives.

I have lived here for more than 40 years, and have seen the metropolitan area grow. It now has close to 5 million people, and is the 12th most populous metro area of the US. Good thing I bought my house out in the suburb because traffic jam is terrible.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

China (Beijing and Xian...would love to see more of it)
Malta (cross roads of Africa, Europe and the Middle East)
Singapore
Giant Sequoia Forest in CA (it's like being in a Tolkien novel)
Kauai (Sailing the Napali coast spectacular)

 

[shortstop14]

I have enjoyed all the places that I have visited, domestic or foreign. Several, I would not mind going back to, but life is short and the world is big.

Exactly the way I feel. I guess Cappadocia, in Central Turkey was a great to see once, but no need to return.

 

[flyingaway]

I have been physically in all 50 US states, DC, and Puerto Rico, and about 25 to 30 other countries and areas. Since my goal is to visit all possible (or as many as possible) countries in the world in my life time, I do not intentionally plan to revisit any of the visited countries. However, I have been in Las Vegas 9 times, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Malaysia twice, Canada three times, and Singapore 5 times. If I am tired of visiting new places, I would like to revisit Paris (last time with kids and did not see much art works). Puerto Rico is also a place that I like to vacation in (with beaches and casinos, kind of like Hawaii + Las Vegas).

 

[mtheulen]

China. Went there in July 2000 for 2 weeks, specifically to see the 3 Gorges along the Yangtze before the world's largest hydroelectric dam was completed. Have zero desire to go back.

(Interesting side note. A few months after the trip, I was offered a directorship position (= BIG promotion) to work in one of the cities I had visited. I immediately said, "No thanks" due to what I'd seen on this trip. So in that way the trip certainly paid off for me, as otherwise I might have accepted the promotion and DETESTED the 2+ year assignment.)

omni

X2 on China.So thankful the trip was a paid for business trip

 

[truenorth418]

My girlfriend and I spent a week in Maine earlier this summer. Was one of the few states remaining I had never visited. Thought it was nothing special, probably never go back.

I love traveling overseas, especially Europe. On my last visit I stopped in Budapest for a few days. It was ok but there are so many other great destinations in Europe and Hungary is a little out of the way, I'll doubt I'll ever go there again.




Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[truenorth418]

Anyone been to the Seychelles? Remote islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Gorgeous place.

I'll bet most people who go there only make it once, as it's so out of the way. I went in 2004, thinking I would never go again.

Now that I am retired it is on my list and I'll probably go back within the next couple of years.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Nemo2]

Anyone been to the Seychelles?

Was there, mainly on La Dique, around 1987.......will likely never return.

 

[springnr]

Anyone been to the Seychelles?

Floated past there on the way to Mombasa. (1975) Stopped in Maurtius to help with typhoon damage on the way back..

 

[Totoro]

The antarctic.

Would love to go back, but not in a cramped cabin and then expenses rise pretty fast ..

 

[jabbahop]

two standout for me.

Ko Samui Thailand in 1990 before it was too discovered. Mostly small 15 hut "hotels" on the beach for $10/night with breakfast. The difference between Ko Samui and Phuket back then was striking. I guess Ko Samui is now like Phuket unfortunately.

Gullet sailing the Coast of Turkey in 2005 with just my wife and I plus our three kids (10, 7, 7). We chartered a gullet and sailed the coast for a week. Despite limited english spoken by captain and crew, a fantastic experience. Docking and walking through remote ruins. Swimming and snorkeling in Crystal clear water. Incredible fresh food/produce cooked on board by captain's wife.

would love to go back to Turkey if that trip was anything like our first.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[marko]

Spent most of my career travelling (4,000,000 miles on one airline), but with the qualifier of "unlikely to return" I'd say Singapore, Thailand, Christmas Island, Kwajalein, Russia and Scotland.

I still visit Japan (my favorite place) and have friends in Europe that we visit regularly.

Spent months in all of the above; all beautiful, exotic and loved it, but unlikely to return.

 

[Pleeplus]

Hallstatt Austria - breathtakingly pretty

Sedona Arizona - the red rock canyons are completely different

The north side of Maui during a high surf warning. I was taken back by the beauty and violence of the Pacific Ocean.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[imoldernu]

The Adirondaks: Hiking, Climbing, Camping, Canoeing, Fishing...

15 years of love, with every possible weekend spent exploring the 6 million acres... Alone, or with DW, best friend, 4 sons, and my Boy Scout Troop. From 1966 to 1981... it was at a time when the mountains were still pristine, and you could hike and climb a mountain... camp out at the summit, and never see another person along the way. Many 5 day canoe trips on the chain of lakes, from Old Forge to Big Tupper... nights spent in Adirondak Shelters, and exploring the small tributaries and connected lakes.

Starlit nights with no glow from human activity anywhere on the horizon.

Unforgettable!

 

[folivier]

Probably won't go back to: Morocco. Very interesting and enjoyable in the Medina of Fez but learned enough of oppressed peoples to never return.
Roatan. Enjoyed the diving but the sand fleas are enough for me to not return.
Belize. Same as Roatan but diving not as good.
Bonaire. Definitely will return.
Still traveling throughout the states.

 

[Nemo2]

One place I'm glad I went to, (August 1963), is Quetta, Pakistan, up near the Afghan border.......and it's one place I know I'll never get to, or want to go to, again:

Quetta: Pakistan's Mysterious City With Ties to Taliban

 

[MRG]

Well I'm glad I went to South Africa. Loved the bush, met interesting people. No freaking way I'm going back to Johannesburg or Capetown ever again.

 

[HFWR]

My only international travel (aside from Mexico and Paradise Island) was Japan. No desire to go back.

I do hope to make one visit to Europe; yeah, I know, big place! But I expect most of my future travel will be in North America. Just don't need the hassle and expense...

 

[Nemo2]

Well I'm glad I went to South Africa. Loved the bush, met interesting people. No freaking way I'm going back to Johannesburg or Capetown ever again.

Walked around Jozi in 1983; went down to a Zulu "witchdoctor's" shop.....my late wife & I were the only whites we encountered....not even a glare from anyone.....nowadays, from what I hear, we likely wouldn't have made it back. Sad.

 

[freebird5825]

The Adirondaks: Hiking, Climbing, Camping, Canoeing, Fishing...

15 years of love, with every possible weekend spent exploring the 6 million acres... Alone, or with DW, best friend, 4 sons, and my Boy Scout Troop. From 1966 to 1981... it was at a time when the mountains were still pristine, and you could hike and climb a mountain... camp out at the summit, and never see another person along the way. Many 5 day canoe trips on the chain of lakes, from Old Forge to Big Tupper... nights spent in Adirondak Shelters, and exploring the small tributaries and connected lakes.

Starlit nights with no glow from human activity anywhere on the horizon.

Unforgettable!

Nice photo of the log shelter. I stayed at Long Lake several times, tent camping but using the shelter as a place to keep things dry and be safe during storms. I was at Long Lake when a microburst caused a massive tree blowdown in the late nineties. Several campers lost their lives in that.
It was the last time I camped. Mother Nature got my attention big time.
I will be going to Old Forge for a few days sometime in September. Once the summer hordes leave, I can have my pick of accommodations at a very good post-Labor Day price.

 

[W2R]

Places you've been, glad you went....and are OK if you never make it back there.

....and are OK if you never make it back there.

So I am thinking of a pleasant, world-view-broadening experience, but one you can accept that time and budget and other places yet unseen will likely preclude a return.

GO!

(For me: Singapore, Japan (all of it), Loch Ness, Tucson, Banff, just to throw a few out there....)

For me, everyplace I have been in the entire world, outside of SE Louisiana, falls in that category. I did a lot of traveling as a young girl (none of it my idea), and then had to travel for work.

Right now I am getting tremendous satisfaction from staying at home, especially now that I have moved into my "dream home". We haven't even been out of the Parish (=county) since 2012 when we had to evacuate for Hurricane Isaac.

I love my home and get tremendous satisfaction out of spending my time here, where everything is just as I want it and life is peaceful and predictable. I have had an exciting life, but also there's a lot to be said for peaceful and predictable.