Friends, family living in ideal areas

[Cataboo]

Not sure why that should be mind boggling... we have traveled extensively in the US and still have lots to see and do. Plus I want to go back to a bunch of places. I thought about a cycling vacation in Ireland next summer, but I only have ten days between the end of the school year and master's classes starting. That 17 hour plane trip each way, just isn't appealing when you only have ten days. I don't even want to waste the six hours it would take each way to fly back east. So, I'm thinking a cycling trip down the coast... yeah we did it in 1992, so it's a repeat vacation.

Veronica

It's mind boggling for someone to say that they never ever think they have a reason to leave the US for their entire lives. Even if they won the lottery and never had to work again and vacation and money weren't factors... Because I've asked that when told they see no reason to ever leave the US. You're deciding against Ireland based on vacation time. But if that wasn't a factor, would you want to go see the Great Wall of China or the pyramids in egypt or fill in the blank?

Although, one of the persons that I've had this conversation with is neighbors with Sarah Palin in Alaska.

[Veronica]

Now that is weird. I have a whole slew of places... Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Ireland... I want to go to... pesky job gets in the way.

Veronica

[OakLeaf]

I'm more interested in the experiential end of it. Yeah, it's fun to go to galleries and museums and see works of art that I couldn't see anywhere else... but often those works were created in different countries and cultures and time periods from where they're displayed. I'd rather eat the local food, participate in local rhythms (even when they're really disruptive to my own body as they are in Spain), see the local agriculture, do my best with the language.

Which is one of the reasons I don't have any real interest in visiting east Asia - the languages are so different from what I could manage, and many of them don't even use an alphabet that I could read. It would be impossible for me to have an unmediated experience there, without a whole lot of language study that just doesn't appeal to me right now - months of study for a vacation of a couple of weeks.

And the travel time is definitely an issue, even though it's not for lack of leisure time. I'm just not interested enough in anywhere, to make it worth more than 15-16 hours in planes and airports. Whenever they get that whole beam-me-up thing going though...

[papaver]

Isn't it easier for Europeans to travel more? We have at least 4 weeks (most of them have up to 8 weeks) paid vacation per year. If I would only have a week or 10 days I wouldn't travel too far either...or maybe not...

[Cataboo]

Isn't it easier for Europeans to travel more? We have at least 4 weeks (most of them have up to 8 weeks) paid vacation per year. If I would only have a week or 10 days I wouldn't travel too far either...or maybe not...

Well, you also really don't have to go very far to be in another country. Belgium is the size of one of our small states.

But it's normal for european or australian kids to take a year or two to travel before or after college - not the norm in the US.

[papaver]

Well, you also really don't have to go very far to be in another country. Belgium is the size of one of our small states.

But it's normal for european or australian kids to take a year or two to travel before or after college - not the norm in the US.

hehe... by traveling far I really mean outside Europe. For us going abroad is like riding TWO whole hours maximum to go to France, Netherlands, Luxemburg or Germany. I live in central Belgium so going abroad only takes me one hour max.

[tulip]

hehe... by traveling far I really mean outside Europe. For us going abroad is like riding TWO whole hours maximum to go to France, Netherlands, Luxemburg or Germany. I live in central Belgium so going abroad only takes me one hour max.

Okay, so I think I need to visit you in Belgium (an ideal area in my opinion).