Thursday, August 16, 2012

Travel Debates: Where Do You Stand?

I am being a bit slower than expected with my travel recaps because I have had a lot to do at work this week. I don't think it's going to stop in the next two days so I'll get my Yellowstone part of the trip up by Monday. I do still want to talk about travel though :) Here are several travel debates I've been thinking about lately, I would love to hear where you stand on each one.

 

#1- To Travel or Not to Travel that is the Question: It begins with the process of packing all that you may need into a small suitcase, continues with long lines and hassles at the airport, and seems to hit its peak in ridiculous jet lag and a not so clean hotel room. Do you think travel is worth it?

#2- Plane or Automobile?: There are definitely perks to driving to your destination, including having your own car when you arrive, saving money and the ease of packing into a car rather than a small suitcase. But for me, the time spent in a moving vehicle is the biggest factor. I can't read or do much when moving, so I'd rather sit in an airport than in a car :)

#3- Travel locally or internationally?: Even though I did not get my first passport until I was 19, by the time I started teaching I had visited 8 other countries, but had only seen a very limited amount of my own country. At the time. I was big into the international travel. I loved hearing the different languages, experiencing different cultures and getting a new stamp in my passport book. Since then I have not traveled to any new countries except Canada, but I have seen 8 more states in the US and a very small amount of Canada. The verdict? International travel is still awesome, but local travel is cheaper, easier and I'm still amazed by all the beautiful things even in just the New England area.

#4- Does it count if you only saw the airport?: Eric and I like to keep track of how many states and countries we visited. Yesterday we were tallying up our latest numbers and we started to discuss this: does it count as actually going to a state if I was only in the airport? For example on the way home from Wyoming I had a one hour layover in Denver. Does that mean I can check Colorado off, or not? My initial thought was no because I didn't really see much of Colorado (except for the endless farmlands around the airport). On the other hand, I know some business people who drive straight to their hotel and spend the whole visit in a meeting room with no windows, so where do we draw the line?

I hope everyone is having a great week. What are you up to this weekend?

 

4 comments:

  1. Travel far; travel often!!!

    Anything over 8 hours in the car means you should start looking for flights. Explore the USA and beyond. I've been making a list of places I want to see. From the Grand Canyon and Savannah all the way to Salzburg, Austria and Machu Picchu.

    Airports do NOT count. You've gotta clear security for it to be a real visit.

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  2. Travel. Plane. Both. No, the line is the airport. Heh, but that's just my opinion! As stressful as planes can be, I think it's all worth it. I don't even regret traveling that time it took me 48 hours to get home. As for international/domestic, I think you need a little of both. All domestic, and you don't truly get to see how other places of the world live. All international can be a pain/expensive and you lose sight of how many cool things are in your own country! (Like, who knew Mars was in the US?)

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  3. Great post! I am always happy to talk about travel!

    1. Heck yes, travel. I love it and my life wouldn't be complete without it!

    2. Plane for sure. I HATE driving and I get SO BORED in cars.

    3. Both. Like you, I did most of my traveling internationally when I was younger because my life was conducive to taking long trips like that. Now, I try to explore things within my country and Canada and then travel internationally every 3 years or so! I guess Canada is technically international travel, but I don't think of it that way for some reason!

    4. I think it doesn't count if you are just in the airport... You make a good point w/ the business trip thing as I obviously don't do much sight seeing when I travel for work, but I do tend to drive around a lot with sales reps, so I count those trips as I feel like I see a decent amount of the cities I visit! But that has not always been the case on other business trips I've been on in the past, so maybe I shouldn't count those trips!!

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  4. Oooh fun post!

    1. Definitely worth it! Always always. I love taking trips of any shape or size, from our 3 weeks backpacking around Europe to a day trip I did last weekend. Escaping every day life is the best sometimes :)

    2. I like both. I do enjoy road trips even though I also can't do anything in a car or I get carsick but I also like traveling by plane as you get there faster.

    3. Both for sure! I am dying to go on another big international trip though. Hopefully in the next year or two!

    4. I don't think it counts if you're in the airport OR if you just dive straight into a hotel and meetings! haha

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