What does travel mean to you? - YouLookFab Forum

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What does travel mean to you?

Runcarla

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In the blog post today, https://youlookfab.com/2023/01.....-for-2023/ Angie touched on the importance of recreational travel in her life, and others chimed in, writing about resumed activities post pandemic restrictions, including travel plans for 2023. I’m thrilled to be one of those folks with recreational travel plans for 2023.

Pondering the trips, I’m having trouble with my words and the ability to articulate what travel means to me. Why it’s so important.

Do you travel regularly? Save up (vacation time, money) for occasional grand adventures? Do you go to the same place(s), or change things up? Are you resuming pre-pandemic patterns of travel, or desiring something completely different?

What does travel mean to you?

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31 replies

Latest reply was from cat2

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

YES to most of those questions, Carla. Pre-pandemic.

We go to the same places, AND to somewhere different! We are always, always torn

No, we do not desire something different. Yes, we save up for trips. Our trips are international.

We have lived in four very different continents, and have friends and family across the globe. We love to see them, and travel with them. We love to experience different cultures, cuisines, climates, terrains, and ways of life. I was brought up that way so it's ingrained. That is what makes life's experiences rich, memorable, diverse, and special. We live in the US, but are not American so the US is not home. We like to travel back home!

We have had soooooo many trips cancelled an postponed the last four years - (we had a tough 2019 too) - it will take us years to catch up. Severe time and vacation day shortage. But with a bit of luck, we will get there eventually.

slim cat

Veteran

I'd like to travel more - usually it's a short vacation ( Hawaii ) or visit of a friend ( Seattle ). Saving $ and vacation days is a must, planing in advance as usual. Taking time off and traveling helps with burnout at my job - retail is high stress activity. Imaginary lifestyle would include multiple trips per year .
Still hope to see my mom in Moscow this year but it may not happen the way I wish for ( she is 90 years old and limited in mobility - thankfully there is a lady that lives with her now providing support and care ).

Helena

Veteran

Growing up with two immigrant parents, travel always meant family, as every vacation was about going "home" to see grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, etc. We really didn't go on true leisure vacations until I was a older, at which time vacation also came to mean sunshine

Even now, travel means family - our recent trip to Aus, our trip a few years ago to England, and our planned trip to Ireland are all in the name of family. We travel to warm destinations or closer to home (e.g. cottage escapes) with family, or we go to spend time as a family of four, reconnecting without the busy-ness of day to day getting in the way.

I'm not very adventurous by nature, so I'm not one that feels compelled to see the farthest reaches in person ... but it is always interesting to me to see different lifestyles, atmospheres, etc. I think travel is great reminder that "my way is not THE way", a way of gaining different perspectives - and an excellent reminder to me that there is truly no place like home

cjh

(website)

Veteran

Travel means mostly just a break from home and every day routine. Even though I love my life, my neighbors and friends, it’s important that we take a short time to get a new perspective, see new scenery, get some creative inspiration, and try a little new something. Sometimes it just feels like we need to get away for a couple of days.

The other important thing about travel to me is seeing family and friends.

Really we don’t take big trips. We live a couple of hours from Chicago. Our favorite places are Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Iowa. Friends and family live in those places, and we’re content with walking in familiar Midwest woodlands and looking at lakes. It makes me crazy to be away and have my husband wishing he were home already to play golf, mow the lawn, etc. etc. The mountains of Colorado are super nice, but I wish our daughter and her family were much closer to us.

If all my friends and family lived within my county, I’d probably be happy to not travel.

anchie

Veteran

Oh, yes, travel is very important to me and I do it whenever I have an opportunity. I love adventure of unknown and seeing new places. But since I don’t live in my home country, visiting friends and family back home is equally important so I am always torn.
I mostly traveled around Europe, visited Spain, France, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and around Austria, most of those many times. Outside of Europe I have only been to Luanda, Angola and Seattle. It is easy and relatively inexpensive to travel around Europe, either by car or plane or train so I don’t plan this trips much in advance. They are sometimes spur of the moment long weekend trips. But would love to have some more long distance travel which I would have to save for and plan in advance. Just before pandemic hit I was planning trip to Japan with my kids which never happened. I did not travel in 2020 at all, and in 2021 just to Croatia to visit my parents. But last year I resumed travel, been to Zagreb, Sarajevo, Praha, Barcelona, London and Paris. Traveled to Zagreb actually 5 times last year and twice to my home town, and will have to go again soon but those were definitely not happy occasions.
For this year I have already booked us summer beach vacation in Croatia in July, and will probably go visit close friends that moved to Luxemburg recently. And I also started saving for some bigger trip in hopefully not so distant future. Oh and almost forgot, have booked also a short girls trip with my 4 closest girlfriends this spring to Czechia.

Irina

Veteran

Travel used to be our once a year activity. It’s something we enjoy very much and only started to do regularly in the last 10 years, since my mother passed. Before that I traveled to Russia to visit her.

I wish we can travel more but unfortunately our vacation time is limited, so one trip a year for about 10 days, mostly to Europe. My DH loved Florida so much that we will go there this year.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Oh I love travel but don’t do it that much compared with some of my friends. 2 businesses in one house makes it hard for DH and I to get away together. For him especially though it really helps him to leave his business if he is out of the country so I have missed international travel partly for that reason.
We do it for seeing new places, relaxation, and sometimes seeing family (my only sister in England and Neil’s favourite brother- he had 2 brothers but the older one died of prostate cancer in 2017-in Canada.) My sister and his brother come back to NZ more than we go to them though- they are the ones who left. He still has elderly parents alive now 91 and 86 and the brother knows they won’t live for ever.
Before the pandemic we got an overseas trip almost every year since 2002!- even if only to Australia. Sometimes more than one. We don’t get to travel for work usually. I did get one conference in the Sonoma region of California once in 2013, a fantastic experience.
Getting 2 trips this year! Thailand (Phuket) next month and Canada in May/June. The first for fun and the second for family.

kkards

Veteran

When i was a kid, most of our travel was leisurely education. Ie we’d take a car trip and stop at historical villages, museums, other cultural icons with other activities thrown in. When i was 16 we took a month drove across the US. As someone who had grown up in New England and whose family was in the north eastern US, it was eye opening. It also gave me an understanding of what travel could be- the chance to see how others live, what they believe in and how they express it, to see how alike and how different we are, to see how the landscape of where you live impacts the how you live, to try and experience different foods, and hear voices that sound different. Now as an adult I try to blend these kinds of vacations with the just sit on the beach reading relaxing ones. Because if I’m honest was much as I love the travel to other places vacations they are, for me, not relaxing, exhilarating and life enriching, but not relaxing.

Pre pandemic I had traveled a number of times with Road Scholar, and at some point I’ll do it again. But I’m not ready to travel internationally yet. And I’m hoping to take a train trip across the US after I retire in 6-7 years. In the meantime travel now is limited to visiting family in NYC and my mom outside of Boston. Vacation is 2 weeks at the beach.

RobinF

Veteran

We had no money when I was a kid, so vacations were camping trips someplace close to home. Fun but not what I think of as travel. Then when I was in high school I traveled to Finland as an exchange student - wow, so eye opening! I loved being someplace else and getting to know another culture.

Now that the kids are grown and DH and I have a little more money, we like to travel as much as work and funds permit. We like to take cruises because it is a perfect combination of relaxing and seeing new places (Mediterranean cruise was a favorite) but we also loved spending time in Amsterdam and London and want to do more of that. We are not particularly adventurous so tend to return to places we have already been. Flying home from London we were already talking about when we could go back

My remaining family and daughter are all out of state so we do that kind of travel too. And several nieces and nephews have gotten married in further locations - fun reason to travel! It's all good!

Anonymous

Travel is aspirational to me! There are a lot of places I want to go, but not the $ or the leave time to do it. Plus we'd need to find a petsitter. I'm hoping to do it next year when I (hopefully) stop working!

Laurie

Veteran

I love to travel. One of the absolute worst things about the past 3 years has been the utter disruption to this aspect of my life.
My father traveled extensively, internationally, for work and I was exposed to people from other cultures who came to our home for dinner, or who we took around Pittsburgh during their visits. When I was 11 we spent 6 months in Brussels, and traveled all over Europe, but prior to that the only vacation my mother ever wanted to take was to the NJ or MD shore. She was not a good sport on that Europe trip (what's the number 1 reason for expat failure? Unhappy spouse), or we might have actually lived abroad for a few years. Post Europe, we went to the Outer Banks of NC (well before it was a thing) for years and years, same thing every year. So much wasted travel potential!
I started traveling on my own at 20 and never stopped. I lived in Brazil for almost a year during grad school. When our kids were pretty young we started taking trips outside of the US over the week around Thanksgiving, mostly to escape family obligations. It was an excellent time to go abroad and we had wonderful trips to Paris, Rome, Istanbul, and Buenos Aires. We have had awesome domestic trips - AZ, CA, HI, OR, WA are favorites - as well, a highlight being the time we all met Angie and Greg in Seattle!! We are non-fussy, non-fancy, adventurous travelers. My greatest pleasure and honor is to be invited into a home in any place we have visited. Museums will always be there.
Both of our sons continue to travel on their own- in fact, we sent our older one to Europe alone at age 15. Our younger one arranged to go to Israel on Birthright during his time at the USCG Academy, no small feat to get permission to do that. They've individually thanked us for introducing them to the world, and acknowledged that those trips were really special.
We made and cancelled plans for several trips the last few years, including two attempts to get back to Israel. With the chaos of air travel lately, I have not had a huge desire to book a trip though. I do intend to get to Europe soon, as one of my best friends recently moved to Munich. And Israel remains a must-return, as soon as we can pull it together.
Fingers crossed.
It's always amazing to go new places, but a real vacation for me, the planner, is when we go back to a familiar place and it's not as much work.

rachylou

Veteran

Boy, I’ll admit I struggle with the the idea of travel. Planes particularly.

I believe travel is good for the individual—if you can manage to not drag your world with you and actually get out of it. (It *is* possible to go abroad and still eat nothing but McDonald’s.)

I have traveled a lot, although sadly nowhere in the Southern Hemisphere. I have family all over the world. The flying started when I was only a few months old. I traveled for work too, way back when, so much so I started to get paranoid about my stats for dying in a plane crash. Then the world got smaller and places started to feel more and more the same. Then the pain of going through security, especially as a type 1 diabetic got excruciating (you look like a terrorist with all your gear, and it’s worse when you go places where people just die of it and so no one’s heard of it). Then covid came making the logistics even more hard… although the mask part is helpful, because I used to hide my head under a blanket, because fragrance really makes me ill. Finally, we’re past tipping point on the climate change front. I’m not keen on driving even - my biggest trips in recent years have been No Cal to So Cal for family and friends and that nagged my conscience. I’ve been gluttonous on the travel front; it’s other people’s turn.

That all said, a friend invited me to join him and his family in Spain later this year. It’s extremely tempting. It’s one country in Western Europe I haven’t been to. They’ll be staying in one place a long time - and that’s my ideal way to travel. Having a base and getting to know a place more deeply.

Very tempting.

Gaylene

Veteran

Nodding my head at Rachylou’s “gluttonous on the travel front” and thinking the same thoughts about carbon footprints and voluntarily staying put as a way of offsetting another person’s urge to see the world. After all, I’ve had a good run at traveling for over fifty years: I’ve dipped my toes into six of the world’s seven seas and planted my foot on all the continents.

Years ago, I read somewhere that one ought to retire in a place where you liked to vacation. For Mr. G and me that has been Vancouver Island; we are now content to indulge ourselves by meandering around our glorious little corner of the world.

Runcarla

Veteran

@ rachylou - go to Spain with your friends!!!

Bonnie

Veteran

We've traveled most of the US and some of Canada in our MH for the past 21 years and now we have settled on a few favorite areas which we revisit again and again, California coast, Yellowstone NP, Tucson/Sedona, AZ. We've taken a few trips overseas, Italy - four times a month each trip, England/Scotland, and Hawaii probably 6 times to visit family. My favorite trips include hiking in beautiful mountains, a bit of birding, and getting to know what the rest of the world is like.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Travel is huge for me. A bit ironic coming from the daughter of an agoraphobic. We never traveled when I was a kid — we had a little beach cottage property near the Chesapeake Bay that we visited for vacations, and that was it. Road trips with my dad to visit my sister in another state, to go to a theme park, or the occasional trip with a friend to a neighboring state were it for me.

Only after I was a young adult and independent did I start any kind of travel — Boston for a job interview, visiting a friend in Milwaukee, skiing in Vermont. But the travel bug really bit hard when I was 25, after I flew to the west coast for the first time for a friends wedding and then spent the following week driving around the desert southwest. I was absolutely enchanted and spellbound.

Since then I’ve been to some amazing places, including Zambia, South Africa, Antarctica, Greenland, Cuba, etc. I love seeing new places and thrive on exploring. At the same time, there are places, particularly the desert, that I enjoy returning to time and time again.

The last three years, we shifted from any kind of travel involving flying to road trips. We scored a used Airstream and took it on some adventures, including a two-month trip with the dogs out to WY, UT, NM, CO, etc. This past spring I did a solo road trip out to AZ, NM and CO. I love traveling alone because I get to focus intently on my photography.

So for me it’s partly “work” as it’s part of my photo practice, but it’s all a joy. I’ve missed traveling abroad the last few years but feel I’ve made good use of the travel time nonetheless. This year wr have a landmark anniversary coming up, so that will definitely be an occasion for a big trip abroad.

kerry

Veteran

Great question!

Travel as a kid was mainly road trips across Canada. The biggest one was when I was 7 and we spent the month of August travelling as far west as Dawson City, Yukon from our southern Ontario home. We camped all the way.

In my early adult years, travel was about breaking out of the small town bubble I had grown up in. I also lived in Korea and Portugal for a time.

Now, travel is about creating lasting memories with family and friends.

citygirldc

(website)

Veteran

Travel was always a part of my life. As a kid, my dad loved to take the family to beaches and visit family, but as a young adult, I had to get away from the mundane domestic life to international travel. I like to discover new places, meet new people.

COVID put a stop to our travel, however we did go away to mountain lodges, beaches, etc.

Now that I'm retired, I'm taking full advantage of domestic and international travel and go to small towns, visit national parks, so yes I am changing things up a bit.

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

I grew up in Saudi Arabia, where my parents met working for an oil company. My dad was an aircraft pilot and the company had excellent benefits that included more than a month of vacation per year (and pilots got discounts at nice hotel chains too). We generally spent half of the time visiting relatives in the US and the remainder visiting other countries in Asia and Europe. I remember one year, we got to: Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Hawaii, San Francisco, Massachusetts, and UK before heading home. A full circuit!

So, I got the travel bug early on, though I spent some years limited by finances, child's school vacation times and some other family issues. I'd picked up again before the pandemic, and I took all the staying at home very hard. These days I'm back on the road when I can, limited mostly by my dog's health. I've come to prefer slower paced visits, long walks and opportunities to take photos. I like traveling in company but I've always been comfortable going places alone.

Last year I went to Spain twice and Morocco once. This year I'm aiming for Spain, Portugal, maybe southern France, but I wouldn't be averse to some new destinations.

Barbara Diane

Veteran

As a kid we took car trips and camped. I loved looking at the stars from my sleeping bag.
I would love to travel more. I haven’t flown since Covid and it seems many people we know who managed to avoid Covid have gotten it in the last two months, which is making me nervous about doing even the little things we had started to do again. We had our first colds in years after attending a small indoor gathering that included a meal.

I definitely want to travel. I want to visit cousins, see and revisit places here and internationally. My favorite vacations include interesting things to see and do with times to unwind also. Unwinding at a beach, swimming especially, is a favorite, but other quiet activities count too.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

I’ve rarely traveled just for its own sake, aside from annual beach trips growing up. I eurailed the summer after college graduation, sometimes visiting friends, other times (which felt more aimless) just seeing the sights in site x, and when my husband decided to skip our honeymoon, I went to Central America for 3 weeks on my own. Otherwise, I’ve always been visiting someone, going to a conference, doing research, etc. My latest off-topic post is another example.

There are a few places I’d really like to go—Gibraltar, Sicily (long before White Lotus), a glass hut to see the northern lights (better with a lover than with my son, but either way). I’d like to have company at each of them.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I love travel. As a kid, that meant road trips to see family in the Maritimes, and sometimes down the eastern US coast. But as soon as I gained some independence I took off for Europe with my bike. Since then, I've been on several more European vacations, to China several times, to Iceland and the Middle East. And I've also done more travelling within North America.

Often my trips still involve family visits—I have a step-child in Vienna (formerly Spain and Portugal), and one in Israel. Dear friends live in various parts of Canada and the US.

I also travel for work -- either for conferences or for retreats.

Now, I do worry about flying due to the environmental impacts, but I will be honest -- it is such a joy to see and experience different parts of the world, I don't think I will stop travelling if I can afford it.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

I have a love-hate relationship with travel. I am very anxious traveling to unfamiliar places, but I also cherish that process of turning the unfamiliar into the familiar and am eager to see and experience more.

I can only remember three vacations as a child—one to Disney World when I was four and two to nearby destinations in the Midwest. The rest of my travel was going from my mom’s house to my dad’s, in different parts of the country. I didn’t leave the US until I was in my twenties, and still have only done so once, although we visited multiple destinations in Europe on that trip. I feel more worldly than I actually am.

As an adult, I’ve seen most of the US and have lived in five US states (seven, if you count summers with my dad’s family) across both coasts (from Florida to Washington), the Midwest, and the Rockies .

Over the past several years, our biggest trip has been a road trip up the coast from LA to Seattle. This spring, though, we’re planning almost a month in Europe, across five different countries. My husband’s cancer, which has kept us from resuming travel in the COVID era, is now what’s compelling us to go big. We don’t know what the future will bring or if he’ll have another opportunity for such a trip, so it’s time to seize the day.

Echo

Veteran

We have always saved up and done one long vacation and several weekends away with the kids, mostly domestic. However, now that our kids are adults (although in college, so not fully independent), we do one longer domestic vacation with the kids and Dh and I travel both domestically and internationally for long weekends away and occasional longer vacations.

He travels a LOT for work, and racks up points with airlines and hotels, making my tickets to meet him places all but free most of the time, likewise the hotels. It can be limiting to only have a few days, but we don't get overly fussed about what we're able to see or not see. We just enjoy our time and do what we feel like doing. We've had short trips to the Netherlands, Mexico, Estonia, Salt Lake Cit, New Orleans, etc. We hope to increase the frequency of these trips in the coming years as tuition costs decrease and disposable income increases with our kids graduating and traveling with their friends as opposed to with us.

Indigoprint

Veteran

Honestly I like to stay home with the same boundries that I am gone and unavailable.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

This is so interesting to read!

Is it awful that I’m not super concerned over the environmental impact of my travel? I know so many people who never go anywhere that I feel I barely counteract them, LOL. I find other ways to reduce my carbon footprint. Plus I do aim to spread appreciation and awareness for these natural places I visit with my photography. It’s not just for an Instagram selfie, you know?

That said, I do have a mental checklist — I want to visit all the continents eventually. I’ve technically visited 6 out of 7, but I barely count Asia as I’ve only been to Dubai and just for a day. I’ve visited 49 of the US states, so just Alaska to go!

Sal

Veteran

I enjoy travel and it is something I treasure. As a child we did road trips and visited our family beach cottage - which we still have.

In my teens I went to Australia twice, once on a school exchange for six weeks.

In my 20s I lived In England for two years and visited Israel, Egypt, and many European countries - and also Thailand twice.

In my 30s we lived in Australia for two years. Then we also did a trip to the US and Canada - and headed back to Aussie a couple of times on our arrival back in NZ.

40s brought more travel to the US, back to the UK, and a trip to South America. And then Dubai and Italy.

My 50s brought Covid and so our travel has been NZ based except for a short hop to Melbourne. We are planning a trip to Australia this year including a long train trip and a 4WD trip to Northern Territory and WA (Darwin to Broome).

I prefer to travel or have adventures than spend money on many other things - NZ is a long way away though so it is pricey to travel.

We tend to prefer active holidays than resorts -beach time is mostly in NZ. Which mostly works but not always as the last week will show!

Isabel

Veteran

what in interesting and thoughtful question. Like Helena, traveling for me and my family has always meant family. I am from another country ( though my parents live here ). And my husband's parents lived about 2000 miles away. So that was our travel - to see family. I used to travel a lot for work and generally tagged on personal time.

Now that my husband is retired and his parents are gone as are almost all my aunts and uncles overseas, we want to travel more for ourselves.

In thinking about your post I realized that what I want for my kids in travel is very different from how I've looked at travel. I want them to experience other cultures. I was raised in a traditional way of my homeland. So for me, going to NYC or delving into America culture is still kinda foreign.LOL

judy

Veteran

The well known travel write Pico Iyer was on the radio this morning. Thought some of you well travelled folks might enjoy it! https://www.wbur.org/hereandno.....k-paradise

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