what got you interested in travel?

Hi,

how did you get "The Travel Bug"?

while I made my first intercontinental trip to France in 1959 for a
cousin's wedding in St. Denis Cathedral (Antoine Pinay, the former Prime
Minister, was walking the bride down the aisle, you see my family was
involved in French Politics ;-} the father of the bride was in Monsieur
Pinay's cabinet, and the groom was later a representative from the Loire
etc.)

but I don't really remember much of the trip...

I'm told I bit a cousin...

I saw him at Christmas a few years ago and he doesn't remember it either
:-}

it was a prop plane, an engine caught fire on the way over and we
switched planes in the middle of the night, and my aunts house had a
yellow room at the end of the hall.

but all these trips to France and elsewhere in Europe that I've made
over these 50 years weren't really "tourism"... most were to visit
family... and while there visit a few things...

in Paris I feel at home. Locals ask me for directions in French.

and I talk to everybody... from the taxi drivers to the other customers
at the boucherie chevaline who find an American there interesting.

I still have this thing about Limonade and wish it still came in the
wire bail bottles.

my wife says I'm "in my environment" in Paris and she says she
understands more about me after seeing me there (like why I like rare
steaks and why I fix a French style green salad at home).

but is Paris and France what got me going on Travel?

no...

actually it was my Uncle Chuck Ennis's "home movies" (aka "Raw Footage")
of African and Asian Safaris in the 50s and 60s, his trips into the
jungle in Mexico and Central America to uncover Mayan ruins... and to
fish at Don Pablo Bush Romero's fishing camp... you may know it now as
Cancun... it was less developed then (it was thatched huts, no
electricity, access only by boat) :-}

and I still like the "home movies" better than the finished movies/shows
(this was the era of Wild Kingdom on TV and Hitari in the theatre)

I've got links to Uncle Chuck's and Don Pablo Bush's books on Amazon.com
in my "Special Request" box on the hackamore travel blog... below maps
and guidebook recommendations.

I'm moderately handicapped now... and the days of the African Safari are
pretty much over so I won't be doing those... but I still love to
travel... these days it's mainly Europe and the Caribbean.

so how did you get the bug?

--

Hackamore
http://www.hackamore.com
http://www.hackamoretravel.com

hackamo

[snip interesting story]

so how did you get the bug?

Small, recent bug, for small but _very_ interesting short trips: I'm
into geocaching.

The wife and I always enjoyed visiting small towns and quaint regions,
not too far from home (say, within 600km). The parts of the world that
you normally drive through without seeing the castles, the villages and
the water mills, for instance.

Has changed with geocaching. It has become our way of exploring regions
we haven't really got to know yet. Very recommendable. Very enjoyable.
And no air line stress, either!


--
Erick

On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:45:38 +0200, Erick T. Barkhuis wrote in post :
:

Small, recent bug, for small but _very_ interesting short trips: I'm
into geocaching.

I've tried that a few times too but generally end up frustrated, as I can
never find anything :-( . The places you get to see are almost always
interesting though. And many of the trails lead you to lovely places you'd
probably never have found.

--
Tim C.

On Jun 10, 9:36*am, hackamore wrote:
Hi,

how did you get "The Travel Bug"?

while I made my first intercontinental trip to France in 1959 for a
cousin's wedding in St. Denis Cathedral (Antoine Pinay, the former Prime
Minister, was walking the bride down the aisle, you see my family was
involved in French Politics ;-} the father of the bride was in Monsieur
Pinay's cabinet, and the groom was later a representative from the Loire
etc.)

but I don't really remember much of the trip...

I'm told I bit a cousin...

I saw him at Christmas a few years ago and he doesn't remember it either
:-}

it was a prop plane, an engine caught fire on the way over and we
switched planes in the middle of the night, and my aunts house had a
yellow room at the end of the hall.

but all these trips to France and elsewhere in Europe that I've made
over these 50 years weren't really "tourism"... most were to visit
family... and while there visit a few things...

in Paris I feel at home. Locals ask me for directions in French.

and I talk to everybody... from the taxi drivers to the other customers
at the boucherie chevaline who find an American there interesting.

I still have this thing about Limonade and wish it still came in the
wire bail bottles.

my wife says I'm "in my environment" in Paris and she says she
understands more about me after seeing me there (like why I like rare
steaks and why I fix a French style green salad at home).

but is Paris and France what got me going on Travel?

no...

actually it was my Uncle Chuck Ennis's "home movies" (aka "Raw Footage")
of African and Asian Safaris in the 50s and 60s, his trips into the
jungle in Mexico and Central America to uncover Mayan ruins... and to
fish at Don Pablo Bush Romero's fishing camp... you may know it now as
Cancun... it was less developed then (it was thatched huts, no
electricity, access only by boat) :-}

and I still like the "home movies" better than the finished movies/shows
(this was the era of Wild Kingdom on TV and Hitari in the theatre)

I've got links to Uncle Chuck's and Don Pablo Bush's books on Amazon.com
in my "Special Request" box on the hackamore travel blog... below maps
and guidebook recommendations.

I'm moderately handicapped now... and the days of the African Safari are
pretty much over so I won't be doing those... but I still love to
travel... these days it's mainly Europe and the Caribbean.

so how did you get the bug?

--

Hackamorehttp://www.hackamore.comhttp://www.hackamoretravel.com

National Geographic photos

On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:36:23 -0500, hackamore
wrote:


Hi,

how did you get "The Travel Bug"?

From my father. He didn't like going to a place and coming back by the
same route - even day trips to the seaside as a kid were an adventure.
Often day trips were to old castles, monasteries, cathedrals, museums
etc and Dad was a brilliant guide in his own way.

We'd also get on our bikes and visit places.

When I was old enough, I went on Youth Hostels Association "Adventure
Holidays" - exporing the UK railway system, mountaincraft and in 1965
my first trip abroad to the Belgian and Luxembourg Ardennes.

Left school in 1970 and worked on the dining-car services of the
German Railways for a year - then worked in travel and tourism later
in life. Moved to Berlin in 2007.

I was bitten by the travel bug very early on in life. Still infected!

Keith Anderson, Geprüfter Stadtführer/Qualified Berlin Guide.
(Verband der Berliner Statdtführer/Berlin Guide e.V.)

On 10 June, 08:45, Erick T. Barkhuis -o-m
wrote:
hackamo

[snip interesting story]

so how did you get the bug?

Small, recent bug, for small but _very_ interesting short trips: I'm
into geocaching.

The wife and I always enjoyed visiting small towns and quaint regions,
not too far from home (say, within 600km). The parts of the world that
you normally drive through without seeing the castles, the villages and
the water mills, for instance.

Has changed with geocaching. It has become our way of exploring regions
we haven't really got to know yet. Very recommendable. Very enjoyable.
And no air line stress, either!

--
Erick

Yep, got my first overseas geocache last year (Venice)!

Surreyman

On 10 June, 10:25, Keith Anderson wrote:
On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:36:23 -0500, hackamore
wrote:



Hi,

how did you get "The Travel Bug"?

From my father. He didn't like going to a place and coming back by the
same route - even day trips to the seaside as a kid were an adventure.
Often day trips were to old castles, monasteries, cathedrals, museums
etc and Dad was a brilliant guide in his own way.

We'd also get on our bikes and visit places.

When I was old enough, I went on Youth Hostels Association "Adventure
Holidays" - exporing the UK railway system, mountaincraft and in 1965
my first trip abroad to the Belgian and Luxembourg Ardennes.

Left school in 1970 and worked on the dining-car services of the
German Railways for a year - then worked in travel and tourism later
in life. Moved to Berlin in 2007.

I was bitten by the travel bug very early on in life. Still infected!

Keith Anderson, Geprüfter Stadtführer/Qualified Berlin Guide.
(Verband der Berliner Statdtführer/Berlin Guide e.V.)

Saw my first Graeco-Roman desert ruins in the 1950s and we've scoured
'em all through North Africa & M/E ever since!

Surreyman

On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:36:23 -0500, hackamore
wrote:

so how did you get the bug?

I don't think I have the travel bug. I started off by driving round
the coast of Britain, then I drove down to St Tropez. The girls on
Pampelone beach were prettier and didn't wear clothes, which I judged
an improvement. I went back there again, and again.
Then I drove down to Spain. Would have better in a better car and
without owner crashing it. In Franco's time the girls wore clothes on
the beach, that wasn't an improvement.
After years of this I took my first flight, to Iceland, it was good
but lack of car felt restrictive. The girls wore parkas.
We then did lots of fly/drive trips to Spain, (by then the girls
didn't wear clothes on the beach much) and Italy. Now we are
abandoning the horrible airliner thing and going back to car ferries.
So I reckon my bug is more driving to places. I still letch at the
girls. I still like the cheap booze and different food. I sometimes do
a bit of "culture".
--
Mike

On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:45:38 +0200, Erick T. Barkhuis
-o-m wrote:

geocaching

I hadn't heard of that, bit like Dartmoor letterboxing
--
Mike

Mike:
On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:45:38 +0200, Erick T. Barkhuis
-o-m wrote:

geocaching

I hadn't heard of that, bit like Dartmoor letterboxing

Right. But more fun.
May I recommend it?


--
Erick