what got you interested in travel?

On 11 June, 15:14, Charlie wrote:
On Jun 11, 9:12*am, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname here.me.uk
wrote:





"hackamore" wrote in message

news

Hi,

how did you get "The Travel Bug"?

I don't recall not having it

According to Friends Reunited, I've visited 14% of the countries in the
world so far.

Colin Bignell

and out of that %, what % of the country did you actually see ??- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Come on!
Doubt if anyone's seen more than 10% of their own country if you're
going to get down to actual eyeballing!

Surreyman

"Surreyman" wrote in message
...
On 11 June, 08:12, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname here.me.uk
wrote:
"hackamore" wrote in message

news


Hi,

how did you get "The Travel Bug"?

I don't recall not having it

According to Friends Reunited, I've visited 14% of the countries in the
world so far.

Colin Bignell

He he, I had 18% at the last count! :-))

Surreyman

It is surprising how quickly they add up isn't it? I did have a problem in
that Yugoslavia, as it was when I visited it, is not on their list. Counting
parts I had visited gave me two countries, rather than one.

Colin Bignell

"Erick T. Barkhuis" -o-m wrote in message
...

According to Friends Reunited, I've visited 14% of the countries in the
world so far.

But have you _seen_ and _experienced_ anything?

What other point would there be in visiting foreign countries?

I have, very occasionally, travelled abroad on business, but that hasn't
increased the number of countries I have visited. I've been travelling
abroad for the best part of half a century and, while the first decade was a
bit intermittent, for most of that, the patten has been 7-10 days away at
Christmas (the further from Christmas in Britain the better), a week's
holiday in spring, a week's holiday in summer and, to avoid having to choose
a birthday present for my partner, a long weekend (i.e. usually not quite a
week) in a European city of her choice in November, although we are now
considering her having an official birthday at a nicer time of year. For a
few years, until I sold the French house last year, that was also
supplemented by long weekends in southern France about every 6-8 weeks.

A few trips, like a Nile cruise, have been organised tours, but, for the
most part, I simply book an hotel somewhere we want to explore and,
depending whether that is a city or a region, we either walk around or hire
a car (unless it is within driving distance of home) to travel the area and
look at the sights. There are several European cities I know almost as well
as I know London and large areas of France, Spain and Germany (as well as a
few Greek islands) I can drive around without the need for maps and not just
on the main roads..

Colin Bignell

:

"Erick T. Barkhuis" -o-m wrote in message
...

According to Friends Reunited, I've visited 14% of the countries in the
world so far.

But have you _seen_ and _experienced_ anything?

What other point would there be in visiting foreign countries?

This is, no doubt, a rhetorical question.
But you will probably know, that plenty of people have traveled to 50 or
more countries, just for business, family visits or 'to collect
countries'.
Whenever people tell me that they actually keep track of the number of
countries visited, I have some doubts whether they enjoy their visits or
simply just want better statistics.


I have, [....actually been exploring...]

OK, you're one of the Good Guys, then.
But why do you keep track of the percentage of World's countries visited?

--
Erick

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:40:05 -0500, erilar
wrote:

In article ,
Erick T. Barkhuis -o-m wrote:

According to Friends Reunited, I've visited 14% of the countries in
the
world so far.

But have you _seen_ and _experienced_ anything?

This is a valid question for some(me included), but not for those who
just collect countries, I presume. I don't know how many times I've
been back to Germany, and, despite similarities, no two trips are alike.
I have sampled other countries, but don't pretend to know much about
them.

Who are all these people who only collect countries?


Cathy and Bill.

--
JohnT

Good for you.
Yawn.

"Martin" a écrit dans le message de
...
On Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:52:24 -0700 (PDT), Surreyman
wrote:

On 11 June, 14:16, Martin wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:11:49 -0700 (PDT), Surreyman

wrote:
On 11 June, 09:07, "Mike" wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:58:14 -0700 (PDT), Surreyman

wrote:
He he, I had 18% at the last count! :-))

what total are we working on, can I count Andorra and Monaco?
I think so - whatever's on the Friends list.

They are both Principalities.
--

Martin

Yeh, Likewise Luxembourg, Leichenstein etc.

and Wales

But they're UN nations.
The Friends section for getting your percentage simply has a list to
click against. What's clickable counts!

I have been to real countries that aren't on their list.
--

Martin

On Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:50:41 +0200, Erick T. Barkhuis
-o-m wrote:

But why do you keep track of the percentage of World's countries visited?

I don't track my travels, but recently someone on Facebook sent me the "Cities
I've Visited" application, and I bit. In ticking them off, I wound up at 32
countries, to my surprise.

Plus Antarctica. 8

-- Larry

"Erick T. Barkhuis" -o-m wrote in message
...
:

"Erick T. Barkhuis" -o-m wrote in message
...

According to Friends Reunited, I've visited 14% of the countries in
the
world so far.

But have you _seen_ and _experienced_ anything?

What other point would there be in visiting foreign countries?

This is, no doubt, a rhetorical question.
But you will probably know, that plenty of people have traveled to 50 or
more countries, just for business, family visits or 'to collect
countries'.
Whenever people tell me that they actually keep track of the number of
countries visited, I have some doubts whether they enjoy their visits or
simply just want better statistics.


I have, [....actually been exploring...]

OK, you're one of the Good Guys, then.
But why do you keep track of the percentage of World's countries visited?

I don't particularly. However, Friends Reunited has a section in your
profile for countries visited. That automatically tells you the percentage
and I was surprised how quickly it adds up.

Colin Bignell

"Martin" wrote in message
...
....
I watched a Discovery programme about passages/tunnels that
connected/connect
the Berlin U-bahn with Hitler's bunker. Can you visit them?

You can still use the station, then Kaiserhof, later Thaelmannplatz and now
Mohrenstrasse. Verien Berliner Unterwelten (no contact details, sorry) do
tours of some of the old underground parts of Germania and the defences of
Berlin, but I don't know if they include the tunnels you mention. I suspect
that they are seen as part of the Reich Chancellery bunker complex, which is
kept closed to stop it becoming a shrine to the neo-Nazis.

You might find the book Past Finder - Berlin 1933-1945 of interest. It is a
modern guidebook to the city of that period and the bits you can still find
today. The English version (it is also available in German, Russian, French
and Italian) is ISBN-13 978-3-86153-363-4

Colin Bignell

Erick wrote on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:45:38 +0200:

[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!

I can't remember when I didn't want to travel but I couldn't afford
foreign travel when I was growing up. My wife was in the same boat and
we began travelling for summer vacations as soon as we could afford it.
There was a gap while the kids became sufficiently civilized but we
started again as soon as we could.

In an aside, does anyone else feel that eating a decent meal in a train
while the scenery passes by the window is one of life's great pleasures?

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not