Where have you been? (The Travel Thread)

dward59

I've seen some posts by group members going great places either for work or for fun. Here is your chance to tell us about it, if you will.

Ignaura spent some time in Mexico. I'd love to hear more about that trip to Playa del Carmen area...

Therejohn is in Paris! Spill the beans when you have time.

Photo's are of course always welcome.

Part of this lifestyle change should be living. Having fun, doing exciting things that even months ago you wouldn't have thought you would want to, or possibly even could do. Tell us about it, give us some ideas of things we might want to add to either our Bucket List, or I prefer to call mine by "Second chance at Living List!"

Gnawcraft

I love hearing about this stuff, great topis Dward!

As some of you know, I enjoy the nerdier things in life and met my husband gaming online in World of Warcraft (he was an orc, I was undead - it was love at first sight). The only problem was that we lived pretttty far apart. But, both being hopeless romantics we visited each others countries (for longer and longer each time) so I ended up living in Turkey for a year before he moved to the UK where we now live. I'm not a fan of super hot weather so the summer was a bit brutal for me at first, but other than that I loved everything about it (especially the food, oh man). I wish I didn't have this mental block when it comes to other languages as all I can do after a year there is count to 10, name about 3 foods and say 'horse' and 'pigeon' >_> I'll see if I can have a rummage and find an old picture though

As for where I'd like to go, I have always wanted to go to Japan (especially Tokyo). I'm a big fan of Japanese movies, music and anime so there's lots there that I'm looking forwards to! It's sooo expensive though so by the time I can afford it I should be very slender and healthy haha.

PaulaKro

^_^ Blasting off again, Pidge!

p1xyn1xy

Well, I've been to Mexico, when I was in my teen. When I was 17 I went to Europe. Travelled down from Amsterdam, Belgium, France, Spain, Morocco and then back to Spain, it was an amazing trip. I'm Canadian, so I spent most of my vacations travelling here. Banff, Jasper ( in the Rockies), did a cross country trip a couple years ago to Toronto (hitting all the northern states) and then back through the provinces. On my honeymoon, we camped our way down the west coast to Disneyland. Great trip. We do a lot of camping... it's fun and beautiful! We're going camping to Penticton next summer (which is in BC), hot, swimmable lake, peach and cherry orchards. The year after hopefully Disneyworld while the kids are still young! I will get my BUTT on ALL the rides. lol!

I really want to go to Ireland, Greece and Italy! But that's a LONG way off the kids are too young.

emmerin78

I've been fortunate in that my work has taken me to some really beautiful places. As a teacher of the deaf, there are pretty much always job opportunities, but you have to be willing to move to the work. I grew up right outside of NYC, went to college in DC, then did my grad work in Rochester, NY (I still think that western NY state should be its own state, kind of like Virginia and West Virginia :-). Since I was single in grad school, I volunteered to be outplaced for my second teaching internship, and they sent me to Washington School for the Deaf in Vancouver, WA (5 minutes from Portland, OR - one of my favorite cities!!). When I finished grad school, I took a teaching job in Anchorage, AK for a year, which was amazing. Then I moved to Santa Barbara, CA where I lived for almost 4 years and also got my first college teaching gig. Most recently, we moved to Delaware, which I think is one of the best kept secrets on the East Coast. As for international travel, I've been to the UK and the Cayman Islands, as well as the USVI (although that's not really international). I would definitely like to travel more in the coming years.

Ignaura

Oh, Mexico, Mexico Mexico... How much I love you!! I went to Mexico City, Playa del Carmen and Cozumel Island. Mexico City was, by far, my favorite. I'm from Dominican Republic, so the beach is my natural state :P I loved Mexico City, how fast it moves and how many things are there to do. It's awesome to see a country with such a rich culture. And the food... I can't even begin to describe how awesome mexican food is. It's like I've been doomed for life and can't have anything mexican unless it comes straight from mexico.

Playa del Carmen is perfect for retirement. The kind of small city where you can spend you entire day wearing shorts and flip flips, being as lazy as you wish and having drinks on the beach

I fell so in love with that that I'm already planning a trip there next year with the boyfriend

dward59

Emmerin, Interesting life moves. My wife is (or rather was) a certified ASL Interpreter for the deaf. That came in very handy for both of us. I was asked which person I would hire for a job in Death Valley, CA. I looked over the applications and this lady who had this skill tipped the scales of choice in her favor. The selecting official bought my thoughts and she came to Scotty's Castle. Interesting way to choose a wife! lol (Not even in my thoughts! I was actually looking at the public benefit...) For years we would move from park to park, the word would get out, the deaf community start showing up and then we would move again. Eventually with family it became too much to try and keep certification up, so she let it slide, but she is still fluent. As for me, I can get myself in serious trouble by trying to Sign... :blushing:

So there is part of my domestic travel. I have worked and lived in 9 US states. I have worked short term projects in all these places plus 7 more states and a US territory.

Internationally, I've spent 6 weeks travelling through Mexico (I needed one more class to graduate from college and this trip gave me one credit more than I needed. What a way to wrap up an education! This is when I visited Playa del Carmen, the Yucatan in general, Mexico City, Vera Cruz, and archaeological sites all over the country. I've been back a couple of times to the Baja peninsula, but not to the main part of the country again. I agree with Ignaura, although I suspect she had the better time since I couldn't make the switch from French to Spanish. (Ironically when I got back to my summer job and tried to talk to some French visitors, they asked me to please stop. I was mixing the two languages so badly it was a total write off!)

I've also been to England, mostly London, France, Germany, Belgium, and Holland, Greece, Turkey, Jordan, Israel and a few of the Islands of the Mediterranean and Aegean .

I really want to go back to Europe and spend some time there. I'd love to visit Italy, Switzerland and go back to many of the places we just skimmed through before.

But next on the International travel scene is going to be Canada. I'm determined to visit the Vancouver area. I need to meet a dog named Luna... and the guy who walks her. :laugh:

PaulaKro

Dan, are you at Disneyland?

I'm flying to my Mom's tomorrow. Didn't get her a holiday gift. She doesn't need anything, doesn't want more knickknacks. Just wants her family to come see her. I'm thinking of putting a big red bow on my head after getting off the airplane.

Love my mom!

dward59

Dan, are you at Disneyland?

I'm flying to my Mom's tomorrow. Didn't get her a holiday gift. She doesn't need anything, doesn't want more knickknacks. Just wants her family to come see her. I'm thinking of putting a big red bow on my head after getting off the airplane.

Love my mom!

I was indeed. If my intake/output figures are anywhere near accurate, I should have a serious loss.

Now two of us have colds(again for me) with another trying to come down with one. At least DW is healthy to drive us home. :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

PaulaKro

Hello from the Salt Lake City air terminal after two and two-half days with my family.

Asked my Mom what she was going to do after I left (thinking read, visit, etc.) and she said cry. That's her way of saying she loves me. Wish she lived closer, but she thinks California is going to drop into the ocean. And DH and I wouldn't fit into the Mormon culture. :noway: So fly between the two, it is.

Got to reconnect with everyone. It's really important. Electronic media are not the same. Plus, they'd been reading about my weight loss and wanted to see for themselves. My Mom kept thinking I looked like my SIL, a huge compliment. She's a professional skier and one of the nicest people.

My sister said her daughter was going to take family photos. So we found our nicest clothes and got dolled up. Then my niece said it had to be outdoors for best light. So she got us in coats. Kept saying "pretend that you're in Hawaii and smile." Saw some of her photos that night. Really nice.

I finally got to experience the winter you have all been talking about. The snow was still abundant, but melting. It was still amazingly cold to me even though it's not even close to the extremes so many of you are dealing with. Brrrr!

They're announcing our flight. Happy New Year, everyone!

Paula

dward59

Paula, I'm glad you had a great visit with family!

We pulled into the driveway, tired, broke and somehow still smiling just a couple hours ago. The boy and I are both still ill, seems to be a gender based cold?!!??

I have until Monday to get well, although I may crack open the work computer on Thursday/Friday. or not!

The wife is a bit down. She wants to move back to San Diego and be closer to her family. She will bounce out of it soon, but sometime in the next 8 years, that move will be a certainty. All things in their own time.

As for this trip, we went to LA, visited the La Brea Tar Pits and the Page museum. DW and DS went to a Clippers game that night, then the next day started three days of Disney. We arrived at family homes in San Diego on Christmas eve and spent the next five days there, starting home Sunday and getting here yesterday afternoon. We went and saw the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, AZ on the way home.

hollyla9905

I love travelling

I got to go visit Mackenzie BC it's way up north, but was warmer than home so I was happy! I was only there for a day but I got driven through so many pretty places and I had mostly fun! Next I want to go to the east coast any part of it really

leannabseven

Oh...you guys have been to some fantastic places! I'd love to visit Europe someday.

Because I'm an RVer I've been to quite a few U.S. states, such as South Dakota, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Utah and Arizona (where we are now). I've also spent time in Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio.

A couple years ago we took an 11-day cruise from Florida down to South America, and I fell in love with Categna, Columbia...remember the movie "Romancing the Stone"? That was why we chose to go there and I did not expect it to be so pretty.

dward59

Here is the ultimate destination with tomorrow's hiking group. May not be much walking here, but we have Ojo Frio springs and a canyon with Petroglyph panels to explore on the way here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTDmkkxeeOU

Looking forward to it!

CRody44

Dan,

That sound very interesting, especially the petroglyphs. Are you a National Park Ranger? That is one occupation I would trade for the one I retired from.

In the Navy I visited:
Japan
South Korea
Okinawa
Hong Kong
Mainland China
Philippines

I’ve traveled to the following states and visited a lot of the national parks there:
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
Louisiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nevada
New Mexico
New York
North Dakota
Nebraska
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Texas
Utah
Washington
Wyoming

Baja California

In August, 2012 we cruised to:
British Columbia, Canada
Alaska

In June, 2012, we cruised to:
Netherlands
Denmark
Norway
Germany
Estonia
Russia (St. Petersburg)
Finland
Sweden

In May of 2013, we cruised to
England
Ireland
Northern Ireland
Scotland
France

In May of this year we will again cruise to:
Canada
Alaska

In October 2014, we will cruise to:
Germany
Spain
France
Italy
Turkey
Greece

In June of 2015 we will cruise down the Danube, Mein and Rhine rivers visiting
Hungary
Austria
Germany
Netherlands

In 2016, we will cruise from Ft. Lauderdale through the Panama Canal to San Francisco and will visit:
Aruba
Columbia
Costa Rica
Panama
Nicaragua
Mexico


Chuck the traveler.

dward59

Great time Saturday hiking on BLM land in Central NM. Vista's like this all day!


TheJourneyHome by danward59, on Flickr

TimothySSchmitz

The last time me and my lads visited La Palma we went down hill in Fuencaliente De La Palma the place offers a breathe taking scenery. The island was shaped by volcanic eruptions and perfected by nature that has made it majestic and magnificent. I suggest you visit this place next time and you will never regret it (https://www.canaryislandsinfo.co.uk/fuerteventura/places/) we will probably return here next year tho