Annual Poll: Places you have stayed for 7 nights or more in Europe
Aug 26th, 2013, 07:52 AM
#124
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I started this post to get a feel for how well travelled the average 'Fodorite' is. My definition of 'well travelled' includes not only how many places someone says they have been to but more importantly, how in depth their travel has been. Asking for places someone has stayed a week or more gives some indication of that aspect.
Not surprisingly, the usual suspects are most common. Nothing wrong with that, London, Paris and Rome do have a lot for the first time visitor to see and experience. But once those have been visited, where the traveller then moves on to is far more interesting. Seeing that someone has spent a week in Portovenere for example. Seeing someone has spent a week in Cinque Terre is not the same thing at all.
I am a proponent of 'slow travel' which basically means you spend a week or more in one place trying to 'live' there as much like a local as is reasonable to expect you can do. A week spent in a village and never venturing outside the boundaries of the immediate area gives a different experience than a week in Paris for example.
Generally speaking and based on this poll, I would say the average 'Fodorite' has not ventured far beyond the usual suspects. Some have, but more have not. No doubt, some will say 'to each his own'. That's fine but in my opinion limiting. There is so much more to gain by venturing further afield and spending more time in smaller places. There are far more cities represented above than smaller towns and villages.
To be 'well travelled' in my opinion, you must venture beyond the major cities and well known tourist areas. Perhaps MmePerdu summed it up best when referring to travel in England.
"It comes with knowing a place better. After a while we need more than thatch."
Someone who is 'well travelled' has moved on beyond the well known.
Not surprisingly, the usual suspects are most common. Nothing wrong with that, London, Paris and Rome do have a lot for the first time visitor to see and experience. But once those have been visited, where the traveller then moves on to is far more interesting. Seeing that someone has spent a week in Portovenere for example. Seeing someone has spent a week in Cinque Terre is not the same thing at all.
I am a proponent of 'slow travel' which basically means you spend a week or more in one place trying to 'live' there as much like a local as is reasonable to expect you can do. A week spent in a village and never venturing outside the boundaries of the immediate area gives a different experience than a week in Paris for example.
Generally speaking and based on this poll, I would say the average 'Fodorite' has not ventured far beyond the usual suspects. Some have, but more have not. No doubt, some will say 'to each his own'. That's fine but in my opinion limiting. There is so much more to gain by venturing further afield and spending more time in smaller places. There are far more cities represented above than smaller towns and villages.
To be 'well travelled' in my opinion, you must venture beyond the major cities and well known tourist areas. Perhaps MmePerdu summed it up best when referring to travel in England.
"It comes with knowing a place better. After a while we need more than thatch."
Someone who is 'well travelled' has moved on beyond the well known.
Aug 26th, 2013, 03:16 PM
#127
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Improv,
You are not getting all of us Fodorites participating...so how can you factor that into your variables unless Fodors, Inc cooperates with this less than valid poll! Leave the statistical polls for the researchers or professionals.
Val
You are not getting all of us Fodorites participating...so how can you factor that into your variables unless Fodors, Inc cooperates with this less than valid poll! Leave the statistical polls for the researchers or professionals.
Val
Aug 26th, 2013, 07:17 PM
#130
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Contrary to what improviser may think, I believe the responses here show an exceptionally well-traveled crowd. Since I've only spent a week or more in "the big 3" (+Venice and Kiev), I'm impressed by the number of places other folks have been. Guess I'm just a yokel by improviser's estimation. Oh well.
Aug 26th, 2013, 07:34 PM
#131
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“Well travelled” is a load of absolute rubbish. The fact that someone can arrive in Rhodes and manage a bar on Orfanidou Street for six years means nothing except that someone worked in a bar, or co-owned said bar, for a while. Just another ex-pat bar owner, and they are a dime a dozen.
“Well travelled” may mean that you stroll around with a backpack, or travel with a fleet of steamer trunks. It can mean that you spend a month in some hut on the Sepik River, or three days in Sienna or a week in Samoa. Spending six years on “Bar Street” selling booze to drunken tourists on holiday does not a traveller make. Nor does visiting Harry’s in Venice count for much.
Sure, you can stay in a village for a week and attempt to live like a local. We do that in Venice. But we are surely not living remotely like locals, if for no other reason that we don’t go to work. We are just tourists, staying for a while. The thing with the hypothetical week in the village is that it can be really limiting unless you have something else going on. The tasks that keep the permanent residents busy and engaged are not available to the visitor – the visitor won’t have a role helping at the school, tending the garden, supporting the football team, being a marshal at the Saturday cycle race, raising funds for the local hospital, involved in local politics.
But advocating “slow travel” with such enthusiasm is a great way of demonstrating one’s superior resources, comparing oneself to the humble poor who can only take a couple of weeks away from work for a holiday.
“Well travelled” may mean that you stroll around with a backpack, or travel with a fleet of steamer trunks. It can mean that you spend a month in some hut on the Sepik River, or three days in Sienna or a week in Samoa. Spending six years on “Bar Street” selling booze to drunken tourists on holiday does not a traveller make. Nor does visiting Harry’s in Venice count for much.
Sure, you can stay in a village for a week and attempt to live like a local. We do that in Venice. But we are surely not living remotely like locals, if for no other reason that we don’t go to work. We are just tourists, staying for a while. The thing with the hypothetical week in the village is that it can be really limiting unless you have something else going on. The tasks that keep the permanent residents busy and engaged are not available to the visitor – the visitor won’t have a role helping at the school, tending the garden, supporting the football team, being a marshal at the Saturday cycle race, raising funds for the local hospital, involved in local politics.
But advocating “slow travel” with such enthusiasm is a great way of demonstrating one’s superior resources, comparing oneself to the humble poor who can only take a couple of weeks away from work for a holiday.
Aug 26th, 2013, 11:04 PM
#133
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Sounds like we need to start a new thread titled: What is "to be well traveled"?
Well traveled could equal monetarily well-endowed. Many people don't have the kind of money it takes to stay weeks in one place. For some their 5 days might just end up being their one "trip of a life time". Some people have the money but not the free time. A lot of people seem to stay 4-5 days in one place, so don't qualify here, yet they have done hundreds of these "little" trips. Does that make them not well traveled....but to respond to the question at hand:
Brest
Pont Aven
Paris
Les Diablerets
St. Thibery X 2
St. Raphael
Blois
Heidelberg
Landstuhl
Pisa (agriturismo)
Venice
Bordeaux (outside)X5
Barcelona
I don't care why the op asked the question; I can draw my own conclusions. And last, but not least, Happy Travels!
Well traveled could equal monetarily well-endowed. Many people don't have the kind of money it takes to stay weeks in one place. For some their 5 days might just end up being their one "trip of a life time". Some people have the money but not the free time. A lot of people seem to stay 4-5 days in one place, so don't qualify here, yet they have done hundreds of these "little" trips. Does that make them not well traveled....but to respond to the question at hand:
Brest
Pont Aven
Paris
Les Diablerets
St. Thibery X 2
St. Raphael
Blois
Heidelberg
Landstuhl
Pisa (agriturismo)
Venice
Bordeaux (outside)X5
Barcelona
I don't care why the op asked the question; I can draw my own conclusions. And last, but not least, Happy Travels!
Aug 27th, 2013, 01:09 AM
#134
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Peter_S_Anna is absolutely right. This thread was just an excuse to brag. I was sorry I responded to it and won't when it, no doubt, is posted again in the future.
We should be responding to questions by travelers. We should not be posting questions ourselves as an excuse to brag.
My trips were mostly based on home exchanges wherever I find them--and a few cheap hotels for each complicated trip.
I use Homelink and Intervac. Before you sign up with any home exchange service, do have a look at where their homes are located. Despite what they say, none has many homes in Asia, Africa or Latin America. Do not join any service that has less than 5,000 members. Newer home exchange services have a problem with inexperienced members not knowing what they want and getting too picky about destination. You do have to be willing to go anywhere. I always say that the year I started out by wanting to go to the US Pacific NW, I ended up in Paris. I did go to the Pacific NW later. You do not have to be rich to do this sort of travel!
To day is my last full day in Madrid, Spain. I begin my journey back to the US tomorrow night--and I did not spend a mint.
We should be responding to questions by travelers. We should not be posting questions ourselves as an excuse to brag.
My trips were mostly based on home exchanges wherever I find them--and a few cheap hotels for each complicated trip.
I use Homelink and Intervac. Before you sign up with any home exchange service, do have a look at where their homes are located. Despite what they say, none has many homes in Asia, Africa or Latin America. Do not join any service that has less than 5,000 members. Newer home exchange services have a problem with inexperienced members not knowing what they want and getting too picky about destination. You do have to be willing to go anywhere. I always say that the year I started out by wanting to go to the US Pacific NW, I ended up in Paris. I did go to the Pacific NW later. You do not have to be rich to do this sort of travel!
To day is my last full day in Madrid, Spain. I begin my journey back to the US tomorrow night--and I did not spend a mint.
Aug 27th, 2013, 04:14 AM
#135
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Yeah, Peter's right. Improviser is nothing more than a garden-variety troll and his schtik is always the same. I will not be responding to any more of his tiresome threads in the future, and I regret having contributed to this one.
Aug 27th, 2013, 06:25 AM
#136
Due to the OP's insults to me elsewhere, i ducked out some time ago - but don't criticise those who stayed to contribute.
it could be a fun idea, so long as the "I'm a better traveller than you" attitude doesn't hold sway.
it could be a fun idea, so long as the "I'm a better traveller than you" attitude doesn't hold sway.
Aug 27th, 2013, 06:41 AM
#137
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C'mon guys, he's a hoot - I laugh every time I read one of his
self-congratulating, pompous postings.
He's Major Hoople Redux! And I wish the Lounge were open to
new participants - that would be setting the chicken(hawk)
among the foxes.
self-congratulating, pompous postings.
He's Major Hoople Redux! And I wish the Lounge were open to
new participants - that would be setting the chicken(hawk)
among the foxes.
Aug 27th, 2013, 06:57 AM
#139
The Longest Uninterrupted Trip thread has now been pulled...hopefully any trace that he was ever here can be removed.>>
which was that one, michele - as i say I wasn't contributing to any other threads the OP started so I'm not familiar with it.
which was that one, michele - as i say I wasn't contributing to any other threads the OP started so I'm not familiar with it.
Aug 27th, 2013, 07:19 AM
#140
annhig: It was a very similar thread to this one . . . What was your longest duration trip. Most thought he was genuinely interested but his true colors came out. Then someone asked if their army tour in Viet Nam counted and it really went off the rails after that.
More of his posts are being nuked on various threads - he may be inching closer to the tipping point . . .
More of his posts are being nuked on various threads - he may be inching closer to the tipping point . . .
