Can you "go back" to a favorite place?
 

Over 20 years ago, we lived for a short time in a small German town about an hour west of Frankfurt. The whole experience was fantastic, but we've never been back.

Lately, I've been thinking about booking a trip there -- sort of a walk down Memory Lane -- but I'm reluctant for fear that it can't live up to what we had and that the disappointment will spoil the memories.

So, OK, maybe the fears are a little silly, but what do you think and what are your experiences? Ever gone back to that magical place to recapture a great experience. Did it work out?

In our experience, sometimes yes and sometimes no.

Recaptured magic:

Big Sur
Santa Margherita Ligure
Florence
Rome

Not so much:
London (my 4th and DH's 3rd trip didn't live up to our memories)
Bath (did not enjoy our second visit as much as we would have liked)

These are really personal and past experience really does make or break the comparisons.

I have visited Florence on several occassions, but I have never recaptured the magic of the first visit. Florence is still great, but it is not the "magical experience" that it was before I revisited.

I think about this often as well, except in my thoughts it is missoula, mt. This is a area I lived my last year of college on an internship. It is the place where I found myself and probably had the time of my life. Now I go back every year or two, and it's always good, is it like when I first lived there absolutely not, but its always fun. I feel you can't go into a trip like your planning trying to recapture feelings because you can't ever no matter what you do. Not only has the city/country/area changed but so have you.

I lived in Bamberg, Germany for about 3 years in the late 50s and early 60s. Mrs. Fly and I made it part of our trip to Bavaria and the Mosel River in 2002. It was wonderful. Even visited some people my parents knew way back when.

The Altstadt had not changed that much--of course there were some stores selling more modern stuff, but the old buildings, the Dom, the castle, the waterfront, etc. hadn't changed.

Had a reunion with their son along the Mosel a couple of weeks later. We've exchanged home visits with the son and his family a couple of times since then.

20 years is a long time. You are unlikely to recapture the magic of what you remember. They have built a shopping mall on your memory (and that's exactly what they really did to two places to which I returned after a number of years -- what a let down!).

Please go and report back! My first trip ever to Europe was 21 years ago exactly. We spent the night in Frankfut, then started a Rhine/Mosel drive. Germany outside of the big city was much more "foreign" than I'd expected - little cleaning ladies who you had to pay at the bathroom door; an assortment of very odd plumbing; my traveling companion wanted coffee "to go" and everyone acted like they'd never heard of such a thing - one place served it to him in an empty yogurt cup! I bet that if I returned to those places, they'd be a lot less "quaint."

Brando...missoula, mt is one place my husband and I are thinking of visiting soon. Our neighbor lived there for awhile and I recently have found and enjoy Moose Drool Beer.

I most often go back to places I've traveled before and loved. But I don't expect them to be the same as 20 years ago, certainly.

I say "go back." Even if it's changed, why should it spoil the memories? You'll have memories of small German town # 1 and small German town # 2 when you return home.

My related dilemma is, once you've accumulated favorite places, how to decide between returning to them and discovering new favorite places? I'm increasingly drawn back to my "tried and true."

It's difficult to recapture such feelings, not so much because the place is different, but because you are. Twenty years is a long time. You were probably a different person then, with different expectations and fewer experiences. It may not be possible to see any place through those eyes again.

However, it is possible, I believe, to go back to a place and have fresh, new experience that is as good as or better than your previous one. Just open yourself to the present, and don't expect to feel precisely the same way you did before. Different doesn't have to mean worse.

I believe as willit does. My year in Florence was magical, and I'm very glad I revisited, and while I still find many aspects of Florence charming, it is simply no longer the same place. However, I agree that everyone's experience may be different.

BC

I have been debating how to approach this subject with my parents for a few years now. We took a trip to Russia as a family in the fall of 1992, and they have not been back since. I have been back about 8 times!

I have seen the change, and while they have seen pictures and heard the stories, I'm almost afraid that they will be disappointed in Russia today- a lot more busy, metropolitan, etc.

I still want to take them back, and my mom is retiring in September... we'll see!

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I've been to Paris several times and have loved it each and every time, however nothing can compare to my first trip there. It was magical and beyond my wildest dreams :)

I spent a wonderful six months in Florence in '59 studying Italian and researching for my architectural thesis. And - I met my future wife.

Last year she and I returned for the first time since. Wow, what a difference!

Of course the physical presence had not changed, but the ambiance certainly had. Crowded and noisy - we hurriedly retreated to our agriturismo in the Tuscan countryside. That was that.

Hey Barbmc, by all means go to missoula!!!! My favorite spot in the world and I've been around a little. Post any question on the us board and I'll respond with great info as others will ont his board

My first trip to Europe was in 1980. It was an escorted 5-week tour for teens. We went from London to Rome and every place inbetween. Although it was a rushed trip, it was the most magical time of my life.

Since then I have re-visited just about every place I went on that trip. As already mentioned, you can never recapture the magic from before, but going back is a treat because it does help to keep that magic fresh in your memory. GO!!

An interesting footnote: Last April I re-visited Salisbury for the first time since 1980. The cathedral wasn't exactly as I remembered, but that's OK because I made some new memories. But here's the interesting part--in researching Salisbury, I discovered the dean of the Salisbury Cathedral was one of my tour guides on that tour I took in 1980!! Small world. :-)