Hi,

My name is Ira and I'm a Travelholic.

I spend an inordinate amount of time on travel boards; sometimes I don't mow the lawn because I'm online.

I can spend 18 months planning a 3 week visit to Europe.

I buy a box of macarons from Pierre Herme' or Laduree and eat one a day in order to extend my Paris visit.

I am now planning my next trip, and I haven't finished unpacking from my last one.

((I))

I seldom take photos but have lots of cards, postcards, ticket stubs, programs, etc.

I love foreign grocery stores & come home loaded down with goodies from them as well as kitchen gadgets.

Love the sourvenirs in museum shops the best & am guilty of buying dog biscuits & carrying them around to give to some pooch whose owner OK's it.

I'm ever on the look-out for the perfect travel blouse.

The sinking value of the dollar doesn't stop me going. Nothing stops me going.

Almost forgot, I'm hooked on foreign pharmacies as well. Lots of goodies to stock up on there.

The chocolate I buy at the airport to use up my euros lasts less than a week when I get home.

I watch television when I'm traveling. Even really cheesy television.

I'm only in my hotel room to sleep, shower, watch TV, listen to the radio, read guidebooks, stare out the window, chat with my family, and do nothing at all between spurts of activity.

I dress exactly the same way in Europe as I do at home. Casually and lacking any sense of style.

I believe the French people who lie and compliment me on my French and tell me my daughter looks like me.

If I go on two trips in a row and don't hear anybody speaking French, I start feeling restless and unsettled.

Ohmygoodness... me too. To most of the above. I will check my luggage going over. I do enjoy taxi cabs.
I dress nicely anyway, I can pack in seconds.
I indulge my francophilia by decorating my bedroom with French "stuff"...
I was single. When I met a fellow, if he didn't like to travel to Europe...or, worse, had disparaging political stupid views about Europeans, he was let go.
So? I met a European (German) who adores France and Spain...Italy is OK.
Life is sweet.

I love how each city I visit smells different from any other place in the world...

I sometimes get so engrossed in my surroundings that I end up absolutely lost...

As time goes on, I worry about the "americanization" of the countries of the world -- the countries in Europe seem to be losing a lot of their individual character, and the city centers more and more seem to resemble malls in U.S...

good gracious... I am not alone. What a wonderful thread!!

I carry business cards from hotels and restaurants in my wallet years after my trip. I have several pages of travel related websites in my address book. When buying new clothes I always consider their travel worthiness. I'm the only person I know who can recommend several hotels in Venice without referencing notes.

When in Europe I have an endless fascination with grocery stores, post offices, and laundry mats.

i love to watch local TV, cheezier the better.

i am a luggage-checker and a taxi-taker.

This is really irritating - I've tried to post to this thread several times and it's never worked. I'll try again.

I'm glad to see that many of my secret behaviors are duplicated in others. :)

I also find myself asking the "how will it travel" question when purchasing clothes.

I have a stack of Magellan's catalogues on my desk (many outdated) with the page corners folded down to mark all the little doo-dads I want to buy.

I order (and receive) tons of brochures and catalogues from various travel operators and government tourist authorities - even though any trip planned with the operator or to the destination would not be for several years. Actually, I have gotten many good ideas for travel destinations just from the pictures in these brochures - places I wouldn't have considered before.

I purchase all sorts of language CDs to prepare for my trip - and end up not using them at all. Luckily I've never yet had a problem resulting from my laziness.

I've noticed that when I talk about my travel plans (one of my favoritte topics) the eyes of the person I'm talking to begin to glaze over - and this person is usually the one who's going on the trip with me.

I also wear jeans in Europe.

Sometimes in the middle of my trip I'm overcome with sheer joy of being where I am, and I start to laugh and giggle to myself - this usually results in people sidling away and giving me stares like I'm crazy.

Thanks for starting this thread, it's nice to know I'm not alone.

I start obsessively planning a trip 6 months in advance. I know realize this isn't so bad. Whew! The rest of the time, I'm only thinking about where to go.

I have a system of coffee, coffee, alcohol, coffee and alcohol, alcohol each day while on vacation. At home a bottle of Sherry will last me for a year.

I scrunch every article of clothing I look at in a store just to see if it wrinkles. Clerks follow me around with clothes steamers if they've seen me before.

I can get into long conversations with perfect strangers in the luggage section of any department store. I suspect that they are Foderites when they too, are only "looking" and know more than anyone should about the pros and cons of luggage without actually selling it.

Whenever I buy a pair of earrings they must have a fastener that forms a complete loop before I really consider them. That way they won't come off if I fall asleep on the airplane. I never fall asleep on the airplane.

If a friend goes on a trip they know that I will listen to their stories long after everyone else has changed the subject.

We have a wall that is left intentionally blank so we can tape a paper map of the place we are going to next. That is in addition too, the 3-D maps in our home office.

When a non-traveling friend had to pack a suitcase last month, I offered to help. Partly for the thrill of packing but mostly because there's a part of me that just can't stand a poorly packed suitcase.

We have "travel themes".

I also weigh my mail lady down with packages from government tourist boards.

My 'bookmarks' are 90% travel-related.

I read other people's travelogues as if they were best sellers.

All of my clothes are travel-worthy.

I order food that I have no idea about just because it is 'local'.

I collect 'float pens' of the places I've been.

I wear a moneybelt because I would be crushed if I lost even one Euro of my travel money but one of my favorite experiences was 'shaking hands' with someone when my hand was in my pocket (empty).

I own the world's smallest picnic kit and I love to use it.

I am currently planning two trips, one in 2006 and one in 2007.

Laundromats are a cultural experience.

*Always* have an idea for your next trip(s) in the planning stages.

Do you guys realize that we are a distinct minority..that is, us frequent overseas travelers. Stats put out by the State Department show that only 23% of Americans have traveled overseas, and half of those have only ventured overseas three times or less.
As for the research, I do mine (aside from the internet) at the Beverly Hills Library (superb) and at my own private library, sometimes referred to as "Biblioteca Barnesandnoble".....
Stu

I love to grocery shop. In Europe I cruise slowly thro their shops & read every label. I buy small pkgs/tins just because they are in a different language.

As with so many here, I can walk many many miles in one day w/out no ill effect but I complain if I walk a 1/4 mile at home

As another poster said, I also miss my dog & am always on the look out for dogs & am especially happy if I see terriers.

I eavesdrop like crazy anytime and anywhere so I can find out what people talk about & how

I always look at men's shoes. I have a bet that I've never lost---that here in the US I can always tell a european man from his shoes

I buy tons of postcards for family/friends and write the one required cheesy line: "wish you were here"

When I walk down the streets & see a particuarly beautiful view I tell myself firmly: "Never ever forget this moment." It works. Even today I can remember my 1st trip to Paris..my last morning there I took a brisk walk around at 6am -the streets were empty..the sidewalks & air fresh from an early morning rain.

I go bread crazy.

I always remember to bring my own washcloth

I feel funny handing over my room key to the front desk person

-I read this forum at work once a day - breaks up the monotony
-I can't help but think of all the places i've been to in Europe each year while I'm in my classes at school in the evenings.
-I tend to buy special perfumes at each country to remind me of those places when I'm back in the US.
-I buy chocolates in each country for the same reason - and also coz i love chocolates! Especially European.
-I eat desserts for lunch and dinner when I'm in europe. Flan...creme brulee...gelatto...even if I'm stuffed I force myself because I love European desserts!
-Usually don't buy expensive gifts but when I do (like I did in paris this yr) I console myself by thinking hey it's Parisien! chances are not many ppl carry that purse or wear that perfume! :)
-I love to look at my pictures over and over after I return from my trip.
-Blow up a few snaps frm each country n frame them for my bedroom.
- I can't read a map to save myself!
-Love to ppl watch in Europe and see what they're wearing, how they talk...
-get overly excited when someone says they went to Europe and tend to want share experiences for the next one hour!
-plan my next trips for the n ext few years

LOL, sure glad to know I am not all alone!!!

I can't add anything to the travel addiction as all of you have listed all my problems, or hobbies, whatever the case may be. Except for one question. Doesn't anyone have dreams while sleeping about travelling? I do, constantly and have since I was a child. I remember I was about ten years old and dreamed I was at a market along the seaside in Greece. Beautiful marble stairs going from the beach up to the market. Shopping stalls everywhere. Dream was in brillant color. And I to this day have never been to Greece. Anyone else?

I guess I'm not so unique after all. A lot of you share my thoughts.

I cannot have enough travel books or maps of Paris.

This past trip to Paris I was mistaken for French and Italian, not once as an American (Yes, I love my country)

I have a box at home that has my passport, leather gloves, wool scarves and little plastic containers, labeled, for grooming needs. These items are just for traveling not for everyday use.

I keep my unspent Euros in my wallet and look at them from time to time with joy in my heart, waiting with anticipation to spend them on my next trip abroad.

Yes yes yes!!!! I do, LoveItaly.

Sometimes dreams are set in places I have been, but some in foreign locations I have never seen. The most amazing part of this is when everyone is speaking French (which I do not speak and cannot understand). How do I do that?

LoveItaly, I often dream(but rarely happy ones!) about trips, especially when I have one impending shortly. I leave for London in two weeks, and so far I've dreamt I've forgotten the plane tickets, boarded the wrong flight, and everybody is speaking the wrong language(French!) when I finally arrive.

I'll watch a movie, no matter how bad it is, set in a foreign location just so I can see the background scenery.

I begin to plan my next trip even before I've left on the current one.

And I confess to most of the other posters'addictions as well.

It's a vicious cycle from which I have no wish to depart.

OK, suze, think we can qualify for group therapy? LOL. In my dreams when I dream about Italy, well guess what the language is. If I could only do so well when I am awake and there ;;)

Oh whoknew, we have to get you to have happy dreams!! Watching a movie no matter how bad it is for the foreign scenes, I raise my hand that I do that also.

In my dreams I am never travelling to get somewhere, I am always "there". The dream when I was about ten years old was like Greece must have been centuries ago, the women wore togas etc.

When I dream of Italy it as though I am there, but in present day Italy.

And when I dream of Scotland it doesn't seem to have a time period...I am walking through the moors where there is a lot of heather, a bagpipe is playing, a stone castle in the distance.

In all my dreams I am happy and peaceful and I don't know how to explain it but somehow I know it is a dream...but it seems so real. And no I don't take drugs, LOL.

And, get this, because I am fighting a slight cold I laid down to read a book this afternoon. I fell asleep for about 45 minutes. And I had a dream. In my dream our CAPH here on Fodors was standing on my right. We were waiting for a ferry boat to go across some great sea like the Adriatic. Now I have never met dear CALPH. But there we were, tote bags in hand, waiting to board some foreign ferry. The ferry was late. She had on a beautiful cream colored top and was so much fun to be with. I have no idea what CALPH looks like but in my dream she had dark, short wavy hair and brown eyes. Probably in real life she is a blonde? Anyway, dreams are interesting and sure beat fighting airline security lines and crowded airline coach seats. Happy travellers everyone!