Fun Thread: You know you're a travelholic when...
 

...you know the airport codes for all your favorite destinations.
...if your family/friends lose you in a bookstore, they know what section to find you in.
...you keep tabs on airfares even when you're not intending a trip anytime soon.
...for that matter, you plan the whole trip even if you're not intending to take it anytime soon.
...you have an irrational love of maps.
...you save silly things just because they come from a place you visited and loved.

Add your own!! :-)

...you go to Fodor's forums as soon as you log on to your computer.

...you have a 'places to go' list a mile long.

....you have a file cabinet packed full of brochures.

...you have friends who always seem to ask your advice on travel plans. They think you know everything!!

When you come home from a vacation of several weeks you scroll alllll the way back to read all the posts you've missed on Fodors.

All the above are such TRUE symptons, I know I have the disease ( and enjoy every minute of it). Travel, travel, travel. Halfpint

Read guidebooks instead of novels (even for places you don't have an upcoming trip to.)

You have webcams for all your favourite places bookmarked so you can see what it's like there right now.

You have developed deep personal friendships with folks you've met at online travel forums.

Your spouse knows who your travel chat buddies are. He's even met them at several gtgs.

You have computer files for several destinations, as well as a file drawer full of travel stuff.

The vast majority of your computer bookmarks are for travel sites.
You have a strange fixation on finding the perfect piece of luggage for each type of trip.

You know some destinations as well as your hometown. Or very nearly.

At home, you regularly eat as though you lived in another country.

You don't buy clothing that doesn't travel well. For that matter, you "save" pieces of clothing for travel, not wishing to have them worn out at trip time.

"You don't buy clothing that doesn't travel well. For that matter, you "save" pieces of clothing for travel, not wishing to have them worn out at trip time."

TOO TRUE...and they last a long time that way!

OMG, so far I have all these symptoms!
especially buying and reading guidebooks of places I don't yet have plans to visit. So glad I'm not alone!

...you shop at Saks and think to yourself, "I could buy this purse, these shoes, this dress but for the same amount I could spend a week in Paris!" and keep on moving through the store.

...you start packing weeks before your trip.

...you begin to chose the professional meetings you will attend according to the places they are being held.

When you are annoyed by people who think the US dollar is gladly accepted in every country in the world.

When it's New Year's Eve and you judge the prior year by the quality of the trips you took.

When you wake up in the morning and say, "It's only 62 days until I leave for _______."

I have all symptoms on this entire thread, and many, many more!!

My name is LoveItaly and I am a travelholic.

Scary, I answered yes, yes and yes to everything.

You chose books to read based on the fact that take place in locations you have been to or want to go to. You have read so many novels regarding Ireland you feel like you have actually been there.

You are not a shopaholic because you are a travelholic.

When it is 48 hours until we leave for INDIA (aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh)with 2 kids (5&2) and are so so excited but still keep reading the Europe board, thinking about the next trip to plan AFTER the one you haven't left on yet.

...oh yeah, and when every trip to Blockbuster to rent a movie is an attempt to find interesting locales you might like to visit or to remember wonderful places you've visited in the past.

When the Travel folder in "Favorites" is getting too long and you have to go visit each site saved to see why you saved it in the first place.

Or you spend so much time on travel boards you have never taken the time to put your travel websites into a Travel Folder. I am going to do that!!

Hi, I'm Laurie and I'm a travelholic.
When people ask you if you're a travel agent.
When your favorite thing about meeting new people is asking them where they've been and what they liked most.
When you have an area of your closet designated to travel paraphernalia.
And all of the above.......

When your friends ask you to plan trips for them, and you're not a travel agent.

I didn't know I was a travelholic but I have all of the symptoms. Wow!!

When you have "trip report envy" -- I am jealous when a trip report gets 350+ hits and mine only gets 9 - ha!

I think the correct word is "Dromomaniac" coming from the word dromomania - the compulsion to travel (hard to find in most dictionaries, search online). I too then am a dromomaniac and if there is such a thing as a cure, then keep it to yourself!

Matt

When you are on a first-name basis with the staff at your favorite hotels all over Europe.

When your husband has the phone number on "speed dial" to the hotel where you always stay.

When you NEVER cash in or try to spend your last Euros...no matter how much you have left.

... when you watch for t-shirts and sweatshirts with names of places you've visited so you can shout " I've been there!"

...when you have to get a new roof on your house and you keep thinking about how many trips that would be to Europe... (yep, that's me now)

...when you have an entire bookshelf (and a really big, long one) devoted entirely to travel books

...when you have a section of your closet reserved specifically for "travel clothes"

...when you buy a new pair of shoes to break in and make sure they'll be good for walking all over the cobblestone streets in Europe

...when me and "my Italian daughter" spend time together signing over scrapbooks of places we've been in Europe

...when you study a language because of your love for a destination (in my case Spanish)

(and yes to all the previous posts as well...)

the only cure for this is one we all know...keep traveling!

You know you are when you are relocating after 26 years and find 4 night stand drawers full of travel stuff, woolite, plastic bags and bottles, luggage tags, every type of plug for every country, and I could go on and on. Also, I found 3 desk drawers full of just paper stuff. The people buying my house have Irish and Greek roots, so they have two shelves of travel books for both countries. Oh, I hope I have enough time on this earth to start collecting again. My best to you all, Joan

...when your husband goes crazy because you moved his maps! :D

It's so nice to know you're not alone.

I think I'm really starting to annoy my family and friends with my incessant need to point out how many days left till my next trip. In this case it's not only "39 days till Paris and Barcelona", but I know how many till the trip after that (about 156 till Lisbon and Copenhagen).

I just got home from Barnes and Noble where I bought ANOTHER travel book and came home and first thing I did was log on here. Oh well, if you have to have an addiciton, "Dromomania: the seductive and insatiable urge to travel" is the one to have.

...when you have a world map on your wall, and you lover looking at maps at the bookstore, and keep buying maps of places you don't even plan to visit yet.

...when you get 7 travel books for Christmas.

...when friends call you all the time asking for advice on planning their trips.

...when your extended family thinks you travel TOO much.

...when you have a bookcase full of travel books.

...when you've done so much research on a particular area that you feel like you've already been there before you go!

...when one of the first things you do after being away from the computer for a couple of days is check the Fodor's board.

...when you have a 4-inch notebook filled with notes on Italy.

... when you feel a sense of being let down after a trip is completely planned, because then you're not planning a trip, so then you have to start planning the NEXT one!

... and on and on and on. I do just about all the other things listed, too. That's why I like this board -- most of my friends are not nearly as interested in travel as I am, and my husband even gets tired of all the travel talk.

oh, and I meant "love" looking at maps instead of "lover." !?!?!?

...when you'll read and post to travel boards instead of doing that pile of paperwork that's sitting at your elbow...

I do believe I've got just about all the symptoms here--and the one with the clothes takes in shoes and handbags as well!

....when you're on this forum and all the others the moment you wake up and the last thing you do before going to bed.

.....when you're frantically piecing together your next trip and you haven't even unpacked from your last trip.

.....when you have trips planned out and ready to go for the next twenty years.

......when you worry you might not live long enough to travel to all your "must see" destinations!!!

Yes, I am a travelholic too!!!!

... you love airports and sometimes would pick a different airport for layover just so that you get to see a different city
... your desktop always has a picture of your next destination
... your comp password is made up of city names and the year that you plan to visit (i.e: rome2006, venice06, etc..)
... when families know that any travel-related gifts would make me happy
... when the wall of your house is covered with posters from all of the cool cities you visited, and nicknacks
... you describe a luggage by the size (Hey, I got a deal on this 24"-incher..)
... you have stacks and stacks of travel book guides, magazines, brochures....

h2babe- you've found me out re: the passwords

You know you've got it bad when

-You enjoy looking at luggage as much as looking at shoes

-You keep unused Paris metro tickets in your bag at all times for emergencies

-You say thank you at various stores in different languages

-You insist on bringing your own bags to the grocery store to get in shape for your next trip to Europe

My password trick is similar, but I have too many wanna-sees. I use a city (an obscure one) I've visited recently, along with the year!

I still have 5 Paris metro tickets in my jacket pocket, along with Chicago CTE passes and a business card from a restaurant in S.F. (and that trip was 2 years ago)

...you wonder if the public library staff wonders where you're travelling to because you've checked out travel books for multiple widely-varying destinations

...you're read every travel essay book possible

...you can say to your family while on vacation, "well, I have information on a pizza place two blocks from the museum,...

...you come back from a trip and accidentally watch a movie which you then have to immediately order the DVD for so you can watch it over and over (in this case, "Only You" to see that wonderful Italian scenery, plus I'm a sucker for a good romantic movie with a happy ending).

...you totally ignore friends who wonder why you're going somewhere by yourself, because you know you need to do it for your soul.

...you are constantly dreaming of the next trip, and the one after that, and the one after that...

And many of those already listed!

And yes, I have a few Paris metro tickets in a decorative box on my dresser, since I will surely need them sometime...although right now I want to go back to Italy!

WILL YOU GUYS PLEASE STOP INVADING MY LIFE!!!!!!

You know your are a travelholic...when you even plan and book your friends trips!!! And you are not even going!!!

And all this time I thought there was something wrong with me, LOL.

Now I know I am normal. Well as normal as any Fodorite will ever be!

<...when you have to get a new roof on your house and you keep thinking about how many trips that would be to Europe... >


WHOA! I'm busted! (But whatever. It's not actually leaking yet.)

Anyway, yes to the passwords, the book-buying, the clothes-hoarding, the longevity-worrying, the fare-watching...Yes, yes, yes to all of it.

But mostly: when your major motivation for going to work is not to avoid homelessness, but to afford to leave home.