laclaire wrote:

" when someone says "Oh, I am going to (blank)" and you say "will you bring me back (something obscure and totally delicious)? I am out."

I realize I do that! I have had two different friends bring me Birch Salt from Iceland, among other things.

What about:

when you resent people (my own parents) for going to a travel agent instead of asking your advice?!

when you re-read guidebooks on places you have been just to re-experinece the fun of planning?

when you get tears in your eyes from reading the "travel philosophy" page in any Rick Steves guide (love him or hate him, his statement that starts with something like, "Travel is living intensified..." at is magical.)

I can't even believe how true all of these replies are. GREAT thread. Thanks so much!

...when your boss sees you looking at flights during work and doesn't even care anymore.

...you don't look for a new job because the thought of waiting for new vacation time to kick in before you can go somewhere new makes you physically ill

...you have a stack of scraps of paper and ticket stubs and labels in your closet waiting to be "put in a scrapbook" (yeah right) but even the sight of the mess makes you smile.

...you offer to plan your friends vacations just to pass the time until you can afford another one of your own.

...you think of every non travel purchase in terms of flights or hotel rooms. "I could buy that bag/jacket/concert ticket...or I could extend my trip"

...you're sad that you don't get to go on a business trip - even if you have no desire to actually visit the place itself!

Thanks for making me not feel crazy!!

OK, recent update...from tonight, actually..

when your teenage son the basketball player, who wants a back massage after every game, says to you: "huh? there's no more of that stuff from provence that you use for massages? Can you call someone and get some more...quick?"

I'm mcnyc, and I'm a travelholic/dromomaniac. It's been 5 months since I last got on a plane for a foreign trip. In between, I satisfy myself with shorthaul trips within the U.S.

I have most of the above symptoms, and the following:
-a month before your vacation, the shopaholic in you refuses to buy anything in NY because it would ruin the shopping plans you've already made in your head (this happens to me re: shoes, bags, jackets whenever I'm going to Italy!)
-you can't speak/understand a word of Italian on U.S. soil, but suddenly in Italy, you can somewhat communicate with your pidgeon Italian, and understand it too!
-whenever friends suggest a weekend getaway to Vegas, you immediately suggest somewhere across the Atlantic
-your family refuses to go to Europe without you, even though you've never been to half the cities on their planned itineraries
-you don't get lost in said cities you've never been to...your inner compass makes like you've lived there all your life
-you feel euphoric when you're able to take advantage of an impossibly cheap airfare to LHR this summer
-you find solace in reading maps
-you are depended upon to find great hotel rooms in said foreign countries you've never been to
-as you get to your travel location, your mom asks where we're going next, and your dad says he wants to come back
-you replan ruined vacations in the middle of said ruined vacation to replace the miserable memory from the last time-anything to go back to Italy

I'm sure I have more. I need help. Where should I go next ;)

when you're not a travel agent, but the same clients call you from Hong Kong to ask where to get a massage one week and call you two weeks later from London for dinner suggestions.

when you fixate on airline seating selectors and check them periodically to see how your flights are filling up.

Oh, man Gary -- That's me!

- you count down the pages in your passport until you can get the beloved supplement pack

- you have one change jar filled with us coins and one filled with foreign coins

Your "favorite" file on your computer is full with travel sites. I have so many hotels save my favorite could pass for Venere or Expedia.

panucci, i know just what you mean--that's also so true with me...I have over 50 pages of stuff for our upcoming trip to France and that won't even be for over a year and almost as much for Portugal and don't have a clue when we'll get there, but know we will...someday...

anenoi23--where do you live? does the roofer take AMEX? (We'd have enough for 2 tickets then...oh I am BAD!)

When your roof is leaking badly, the paint is peeling, and your house is in danger of sliding down the hill, but you use every spare penny toward travel.

When you'll buy two antique loveseats for $35 and be happy with them for your living room furniture...'cause that means there's $1,000 more for travel.

And when you try to pass on the addiction to your students by giving them daily clues about your summer destination that sends them scrambling to the atlas and almanac.

Oh,for an edit function! Send, not sends...

You know you're a travelholic when you would rather read a tour brochure than a magazine.
- when you go for those overpriced department store cosmetic "bonuses" just to get the travel sized products.
-when you buy cookbooks of all your favorite countries, knowing you will never use the recipes, you just enjoy the photograghs.
All this time I thought it was just me!

When you find out that your roofer WILL take AMEX and figure out that will almost over one ticket to Europe and feel GOOD about it!!!

...when you own 14 suitcases, all for different types of trips...

...when you have over 75,000 jpgs on your computer from trips you've taken (I'm not kidding)

...when you have stacks of scrapbooks waist high from the floor from trips you've taken

...when you can win the "where are you?" monthly contest consistently from Conde Naste without even really thinging too hard...

...when you plan trips around special festivals, events and galas that you want to attend (the Palio, Venice Carnivale, etc)

...when you spend hours researching a place..

...when Christmas and BD's come around, people KNOW to buy you travel related things...no matter what...

...when you know the currency exchange rate for more than 3 currencies and you check it every day...

...when you can tell people where the nearest Starbuck's, W.H. Smith, or shoe shine stand is at any major airport on the globe...

...when you begin referring to your trips by year, as well as location, "you remember, Rome 99" or "Rome 03"

...when you can order a main entree and wine in over 4 languages, with ease...

this post is awesome! I related to most all the things that came above mine! Especially the "don't buy clothes unless they travel well!"

When you are simultaneously planning two different trips because one is not enough.

When you are still following this thread...and nodding your head in agreement almost the whole time! :D

...When you hear planes going over you house and you wonder where they are going? My family think i'm bats when I say that!!

...when mrwhoknew is leaving for the airport to pick me up from a solo trip and he is asked if we will be traveling somewhere next year and he just laughs and says "If I know her she's already planned it out during this plane ride home." (*raises hand sheepishly*...gotta have my Italy fix)

...when someone asks me where my next trip is and I say Italy, and they say but you've just been...(like going back to Italy is a bad thing?)

....when you have a trip planned for November 06 with a friend(I don't know where yet) and my December 06 Italy trip and you wonder if you are going to last all these months without going somewhere, and you begin plotting....

....when the pound coin keeps getting pulled out of your change purse but you won't take it out because you love the little rush you get whenever you see it.

...when your friends and family nag you about replacing your 16 year old vehicle and you tell them as long as it runs fine you'd rather spend your money on a trip.

...you actually consider moving to the East coast because it's only a 6 hour plane ride to Europe instead of 11 hours or more from California and not only are the flights cheaper but you could go more often...never mind the actual costs of relocating, finding a job...but then you think I have a good job that pays me a livable income and as a government skivvy I must take 120 hours a year vacation and where else could I go where I'm forced to take 120 hours as a "minimum".

...when you get excited when you see an advertisement for luggage

...when you are watching the Olympics and you see a competitor from "xyz" country and you think "oooh, I've never been there" and begin contemplating when you can go there, too.

...when your new work colleague speaks with an accent and find out he's from Germany and you can't wait to ask him all sorts of questions about what part he's from, etc.

...when you're annoyed because you charge everything you can to your mileage card but can't convince your mortgage lender to accept the house payment on a credit card. Think of the mileage that could be accumulated!(and before anyone flames me for being reckless with debt, I pay off my card each month...being debt free gives me freedom to travel!)

whoknew- I had friends who put their college tuitions on their cards.

Darn scholarship!

whoknew,
I know what you mean about sometimes wishing you were on the East Coast, but every time I see Mt. Rainer I know I need to be here on the West Coast, but still...

And yes, we too tried to get our morgage put on our card, but no go, however, we're able to put DDs tuition on one...and then of course, there's the roof...

when your Earthlink account advises you that you have used 90 hours for the month and you know that most of it was used on Fodor's.

When you have trips planned out for the next two year. They are booked and paid for also.

When you go to googleearth.com and look up your destinations so you can see them by satelitte.

"....when the pound coin keeps getting pulled out of your change purse but you won't take it out because you love the little rush you get whenever you see it..."

That is SO me! (And, in the same vein, when you keep a big stash of foreign coins, some of them outdated, and when the kids ask you what each one is worth...you know. Despite the fact that you have dyscalculia and blithely give out the wrong phone number on a regular basis.)

When you keep putting off an eye exam and new glasses (gotta save money for the tickets, you know).

...then break down and do it anyway just before the trip because you decide that even if everyday life isn't worth seeing, vacation is.

I'm with anitas on this!

Also, when you get done with a trip and start dreaming up and planning your next one (even if it is two years away) in order to give your life purpose.

I guess your name is appropriate, work-to-wander.

ergo viaggio sempre

travel always

When ...

You do what we are doing:

We leave on our flight at 6:30 pm on a friday and return 3 weeks later on a sunday night at 10:45 pm.

you better tell us all about it!!!:-D

You read travel guides for fun...

Have maps of the world as the art in your apartment...

talk in different accents depending upon the last place you have visited---which ends up driving your friends batty.

When you keep your bag packed with the basics and readdy to go.

* When you open the newspaper and check how is the weather like in your favorite European cities before checking the local forecast...

You guys do that too?

-One wall in your office is devoted to the biggest World map you could find which has white pins stuck in all the places you've been and red pins in all the places you've lived, and all you can think about is where you should plan for your next pins to be put

-You find yourself daydreaming about throwing a dart at the map and leaving for wherever it lands

-Quitting your jobs and devoting your life to buying houses so you can rent them out, so they can provide income for you to travel

-Waiting to have children until you've been all over the world (Five yrs. so far!)

My husband and I are definitely hooked!!

-when you see an incredible last minute fare to a place you want to visit.

-and your initial reaction is...hey, this looks good....maybe....

-regardless of the fact that you are 99.99% certain that you can't do it because of your daughter's wedding or something.

I love this thread, so I am posting again to bring it back to the top....

***
...you are about 9 weeks from delivery and trying to decide how far away is too far away for "the last trip we'll take before Squirt arrives." Please note, we've had at least three of these "last trips" so far!

...you're already planning Squirt's first out-of-the-womb travel experience for three-months old, but you're sure you won't be able to hold out quite three months before taking "him" someplace! :)

...you look at possible relocation options for career based on travel opportunities from each locale!

We are completely out of control.....

You get angry that you cannot take advantage of that 80%-off fare sale to Lower Slobovia even though you have never wanted to go there.

Sorry to be morbid, but when you get diagnosed with a life threatening illness, and you are able to look back on your life and be thankful that you have spent your life traveling, instead of spending the money on a huge house. And, you comfort yourself by thinking you still have time to see the few places left on your list!