People always seem disappointed when I return from a trip without a checked off list of "must see" sites seen.Confused by my explanation of a trip punctuated by moments that cannot be shared through postcard or a photograph. Many seem irritated or aggiated by my lack of devotion to the expected and my utter delight in the happen stance of change. Here is what I look for when I travel...

Breathing in the air of a place I have just arrived.
The voices and the lilting change of lingusitc sound.
Tiny babies smiling at the people who love them.
The feel of the crunching gravel, the wobble of the cobblestones or the soft sinking of warm sand between my toes.
Sounds entirely different and yet completely familiar.
Seeing through eyes, the same sky, hung above a foreign sight
Laughter. Whispers. Shouts. Silence.
The miraculous in the mundane.
Faces. Lifetimes.
I feel the heartbeat of humanity and I relish my place within it all.

Have a wonderful trip...wherever you are

Tina

Lovely post Tina and so true. You don't have to DO to enjoy!

I think a lot of what you mention can be experienced in your own neighbourhood. You just have to 'think' like you're on vacation LOL.

For this great advice I suggest you send me your airfare

Tina, you hit on a sore spot for me, too. I once posted a trip report on here and the first reply was something to the effect of, "Didn't you do anything besides walk and eat? Museums? Galleries?" Never posted another trip report. Sometimes--usually the first, brief visit to an area, we like to just absorb everything around us so we spend a lot of time outdoors, not in the museums. To each his own, right?

I horrify my friends and relatives by not taking pictures on some of my trips.

MelJ - I just read the comments on your trip report and, except for the one nitpicker - ignore him, all the comments are complimentary to your report and folks wanted more. One person did ask if you did a couple of specific things in Venice but did not pose the question in the negative. Go back and re-read the comments.

Most people I know aren't interested in anything about my trips so never comment on what I did or didn't see or do. I'd rather have the interest, even if it means asking why I didn't do or see a particular sight.

That's my style of travel and trip reports, too, but ever since someone called them "insipid," I stopped posting them too.

Thank you, Tina, I feel so much better now! Only I still post my reports - I do it for myself!

Thanks for the kind words.
I guess I was feeling sentimental, since the next trip is likely not until next summer.

I love eavesdropping on other peoples lives and finding the sweetness of similarity and difference, Since, I live in a tourist destination, I am sure people have done the same experiment on me!

I travel as a break from my own reality, even if my reality is nothing to complain about.

Don't get me wrong... I still love to "see" many of the "must see", it just usually doesn't always make my mental highlight reel.

PS. My mother-in-law Hates!!! the way I travel, it always makes me laugh, because she is really furious and offended by my lack of reverence for the "must sees". Oh well.

PSS. I also enjoy reading peoples trip reports....even if they aren't my style.

Tina

We all have different styles. Some people are thrilled by one type of trip report and one type of trip, some by another. Don't stop writing your reports because some people don't enjoy them.

This is why I come here. Even when the people I know don't want to listen to my travel stories, somebody here does. I am not giving up on the people I know who aren't interested in my trip reports, I just don't show them my pictures any more. And somebody around here is always ready to look and talk about the things I am interested in.

There are lots of trip reports and trips here that I find less interesting than others. I wouldn't tell anyone that I thought their report was insipid, but if somebody said that to me I'd just figure it wasn't their kind of thing.

StCirq, there are always lots of positive responses to your trip reports. Why on earth would you stop because of one negative one?

I would encourage you to keep posting your reports - there are heaps of people out there who 'lurk' and rarely if ever post, and you can be sure someone's read what you posted, even if there's no feedback.

On must-sees - I kind of get frustrated that so many people are fixed on must-sees, instead of making the goal to get to know the country or the culture. My focus is a bit different; I often visit cities that are not tourist attractions, visit countryside where foreign tourists never get to. I know many people want to 'pick the eyes' out of Europe, and I guess this is reflective of having short holidays and wanting to get the most bang for their buck.

Lavandula

I travel in a way similar to what you describe. but I don't expect other people to understand. Honestly no one has ever quizzed me on what I did on my trip or seemed to care one way or the other. I'm a bit curious who these "people" are who are "dissappointed"?

Interesting--I've never experienced what the OP described even though we travel a lot. People ask what we did and saw, but no desire for some sort of checklist or disappointment at the lack of one has ever been in evidence. tinabina--maybe you need a different circle of friends and acquaintances, though I guess there isn't much you can do about your mother-in-law.

Oh, I get it now... if this is mostly about your mother-in-law... that's a different story (LOL).

In one of the threads somebody asked me, you just came from this city, what is there not to miss? I honestly don't know what to say as we've "missed" everything

Dayenu...You actually make me laugh out loud!! That is exactly it...I always "miss" everything.
tina

Oh and by the way...

I try to post last nite, but I think I forgot to press submit.

Anyhow,

My conclusion, to the point, of people being "disappointed" in broken into three possibilities:

1. People who think THEIR way is simply the only and superior way to travel.
2. People who cannot experience any value from a trip that cannot be reported in a precise list of sights, that are familiar to many.
3. People who view the world from an entirely different set of "lenses" and don't share my "insipid" nature.

Somehow, I feel oddly reassured others are traveling the world with a similiar lack of agenda and checklist in hand, wandering a little aimlessly through it all and enjoying every second!

Now I think I will read other peoples trip reports!
tina

Tina, I never plan ANYthing. All I need is a plane ticket and a hotel reservation. That's IT.

But suze, you would have read up on what there is to do or see in the place you are visiting?

I agree with you and I don't have a daily itinerary and am often mystified and horrified by some of the plans that are posted on Fodor's that have every waking second of every day planned. However, I do have a list of things I would like to see or do so that when I am on my way home, I don't think "oh dammit, I forgot to see ........".

I love reading travel reports, StCirq, I hope you didn't stop posting trip reports just because of that one comment?? I'd love to read about your adventures in France and elsewhere, especially France as you know it so well.

<you would have read up on what there is to do or see in the place you are visiting?>

cathies~ No I don't That's the point. I don't have a daily itinerary or I don't even have a "list". That's what I'm saying.