Hooked on a Single Place
 

Just came across this interesting piece in the May 18th NY Times, by Christine Cozzens, about returning to the same place over and over again.

"Hooked on a Single Place"

http://query.nytimes.com/search/arti...56C0A9659C8B63

In a follow-on letter in yesterday's Times, a woman wrote in to say that she and her husband have been going to Positano for 31 consecutive years, always staying at the same hotel, in the same room.

I've been back to Nice four times since my first visit in the spring of 1994, partly because I love the area but also because I love the family-run hotel I found on that first visit. It's a wonderful feeling to be welcomed back on each return visit by the nice mother and son who run this place, but it saddens me to realize that the mother -- the sweet yet feisty ex-Parisian Colette -- who must be in her late 80s, probably won't be around too much longer for those wonderful welcomes.

I've only been to Rome twice but have already become hooked on the Eternal City and, I think, could cheerfully visit it every year, time and money permitting.


Anyone else hooked on a single place in Europe?

Yes, after whereever I am visiting in France I always return to a favorite village where they know me. It's like living my dream to live in Provence which I could never afford

Although I travel to Europe frequently and have been to numerous locales, I have gone to Paris more than any other destination. As soon as I get to my hotel in the 7th, I feel at home. When I wake up the following morning and walk down to the Rue Cler for my coffee and croissant, I know I'm in heaven. Although we are not traveling to Paris on our September trip, my wife has intimated to me that she has some extra time off at Christmas. If the flights are raisonnable, we might just spend Christmastime in Paris (as we did two years ago and loved it).

I was actually telling my fiance this weekend that even though we leave for Spain next month and then will have an amazing honeymoon in Bora Bora sometime in Sept. I got very emotional the other day when I thought how this was the first year in 3 that I haven't made a trip to Paris. I made him promise that even if it is just a quick long weekend we will for sure go next year! I felt so silly but I really did want to cry! :`( Wendy

Capo,

The Times article really hit a nerve with me. The places that I would or do return to as much as I can are: Nice, Paris, Positano, and Negril, Jamaica. All of them have grabbed me in that way that makes you feel as though you're at home in your skin as soon as you get into town. And yes, the fact that people remember you from the last time, or that you know where to get the best thin-crusted pizza in Nice without even asking, all helps.
Thanks for the great post!

Hooked on a single place??? Heavens, what a silly concept! Pffttt!!!

La vallée de la Dordogne est le sourire de la France.

Eight years to the same small pension in the South Tyrol with the most wonderful view from our room 26, great food, owners like friends. We would still be going there except that it was sold for condos in 2001 and the other hotels in the area are much slicker and not as well situated or appealing to us. I still dream I'm there.

Ten years in my favorite hotel in Normandy and never regret not going somewhere else. My family is very happy
to return.

Good question, Capo. People keep asking me why I go back to London--usually twice a year. Hard to explain, but I've always felt I was "home" the minute I touched down. I'm happy just to stroll the streets, eat in the same restaurants, sit and have coffee on the same sidewalks.

But a strange thing happened after my second visit to Paris last October: The day we left both my husband and I said "seen Paris, wonderful but don't feel the need to return for a while." Yet, we weren't home a month when we were both saying we couldn't wait to get back!

Thanks for asking.

In The Best American Travel Writing 2002 there is a short story entitled 'Forty Years in Acapulco' which is quite touching and funny. Similar idea - a group of friends meeting at the same hotel, for the month of February, for the past 40 years.

In the beginning of my travels, I visited Budapest 3 times in two years and still have a soft spot for Budapest and the Gellert Hotel - now though I'm stuck on Croatia.

Mmmmm - I think we all know it's Paris that does it for me. I do not know why, I cannot explain & I certainly don't expect others to feel the same way I do, but Paris, despite the language barriers, feels like home to me. Whenever I go into a cafe or shop and I try out my language skills (or lack thereof) I feel like I'm at a favorite aunt or uncle's house who let me know it's okay even though I fumble in my attempts.

My mom BEGGED me not go, asking me to try to go somewhere else. I asked her where else could I go that would give me everything Paris has to offer? She couldn't answer.

I've never been, but I have a strong feeling Florence/Tuscany will hit me the same way when I finally go.

It's just something that lives in your dreams. :)

We are humans and creatures of habits!!It seems to me that everytime I go back to Europe I always manage to go in the same places..Rome, Florence, Avignon, Uzes, Paris...But this year I have added another location to my list,and I am certain that I will feel like I am in heaven when I get there. I have rented an apt. to Cinque Terre for a week.I feel very excited to explore these charming villages and cant wait for june 18, my departure date.

Well, I am hooked on Italy as a whole, but especially the Amalfi coast and Florence. I just returned from yet another trip to Amalfi and am putting together a trip report and a photo page.
I feel at home in Italy, isn't it odd that we feel that way about a place all the way across the world? It is the people, but also the ambiance, I think.

I go to England ever second year, feel embarassed sometimes about all the other places I've never even visited. But something keeps pulling me back, I actually feel like I'm coming home when the plane lands. And whenever I go I usually end up at Stourhead Gardens and at the Spread Eagle Inn. For me it's the place where my eternal energy comes from. My husband and I have been to Ireland three times now, and each time we go to Ardmore in Co. Waterford. Not sure why, it's as if we feel that we need to check in there once per trip. Just a small village on the water. Nothing fancy about it. Great cliffs to walk on, the friendliest people we've ever met and a great pub - Paddy Mac's.

My soul was awakened in the heart of Brittany and it is such a joy to come alive each time I smell the sea air or enter the mystical Foret de Fouesnant.

As this July will see my 25th visit to Greece and 11th to the same island, I supposed I must be hooked! The way I look at it is that once you've found your own personal idea of paradise, why change?

We do go other places in between our annual summer Greek trips - Lyon and Madrid this past year, plans for Mallorca in October and Malaysia next April, but I still know that come next summer, I'll be craving for my yearly "fix" of Greece, even if it's only for a week in September.

=:)

A good thread indeed. I feel that way about Gerra-Gambarogno on Lago Maggiore and Monkton Farleigh in Wiltshire. The aesthetic appeal of the place is part of it, but more than that, the graciousness of the hosts. J.

I am so happy that so many people feel the way I do!
When I read that article, I thought, wow, that many years to the same place, is there anything left that is exciting or is it just a "safe" trip, where there are no surprises? Then I remembered how many times we have gone back to the same hotel in Paris:)
It is lovely to have people in another land welcome you personally, while all else is still in the foreign catagory (language, food, customs) there is still that small familiar homecoming feeling when you go back to your hotel at the end of a day.
We were/are hooked on England, it is home in many senses of the word, but for now-Paris is the place we are Hooked on!
Now I have to test those feelings with Florence:)

Yes, Scarlett, I have to admit that 'safe' is a feeling that is part of it, too. And Kism., we'll be waiting to see if the Cinque Terre gives you the same feeling as your familiar places. I've never been there and wonder if there's a nook or cranny in that very famous destination that could possibly feel homey. Have a wonderful time. J.

Hi,

Well, for me it is Bermuda. I have been there 3 times and would love to go back more. I am in my mid-30s and still have lots of new places to see!

In Europe, so far I keep going to different places, because I want to see so much! I would love to go back to Italy or the Greek Isles, but then I think about my mental list of places I still want to go, and it is too long to justify going back to somewhere I've already been, even if I loved it.

I have the wanderlust, and wish I was independently wealthy so I could just travel the world. But, alas, I must first work and earn some spending money... :)

My husband and I have an unspoken rule not to visit the same place twice figuring that there's a great big world out there left to see. But every time we visit Europe we can't stop comparing the towns we visit to the towns in the Dordogne region of southwest France. I'm afraid we may just have to break our own rules!

Hello All,

Yeeeooow Capo, what a nice thread.

For me it's Switzerland in general, then Lake Geneva and Montreux in particular. I went to school in Montreux way back when, and I've returned to Switzerland 10 times in the past eight years, seven of those trips including Montreux. Yes, I know it's touristy and artificial and more modern than cozy, yet the views of the peaceful Lake nestled in vineyards and guarded by distant white-peaked mountains always draws me back. When I see the castle of Chillon, my heart feels at home; in fact, when I see the Lake for the first time as the train emerges from a tunnel just before Grand Vaux, I feel that I'm seeing an old lover again. Ah me.

And I do have a few Vaud real estate urls for when I'm low. :S-

s

My husband and I are hooked on Europe generally, like Rick Steves who makes no apologies for the relative narrowness of his travel interests by explaining that he's from European stock and always feels at home there. My husband was born in Latvia but left as a small child and felt instantly back home when we first arrived in Vienna in 1973. Since then we've made about 35 trips to various places in Europe and loved them all though some more than others. In planning any return trip the toughest part is deciding whether to do something new or return to a favorite spot--like Paris which we've done 15 times, or Menaggio on Lake Como which we've done probably 5 times or more, or Venice, or Positano or Camogli or Garmisch. Dubrovnik now calls to me, perhaps it will become my next single place to be hooked on.

Beatchick wrote
>.. it's Paris that does it for me. ...despite the language barriers, [it] feels like home to me.

I've never been, but I have a strong feeling Florence/Tuscany will hit me the same way when I finally go.<

My feelings exactly. It took me 20 years to decide to go to that part of Italy because I kept going back to Paris.

I haven't traveled that much, but of the places I've been, there are two that I know I will return to, hopefully more than once. There are dozens of other places I'd like to see someday, but my heart has been captured by both Paris and the Cinque Terre, and although I visited both a year ago, I will be back in Italy this fall with another trip to Paris next year. I WILL get to some of the other places on my list - someday!

Absolutely Rome. I've thoroughly enjoyed my trips to Venice, Nice, Limerick, London and the English countryside, and enjoyed my semester in St. Cloud and my year in Florence very much, but as Dorothy keeps saying at the end of "The Wizard of Oz","..there's no place like Rome, there's no place like Rome.." Excuse me, I must go find my ruby slippers at the bottom of my wardrobe now!

BC

I'm stuck on Europe - I don't have any desire to vacation anywhere else. I'll take Europe over pretty much anywhere in the world. I'm very stuck on Croatia. I can't imagine going to Europe in the summertime and NOT go to Croatia. This summer will be my 11th time to Croatia ... :-)

Nina

Whatever European city my husband and I are in is always our current favorite ( a friend calls us travelsluts)! We were hooked on Paris and would spend at least a couple days there each trip....but we just returned from Venice and may have to return there regularly!

I could never get myself hooked on one place, there is so much to see. However, when the holiday is over, the last day is tinged with sadness because I know I probably won't return :(, because there is so many places left to explore. Its always tempting to go back though. Although, I sometimes return to easy and close places to get to, like Paris, for a long weekend.

The only far-flung place I am considering returning to is New York City.

What a wonderful thread and wonderful answers!

A question for those who've mentioned that perhaps Florence/ Tuscany may touch them in a similar way to Paris - as someone who has been many times to Paris but never to Florence this suggestion interests me - I'm curious as to why this might be so? Is it the number of art museums/ galleries in both cities, the ease of eating well in restaurants and cafes or something else entirely that makes you think this might be the case?

For myself there are definite places that pull me back, although I do very much like to visit new places every year.

After our first week in Madeira we felt that it was ideal for us for a relaxing week of gentle sightseeing and excellent eating and went back for a second visit a couple of years later. Perhaps a third visit in coming years will follow.

France is our number one repeat destination - partly because it's so easy for us (in London) to hop in the car and pootle over to the Pas de Calais area via Eurotunnel and partly because we both enjoy France very much. In a couple of weeks we're heading to Bordeaux for a couple of weeks to attend language lessons in the mornings and to sightsee in the afternoons.

Having read messages from Fodorites and others who own houses in France and visit often - we ponder similar moves in the future.

We also really enjoy visiting the USA though we don't go more than once every few years - it offers such a different experience to Europe. Whilst the USA isn't, for us, somewhere we want to move to long term, (as France may prove to be) it is a destination we enjoy visiting.

Right now my heart is also filled with dreams of Southern Africa. After a trip to Namibia and Botswana in 2001 I can't think of much else but our return there, booked for 2004 and am sure that this is just the start of a lifelong love of that continent.

Thanks for starting this thread Capo!
Kavey

Nina1123, any chance you'd be willing to start a new thread and tell us what it is you love so much about Croatia? It's getting a lot of play recently and I'm thinking there might be lots of interesting info out there that could be assembled from returning travelers.

I love the term "travelsluts" That pretty well sums it up for many of us, it appears.

I can't imagine returning to the same place year after year. To me the pleasure of international travel is new vistas, new experiences, and new joys. If I wanted a familiar, safe and homey vacation, I would stay home. There is only 1 city my wife and I have vowed to return to every few years and that is Dresden Germany. We first visited in 1990 and were moved and impressed by the latent beauty of the city that was apparent even in the rubble of the Frauenkirche and the state buildings. We have since returned in 1993, 1997, and 2000. Each time we are more and more impressed by the beauty of the city and its amazing reconstruction. Our next visit will be in 2004 to coincide with Dresden's 800th anniversary and the re-opening of the fully restored Frauenkirche.

The only place I keep returning to is Bermuda. I have been there 7 times and have my 8th visit planned for this year. I have been to Europe many times (usually spending two weeks exploring all or part of one country) and have loved every place I visited. My goal is to see all of Europe and then see it all once again (if I live long enough!)

Paris is my place, too! I loved the article in the NYT; it spoke to my enjoyment of going back time and again and put into words what I previously had been unable to explain adequately to others who feel that I should quit going to France!

I just returned last night from Aruba(it was our first Caribbean trip)--no comparison to the thrill of landing in France or any other European city.

For me it's Greece. I've been twice, 2 years in a row, and my heart is broken because it appears that I won't be going back this year! I've been to Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Meteora, Ionnanina, Paxos & Corfu. I've loved them all... it definitely has to do with the overall vibe (especially) of the islands. There's nothing better than lounging on a beautiful beach in Greece... my body relaxes just imagining it. Went to Sicily recently, loved it, but my mind isn't stuck on it like it is for Greece.

I must voice my position of varied international travel. For me, the greatest part of the hunt is the preperation time that goes into the trip before I ever set foot in an airport or attempt to check into a hotel. Because of that, it wouldn't be "fun" anymore if I didn't have a new langauge to learn, new geography to master or new threads to read about on Fodor's!

Perhaps some of this has to do with my wandering spirit upbringing that saw me never live in the same place more than three years in a row. I wouldn't know what "home" felt like.

Of course, the other logical explanation is the pure economics of it and my vacation time leaves much to be desired! This world is large, and there is still a lot of it that I need to see. Without months on end to take off, or even the luxury of multiple vacations, I find I get one good one a year, and I want to make it count.

Ce la vie, when I am old and grey and have seen all of this world has to offer, then perhaps I can register with my one favorite spot. Until then, the search is on!

It's Paris for me. When we get of the Metro at St. Paul I feel at home. The hotel feels like home. The bistro feels like home. The only problem with this is that it is hard to fit in different cities/countries when one travels to Europe only once a year. This year we added Seville and Lisbon to our Paris trip. It is always good to see new cities but our heart is in Paris.

I go back to Positano when I am in Europe, even when it is way out of the way! It is not only the beauty, but we have made friends there, and it always feels great to be back!

It has to be Paris for me. I loved it the minute I got there, spent part of my honeymoon there, and cannot wait to go back to visit Northern France next fall...with a stop in Paris, of course!

We love almost anyplace in Europe....however we could return time and time again to Scotland....any part of it. The raw land, lovely interesting people, beautiful scenery, efficiency of the country......probably all in part due to our Scottish Heritage. We feel "at home".