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...