nancy

I just have a question;
What do you think when you come across a long posting about a trip?
Do you get impatient, and irritated at the poster?
Are you pleased to read about someone's journey and experieces?
Do you feel as if you have just taken a journey along with that person?
Just wondering.
thanks.

clairobscur

I don't understand why someone would be irritated or impatient. It you don't feel like reading a long post, you don't have too.

Thyra

I love them. They make me long to go there. And it's nice of people to take the time to post them at all IMO.
If they are really long and I am busy I just kind of skim them, but as Clairobscur says, if they irritate you skip 'em.

crosseyes

No problem as long as they use a few paragraphs here and there.!!

One big, long post makes me crossed eyed and lose concentration.

cmt

I'm not a bit irritated, but I don't read them.
I guess I come here expecting to flit from one quick read to another. Long things are actually more interesting, so I know I'm missing something good by not reading them, but I just have to be in the mood to read something long, and I prefer to read it printed on paper and not when I'm staring into a computer screen.
I wrote a long account of a 2-day segment of a trip I took last spring. I enjoyed writing it as part of a super-long letter to a friend, and now I'm glad I have it. It has been passed around quite a lot to anyone the least bit curious about my trip. While I'm willing to share it with total strangers, I just wouldn't post it here. But that's just me, and I don't see anything wrong with someone else posting a long trip report if they feel like it.
We're not a captive audience, and we have complete freedom re whether to come to this site, whether to select a thread, whether to read a particular posting. So complaining about someone else's long trip story seems to be a peculiarly silly display of intolerance.

oe

Love em. Get all the nuances about a destination. Clairobscure is right on. Don't like em, don't read em.

Lyle

Don't tell me -- I think I already know -- you're feeling us out about posting some dissertation following your ballyhooed Italy trip. Spare us. Or me at least.

kay

Thanks for the posting Nancy, because I also wondered if I should publish in the future.

Personally, I enjoy the postings (don't read them all but store them for future trips).

Is there/or should there be a sub-category for Trip Reports where the travelers can post and those interested (including me)can review without irritating others.

Perhaps there is such a category...?

Gina

Kay and Nancy, I think there's no way to avoid "irritating" some people who are bound and determined to be irritated. Since this is a travel board where we share our travel experiences, I for one would welcome your trip reports, and anyone else's.

Art

I like them. As Thyra and (J)oe stated, it makes me long to go there or at the very least, gives me good information for a future trip or reminds me of a past trip. If there long, sometimes I print them out so I can read them later and don't have to search for the post. My own tend to be short as I don't have the writing skills as so many of you do.

nancy

Nice to read your replies.
and no, Lyle , this is not to feel you guys out, for a "dissertation"on my future "ballyhooed" Italy trip.
but if you see any posts and find my name attached, be forewarned, and do *me* a favor and DON"T read them.
Actually,I was asking this because someone I know is thinking of posting, is concerned about the length of the post.
So I was checking things out for myself, and maybe it would reassure this person.
I personally enjoy the posts that read like stories, because I feel as if I am on a journey also.
And because I have not yet had the pleasure of traveling to Europe, I can paint myself a picture with the words I
am reading.
Thanks again, to all of you who have posted so far.
Opinions are what I am after here.
And I am sure others wonder about this occasionally, too.

nancy

Oh, forgot, Kay,
Good point.
Maybe a separate section, like the "rants and raves" where one could post one's "travelogues".
That way those who do not enjoy them , would not have to read them.
And those of us who do, can go there for a quick daydream/trip.

Marty

Nancy: I guess I don't understand why people read posts that they are not interested in! Why would you read something that makes you feel "impatient and irritated" with the poster? It is the same thing with any post that appears here: most people put a title, why waste time with something that does not interest you? Even if the title is misleading, it doesn't take but one sentence to know what the post is about.

Karen

I think it's one of the great things about this forum, that people share long posts about their trips. Do I always read them? No. Sometimes, they are about a place I have no current interest in, for example. But how wonderful when someone writes about a place I'm planning to visit soon! And I must agree with all the others who pointed out that it is very easy to skip the posts that don't interest you!

Sue

I enjoy trip reports, but my one criticism would be that people tend to overwrite (use flowery language), so I like the "chatty" ones better. I read one the other day on Iceland/Belgium that was just a hoot.

the americonos

here's a long post: barcelona sucks!!!

Dave

Sometimes "long" posts may not get posted. I understand that it is best to send about a page worth, and then respond right after if there is more reoprt.

Some long reports are great. If I am not interested, it doesn't take much effort to leave.

Shanna

Some posters can weave a tale, others might as well as us to read a train schedule. When I have time, 'tho', I've found that the boring data of times, dates, amounts disappear in a leisurely reading. Having someone else's perspective is always interesting, even if one disagrees, and when they reveal the same sense of wonder or excitement that you had, it's like being there all over again. And those details can be useful when someone describes that perfect cafe or corner. Just this week I saved a Paris trip report, written last year by a man, and e-mailed it to My Man, so he'll know it's not just a chick thing, this Paris business. All in all, when I have time, I greatly enjoy what people have to say - and so often I laugh out loud or get teary-eyed in response.

god i need to get a life

Patti Suttle

Nancy

I love the trip reports-long or not! I really enjoy reading about the different places and people's experiences. It helps with my planning as well. In fact, I wonder why we don't see more "trip reports"? I'd like to know how some of these people's trips went/what they loved/didn't like/was worth it/not worth it-you get the picture.
I plan on doing one on my trip to Ireland/London/Paris with our 8 friends!
Patti

beth

on the road, in London...

just checking my mail to meet up with friends here and thought I'd pop over! how are ya?

Nancy, you are too sweet! I will hereby admit that I bet she is asking for me - I've written a doozy of a Venice/Florence report and I was afraid it wouldn't go over well. (it still isn't done - and here I am on the road again... ah well.

bright sunny day we are having here, my friend Glenn loves it here, he's never been... and I intro'd my friend Rich (who *just* moved here) to some other friends who do live here so I hope he has some new buds to hang out with now..

more later!