JKL, your comments struck a chord inside me. I met a woman on a trip last year who may be a little like your friend. She's retired and loves to travel. She takes at least 8 foreign trips a year plus many domestic trips to ski or visit friends. When I first met her I thought she was extremely irritating and vain and i couldn't stand her, but she grew on me. We became e-mail buddies for a few months after meeting on the tour. She was an intelligent, very kind person, but emotionally very superficial on the surface, which is not to say that she was genuinely unfeeling. She was perhaps the wealthiest almost-friend I've ever had, had fascinating travel experiences, talked about having many friends, talked constantly (too, too much), but I had the impression that she did wonderful things with her friends but didn't reveal much even to them. She had experiences that I'd love to have, and I guess it would've made sense to be jealous of her, but instead I always felt a little sad for her. She has stopped e-mailing. I'm probably being foolish to be worried about her, but I find something sad about her perpetual-motion style of life. This is one time I'd be really happy to be wrong. <BR> <BR>P.S. To "Chantal": StCirq's posts on substantive topics are solid, detailed, informative, helpful. Her family life is none of your business. Nor is the amount of time she chooses to spend playing on the internet. Just didn't want to leave you with the impression than people agreed with you just because they might not respond to your sniper attacks.

In defense of accountants/business types: First of, "Not sure", I'm an accountant, and obviously know a lot of accountants, and we all seem to travel outside the country all the time (on vacation. I'm not counting work-related travel). In part, this is because we make good money and can afford to travel abroad often. <BR> <BR>I guess you don't know very much about the profession, because it's essential to be very aware of foreign politics, to have foreign language abilities, understand international economics. Even small and mid-sized accounting firms have clients world-wide these days. <BR> <BR>On the subject of stereotyping, I'm 32 years old, and have traveled (with my wife) to Europe 15 times since I was 23 (not counting business trips). I also love spending time in Vegas and amusement parks in the U.S. <BR> <BR>I guess I blow your stereotypes out of the water. <BR>

I don't think that because someone posts on this forum that s/he is inevitably a traveler; Fodor's doesn't request proof of travel before allowing people to post, so I wouldn't say the vituperative posts necessarily belong to travelers.

Richard, I'm glad there are plenty of accountants who are NOT like the ones I know through my work in a state agency, who NEVER travel to Europe. Most had a very narrow educational background, and their jobs do not require them to look at matters beyond their own state. It would be nice to meet "Renaissance-man" types who are accountants.