Jennie

When you get together with your friends or family and the subject of travel comes up, what is the coolest story you have to tell them about what happened in your travels?

wes fowler

Interesting question, Jennie. Although I've traveled extensively over many years, predominantly in Europe, I never, never, discuss my travel experiences with friends or acquaintenances. I can't imagine anything that would be more boring for the non-traveling friend or for the traveling friend, for that matter, if his interests differed from mine, as they invariably do. That rationale is probably why I frequent Fodors. If I have some knowledge or experience that may be of value or interest to someone posing a question here, I'll respond, with the intent of helping someone rather than boring someone with long winded tales.

Marie

Gulp....gee, Wes, is that really you? Usually you come across like a nice guy. <BR><BR>The original poster seems to be asking about when the people are already talking about travel. <BR><BR>The coolest story I have to tell is not much, just that when I was in France a man asked if I were American and then when I said yes, he said, with tears in eyes, that an American soldier had saved his life in the second world war. And then he said, "God bless you."

Jane

Well, when I am with people and we are trading travel stories (yeah, lighten up, Wes, people really do enjoy discussing travel sometimes) then the story I tell is how I made a friend on another board (a sewing one) and she lives in Vienna. When I finally was able to take a vacation there, she met me and my husband at the train and spent the afternoon showing us the insider's Vienna. That was several years ago and still, that was one of the sweetest afternoons I have ever spent.

wes fowler

I think I'd better clarify ( or qualify) my earlier comments. Most of my acquaintances are somewhat provincial in tastes. Our city's leading daily newspaper seems to consider local news to consist of six pages of department store ads; international news is a tornado in one of an adjoining state's trailer parks.<BR><BR>I learned long ago never to introduce the subject of European travel in conversation. Rather than express an interest in what I experienced, listeners seemed more interested in learning how I could afford travel. On other occasions when attempting to introduce the subject of European travel, I'd find listeners eyes would glaze over, as would mine when someone introduced a conversation regarding the merits of various Las Vegas hotels or Mississippi casinos.<BR><BR>Which again, perhaps, explains why I feel comfortable here at Fodors. I encounter people with a knowledge of, interest in, experience with, or concern for the delights of European travel. We seem to speak each other's language.<BR><BR>

Karen

Well, you are here now and among traveling friends who really do enjoy travel stories. <BR><BR>If you have one, Wes, we would sure love to hear it.

Marilyn

One I like to tell is when My sister, her husband, and I were in Naples. Before going I had read that Naples could be unsafe. We were at the museum only to find it closed for restoration. A man approached who said he worked for the museum. We were talking and it was close to lunch time so he asked if we wanted him to show us a good place for lunch. I'm from a small town and my sister and her husband are "big" city people. Well, they just followed along, so I did too. He took us to the restaurant. We were the only people in it and they locked us in--at this point I was sure we were in trouble. Sis and Leroy didn't seem concerned at all. Finally I could stand it no longer so I asked why the door was locked. It turned out that the wind had caught it the day before and damaged the lock. The waiter went to the door several times to lock and unlock it to show us we were safe. Marilyn

topping

This one is too go to let go!

anon

funny - Wes actually has a valid point (and you don't need to live near trailer parks to understand where he is coming from). you can have tons of friends without having many who would appreciate the fine nuances (or be able to click if they don't want to read it.)<BR><BR>however I have noticed many people here deride people for telling their interesting travel stories HERE, as, having 'no friends..'<BR><BR>odd..

elvira

Let's see, tied for first place, when it's apparent the listener is interested:<BR><BR>1) The house in Languedoc that was attached to a barn; every morning, it sounded like a sledge-hammer throwing contest was being held. We still don't know what they were doing.<BR><BR>2) The self-drive cabin cruiser in the Venice lagoon, being driven by 8 women who'd never been on a boat other than the Staten Island Ferry and the bumper boats at the Arizona State Fair (that'd be us, in case you were wondering).<BR><BR>3) Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge - three over with little problem, one back (moi) without a hitch, the other two as white as the caps on the waves below, hanging onto the rope handrails for dear life and scootching along the wooden slats. I have photos - they look over-exposed, but that really was the color of their faces. <BR><BR>4) Lunch and tea in the House of Lords dining room.

Dayle

My favorite & most unique - skiing down from the Paso Falzarego village to village. Reaching a flat section where we had to skate & pole for a long way on downhill skis. Then reaching a slight uphill (not fun) & finding a Tyrolean gentleman in traditional dress waiting to tow us, 6 at a time, behind his horse-drawn sleigh!

katie

There is one about the <BR> time we rented a house in Jamaica and while carrying my then 2 year old out onto the old stone dock to look into the water, I slipped on the slimey stuff from the high tide and fell on my back with the baby on my stomach.Every time I tried to get up,I slid a little more toward the edge.The water was deep and there were waves washing against the dock.<BR>Not wanting to scare my little son,who thought mama was weird but fun, I called out quietly for help.It took a few calls,then the housekeeper saw us from the upstairs window and said to my husband, I think the Mrs is in trouble.He ran out and gingerly walked over to us, pulled me up and got us off of that dock!<BR>Friends always like this story, it is one of my better adventure stories,sort of like the one when walking in Bermuda and there was this huge spider web....but,I won't bore you with more

rand

I tend to agree with Wes. Most people only ask what you did so they can whip out the Disneyland photos. I had coffee with a guy last year who upon hearing I was booked for France proceeded to tell me how they just came back from Vegas, so felt no need to go to Paris.<BR>Anyway I will repost my favotite conversation stopper that I posted here a couple of years ago.<BR><BR>Author: rand (@victoria.bc.ca)<BR>Date: 07/24/2000, 01:02 pm<BR>Message: Well there was the time in 74 in Ethiopia flying between towns when the DC3 with no rear door touched down at an 'airstrip' with no buildings within sight. A soldier climbed in and ordered me out. An argument persued with him pointing his machine gun at me and waving to the door while yelling the same words at me in a language for which there is no phrase book. I was replying that I would not go in English and indicating that I was with my parents and would not seperate. Calling the bluff of an angry man with a machine gun and winning left me shaken And stirred but also slightly euphoric at having survived. This of course was a week after I beat up the guy who tried to mug me for my wallet in Addis Abbaba. Hey I was 16 at the time, played rugby and water polo and felt invincible.<BR><BR>It is a tale from way back, but it saves me from looking at many a Vegas photo or listening to a lost flight lament.

Eric502

A few years ago my girlfriend and I went to Peru. We landed in Lima and took a local flight to Cusco, within 3 hours I was down with altitude sickness.<BR><BR> We were on a bus touring the ruins above the city and they were planning to go higher up so the tour guide thought I'd better get off at this small cafe and store. By this time I'm laying by the side of the road sicker than a dog. Two local ladies took pity on me and started rubbing hurbs on my face and giving me coco tea to drink. After a while I managed to get up and go inside and sit at a table in the corner.<BR><BR>About this time my girlfriend noticed they sold lima coats and off she went to buy one. She actually bought a great coat.<BR><BR>The tour bus came back and picked us up and took us back to the hotel where I was sick for the rest of the night. The next morning I felt great and never had anymore trouble.<BR><BR>The only thing I remember from that night was thinking that when I returned to work they would drug test me and I would be accused of taking drugs when all I did was drink a ton of coca tea for the altitude sickness.<BR><BR>See ya later<BR><BR>

aj

Wes,<BR><BR>It sounds like your are from the same region in the "south" that I am. Most of the "folks" in my town really have no interest in travel out of the state and also wonder where the "money comes from" even though they spend a fortune on "BBQ" and "fishing".

kate

Skiing in France.<BR><BR>Taking a very small, remote chairlift to the top of a seemingly very remote mounatin, just as a blizzard closes in. Complete white-out. Couldn't see the ground, couldn't see my companions, couldn't tell if we were even still on piste. It was like having a white blanket thrown over my head. We inched down the slope, scared to death, imagining avalanches and sheer drops. If we had an accident, we would never be found etc etc.<BR><BR>After what seemed like a lifetime, the blizzard began to subside and we spied a small wood cabin in the distance. Rescue! we thought, and skied over to raise our alarm. As we approached we realise that it wasn't just a log cabin, but a huge restaurant with about 400 skiers all merrily having lunch. We were actually about 100 feet from the resort. So much for our life endangering epic adventure!

Judy

My spouse and I took a series of trains from Salzburg, Austria to Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic several years ago. We knew we were to change at Linz but at Sumerau, but no-one spoke English and our phrase books and pronounciation weren't getting us anywhere. We sat on one empty train for awhile but nothing happened. Then a one car, self propelled pulled up and some teenagers hopped on, they seemed to nod their head when I said Ceske Bude. Right before the doors closed the border police put 2 young men on board, released their handcuffs and put them behind us! (we didn't know if they were hardened criminals or didn't have correct id. We took a short ride, and everyone got off except us. One of the teens ran back and indicated we should leave and follow her to another train. Several stops later, an attendant came on board, told everyone something which caused the few people who were still on board to all leave, walk across the tracks and board a bus. This time no-one could tell us anything, so we eventually followed them, saying the name of the city we wanted to go to. One passenger smiled and nodded, which was slightly reassuring. So the next hour we took back roads, usually going in the opposite direction of a fork in the road that said Ceske Budejovice, but eventually ending up in a teeny rail station where someone would get off. Finally we arrived in the city of Ceske Bud etc. where our son was waiting for us out on the street. We asked how he knew not to wait for us at the railroad tracks. And he said they put a little picture of a bus next to our arrival time!(very late) At this point we were stressed out (although the countryside was interesting) and exhausted. He only said, "Mom, you've got to be flexible over here!"

Carole

My husband, myself and two friends went to Italy for three weeks about three years ago. We did a tour and then rented a villa in Tuscany. For our last night we returned to Rome to catch our plane the next morning. We took the rental car and went to dinner, walked around for a few hours and then realized we had no idea where our hotel was, nor the name of the hotel. My friend and I both took small bags with no hotel information in. We tried to retrace our steps, looking for familiar landmarks. No good. We finally stopped the Polizia and told them we were lost and had no idea of our hotel. After a series of questions, they told us to follow them. They took us to a few hotels and eventually we found our hotel. Moral of the story: Never leave your hotel without a business card, brochure or book of matches. We thought for sure we would have been driving around all night. Now we look back and laugh our rear ends off. Gotta go with the flow and enjoy every minute of your trip. Happy traveling!

Joe

Have told this one before on an obscure thread which quickly became buried. Here it is again.<BR>We were in Tuscany, driving and recognizing that our rental car was getting pretty tacky after a couple of weeks of touring. We had stopped at a market to get fixings for a picnic. As we left the parking area, we spotted what appeared to be a car wash of some kind just above the market. Good timing. We would take advantage of it. We took the little side road, drove up to the apparent entrance and positioned the car for the wash. I got out and looked at the coin receptacle and, satisfied that I could manage it, I fed the appropriate coins. I quickly joined my wife in the car and waited for the washer to spring into action. Nothing! I got out and read the instructions again, making sure I had put in the right coins. I had. I pushed the slide mechanism in and out several times and quickly jumped into the car again. Nothing! I did this several times and could get no action. Pretty upset by now (damned foreign machines never work like ours), I jumped out to check once more. As I carefully examined the coin mechanism, I happened to look up on the slight rise above the washing apparatus (about 15 yards away). There I saw two elderly gentleman sitting on a bench, caps at a jaunty angle, sweaters tightly buttoned, complexions of leather and they were laughing uproarously; I mean knee slapping, head wagging, belly jumping laughter. They were looking right at us, so we were obviously the source of their mirth. All of a sudden "the light went on". I jumped into the car and moved forward to the under-washer position to wash. The water came on and we got our wash. This was a stationary car wash and no matter how long I would have waited or jiggled that coin mechanism, that washer was never going to move over our car. We obviously made the day of those two old gentleman, "dumb Americans". What a story they had to tell there friends; "there were these two Americans who drove their car in front of the car wash...." This is many years ago and we still cannot remember this experience without breaking into laughter ourselves. The thought of those two old gentleman watching me, in and out of the car, checking the coin op, a car length short of the overhead washer, it's too much.<BR>