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- - Why go Back? (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/why-go-back-50650/)

After reading the trip history thread below, I got to wondering. People often ask me why I have returned to various places (Hawaii, Paris, London)for multiple visits when there is so much of the world I haven't seen even once. My response is that when I find something I like I generally stick with it for a while. But I'll throw the question out to others - Why do you go back?

I keep going back to Paris because I love it.I love everything about it.I have been to many places,but none compare to Paris.Venice is a close second and I will go back there one day.

I have been to Bermuda 6 times because I find it to be one of the most relaxing places I have ever been. Plus it's only a 2 1/2 plane ride from NY, so it's easy for a long weekend. I find that if I am looking for some serious R & R, it's better to go some place tried and true, less stress particularly when I am looking to de-stress. As for Paris, what can I say, it is the most gorgeous city I have ever seen and I am constantly uncovering new and exciting things about it. I can't wait to return.

Having only a few "big" trips under my belt, I have a very hard time justifying "going back" when there are so many places I haven't seen. For instance, while I'd love to return to Amsterdam, the south of Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium are wooing me too strongly.

I, like Catherine, return to Paris again and again. It feels like home; when I see an article in a magazine or catch a glimpse of a Parisian street scene on TV (like the ad for the new casino, Paris), I actually feel homesick. London comes a close second (my sister feels about London like I do Paris). Actual physical pain when we board the plane to the States. Dordogne Valley: I think of the Dylan (Bob, not Thomas) line: people going down in the ground; buildings going up to the sky (caves 100 meters under the ground; bastides 500 meters straight up). Who could ever see all of a region that has labyrinthes, grottoes (with boats), castles in varying states of dis/repair, Romanesque churches, foie gras, truffles, walnuts, wine, chestnuts (including a full-day guided tour, with a chestnut[!]lunch) and a tour of charcoal makers?

During my first trip to Italy with a friend, in 1992, I fell in love with the country. I started studying the language with my friend and now we're rather fluent. I go back at least once a year (twice if I can swing it), explore every part of the country, and speak Italian with my friend and every Italian waiter in my hometown. I have a fantasy of spending prolonged periods of time there at some point... Thanks for the very interesting question...

To relax, I think. I love new places but they are hard work. Stimulating, but hard work. It's relaxing to go somewhere- say Cyprus's west coast, where you know where the hidden beaches are, the best tavernas, and the shops with the stuff you just can't live without even for a fortnight. And of course, you make friends and want to see them again.

Chuck: As a single, it was Florida annually, then time was split between Fla. and Montreal for Expo 67 and Man & His World, then Fla. only again until marriage. Florida fishing, hops to The Bahamas and short cruises! Never got the thought to see Middle America or the West Coast and Europe never entered my mind then either. Marriage saw us annually in Puerto Rico and cruises from San Juan, until we tired of that. So now it's off to Europe and no we don't go back to places we enjoyed, but each year it is another country. In fact, I'm overruled when I suggest returning to someplace we have already been to. Bob K.

I go back because I'm addicted!! At least thats what it feels like. I think what really draws me back is the history, the people and my comfort level. I felt the history the first time I stepped into Westminster Abbey or Notre Dame as well as the last. It is so different from home. The people take the time to enjoy their lives. Of course, as posted in a previous thread, they are given much more vacation time to do so. All I know is that I think about going back every day. I feel very comfortable there. Every time I see an airplane go over I wish I was on it! There is so much that I haven't seen, but I still haven't gotten my fill of Paris, London and Venice.

I mentioned once to my godfather that I had read about a club of people who'd each visited 100+ countries, and asked how many countries he thought he had visited. His response was something like, 'well, one doesn't go just to make a count.' I remembered that while reading posts that ask 'why aren't you going somewhere DIFFERENT?' ...I think we go back because we've found a place that feels like it could be home if we didn't already have a home, where we enjoy everything about being there. Apart from where we live 'normally' due to work or family requirements, the places we choose to return to may be even more truly our home--because we choose to be there on our own time and our own terms. Furthermore, as other threads have shown, we make those visits happen when it usually means making sacrifices in how we live 95% of our life so that our 5% can be spent where and how we choose.

There have been several mentions about Paris and Venice. I will add my two cents . . . These places are magical. We will be going back to Paris next spring (were in Europe this past spring - Paris, Venice, Florence, London), for the fourth time, and there is just something about that city that gets under your skin, becomes a part of you. It is a physical pain to NOT be in Paris. This upcoming trip will be the longest time spent in Paris (as well as other parts of France) and we are already planning and just can't wait! And Venice . . . It has a romance and a mystique that pulls one back. . . I also must add something about proximity to different places. We live in Tucson, AZ so a trip to Mexico is easy (we go often); Hawaii (another favorite place - been to all but the island of Lanai several times) is a bit more complicated, but still relatively easy to get to, but Europe . . . If we were closer, there is no doubt that my husband and I would go more than once a year (we're confined by 2-3 weeks for a "long" trip). I wouldn't hesitate to fly for six hours to spend 48 hours in Paris). Oh well . . . Europe is the place I'd go back to over all others.

The more you know about a place (or almost anything, for that matter), the more interesting it becomes. Especially Europe, which also happens to be much more enjoyable when you are familiar with its cultural peculiarities.

What makes people return over and over again to the same location? The more you know about a place - or anything, for that matter - the more interesting it becomes. Europe, for one, has so much history, art, culture, natural beauty, that a first trip to almost any country there cannot but barely scratch the surface! You get so much more satisfaction and enjoyment out of revisiting once you know the obvious sites, learned to negotiate the language, to get around and have become familiar with the most charming/obnoxious peculiarities of the place - and can decide which interest you want to pursue there.

Does anyone ask why the swallows return to Capistrano? Of course not - and thus, this "robin" must keep on going back to Italia.

I will never (knowingly) make my last trip to Paris!

The USA! I've been 6 times already and covered about 20 States. I just can't get enough of America. I guess I just love the excitement of the cities, especially NYC and the diversity of the countryside. I find the people friendly and welcoming and the shops terrific. In fact nearly my entire wardrobe was bought in America during the various trips. Definitely my favourite country for holidays!

Chuck, Making the decision to "go back" to someplace you've been gets easier with time and experience. For many years, my list of un-visited places was so long that journeying back to someplace, however much enjoyed, was too painful to think about. My list is still quite long. But there are places that strike a resonant frequency. You get there; it just feels right, and you know you'll need to return, even if it means putting off the New Hebrides for another year. You also figure our "great circle" itineraries; a week someplace new, but book-ended with side trips to one or two familiar places. That's how I feel about London and Paris; cities to which I've returned time and again. If part of your reason for travel is cultural, then it is difficult to imagine seeing New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paris' Musee d'Orsay, or Florence's Uffizi only once. These are places to which you are drawn because, as your world broadens, so does your appreciation for the world's collective creative energy. Twenty years ago, the difference between IV Dynasty and XXIII Dynasty Egyptian art was utterly lost on me. I have painstakingly acquired the knowledge to distinguish the hallmarks of each, and to appreciate both. Thus, last year I spent half a day exploring the Louvre's marvelous Egypt collection; something I had never taken the time to do before, despite having been to that great center a dozen times. There is also a certain satisfaction of knowing your way around; of arriving at an airport and knowing what bus or train will get you to where you're going; or of being able to pick up a rental car and instinctively know which freeway ramp offers the shortcut to where you're supposed to be in half an hour. I carry around in my head a mental map of a dozen U.S. and European cities. Though I have never lived there, you can plop me anywhere in San Francisco and, in three minutes, I will know exactly where I am and how to get to wherever I need to go. Knowing your way around isn't a sufficient reason for returning to a certain place, but it's a nice outgrowth. And there is a special pleasure in becoming a "regular." In the same way that there are local restaurants you go back to often enough that you're remembered, so it can be with destinations. My wife and I have spent 16 of our 23 anniversaries at the same resort in Hawaii. We go back and see the same people (guests and staff); pick up conversations where we left off 354 days earlier, and catch up on the children being born, graduating, and going off into the world. We became regulars not only because the resort struck that "resonant frequency" noted above, but because we have become part of an extended family. In the process, we have gained a worldwide web of friends for whom that resort also resonates. Finally, a special "hooray!" for Adam. Thank you for finding the U.S. so enjoyable. I'm kind of fond of it myself.

You go back because the second time is when you really get to know the area. My wife and I return to many places in Europe and try to spend longer in the area to really know it and enjoy it. Too many trips...such as bus tours...are so hectic you never get a real enjoyment of the actual place. You can just say "I was there". Returning to a favorite spot in Europe is one of the great pleasures of travel. We always try to work in a return with something new on each trip. We are heading to Venice, again, in September and Florence, but adding a lot new to the trip in N. Italy. Will probably find some new locations to return to some day.

To Adam, who likes the _excitement_ of US cities: There is a Canadian columnist Allen Fotheringham who likes to call the US the Excited States of America. I think that is apt, esp. in comparison to his somewhat calmer country, north of us. Having lived in Canada, when I came back home to the US, I was amazed at what I like to call the _exuberance_ of the US. As to returning to places in Europe, I would return to London every year if I could to see every detail of the place and revisit the places I've already cherished. I like many places but must keep on going to more so that I can experience and see those, too. But only to my very favorites (like England, Germany, Austria, Italy and Russia) do I want to return again and again so that no detail is left unseen. As several earlier posters indicated, I suppose those are the places where one feels one can really feel most at home. The other countries of Europe I've visited are lovely but I don't feel a great affinity to them. But that's my personal preference and others will have different ones. For example, I know Paris is grand and great and I've been there four times, but...it's not ME.

I go back because somehow we never get the time to see everything we wanted to see.....or because we threw that coin in the fountain....or because next time, we want to intensively cover a different district.....or because business happened to give us a break by putting a meeting smack dab in a great city....again.