Our friends and family tell us we have to stop going on all these silly trips!

My wife and are are travel nuts. We think, breath and live for travel. On average we take about twenty overnight trips a year. While many of these are long weekends, we take 8-10 airplane flights a year and are on the road about 50 days a year. We have visited about everyplace a tourist would go.

Do we get bored on our trips every once in a while, sure, but it beats working. (We both work as consultants and set our own schedules)

We constantly are researching new places to visit on the internet and are always looking in the travel section of the Sunday paper and travel books at the bookstore. We subscribe to most of the travel magazines. We use every trick in the book to save money while staying at nice places. (We are experts using Priceline, etc.)

Most of our friends and family think are traveling is just a waste of time. When they travel, they usually visit other relatives or go to a beach for a week.

Tell me there are other people that enjoy travel as much as us. Lets compare notes!

Silly trips? Why don't you tell them to stop their silly hybernation?

Weird??? No way. I think the proper word is "lucky".

You are not weird. You are lucky, both to have the time and financial resources to travel as much as you do, and to have found a spouse who loves it as much as you do. Most of us on this board love travel and the researching of new destinations, etc. How many trips do other people take? We're gone 4 - 6 overnight trips per year.

No, you're not weird at all! Like others said, just fortunate. It's funny because your bio is just like ours! I spend many hours planning our next trip too. We also are serious Priceline users and subscribe to travel magizines. Hubby gets 10 weeks of vacation & we spend all of it abroad. He works his b***s and this is the only way we keep our sanity. By luck I found this board and have found others that are just as obsessed as we are. Fodors is great.

Weird is a weird word to use to describe travel junkies. Eccentric? Maybe.

Absolutely not! I have 4 kids (4-16) and a typical hectic life, but so far this year we were away 10 times and try to take at least an overnight every 6 weeks. My husband travels overseas often but we plan on saving all of those frequent flyer miles for when we retire and can go for longer periods of time. My kids tell their friends that we chose to spend our money on vacations instead of a bigger house, etc. Planning these vacations is the only way I have managed to keep my sanity after staying home with the kids for so long. I'm proud to say they all have the "travel bug"/sense of adventure, which I think is an incredible attribute. Tell your friends to keep going to beach and leave those unspoiled spots to us!

I think going to a new place, even if you don't like it, makes you grow as a person. How many people who travel frequently are not interesting and open minded?

we travel as much as we can, quite frequently on short 3-4 day trips, sometimes crossing the country if the deal is a good one, and we have friends who think that is simply nuts, because they'd rather take a really long 2-week vacation to the same place every year. I have no idea what I would do if I could only get away once or twice a year, I don't care how long of a trip it might be, it's still only once or twice a year!! I prefer my 8-10 short trips a year, but everybody has their thing they prefer, right?

It sounds wonderful! Maybe you need more imaginative friends...just kinding. Hey, maybe they miss you.
Seriously, I think its wonderful that you are both in sync on this thing. You are living my retirement fantasy.

Hi - I love to hear this - we just started traveling about 5 years ago and are just up to about 6 one week trips a year and a few short ones. I love it! Yes, friends and family think we're nuts, but I think they all wish they could do it, too. So just enjoy!!! Sue

Yes!!! This is extremely weird! You must stop taking frequent trips immediately for the sake of your relationships with your homebound friends!

Ummm, and just to show you that my heart is in the right place, I volunteer to keep your seats on all those planes and your travel funds warm by using them for you! LOL!

Next time you get ready to take a trip, call me and I'll talk you down from it for a less than the cost of the trip you would have taken! haha

Happy Traveling!

"We are the music makers. We are the dreamers of the dream."

I'm jealous.

Weird, no. Lucky, (and, I'm going to guess childless) yes.

Nope, definitely not childless - three in fact - now grown. And they've often accompanied us. However, travel is our vice - we pass up the fancy cars, furniture, jewelry, etc. so we can travel more!

The key word was, of course, "consultants." I imagine they are writing off all their costs by using their travel data as part of their expertise. There's more to the story than travel on has let on. Right?

I hope to do the same one day. We also forgo many things to travel. My hubby can only take 3 weeks a year and my little ones are school age so your lifestyle is the one of my dreams. We supplement with day trips and weekend jaunts. My little boy constantly asks when can we sleep in a hotel again or both kids will talk about memeories of different places. We laugh at how hooked they already are. It is freedom. I wish .....

It would be very surprising to find anybody reading this who thinks it is silly to travel or to spend time planning travel while at home. Why else are we reading this message board?

How dull is must be to only explore the world through books, television, and museums. Every so often I meet someone who has never been out of the state they were born in, on a plane, sailed on a boat, traveled by train.....I wish I could let them see what I've seen and feel what it's like to see incredible things....My greatest joy comes from discovering this planet, it's animals, it's people, it's history. It is nothing less than simply amazing even if it is a simple trip to the beach. I then take this inspiration and translate it into art, photos, writing, collecting. If I didn't travel I don't feel I would be living a full life. Are you weird you ask ? No, you are getting the most out of this life and how lucky you are ! Happy Travels !