Just remember, keep it SHORT.

It could be as bad as looking through someone's pictures of their kids. The first one is fine. The tenth one is torture. Uggh....

Just because something fascinates you doesn't mean others will find it fascinating.

I find most people's vacation stories painfully boring unless it is somewhere I want to go or have been.

No one wants to hear about my plastic surgery tales either...hee hee...

I know that belongs on another board but just so you can relate, you might be repelled by blow by blow plastic surgery stories just like some of your friends don't care about your travels.

I agree, most people don't want to hear my precious stories on my discovery of the southwest.

My pictures are vague to say the least. A pix of plump me on the million $ highway's Molas Pass looks like I am in front of a big hill. Arches and puppy blend in with a whole lot of red rock. Who'd want to see 6 rolls of this?

I just use them to remember that I got on the trail and had wonderful adventures.

Ha, ha, stay-at-homes.

I love to travel, but don't find hearing more than 15 minutes about someone else's trip very interesting, and I gnerally find other people's travel photos quite boring.

So, I never expect anyon to be very interested in my travels, and don't feel "shunned" when they aren't. At work, I may answer with a couple of sentences, and only continue if people ask questions.

I like hearing about trips and looking at pictures. But a few minutes is enough for me. I don't need to see 15 different views of the Empire State Building or 10 different pictures of a palm tree.

I hate looking at pictures of people in their hotel rooms.

When I was a kid (60's)I used to hate watching a slide projector show for an hour of someone else's trip.

My husband and I found this out long ago. We rarely tell anyone we are going on another vacation they already know we travel often (about every 6 weeks). The worst has to be my mother in law and my husband's family. Last week my MIL asked him who he thought he was going on all these trips. People just don't want to hear it. They also don't want to hear that you are doing well, that you have a nice house, nice cars,nice things go out for dinner....etc. Actually the worst culprits of this behavior is my DH's family.

A good friend picked us up at the airport when we returned from a recent trip. As we drove home (an hour) he never once asked, "How was your trip?". This is a guy who never takes a vacation though, so I guess it makes sense. Priorities. He probably thinks we're nuts going to Kaua`i for two weeks!

-Bill

My 2 cents...

Shunned? No. Has any friend not really been interested in my trips? It's happened. I do make anyone I consider a dear friend listen to how a trip affected me (especially somewhere new for me), because I find that everywhere I travel to that I've never been before has opened my eyes in some way great or small. In my mind, a true friend will want to know how at least in broad terms how I've been affected after a trip. In my mind, I always listen with open-mind and open-heart to my chatterbox friends' love, work and whatever other ups-and-downs, so they know they'd darned well better listen to my trip LOL! (They're all without exception chatterboxes and know the rules! LOL)

And most listen with an equally open-heart... with the exception of one; him I nearly got into a fight with after my last trip to Mexico, so uninterested he confessed to be with my photos and thoughts on my trip. For him, a Salvadorean who left El Salvador at age 7, some pictures and thoughts I had shared just seemed typically Latin American and not news to him. Since then, I let him flip through my photo albums (never more than 100 photos on pages containing 4 photos) after trips as quick as he likes, although like all friends he has to endure a certain amount of commentary. *He* since then though has grown to appreciate that I have an understanding of Latin America (although only through the lense of Monterrey and Mexico City) that I didn't have before, and respects my newfound fluidity in Spanish. So we worked through that one after a brief explosion...

I guess different folk here have different sorts of frienships, but that's how things work with my friend set here in Montreal.

DAN

Like many of us on this site, I have people in my life who are content to stay just where they are and never see what's outside their immediate area (many of them don't even explore their hometowns). Just like I don't like to be shunned for loving to travel, I don't shun or judge them for wanting to stay where they are.

I spent 2 weeks in Egypt this winter and when asked by non-travelers what I did, I simply said "rode a camel and looked at the pyramids". I told them I posted my pics and a trip report on line and if they wanted to check it out. Most were happy with that oh so brief blurb...some did look at the pics, others didn't.

The most important thing for me was that I enjoyed my adventures and learned to appreciate more of the world in which I live.

I travel, am interested in what is going on in the lives of my friends. But please spare me from seeing 1,000 vacation photos and hearing about every meal eaten on someone elses trip.

I follow the "5" rule - in my opinion most people lose interest after 5 photos and 5 minutes about someone elses event/travel - that includes baby shower, travel, home improvement, etc.

Who cares what your friends think? Do you travel just to get kudos from your friends? I've traveled all over the world because I wanted to see it. I could care less what anyone else thinks. Sometimes people who are about to travel ask me questions about where they are going and I am glad to share my thoughts. But, I would never think to force someone to listen to my trip reports unless they first showed an interest.

I'm shunned all the time and I work in a one man office. #39;(

I'm with you Gail. I usually limit my "travel tales" to "Great, thanks" if someone asks & add details/photos if they ask for more.

OPE's (Other People's Experiences) are a bit like Dreams, I think. Endlessly fascinating to ourselves .......

...ah, but jorr, if you enjoyed your trip, then what is the diff, in the long run ... and you may always post it here and someone will read it and smile, lucky, jorr, what a nifty trip. Ciao.

I can understand friends not being interested in looking at tons of pictures or hearing endless stories of someone else's travels, but if your friends "shun" you when you return from a trip, I think you need to find some new friends.

I think most of the folks here are right on the money - keep it short!

And consider the talk leading up to the trip as part of the equation. The more you talk about your trip during the planning process, I've found, the less people want to hear when it's over. There's just a limit to how much people can take. I'm sure I've caused the following internal-external conversation myself:

"I'm thrilled you had the trip of a lifetime (especially since I heard about the advantages and drawbacks of every hotel you considered for even a split second. Thank God it will be a year or so before you plan another trip)."

"Oh, the car rental agency you used was a problem? I'm sorry to hear that. (I thought maybe one of the other three you talked to before the trip might be better - dope.)

"Yes, I'd love to see THREE or FOUR of your best photos (but no more - God, please deliver me from this penance)."

"I'm glad you had a lovely time (now would you please put a sock in it, for the love of Pete?)"

Tell it all to Fodorville - that's why it's here!

Maybe the friends are jerks, or MAYBE...

Have you made then watch 2 hours of underwater diving video, especially night dives, and then narrated the whole thing with commentary like "OK, I know it's black on the screen, but if you could see it, there's a grouper right there"?

Have you ever shown 2 full albums of pictures of sheep pastures in Ireland to a person who just got off a flight from another time zone?

Maybe "shun" isn't the correct word. That implies a certain amount of rudeness. Perhaps it's more like running for cover when they see you coming so as to not have to hear about your trip. It's sort of like not wanting to bump into to someone that likes to talk about her gall bladder surgery on and on and on.

I'm sure that you are an enjoyable person to be with, but your trip may not be all that interesting to others and they really can't understand why you went to all that bother and expense.

"Perhaps it's more like running for cover when they see you coming so as to not have to hear about your trip."

Ah, now I think you've answered the question. If people must "run for cover" when they see you coming because they know they are going to get a trip report without even asking about it, then the problem is with the traveler, not the innocent bystander. Why on earth would someone want to talk about their trip to people who haven't expresed an interest?