bunchargum

I love to travel and a soon as one trip is over I am planning my next overnight trip. I also love day trips and drives around the area.

Though when I tell many neighbors, friends and relatives about traveling they tell me they do not travel. Many hate it!

I talk to many people in their 40s and 50s that have never gone more than 15 miles from their home and work. Here in Northern Virginia I talk to people who have NEVER been to Maryland, DC or West Virginia. You would think that on one Saturday, out of interest they would take a drive across the river just to see what is over there! They tell me the thought has never entered their mind!

Please tell me about the minset of people who have NO INTEREST in traveling at all.

Brooklyn_Bomber

I guess for some people travelling is about as appealing as being on the receiving end of a dirty sanchez.

Stephanie

I am very settled and older (38). No need to travel long distances anymore. I do like daytrips but I like coming home at the end of the day. I have a theory. When I lived in the city there were people all around me - I wanted to escape. Now that I live in the suburbs, in a valley, on about 1 acre and have a 2 BD home which is my late g-mas with 2 dogs, I just love being home.

luv2fly

Stephanie - I feel sorry for you if you consider yourself old at 38. What kind of life have you been living that you are burned-out at such a young age? Just think of how you will feel when you enter your 50's and 60's. You better begin looking for an old-age home now for you and your 2 dogs.


Coming from a family of world travellers...my 90 year old father is busy planning his next Mediterranean cruise...it truly amazes me that most Americans have never left the country. Don't they have any desire to see the world? Please do not say that it is because of money. That is not true as you can spend more in Disney World or Las Vegas than you can in parts of Europe and the world. I believe that they are intimidated and scared of the unknown. Scared of unknown customs, unknown languages, unknown monetary system, and unknown cuisine. Too bad as they do not know what they are missing.

I live in New York City and know of folks in New Jersey that have only been into the city 2 or 3 times in their adult lives. I pity them. I really, really do.

Cerlaurie

I find it interesting that someone who has no interest in traveling would even bother reading travel forums. I love to travel but I also know many people that don't like to. I live outside of Chicago and work downtown. I love going into the city on the weekends for dinner, etc. Lots of people I know say they hate going into the city and would never do that in their free time.

traveler24

I LOVE to travel--so far have been in 46 states..However my husband of 40 yrs doesnot like to travel (not sure I would classify it as hate except for flying--he will NOT fly)
His view is this---"why should I go anywhere? I have all I need, want & enjoy right here" This of course includes me to do the cooking, laundry, housework.: computer for his online sports games, TV to watch the sports and a nice house in a lovely valley.
i once asked him --"if you could go anywhere in US (without flying) what would you choose???"
After much thought -" Oregon Coast and a week in Seattle!!!!" This trip we have done over 10 times in the last 20 years!!! Go figure!!

FlyFish

I think the xenophobia that luv2fly describes is a large part of it, but also some people just seem to have no intellectual curiosity at all, and lack of interest in travel is only one manifestation of it. Those of us who love/live to travel I suspect also are open to new experiences of many other kinds. That doesn't in any way make us better people, but it is a different way of looking at what life is about. For myself, I am haunted by Thoreau's explanation of why he went to live in a cabin in the woods: (paraphrasing here) " . . . so that when I came to die I would not discover that I had not lived." That about sums it up for me.

cd

Some people hate to drive and contend with traffic. For them travel is a chore. And if they are fearful of flying, then they will stay home. My husband and I LOVE to go anywhere! If we have nothing else to do, we'll take long drives and try to get lost. We've discovered a lot "in our own backyard" that way. But, I agree with another poster who rightfully stated, because we love to travel does not make us better. We just have differant interests.

Cassandra

Bunchargum, why go to the trouble of posting this kind of query? The only possible point of it is to put down people who don't like to travel -- as Stephanie quickly found out.

You like/love to travel. So do I. I have no interest in basketball, but I know people who obsess about it. Ditto NASCAR and opera. If we all liked to do the same things, there would be no room in the airport, the train station, the NASCAR and basketball stadiums, or the opera house.

Instead of trying to make non-travelers defend themselves because they seem somehow lacking to you, just tell us what you like about traveling and leave them alone -- assuming they even stumble over this board. After all, the question could be about your mindset(and I've heard it put this way), why you feel the need to be on the move constantly, never at home, never in one place, always away from friends, relatives, always seeming to be trying to get away from something, etc. etc.

So tell us, what is it about travel that makes it so important to you?

Lola

LOL, I wish I was "old" and 38 again

My husbands partner was in his 40's and had never been out of the state he was born in until he drove to Florida. Once. Never went anywhere after that.

I was travelling as a baby because of my fathers work, so it has been natural to me all my life to get up and go somewhere.

I find that "home" is where you are happy with those you love, I can take that with me wherever I go. I think my life is much richer for the sights I see and the people I meet. So when I am home, I enjoy it more.

Stephanie

Yeah, I don't have a problem, just don't like to travel. I'll never put others down for it but I don't see the point. Packing, having to prepare your house for being away (having timed lights, holding mail/newspaper, putting dogs in kennels is way too much effort for me. I have 11 1/2 hr workdays so most of the time during the week I'm gone from my home and at holidays and weekends I really enjoy the outside and my home and hometown.

Tango

I love to travel and I too am planning the next trip as soon as we get home. Thank goodness my husband is the same way!

I just think people are different. My parents have plenty of money and could travel first class and really enjoy life - but they think it is a waste of money. Some of my friends go to the beach 3 hours away once a year and it is enough for them. They have no desire to travel the globe. Oh well, I will be traveling until I just can't go anymore - hopefully for the next 40-50 years!

I don't understand it either, but if we all traveled it would be very crowded!

Lee4

I love to travel and so does my husband! I also love reading different threads on this board so I can get more information and ideas.

Since we're talking who likes to travel and who doesn't here's something I've experienced lately that I just need to vent about. I'll be going to London (pleasure) and Orlando (business for my husband) this summer. When I've been asked what I'm doing for the summer and I tell people, most react in a positive manner or jokingly say "Oh, I wish I could go there." However, 2 friends (who like to travel themselves) have reacted as "Oh." (with no emotion) and moved on to other topics. I found this especially interesting with one since she had just excitedly told me she was headed to Disney (and we spent several minutes discussing her trip).

I love hearing where others are going and love to see pictures, hear details, etc. I guess it just bums me out when someone acts so strangely. And, before anyone fusses at me and says I'm probably one of those people who only talks about myself--I promise that was not what happened in either situation. They brought up the topics to me first but then responded as if they could care less. If that's the case, why ask in the first place? We could always talk about the weather! Anyway, thanks for letting me vent! I just love reading the travel posts--you all have so many great tips and ideas. I also love trip reports! Thanks to everyone who shares!!

diann

I think it maybe for the same reasons they make vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream. Very simple. Some do, some do not. No need to belittle another persons interests. I actually like to do both. I love my home, but I also like to travel and take vacations which are generally 2 a year. I have only 4 weeks vacation so some I stay home, and some we travel.

Melissa

Both my husband and I never travelled as kids. Both our families still live on the same block in the same city we both grew up in. I live 100 miles away from home, and no one in our families ever thinks that this is a day-trip. Weeks of planning are involved in making the 2 hour drive (tops) and finding sleeping arrangements. That is absolutely absurd to me and my husband.

Needless to say, our families are shocked with our desire to travel. We went to Italy last year and no one could understand why we would want to go there.

I don't know why others don't travel.

But I travel because I am curious about the world around me, and would not be satisfied reading about others experiences or seeing exotic places in movies. To me, cancelling the newspaper, kenneling the dog, securing the house, packing, etc. are insignificant compared with the excitement of seeing some of the world's most beautiful places with my own eyes.

I also love being home. Yet 49 weeks of the year at home is enough for me.
The other 3 weeks is what gets me through the 49 at work!

cnmiranda

My oldest childhood friend has no deisre to travel either. I grew up in a depressed town of 30k people and she still lives there. When I tell her about my travel experiences there is only a slight interest. She is 33 years old and recently came to visit me 4 1/2 hrs by plane & it was the longest trip she's ever taken, only 2nd time ever on a plane.

Personally I couldn't imagine a life w/o visiting new & exciting places & it amazes me that she has no desire to experience life outside of our small hometown where nothing ever changes.

To each his own, remarkably she remains my best friend and are still very close.

beachdreams

My husband and I both love to travel. I could be packed and ready to go virtually anywhere in a moments notice. Unfortunately, my wallet is not always ready. Our vacations are always during most places peak times since he is a teacher. Also, we have trouble getting away for longer than a week due to my job and what he calls his second job "coaching football". Because of this, we tend to go to places that are not that far off flight wise. This means I read the forums about those places we have yet to visit. Emphasis on yet because one day we will. The forums have become a mini vacation for me at work. I know that since my husband does coach football and is working on coaching college football, we will have to move around a bit. Some places we end up may make me want to cry while others will thrill me to the bone. In the end, I am very open to it. My sister, on the other hand, could never imagine leaving where we grew up and the thought of change rattles her bones. She has been to the caribbean islands and the SC and Florida coasts but that is pretty much where her travel ends. I should probably clarify and state that ehr caribbean vacations are only in the more traveled sections (ie Bahamas, Aruba, Jamaica). I am dying to go China, Africa etc and she turns her nose up. It is only recently that I figured out that she is not really a snob but actually very afraid (she will not admit this) of change. The very thought of going somewhere so foreign terrifies her. I am not saying that all people who dislike travel are like this but I think a good number of people are.

LilMsFoodie

apples and oranges. Who cares if some people do not like to travel? It's their life and I certainly don't waste my time thinking about why someone might like to spend their whole life in some little town (or city) and never venture beyond. Viva la difference. LMF

gail

Not sure a travel board is the best place to get a valid answer as to why certain people don't like to travel.

Anonymous

Good point, gail, very few people who don't travel will be here to speak firsthand, and only minority of those will be as brave as Stephanie in speaking frankly and risking rude responses.

I think others have already hit upon the two main reasons that I've observed: some people fear change, and many others just don't like it. Some people want adventure, others want the familiar. Some families like to try new recipes, others like to know that Tuesday is meatloaf night.

Everyone makes a little cost/benefit analysis, consciously or unconsciously, when they think about whether or not to travel. Some, like Stephanie, find the preparations (packing, timers, holding mail) to outweigh any advantages of travel, whereas I, like probably most others on this travel board, think of this an an hour of preparation for a wonderful time.

But even some of us who do travel will admit that we hesitate to travel to places that are too exotic, perhaps where we don't know the language, or where local standards of behavior, cleanliness, or food preparation are just a little "too different" for whatever our threshholds might be.