I must disagree that one needs lots of money to travel.
I suppose it helps to have simple tastes... but to me the free things are just as sweet as the things that cost.
If I have a clean and safe bed, I'm good.
I wish couchsurfing existed when I was young. Man!

That's too bad ramalama. I know some people like you and they like to cancel their trips at the last minute. Lately they just seem to be content to stay home and work. Personally, I love to travel and don't get to do enough of it. When I do get to travel, I research a lot and ask lots of questions before we go. The people I travel with refer to me as their travel agent. Try to find something worthwhile about your trip and hold on to that, even if it's that you are one person that would rather stay home.

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must take it with us or we find it not.
Emerson

Suze, Maybe the original poster isn't a troll, but the controversy thing has certainly occurred, resplendent with vitriole and sarcasm.

Didn't say you always need a lot of money to travel. Did say that ramalama didn't seem to have enough. There's such a thing as enough, but someone's "enough" may differ from another's.

Have traveled on a shoestring -- which meant most of the planning had to do with planning around not spending much money; it also could lead to painful squabbles between traveling companions with different amounts of money.

Have traveled with "enough" but not a lot -- which meant making decisions about where to cut corners and where to splurge. Could cause strife but often meant really looking forward to and enjoying BOTH the "finds" (little money, much enjoyment) and the splurges.

Have traveled with "splurge" levels -- which meant trying not to be seduced by overpriced things into missing the free or moderate things. Once in a while led to boredom and the vague sense that someone else, at the cheaper places, was having more fun.

I prefer traveling with "enough."

Ramalama, do you read people's European trip reports? I find many of the posts to be very honest assessments of what people did and didn't like. For example, a LOT of people (including me) have posted that the Sistine Chapel is often so crowded that it's hard to enjoy it. (I'm not sorry I went, but I would only go back on a private tour.) Lots of people have posted "What's the big deal with the Spanish Steps?" or "Don't bother going to Pisa." I'm not saying that everyone agrees with these posts, but there are plenty of people on this board who express views that are less than glowing.

On September 27, Ramalama posted and said "four more weeks to go".

Ramalama, if you're really having THAT miserable a time, I'd suggest you cut your losses and change your flight immediately to get back home. Why struggle for another 3 weeks at this point when you are so miserable? Sure it will cost you to change your flight, but those outrageous prices of everything else that you save will make up for it. I can't imagine how miserable you must be having such a horrible time and knowing it's going to continue for another 3 weeks or more!

It pains me when others have to look for a scapegoat to blame, for things gone wrong. Oftentimes, they only need to look in the mirror.

enzian, i'm not sure, since they said "three weeks" I assumed they are already home from their trip.

If they are writing this post while ON a European vacation, well that's even stranger imo.

We can sort out this cranky and unreasonable post every which way to Sunday, but bottom line is...

Some people are just not meant to travel and should stay home. ramalama is one of them.

suze: Ramalama (ding dong) posted &quot;<i>Three weeks in the trenches, many stories to tell, but that will come after we're thru!</i>&quot;

Which I took to mean they were 3 weeks into the trip w/ more to come. She posted that from Italy (looking for meatballs) and hadn't yet been back to Paris. I think they are traveling another week or two.

soccr: I don't think her problem is lack of funds. From the other posts it doesn't look like they are on a tight budget.

suze, as I said -- on September 27, ramalama posted (on the thread about wanting an American breakfast in Rome) that they still had FOUR WEEKS left. That would put them in Europe until October 25. Although, I'll admit some of the posts from ramalama have been hard to understand the itinerary, but apparently their whole trip in Europe is nearly 7 weeks.
That's a long time to be miserable, and I can't imagine being so miserable when not even half way through the full trip. That's why I was so serious about cutting their losses and returning home NOW.

I've not seen many of the other posts, perhaps they are trying to do too much ??

The poopy shoes reminds me of the Aran Islands on our trip to Ireland. We absolutely hated the place, there was just mule crap EVERYWHERE and the weather was raw. The people selling tickets to the ferry were miserable and it seemed like everyone on the ferry over was screaming. My husband and I had envisioned something completely different. The funny things is, my sister went there with her 2 sons a few days after us and loved everything about it. They rented bikes and were COVERED with crap and still had fun. Another sister also had fun with their kids. It must have been our mood or something that turned us off the place. But you really have to know when to give up. We weren’t having any fun so we went back to the dock and there was an ancient pub. We had toasted ham sandwiches and Irish Mist by the fire and enjoyed hearing everyone speak Gaelic. With good company almost any negative can be turned into a positive. You have to really like who you’re traveling with – starting with yourself!

Great point about knowing when to give up. Our family went to New York City in July and I had envisioned us spending quite a bit of time in Chinatown, eating and browsing in the shops (the kids enjoy those kind of shops). We had a hard time finding the restaurant and then the sidewalks were SO crowded that it was very very stressful trying to keep the whole family together. After a short while we came to the agreement that it was best to just get back on the subway and go to our next distination. If one place doesn't work out, there are scores of others to try!

I don't think I've ever been on a trip that I was sorry having taken.

They've all been positive experiences. Regardless of which continent.

Of course, if I had the opportunity to replan each trip I probably would have done something different on most.

Ok do not slam me on this one. I know that elderly people travel all the time. But, from some of the OP's past posts I believe she has her elderly parents with her.

Now when I travelled in the past with my mom or even my husband I know that the pace has to be much slower. Much slower.

So I am not agreeing with the OP, to be honest I think her post was putting the blame on others when she should have realized her parents could not handle the schedule she created.

But I do believe the OP's problem is she is trying to do it all in a very short time with her elderly parents.

So wrong and she is obviously understanding her mistake. So I agree come home now--do not put your parents and yourselves thru all that.

If her parents are elderly than she is probably an adult herself (and has likely been one for a long time) and should act like one and take personal responsibility. It is very likely that she took her parent(s) for their one and only trip to Europe before you know what. That would be a very stressful undertaking, in my opinion.

I didn't like my first trip to Europe (Spain) when I was 20. I simply wasn't ready for foreign travel. I have been to Italy 4 times since (going again in 60 days yippee) and love it. The OP should know herself better by now, also.

Years ago I was going through a divorce and my parents invited me to go to Hawaii with them. I declined. They said, &quot;We'll pay&quot; and I accepted. It was not a fun trip and I regretted going. I should have known that I could not go back to being the &quot;child&quot; as a 30 year old, but I was lured by the free trip. I think that I led my parents to believe I enjoyed it and I thanked them many times over, but I pretty much had a headache all week and felt like I had wasted my vacation time. With all that said, my unenjoyable trip was certainly not the fault of the travel industry or anyone else. I now know that I CANNOT travel with anyone but my husband and kids.

Thanks all for the clarification. I had not been carefully following the other posts planning this trip or from the poster along the way.

I will say, if I felt like they do &amp; was less than 1/2 way thru a 7 week trip... I would immediately go to the airport and come home. Anything else seems downright masochistic.

Seven weeks with elderly parents? It would make a saint stutter.

(btw: Got the impression she was struggling with limited funds from phrases: &quot;...pay too much for what you got...&quot; and &quot;...take twice or three times the money...&quot;)