Any other travelholics here?

[speeder]

Love to travel. a gazillion miles on UAL but I'm trying not to fly them anymore (they've really gone downhill and once you've flown Emirates....). Next trip we're planning is Seoul/Singapore/Bali. So much more to see. Think we'll do South America on a cruise even though we've never cruised. really want to see Chile/Ushuia/Beagle Channel. And there's a lot of Europe we haven't seen, Scandanavia, Eastern Europe etc.



The bad part is it kills my track budget. Can't afford fresh Hoosiers and business class.

Air France business class Los Angeles-CDG is approx. $7k per person RT. That's a lot of tires.

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by BE911SC

Just got back last week from three weeks in Paris, Zurich, Lauterbrunnen, Munich and Vienna with day trips to other places such as Luzern, Bern, Lugano, Fussen (castles) and Bratislava. .

I'll be our paths crossed over there........Left June 3, returned July 2.....Drove 2,600 miles in 9 countries, many of the places you were.......

Agree with your driving assessment except Italy.....It's a whole different world.....Got hit in 2009 by a driver in a clapped out Alfa coming full tilt around a curve on my side of the road.....

[Jolly Amaranto]

Yup, love to travel. Grew up a military brat around the Pacific rim from the Philippines up and around the ring of fire through Alaska to the West Coast and points in the middle like Guam and Hawaii. Been across the Atlantic a number of times on business and for pleasure. Still on the bucket list is South America, Australia and New Zealand.

[BE911SC]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

I'll be our paths crossed over there........Left June 3, returned July 2.....Drove 2,600 miles in 9 countries, many of the places you were.......

Agree with your driving assessment except Italy.....It's a whole different world.....Got hit in 2009 by a driver in a clapped out Alfa coming full tilt around a curve on my side of the road.....

Yeah, I haven't driven in Italy yet! I'm not really initiated until then right?

I was pissed when I got home because I was in Lugano and Monza was about an hour or so away and it hadn't crossed my mind to go see. Would have gladly added that to the day's activities just to have a peek and the old banking, especially since Jim Garner just passed away this week. Next time.

We drove down to Lugano (and back) from Lauterbrunnen over the Susten Pass and there must have been 200 motorcycles out there! Another bucket-list item.

Was pining for my Cab over there too. Saw several nice air-cooled 911s and wished I was in one.

[cairns]

Still on the bucket list is South America, Australia and New Zealand.

Been to NZ a few times- don't miss Queenstown and the fjords. Australia we've been to maybe 15- there is always something new to delight every time we go.

.....and there is the handle I have to live up to.

[stealthn]

Buttons and good looks only gets me on a Greyhound to Balzak.

[Eric Coffey]

I'm with Rick Lee. Been to a few places, and would love to see a lot more. I just loathe the entire commercial airline/airport travel process (especially when multiple legs are involved). Even on the occasions when I've upgraded to first, it is still a pain overall IMO (shuttles, TSA, customs, waiting, jet lag, living out of a suitcase, cell-phones/SIM cards, currency exchange, being trapped in a germ-tube for hours, etc.). It can wear on a person.

We just need Joe A to sell his boss on the idea of donating seats on dead-leg flights to fellow Pelicans! Slumming it on a Challenger 600, with no security/waiting probably wouldn't suck.

Originally Posted by speeder

My brother is platinum status on Emirates, the best airline in the world. He flies a lot. Me, not so much.

Yeah, even with the above mentioned issues, taking a first class flight on Emirates and British Airways is on my bucket list. Might have to do the expat thing in Dubai for a couple years!

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by motion

Dubai

Let me know if/when you make it over. Who knows, I may be there by then. If so, we can BASE the Burj Khalifa!

[nostatic]

I will do most anything to avoid traveling, particularly flying. If I have to for work I'll do it with the minimum time away possible. For fun - no freakin' way unless it is a driving road trip. The only exception is if I'm going somewhere to play. I've seen enough of the world, and I have plenty to do at home, broadly construed. But I know I'm likely an exception.

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by nostatic

I will do most anything to avoid traveling, particularly flying. If I have to for work I'll do it with the minimum time away possible. For fun - no freakin' way unless it is a driving road trip. The only exception is if I'm going somewhere to play. I've seen enough of the world, and I have plenty to do at home, broadly construed. But I know I'm likely an exception.

.
Not at all the exception.
When I retired in '08 and sold my business and my CA property, I bought a motor home to travel around the US to look for my new home. I'd meet folks who'd tell me that I MUST see this place and that place.
To cut this short, after just two months of being on the road, I thought, "How many more mountains and National Monuments do I need to see?" After a point, they didn't impact me.
I headed for AZ and bought a place within a month or two.
Bottom line for me - I don't care if I never leave home.

[Bill Douglas]

I like to travel, in fact I love to travel. But I'm certainly not in the league of you big boys.

[Hugh R]

My employer, Disney, pays me to travel. I'm 60 and in good health and sort of enjoy it. Domestic gets old, I've been to Vancouver, BC like 40 times in the last 12 years. A few years ago, I was going to Prague, Istanbul, Budapest, London, Germany, Italy, Slovinia, Slovakia, Auckland, Paris, etc. Purse strings have tightened up. Now its mostly domestic. But I may be going to AU and NZ in the Fall for a couple of Features. Getting paid to travel the World, what's not to like? Internationally I fly Business or 1st Class. Domestically and to Canada, coach.

Last week and this, I was in Vancouver and Wilmington, NC, which are a slog.

[Bill Douglas]

GF used to do drug trips overseas. That doesn't sound quite right. She used to work for a drug company and she got flown 1st class/business class everywhere. Nice hotels in Berlin etc. She sure racked up a lot of airpoints that way.

[speeder]

I like being other places more than getting to them for the most part. That said, it's always great to get home to L.A. I've got it good here.

[stuartj]

Originally Posted by BE911SC

Yeah, I haven't driven in Italy yet! I'm not really initiated until then right?

I was pissed when I got home because I was in Lugano and Monza was about an hour or so away and it hadn't crossed my mind to go see. Would have gladly added that to the day's activities just to have a peek and the old banking, especially since Jim Garner just passed away this week. Next time.

We drove down to Lugano (and back) from Lauterbrunnen over the Susten Pass and there must have been 200 motorcycles out there! Another bucket-list item.

Was pining for my Cab over there too. Saw several nice air-cooled 911s and wished I was in one.

Driving in Italy is great. Its Bangkok where Im just not game, but its much better now than it used to be.

In Italy, especially regional Italy, there are so many, many great roads, perfect roads. Empty roads. Its magic. The Italians can all drive and are very cool about other people wanting to go fast. Unlike where I live....Once, we set off up yet another perfect mountain road leading yet another fortified village in an Alfa, only to happen upon a taxi- with a fare on board. He saw me coming up fast, and he offed. Fare or not, I couldn't catch him, and its was 10 miles of fantastic driving. We got to the top, had a chat through the windows, he was laughing, the paying passenger was laughing, the smell of cooked brakes filling the cars. Just great fun.

Im going to Bangkok next week, wont be driving....

[Bill Douglas]

You guys reminded me. Phew, driving in Italy between Naples and Amalfi, I think it's called Sorento. I clipped mirrors with a police car coming the other way. Current GF was "Stop, stop". I said "You have to be joking, it will take them 10 minutes to turn around." I don't think the cops would have cared as it wasn't that unusual.

[porsche4life]

I enjoy travel, learning to despise work trips with drives, but such is life!

Last week on Sunday left and flew to SD. Flew back on Friday. Got home at 830, repacked and we drive to LA for the weekend(4am arrival). Got back home Sunday, laundry and Repack Monday to leave early Tuesday to drive 8 hours to New Mexico. Will head home tomorrow. Get home around 5. More laundry and heading back to LA on Friday. Thank god I've got an intern with me for this NM trip, I get him to drive for a bit and try to get some work done when I can get cell service. Otherwise it's siesta time.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

You guys reminded me. Phew, driving in Italy between Naples and Amalfi, I think it's called Sorento. I clipped mirrors with a police car coming the other way. Current GF was "Stop, stop". I said "You have to be joking, it will take them 10 minutes to turn around." I don't think the cops would have cared as it wasn't that unusual.

Yes, Sorrento.. Lovely town! Fun as you start to notice the street becoming narrower and narrower, until the side mirrors hit and you grind to a halt. Then the locals start honking from behind, yet you can't go forward, and the other locals from the balconies start yelling at you... Good times.

[TheRedSlantnose]

I've been all over the US, mostly business trips, sometimes vacations. Back in 2005, my wife and I travelled back to our native Laos, and that's so far the last time I've travelled out of the country. I've been trying to convince my son and daughter to go to Laos someday since they never lived there, being born here in the US, but I bet they'll like it there

[creaturecat]

We just returned from riding 5000 km's on the motorcycle.
In Europe. France and Germany.
Highly recommended.
The Europeans "get" what motorcycling is all about.
We always felt safe and respected, in traffic, unlike here, in Vancouver.

Somewhere in Bordeaux: