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Archives & Readers' Guides => Old Discussions => Talking Heads ~ Curious Minds ~ Op/Ed => Topic started by: JoanP on June 27, 2011, 08:47:53 AM

Title: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: JoanP on June 27, 2011, 08:47:53 AM
Talking Heads #13 - TRAVEL

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"It occurred to me that nothing is more interesting than opinion when opinion is interesting..."
Herbert Bayard Swope, creator of the Op-Ed page.

Travel

Do you travel?   Why?

Where have you been?  Where do you want to go?


 

Why We Travel (http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/travel/03Cover.html)

Travel Quotes (http://www.52perfectdays.com/travel-tips/52-memorable-travel-quotes)
 		(http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/talkheads/armchairtravel%20(275x206).jpg)
Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Memorable Travel (http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/travel/01reader-essays.html?scp=2&sq=travel%20stories&st=cse)

Memorable Travel pt.2 (http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/travel/why-we-travel-readers-share-their-stories.html?scp=1&sq=travel%20stories&st=cse)

Most of us have been, or we want to go, “someplace else” at some point in our lives.
Come share with us, your memorable travels and places that are special to you.

July 3 - 16

Contact:   Pedln (ann.bartlett@att.net ) -
Title: Re: Talking Heads - July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on June 29, 2011, 10:54:47 AM
Who among us who has never travelled?  Across the sea – across the creek – to the other side of the state, the country, on the bus across town – or to those mysterious worlds we find from the depths of our armchair?

Why do we travel?  Do we really need a reason.

When I look back on my travels, much was family related.  When he was in the Navy, my son was stationed in Italy, so that prompted, at age 50+, my first trip to Europe.  A trip to Guatemala came about because my youngest was working there, teaching Mayan women how to make and use solar cookers.

But my first real memories are when I was about 9, my mother putting me on a bus in our southern Wisconsin city to go by myself “up north” to Scandinavia, pop. 350.  The bus stopped at every small town along the way, but I knew when I saw the big white building on the corner in Weyauwega, it was only nine miles more to Waupaca, where I’d be met by my aunt and uncle for the last part of the trip.  Then glorious, unsupervised days with my best summer friend Lois, the minister’s daughter.  I hoped her folks would cook lots of fish.  Lois was allergic to everything, including the smell of fish, so fish at her house meant she’d eat dinner at mine.

Gosh, are 9-year-olds even allowed to travel by bus by themselves anymore?

What are your memories?  What are your plans?




Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 03, 2011, 08:48:04 AM
Ah Ann, you brought back early memories. My grand parents lived in Portsmouth,Va. My parents and I lived in Kent County, De. My earliest memories are of my so homesick Mother, who would pack me into the car. We would drive down to the tip of the DelMarVa peninsula.Catch a car ferry there and go across to Virginia and drive the rest of he way. I loved that silly Ferry passionately. We went enough that I even got to know some of the crews and OneCaptain would invite me to the command area and I even got to help hold the wheel.. Have not thought of that in years. Now you take a bridge-tunnel and when you get to Norfolk and take the interstate to Portsmouth, the interstate from the tunnel is right where mygrandparents house was.. No more Henry St.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: jane on July 03, 2011, 12:48:12 PM
My Dad was big on vacations.  He took us on one week ones every summer, even though it meant he went without a check.  He worked as a salesman for a wholesale grocery company...back in the day when salesmen called on grocery stores and wrote out their orders by hand.  All salesmen worked strictly on commission...no work, no pay.  However, he and Mom obviously saved for this.  I remember going to Yellowstone ( a big trip from Ohio) and then to the Adirondacks (sp?) where my sister and I both remember (we were maybe 4 & 6) getting "cowgirl" outfits...little skirts and vests!  We thought we'd been given the moon.  We still both remember it like it was yesterday. And, yes, I still have my Hopalong Cassidy capgun (in the box--marked $1.00)!

Since then I've loved to travel. My husband and I have been fortunate to travel within the US and outside it. 

jane
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: ginny on July 03, 2011, 01:53:24 PM
OH man, what a great topic, travel!

The All American road trip! See the USA in your  Chevrolet, America is asking you to call! Route 66,. I was in my 40's before I saw historic Route 66.

My parents would load up the car like everybody else on the street in PA (but not like our neighbors who piled their suitcases on top of the car precariously, I will never forget when they got one of those things that enclosed all the stuff) and we'd drive off to the South where my parents were from. "Back in the day" with no air conditioning in the car and the summer time, does anybody remember those "air conditioned" seat cushions you'd put in and sit on which supposedly circulated air?

hahaha Oh my goodness North Carolina, the longest state in the union to my eyes when you'd cross it lengthwise, and possibly the hottest. Cotton fields. Wagons with mules lined up at the cotton gin. I remember stopping at a diner for breakfast and they served grits, this was in Virginia. I had no earthly idea what a grit was (like  My Cousin Vinny which I still think is one of the funniest movies I ever saw) and they made great fun of me. Now I live in SC and while my husband likes grits, trust me, no grit passes the palate here.

Remember the diners? OH man and the  Stuckey's with the clean rest rooms! You timed your ride from Stuckey's to Stuckeys. And how about the Burma Shave signs? Somebody's gotten a book out of them.

I also took my two sons separately  all up the east coast from SC and then across the country by train and drove all up the west coast, what  a country this is, what adventures we had.  I've been to all the states except the two Dakotas, Alaska and Hawaii (hard to drive to  Hawaii! hahaha) and  Wyoming. I hope to some day fix that situation, and I can truthfully say I didn't dislike any of them, so different and each one has great things about it.


Where's the best place you've been? Where's the one you cared for least?


I couldn't say I like one place better than others, I guess it would be where you go back. If that's so in the US NYC wins by a landslide. I did not care for San Francisco nor Denver, I know that's heresy, but I spent a week in San Francisco, it's not for me, but did like Alcatraz. Denver was a train trip thru so it really didn't have a chance and I shouldn't include it.


Why DO we travel? What's the best and worst places you've been if I may ask a question, I'm always on the lookout for new things I've missed.

I do want to see the lava eruptions on Hawaii, they showed on 60 Minutes you can take a boat out to them!  That's on the Bucket List. :)

Great topic!
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on July 03, 2011, 05:07:04 PM
Quote
We were very tired, we were very merry --
 We had gone back and forth all night upon the ferry.


That’s been running through my mind, Steph, ever since you told of your ferry rides to get to Virginia. I never paid any attention to that peninsula before, but what a trip that must have been and how you must have looked forward to the ferry ride.  Is it all tunnel now (how boring) or is there also a bridge so you can see something?

That’s a real trek for a week’s trip, Jane, out to Yellowstone from Ohio. And the travel bug has stayed with you ever since.  I’ve been in the Adirondacks once – with a group called Outdoor Vacations for Women over 40.  It was a weeklong canoe trip that started at someplace called Blue Pond – which I anticipated to be a small placid body of water. Ha – it was a lake, with waves.  But a great vacation.

Ginny, I’m with you on the grits.  However, if they are made with cheese, they’re not bad.  I put them in the same group as okra, unless the okra is deep fried.  How did you miss Alaska, and the Dakotas with Mt. Rushmore?  Though in all honesty, I must admit I’ve only been in one of the Dakotas – South?  In addition to Rushmore it has Wall – the Wall drugstore?  

Just now thinking of places I’ve been – quite a few, surprisingly.  More than I realized.  I won’t even try to say what was best or worst.  The Bucket List keeps growing, it seems with almost every book I read.  Margaret Maron writes so enticingly about Sea Grove, NC,  and then there are all those Tiffany pieces (from Clara and Mr. T) down there in the Morse Museum in Winter Park.  They’re possible doables.  And I want to go on that train through Canada -- from Toronto to Seattle or Vancouver.




Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 04, 2011, 08:45:26 AM
I have been to all 50 states, and overseas quite a bit,, Central America, the Bahamas and that area.. No Russia or China or Australia or South Africa..  I am going back to Scotland in early September .. So I love travel. When we had the Rv, we went all over the US.. but have also done a lot of long train trips in the US and Canada..
Place I go back to... Asheville NC, New Orleans, Savannah Ga, Nashvlle,TN.. any where in Kentucky... England, Scotland , Wales,, Small french towns, anywhere in SwitZerland. Places I plan to never return.. Jamaica, Bahamas, MEXICO.. Oh me, I hate Mexico.Filthy, rude. beggars everywhere. NO>
Oh the Bridge Tunnel is how you leave the tip of the DelMarva Peninsula now. It is pretty in places and fun,, but not like the boat.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: salan on July 04, 2011, 12:51:00 PM
We didn't travel much when I was growing up.  Money was tight and my father only liked hunting, fishing, or camping trips. 
the trips we took were all camping trips.  We spent a week every summer camping out at South Padre.  We also went to Big Bend and Carlsbad Caverns (can you tell that I am from Texas?).  My mother always wanted to travel, but alas, those were not the days when separate vacations were acceptable.  We did go to one of the border towns in Mexico and when I was in high school.  Mother, one of my older sisters, my little sister and I took a trip to Pensacola, Fla.  We stopped for a couple of days in New Orleans, and visited Bellingrath Gardens on the way.  It was great!  When I was in college, mother  inherited an annual annuity.  With that she gave my sisters and I memories of a lifetime.  She gave us money every year (this was after we were married) for what she called "a sister's trip".  The only condition was that this was a "sister's trip"--no husbands and children.  Fortunately, we all had understanding husbands.  We went to Jamaica, the Bahamas, Puerta Vallarta (sounds like Steph would have hated it!), New Orleans, London, Eng. and Paris.  For many years, we rented a condo on Port Aransas, TX.  We stayed a week and laughed, cried, played games, stuffed ourselves with fresh seafood and continued our bonding.  We continued those trips until a few years ago when my oldest sister was diagonosed with terminal cancer and died.  Somehow  our hearts weren't up to it.  We keep saying we are going to start up again, but age, arthritis, and physical limitations are holding us us.
I've written enough for now.  Next, I will be on to travelling with my DDH.  Oh, this is all bringing back great memories!!
Sally
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on July 04, 2011, 03:30:10 PM
Steph, I agree with you about Switzerland.  Just about any place there would be perfect.  I spent about 10 days there over 20 years ago, by myself, not on any tour, doing my thing until meeting up with my son and DIL in Oberamergau, Germany while he went to NATO school.  One of the most interesting day trips was on a milk and mail bus that went through many of the mountain passes.  What scenery, what roads, what a fantastic bus driver.

I’ve never been to Mexico, but right now it’s not high on the Bucket List.  Have you been to the Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY?  Really worth the trip. 

Sally, what a gift from your mother – a lifetime of memories. She must have been a very wise woman.  Of course, you know that lots of folks would give a right arm to camp in Big Bend or Padre Island.  My daughter went all the way there from Minnesota during one spring break from college.  I hope  you and your sisters will have another “sisters” vacation, if not travelling, then in a vacation house somewhere.

Have you had a chance to check out the travel quotes (above)?  Do  you have a favorite?

The journey not the arrival matters  T.S. Eliot

What was difficult was the travel, which, on arrival, is forgotten  Louise Gluck

These seem to contradict each other.  Today I agree with the first, tomorrow, who knows.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: jane on July 04, 2011, 03:56:42 PM
But with the problems with air travel, these days, maybe Ms Gluck knows of which she speaks!  We've had flights canceled while in one airport, hoping to get to another that day, and luggage that didn't get to the new plane, etc., but the destination was always worth it.

jane
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 05, 2011, 08:12:43 AM
When I go  by plane, the trip is horrid, but the destination wondeful.. On a train, the journey is golden..and on the river boats in Europe, it is heavenly as well.
PuertoVallarto.. Been there, horrid, went to the fish market and the smell drove me out.. Policemen with machine guns at the street intersections and people grabbing at you when you left the hotel compound.. Ugh..
Driving trips. I have enjoyed this one.. Drov 550 miles by myself since my traveling companion has Parkinsons and she no longer drives.. Enjoyed it. I was married for 51 years to a born driver, so have not drive that long distance stuff as an adult. When I was 19, I drove from Delaware to Oklahoma for a Lutheran Youth convention with another girl. She could not drive, so Idid all the way..
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on July 06, 2011, 10:46:46 AM
Quote
but the destination was always worth it.
  Jane.

As this traveler writing in Memorable Journeys (above) about all her trepidations, and reasons for not going ---

Quote
Then I stepped foot outside the airport in Kabul and actually saw the city and started to meet people. All of the effort faded from my mind, as well as any residual fears. I felt as though I had come home.


Does anyone really enjoy plane travel?  Perhaps the eight-year-old, seeing a city from above for the first time, or maybe the adult returning to a favorite locale and spotting a familiar landmark.  Back in the days of travel agencies, I’d tell the agent, when making plane reservations west to Seattle,  “a window on the left, going out, and a window on the right coming back.”  Alas, my knees no longer like window seats, but I still thrill when we pass Mt. Ranier.

I’m glad you enjoyed driving to North Carolina, Steph.  Driving is my preference, it’s so much easier to plan and pack, and you don’t have to pay if you change your mind about the departure date.

Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: jane on July 06, 2011, 05:17:13 PM
Pedln...plane rides have certainly changed over the years. My first one was from Paris to NY in 1964...lovely choice of a meal, pillow, attentive service.  The "good old days" are long over in the air.  I agree, however, that often the headaches of air travel are still worth getting wherever quickly to enjoy the destination.

Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 06, 2011, 09:17:24 PM
Travel to Europe entails planes..but I really resent this charge for everything attitude on the airlines part. Alas I am old enough to remember when it was fun..
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: nlhome on July 06, 2011, 10:46:45 PM
We didn't travel much outside of day trips when I was a child. I remember my first trip by plane - a high school trip to New York and Washington DC - as being overwhelming. But then I got married, and we did a lot of traveling, both by car and by plane. My husband did the most, through work, and I tried to go with him. Motion sickness tends to make air travel uncomfortable, so the longer trips like Hawaii didn't appeal.

Now, given the added conplications of security and high costs, I'd just as soon take car trips - so that the journey is as important as the destination...as said.

Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: kidsal on July 07, 2011, 03:49:14 AM
I worked in Alaska for the Air Force and traveled by bush planes to sites along the coast.  Some of the highlights:
Landing in Platinum, Alaska where the runway was also main street.
Flying over a hugh marsh believing we were going to crash when suddenly we landed on a long berm.  A rowboat came alongside the plane and two people got out and boarded the plane.
Suddenly hearing barking and realizing there was a large dog in a crate next to me.
Flying to Point Barrow with one of the Wien brothers as the pilot.  Wien airline was the first airline in Alaska.  He pointed out the sites along the way.  Told us that the oval lakes nearing Barrow were used in early days to navigate as they all pointed north.  Being that far north the compasses were unreliable.
Landing on the metal runway along the beach at the Point Barrow Naval Research Station (now closed).
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 07, 2011, 08:30:24 AM
That sounded like fun,Kidsal.. I love the bush pilots. Dana Stabenow always has a lot of flying in her Alaska stories..
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: jane on July 07, 2011, 11:18:52 AM
Wow...Sally...that sounds like wonderful...what memories and experiences most people will never have!
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on July 07, 2011, 12:03:23 PM
nlhome, that’s great that you could travel with your husband while he was working.  A good way to see lots of places.  Did you find interesting things to do while he was busy with work?

Sally,  I’ll bet those bush planes weren’t too comfortable either. You have really been NORTH and could probably write a book about your experiences.  Alaska is still the last frontier, isn’t it.  I’ve been trying to spot some of the places you mentioned on my online Streets and Roads map.  It still doesn’t show many roads up there.

I remember years and years ago, I was in high school or college, a neighbor family was going to drive from southern Wisconsin to Alaska, and they had to haul a trailer/cart with at least 12 spare tires because the roads were so bad, or non-existant.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: nlhome on July 07, 2011, 10:14:33 PM
Pedlin, I did enjoy those times I traveled with him. I always found things to do -I've never been uncomfortable doing things alone, so I would find museums, shopping, walks, restaurants, etc. When I think back, we saw more places than I thought.

The last years before he retired he spent a lot of time in Washington DC. I could go back again, after 6 visits,  and there are still places in that city I want to see or investigate more closely.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 08, 2011, 08:06:25 AM
I traveled a good bit with my husband when he did after our children were grown. Like you, I dont mind being alone and went to museums, garden, etc and always thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: maryz on July 08, 2011, 03:04:31 PM
We love to travel - we keep saying we're spending our children's inheritance on travel.  But, as the fates would have it, we're at the beach right now  8) , so I don't have time to write much.  Home tomorrow  :'( , and I'll get caught up then.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 09, 2011, 08:23:54 AM
Yes,  I am high in the mountains just now in North Carolina. It is beautiful, quiet and cooler.. Lovely, but is raining each and every day a bit..
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: kidsal on July 09, 2011, 10:13:14 AM
I and my mother drove the ALCAN highway three times in the days when it was a gravel road with only the towns paved (one town about every 400 miles).  We never had any trouble -- not even a rock in the windshield.  Pulled over when a huge truck approached so didn't get sprayed with gravel.  Of course I am from Iowa where there are still a lot of gravel farm roads.

Remember when a numbers cruncher from Washington D.C. wanted to know why people didn't drive from Anchorage to Nome as there was a road shown on the map she had.  Apparently a road had been planned -- except now the route is run by the dogs in the annual dog race.  Roads exist in few places.  Many people have planes to get to their remote cabins.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on July 09, 2011, 10:22:54 AM
And I'm sure your children are delighted that you're doing it, MaryZ.  Are they big travelers too, or are they waiting until a more advantageous time when their children are grown?

Steph, enjoy the "cooler."  The rest of the nation is HOT!

All you intrepid travelers out there -- how do you decide or plan where to go?  Do you research or read about your projected site before you go? Is getting ready part of the fun? 

 I was 50+ before I went to Europe for the first time, and my first step was to buy a Eurorail Guide.  Then, every evening I would sit down with these train schedules and dream about where I wanted to go and how long it would take to get from one place to another.  And from that I decided that for sure I wanted to go to Switzerland, and sent off to a lot of Swiss travel bureaus for information.  One of the best things I learned about was the 2nd class travel pass good for any train, bus, or boat in Switzerland.  And I travelled on all three.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on July 09, 2011, 10:38:15 AM
Sally, we were posting about the same time.  Have you read any of Sue Henry's mystery/thrillers set in Alaska?  The woman protagonist is a musher and her significant other is an Alaskan state trooper.  They're fun reads, and a TVmovie has been made of at least her first one, Murder on the Iditorod Trail.

Back in my school librarian days I remember hearing about Alaska's Battle of the Books -- a contest for school children where they could exhibit the knowledge they'd gained from reading.  And much of the time they had to be flown to the various contest sites.  I was impressed.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 10, 2011, 07:56:42 AM
Pedlin,, Does the second class pass have a place for luggage.. I seem to remember that someone told he that was a problem.. I love Switzerland, have been several times, but wouldlove to go again on my own or with a travel companion.. I love trains and have take the Glacier Express ( a glorious train ride) and several trains around Zurich.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on July 10, 2011, 11:17:27 AM
I don't remember that as a problem, Steph.  I did take a lot of day trips, but also had to take my luggage with me going on the train from Basel to Spiez to Lucerne to Innsbruck, Austria.

Some of my friends have travelled by means of a company called Untours. You would book travel through the company, air, car rental if needed, and the lodging would be usually an apartment in a smaller city.  Then you could take day trips, do meals as you wished -- in restaurants or shop for breakfast in the grocery store.  I've never booked with them, but that type of travel appeals to me more than a scheduled tour.

Tours have the advantage of eliminating a lot of hassels, but can be rigid at times.  I remember often not having enough time at a site, getting back to the bus on time and then having to wait for people who held everyone up because they were shopping.

What are your thoughts about schedules and flexibility?
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: jane on July 10, 2011, 12:12:53 PM
I like scheduled tours. We've gone with what was TWA Tours where you were in a city for 3-4 days and after a half day general tour of the area, you were on your own.  My husband and I did ok with that. I'd been to London, Paris and Rome before so had some ideas about what I wanted to see again, where things were and how to get around on the subways, etc.  Many in our group were clueless. They had no idea what to see, how to get anywhere, except by taxi, and, I think, missed out on a great deal.  We later traveled with Grand Circle and that was fine.  Lately, we've been going with a local group through our bank...and that's been wonderful.  Entrance into popular places goes much faster  if you're with a group...no long lines at Versailles, the Vatican, etc.  Groups go in by other entrances and you're not wasting time trying to get the right bus back or resorting to expensive taxi rides because you can't find the local transportation, or are nervous about driving in a country where you don't know the rules or understand/speak the language.

jane


Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: maryz on July 10, 2011, 12:31:52 PM
We've done a couple of trips with Untours and LOVE them!  We were thinking about one in Spain for this fall, but got sidetracked by a couple of grandchildren weddings  :D  Next spring is a definite possibility, though. 

We did two weeks in Switzerland with John's sister & BIL and a 14-year-old grandson of each couple in about 1998 or 99.  And we did a 3-week/3-city tour of Prague/Budapest/Vienna in about 2006 with just the four of us (no grands).  Both trips were terrific.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 11, 2011, 08:32:35 AM
Tours are useful sometimes. But yes, upon occasion, I mark down that I want to go back and spend more time. Pompeii for me i sa good example. We spent four hours and I want to go back for several days..
Untour.. now that has possibilities for me.  but my thoughts just now are a regular tour when I am alone is probably the best bet. I dont mine paying the single supplement if I have to. I do howver want to take the boat tour in the nordic area.. I think that both Vantage and Grand Circle have a 15 day boat tour traveling all over the Baltic, etc. Sounds great.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on July 12, 2011, 11:00:36 AM
I guess there’s something to be said for both kinds of travel, Jane.  Being with a group got us into the Louvre ahead of the mobs, but allowed us only two hours inside. Two hours?  In the Louvre?  Really!  But then there are places one probably wouldn’t go to unless with a group.  I know I wouldn’t have walked through Amsterdam’s Red Light district without Henk and Ton, our group’s intrepid leaders.  (This was actually an education tour, and we did visit schools, among other things.)

I like the idea of spending 3 or 4 days (or even longer) in one city.  Steph, the one thing I wished when I went to Pompeii was that I had had a guidebook just for Pompeii.  My son had given me his guidebook that had only a few pages devoted to it.  Looking back, I can't believe I ever got there.  DIL dropped me off at the train station in Naples; I somehow got on the right train, and somehow got off at the right place.  Now, after learning so much more about it from Ginny's classes, I definitely want to go back.

In one of the Memorable Travels (above) a woman writes about being on vacation in Indonesia, and the concern expressed by so many towards her, even though they didn’t know each others language.

In another excerpt a young man, travelling with his girl fried in rural Egypt, tells this about communicating with another

Quote
Every once in a while everyone had to get down from the truck, as its wheels would spin in the muddy ruts of the dirt road. On one such occasion, as we stood in the desert sun, a nomad with a stick appeared.

This was 1973. My hair was blond and really bushy and stuck out all over like a big Jewish Afro. The nomad sported a big, bushy Afro Afro. We stood across the road from each other separated by the dirt track and lives spent in very different circumstances. We gawked and gawked. and slowly we both smiled at each other like a sideshow funny mirror. We never spoke a word, but the communication was certain.


What are some of the things that you especially remember?
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: rosemarykaye on July 13, 2011, 07:42:44 AM
This is fascinating - you Americans have such different experiences!  Kidsal, your description of flying in Alaska was absolutely wonderful, I can just imagine those people getting out of the little boat and onto the plane as if it was perfectly normal.

My mother's family was extremely poor, but they, along with many other families, used to leave London in the summer to pick hops in Kent.  Jacqueline Winspear gives quite a good fictional description of this annual exodus in one of her novels.

As a child, the most we could run to was a week in one of the then very popular coastal "holiday camps" - I expect you had them in the US too.  There would be row upon row of little chalets - they were just sheds with beds and a kettle really, the bathrooms were communal and elsewhere.  The meals were served in a huge dining room, there was a lot of organised activity - games, talent shows, cabarets, etc.  There was always a fancy dress parade, and I have awful memories of my mother dressing me up in cardboard boxes covered in crepe paper to look like a liquorice allsort  ;D.  My mother loathed every minute of it, (and I can understand why - for example, if you were late for breakfast, which we always were, everyone in the dining hall would cheer and bang their plates - mortifying) but I seem to have enjoyed it myself.  I do recall that, if you wanted to go out for the evening, you simply tied a handkerchief to your chalet door to let the staff know that you wanted the baby listening service.  They patrolled around, and if they heard an infant crying the parents would be summoned by loudspeaker - imagine any of that now!

Later on, I used to spend summers with my mother's friend and her family in Fowey, Cornwall - I absolutely loved it, it always seemed to be baking hot, the river was so interesting, and the walks across the fields to Polridmouth were wonderful.  I am just now reading EE Nesbit's "The Wouldbegoods", which is the sequel to "The Treasure Seekers".  It was written in the early 1900s, and is about a family of middle-class London children who are always in scrapes.  It is narrated by the oldest brother Oswald, and it is very funny, but also very reminiscent of times long gone.  In this book, the children are sent into the country for the summer (having disgraced themselves in London by taking all their uncle's prized stuffed animals and setting them up in the garden to reproduce The Jungle Book) - their adventures in the countryside remind me so much of my own in Cornwall, and also of my children's when we lived in the country, and they were lucky enough to spend their days making camps and climbing hills, largely unsupervised.  I think for me those would be the best sort of holidays - sightseeing is just so exhausting!

There is so much of the world that I would like to see, but apart from the cost and the childcare issues, these days I am really put off by flying - the endless sitting around, the uncomfortable seats, the virtually nonexistent service.  I remember the first time I flew to the US - by myself, aged 19 - everything seemed so much more luxurious, and they even had Elizabeth Arden toiletries in the washrooms!

Rosemary
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 13, 2011, 08:18:01 AM
I looked up Untours.. It is actually quite expensive, but looks good for certain areas. They dont do England which disappointed me. When we were on the river boat from Paris to Normandy, we stopped at wonderful small towns and I would love to go back and visit them for more than a few hours.
Ann...Pedlin...Maybe someday you would be up for flying into Naples and somehow spending some days in that area.. I could spend days in Pompeii and would love to take the train to Mt. Vesuvius.. Ginny says there are fun small hotels in the area.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: rosemarykaye on July 13, 2011, 08:50:39 AM
Steph - when my friend and I went to Pompeii, we stayed in Sorrento rather than Naples - we were a bit scared of Naples as it is a notorious pickpocket/mugging place.  We easily got the train from Sorrento to wherever it is you get off for Pompeii, spent the day there then took the train back.  Italian trains are very cheap (so far!!) and simple, and the ticket booth people are well used to understanding non-Italian speakers.

We also took the ferry from Sorrento to Capri, which was pretty but busy.  We didn't take the cable car up Vesuvius because I was too much of a wimp  >:(

Rosemary
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: maryz on July 13, 2011, 02:11:09 PM
Steph, Untours has a "sister" company that does English-speaking countries.  It's called Home at First, and this is the web site.  Same type system, I think.

http://www.homeatfirst.com/
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: jane on July 13, 2011, 04:47:40 PM
THANKS, Mary, for that link.  We've been to the UK, including time in  London several times now, so something like this is very appealing to us. 

jane
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: maryz on July 13, 2011, 06:50:09 PM
jane, if you ever decide to go, and want some company maybe near by, let us know.   ::)
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: jane on July 13, 2011, 08:02:47 PM
Will do!
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 14, 2011, 08:07:20 AM
Trains.. and Sorrento.. Sounds like a winner to me. I know that Naples is considered dangerous and I dont want to end up mugged.. leave that for the large US cities..
I rented this cottage for the month from www.homeaway.com  and it has all over the US. Good descriptions, pictures, etc.
I need to find a traveling companion who loves to explore, go to classes, museums, poke in corners.. Been trying but thus far no luck.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: rosemarykaye on July 14, 2011, 08:16:05 AM
Talking Heads #13 - TRAVEL

A   forum for opinions on anything in print: magazines, newspaper and online articles.
Bring your ideas and let's discuss.

(http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/talkheads/talkingheadssmaller%20(300x219).jpg)
"It occurred to me that nothing is more interesting than opinion when opinion is interesting..."
Herbert Bayard Swope, creator of the Op-Ed page.

Travel

Do you travel?   Why?

Where have you been?  Where do you want to go?


   

Why We Travel (http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/travel/03Cover.html)

Travel Quotes (http://www.52perfectdays.com/travel-tips/52-memorable-travel-quotes)
 		(http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/talkheads/armchairtravel%20(275x206).jpg)
Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Memorable Travel (http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/travel/01reader-essays.html?scp=2&sq=travel%20stories&st=cse)

Memorable Travel pt.2 (http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/travel/why-we-travel-readers-share-their-stories.html?scp=1&sq=travel%20stories&st=cse)

Most of us have been, or we want to go, “someplace else” at some point in our lives.
Come share with us, your memorable travels and places that are special to you.

July 3 - 16

Contact:   Pedln (ann.bartlett@att.net ) -



Steph - I love doing all of those things, and the places you go to in the US sound so interesting - but unfortunately I am in the wrong country and also still have my daughters to consider - however, they are growing up, so you never know.  I am really hoping to go to Boston next spring for the US Barbara Pym conference - I have wanted to go for years but family stuff has always intervened.  2012 will, I hope, be the year of independent travel at last.

Rosemary
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: maryz on July 14, 2011, 09:24:17 AM
Steph, those rentals look great.  I'm sorry your companion search hasn't worked out yet.  I'm sure you'll find a good match sometime.  We've found that our "perfect travel companions" are John's sister and brother-in-law.  They're the only ones that we enjoy travelling with - and fortunately, they feel the same way about us.   They live in So California, so we see them infrequently - maybe that's why.  ::)
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on July 14, 2011, 09:45:35 PM
Goodness, Rosemary, what a fascinating childhood you must have had. You holiday camps really sound like a lot of  fun – for the kids, anyway.  Sometimes vacations are harder on the moms because they still have all the work to do, but not the usual things to do it with.  I agree with you about sightseeing – it’s great to do, but not every day of a vacation.

Steph, I’d love to go to Naples again, but sure wouldn’t want to drive there. A cable car up Mt. Vesuvius sounds great, she says from the safety of her chair.   It’s been over 20 years since I was there. My son was in the Navy and assigned to the NATO base there.  We had met in Germany and then drove through Northern Italy down to Naples.  Their apartment was on the 4th floor, so on our arrival night they put a lot of stuff on the elevator – but only once. Then we carried the rest of our stuff up four flights. WHY? – you needed a 10 lire coin for the elevator and the government was no longer minting 10 lire coins.  One of Cliff’s co-workers invited us to his home for dinner.  He and his wife had an apartment and his MIL and SisterIL had another on the same floor.  I don’t remember how many courses they served – a lot – but what amazed me was each course was served in a different set of china.  (20+ plus years ago, they were paying $4 a gallon for gas.)  And in Italy I fell in love with gelato.

I’ve enjoyed looking at the homestay link, Steph.  Hope you’re enjoying your stay in NC – that could almost be a US Untour.  Did you say you’re at Highlands?  What all are you and your friend doing up there this month.?  A friend of mine was at an Elderhostel (or whatever they call them now) in Northen GA (I think Hiawasee) not too long ago.  One of their excursions was on a train in the mountains, and another was to the Folk Art School at Brasstown, NC.

So many places to see  /  So many books to read  /  So little time to do it all.

What’s the next place, wishful or real, on everyone’s agenda?
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: nlhome on July 14, 2011, 10:26:04 PM
Rosemary, I enjoyed reading about your memories.
I think traveling means going where you can, when you can, and enjoying it. Some of my best memories have been of trips close to home, like the drive along the Mississippi River with stops to have lunch and watch the barges. Just a different scene and life.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 15, 2011, 08:31:34 AM
Highlands is great, but the road up to it is horrid. Narrow winding with a lot of lunatics speeding on it.. Sigh.. Brasstown. That is John Campbell Folk School. My husband ad I went every year for a course and adored the place. Like being back in the 30's.. No tv, no phones in rooms, communal eating and walking everywhere. Hiawasee is great as well. We took the RV there, stayed on Lake Chatuge and always took our kayaks. Great Italian restaurant there.
I dont want to stay in Naples, but somewhere where I can get to Pompeii. I suspect there are trains..
I love travel and adore Elderhostel. Am considering an elderhostel in November in Berea and Pleasant Hill, Kentucky.. Classes on Berea college and then the Shakers in Pleasant Hill. Sounds like my kind of  classes. I have been to both places and loved them and this is a safe way to go back.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: maryz on July 15, 2011, 10:07:53 AM
Berea is great, isn't it.  We haven't been through there in years.  We do love the Elderhostels, too.  There are always singles at each program, so it's easy to do.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: jane on July 15, 2011, 04:46:24 PM
We stopped in Berea a couple years ago enroute home from a week at Seabrook Island.  We loved Berea and got a lovely handmade paper lampshade I have in the bedroom and still love.

Our next "possibility" is 15 days in Norway, Sweden, Denmark. It's not  the usual ocean tour boat thing. This is inland in those 3 countries.  It would not occur until next July, but we're going to the travel show for more details next Monday night.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: maryz on July 15, 2011, 04:51:42 PM
We spent time in Scandinavia a while back, jane, and just loved it.  I hope you do, too.  We were with our usual travelling companions, and did our own things.  We did include a couple of interior tours that we booked ourselves, one of which was on the Norwegian ferry system, which went up the coast to the Russian border.  It was a terrific trip. 
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 16, 2011, 07:35:30 AM
Any one traveling around Kentucky, do make a detour for Pleasant Hill. It is an old Shaker community.. all restored and lovely.. A restaurant that is splendid and if you want you can rent a room upstairs in the buildings.. It is the most peaceful place I have ever been to. Makes you want to sink in and stay forever.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on July 16, 2011, 06:07:36 PM
Quote
Some of my best memories have been of trips close to home

How true, nlhome.  And the Mississippi River, north or south, always has a lot of attraction.  It’s too hot to venture out now, but when the flood gates are open, folks here bring their lawn chairs down to the river and watch the water flow.

And 25 miles down the pike we have the Stars and Stripes Museum, a little-known gem that houses the history of the military newspaper first published during the Civil War.

That’s interesting about the ferries in the Scandinavian countries, MaryZ.  I hadn’t thought about ferry travel there, but it sure makes sense.  Jane, I do hope plans work out for you and your husband to visit those countries.

I’m bringing up the map, Steph, to check out those places in Kentucky.  They sound good.

Nlhome and I have the Mississippi, MaryZ’s got Lookout Mountain, what  do the rest of you have in your  back yard.  (When I was a kid in Racine, we’d drag all our out-of-town visitors to see the Johnson Wax building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.)

This site might help you find something close to home –

Virtual Globetrotting (http://virtualglobetrotting.com)
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: maryz on July 16, 2011, 06:47:58 PM
Here's a link to the Hurtigruten Ferry (http://www.hurtigruten.com/) system in Norway.  It's a combination working local ferry system and cruise ship.

Chattanooga has Lookout Mountain, but lots of other stuff.  Outdoor Magazine always gives us high marks for outdoor activities, plus we have the great waterfront and the Tennessee Aquarium - lots of stuff to do.  Come down any time.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 17, 2011, 07:56:15 AM
I have lived several places with view. I prefer water views and just now live in a townhouse on the edge of a very large lake.. Lots of boats, waterskiiers, airplane who land on ater and experiemental airplanes that sound like large lawn mowers. fun.. Just now for the month of July, I live in a rental that is 4500 feet up on a mountain. Lovely far view, but we are perched on a gorge and I dislike lookng down from our porch.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: pedln on July 18, 2011, 10:13:37 AM
Well, it looks like we’re about at the end of our travels here.  It’s really been fun learning about where everyone’s been, where they hope to go.  I loved the Norwegian ferry link, MaryZ, and will have to spend more time looking at those very enticing photos.  Jane, I hope Norway works out for you next year.

Rosemary, will we get to see you here in the States next spring, at the Barbara Pym convention?  We should plan a SeniorLearn get-together around then.  New England wouldn’t be TOO cold in March, would it?

Everyone, thanks so much for your participation and for sharing the memories.  May your feet or your armchairs continue to take you to new vistas and return you to old ones.

I’m flying to Seattle on Thursday to be with daughters and families. And am hoping to see SL’s Judy Laird again.

We’ll keep this site open for a few more days, so do feel free to add your 2 cents.  Have you added any places to your bucket list because of a book?  Carolyn Hart’s Murder on the River Walk sent me Steph’s homesite to look for San Antonio.  The list keeps growing.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: rosemarykaye on July 18, 2011, 12:36:38 PM
Pedln - I have been trying to get to the US Pym conference for at least 3 years - every year something or other has stopped me, so I am really hoping that 2012 will be the year.  At least we won't be moving house!  If I do make it, I would love to meet up with SeniorLearn people too - it wouldn't be worth just coming for 2 or 3 days.  I don't think the weather would bother me - I used to live in Newfoundland remember  :)

I have discovered so many interesting-looking places to visit through novels - since reading Louise Penny I am keen to visit rural Quebec (have been to Montreal but only briefly - loved it); Joan Medlicott makes me want to visit the South; reading Alexander McCall Smith has given me a desire to visit Jura; Jennifer Chiavernini makes me want to see rural Pennsylvania; Paul Scott - India; Dana Stabenow - Alaska - and i still get lots of pleasure from coming across places in Edinburgh that feature in Ian Rankin, McCall Smith, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, etc.

Enjoyed this discussion - thanks all

Rosemary

Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: Steph on July 19, 2011, 07:54:56 AM
Ann, the answer isthat it sometimes even snows in New England in March, but it would be fun to have a bookie thing there..If we plan ahead, I may even get to go.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: roshanarose on July 28, 2011, 09:34:18 PM
As we relive our holidays here, there are so many memories that feel so tangible and yet are so difficult to describe.  Holidays and happiness with loved ones now gone.  Yet, my most memorable holidays were both in Greece where I travelled alone.  Holidays and their adventure bring out a side in us that even we are not aware of.  That's why I love to travel alone.  Unless I have my love with me, that is what I prefer.  I remember when I first went to Greece in 1982, my boss, an academic of indeterminate age, said to me.  "Carolyn.  Just remember that no one in Greece knows you."  I knew exactly what he meant and let everything flow from then on. 

Closer to home, one of my most memorable holidays involved our cat, Oedipuss.  It was completely out of the question not to take Oedipuss with us.  Every year we would try to holiday at a different beach on the North Coast of New South Wales.  The cat enjoyed beach holidays and camping equally.  One time we rented a small beach shack which fronted onto an estuary.  The shack had its own small row boat.  We decided to see if Oedipuss would like to come for a row with us to a nearby sand islet.  We had been getting him used to the row boat by taking him on very small trips, and he enjoyed it very much.  So off we set, ex hub, me and Oedipuss in this small row boat.  We jumped out of the boat on the islet.  The cat loved adventuring and searched around for something to occupy him.  Suddenly we heard this shrieking and rushed to see what was up.  Oedipuss was being besieged my plovers.  He had wandered too close to their nests, and they were dive bombing him.  Oedipuss rushed back and jumped into the boat and got under the seat.  We rowed back home with a very chastened cat.  Oedipuss was not so keen about the row boat after that.   
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: rosemarykaye on July 29, 2011, 02:09:24 AM
Roshanarose - what an amazing cat!  I would always have been too worried about losing a cat to take it on holiday.  Sounds like yours was quite a character.

Rosemary
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: roshanarose on July 29, 2011, 10:50:57 AM
Rosemary - Cats enjoy and appreciate it when you give them the benefit of the doubt.  They are a lot like children in that way.
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: rosemarykaye on July 29, 2011, 12:48:53 PM
Well mine are certainly like children in that the one always wants what the other's got - for example, this morning one of them sat on her cushion on the windowsill - the other one has an equally nice cushion next to her, but still insisted on pushing onto the first cushion, so they were both teetering like sardines (if sardines can teeter...)

Rosemary
Title: Re: Talking Heads ~ Opens July 3 - TRAVEL
Post by: roshanarose on July 30, 2011, 01:57:45 AM
Rosemary - Oedipuss was indeed an extraordinary cat.  One day we drove into a service station (gas station in US speak) and there was a tiny, emaciated kitten eating a chip (french fry in US speak).  As soon as he spotted us he waited for us to open the car doors  and promptly jumped in the car and curled up on the passenger's seat.  We asked the owner if the cat was his and he told us that the cat was a stray.  That cat was Oedipuss.  He knew from the very beginning that we were his.

Rosemary : I hope that you (and your cats) have a successful move and are all settled very soon.