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Fernweh

Post 1

You can call me TC

The German word meaning the urge to be anywhere except where you are. Preferably a very long way away.

Something I've never felt. I live far enough "away" as it is, anyway.

I think I've inherited this from my parents. When I am old and grey (smiley - facepalm, I already am), I won't be spending large sums on world cruises or long holidays in inaccessible places. Like my parents, it makes more sense to me to spend that money on making the bathroom a pleasant place to be, and, with a view to the (hopefully) more distant future, making the whole house safe and accessible.

A holiday might buck you up for a week or so, but having a nice bathroom/bedroom/garden/kitchen will cheer you up and make things easier every day of your life.

Holidays just seem to me to be so superficial. You might get to find out what the Romans or the Vikings did in the place you're visiting, but not what people are doing there today, except other holidaymakers. To find out the interesting stuff, you would have to move to a place, work there, pay taxes there, send your kids to school there, go shopping there, attend coffee mornings, eat and drink out, and drive in their traffic.

smiley - erm

It has always been a mystery to me why people who win the lottery or a large sum of money on a game show, always say they are going to spend it on a holiday or a cruise. Perhaps they are just saying that, as a generic answer, and really intend to spend it on clothes, or they have a gambling addiction, or something too private to say... But most of them then go on to fantasise about where they are going, where they have always dreamed of going.



smiley - titsmiley - titsmiley - tit

Having said that, this morning, listening to the penetrating sound of the birds twittering in the trees and on the overhead lines, holding their "where shall we go this year" conference, I was, just for a fleeting second, attacked by a sense of wanting to go somewhere else.





Fernweh

Post 2

There is only one thing worse than being Gosho, and that is not being Gosho

There are few things better than a comfortable bathroom in which to take long, hot baths, especially on a cold winter night smiley - bigeyes

Holidays are often worth taking though. It's true that we've become familiar with so many of the world's historical sites through television documentaries, but it's still nice to see some of them. Too many have, I guess, become clogged with people all having the same idea, and although I'd love to see (for instance) Rome or the Parthenon I'd hate the crowds.

Wherever possible I try to take holidays by visiting people I know in other parts of the world and/or visiting places that have some relevance to an interest, rather than just seeing an ancient monument. For me, the best holidays have been the ones where I've visited someone and done everyday things - going out to eat, buying food and cooking it, walking around the town (or the countryside), riding on the buses or the trains, going to a pub or a bar, and maybe taking in a site or two if there are any nearby. The kind of life you might lead if you didn't have to go to work and could do what you want at home.

And while it's true that the buzz of a holiday might only buck you up for a short time before it fades, the memories last a lifetime. Who'd have thought that little old me would end up spending time in Manhattan or Los Angeles, just... hanging out.

Can't beat a good long soak in the tub with your rubber duck and your loofah though smiley - tongueout


Fernweh

Post 3

Recumbentman

Would you say you are a Heimwoller?

I feel the same myself. I've been to north and south America but no further east than Vienna, and I have no yearning to see Africa or Asia or Australia. My dad had major Fernweh and took himself off for a month every year, going everywhere he could, and my eldest brother built a boat and sailed it round the world, but there you are. The gene passed me by. smiley - tea


Fernweh

Post 4

KB

I do like holidays. If I had the time and money I'd take a lot more of them than I do.

But you've summed up pretty well why I don't do box-ticking tourism. I don't see the point of doing a whistle-stop tour of fifteen very famous things and seeing them for ten minutes each.

At the end of the day, you take your pick: you can have a breadth of knowledge and experience of a lot of different things, which must, of necessity, stay largely on the surface. Or you can have a much deeper knowledge of a smaller number of things and places. And there are arguments in favour of both approaches.

Eg., once a year or so, I try to get away on a holiday with my brother, it's a bit of a tradition. Now, I've been to Cologne a heap of times, but I'd still see plenty of reason to go back. I feel that there's still so much to discover there. But if my brother went once, his attitude the next time would be "well, I've already been there. Why not go somewhere new instead?" Which is perfectly reasonable too.

The only thing I really don't like is holidays with too much of a structured itinerary. I don't just go on holiday as a pacifist alternative to joining the army...


Fernweh

Post 5

Wand'rin star

How interesting that someone I think of as a friend should be so opposite.
Given the money I would go to Timbuktu like a shot (or anywhere warm really). The crumbling hip is making trains and boats and planes a bit harder, but it's also making lying full length in a bath extraordinarily difficult. The new year should improve both options and I'll attempt to get on the move again.
On the subject of revisiting old haunts, my sixtieth birthday was celebrated by the sons and their wives joining me on a tour of all the places I'd ever lived in England. That was eleven years ago and I recommend it to anyone with an equally chequered past.smiley - starsmiley - star


Fernweh

Post 6

Amy Pawloski, aka 'paper lady'--'Mufflewhump'?!? click here to find out... (ACE)

Of course, all of you do know that if anyone wants to visit the northern part of the coastal redwoods' range, there's someone there to show you 'round (heck, for that matter, the other end is covered, too, since that's where HN issmiley - winkeye)


Fernweh

Post 7

You can call me TC

We shall be visiting the States for our holidays for the next few years, Amy, as our son is moving out there and taking our grandson with him. I've got this far without crossing the Atlantic, but now I shall be happy to, knowing that I'm visiting someone and not just touring.

My parents' stick-in-the-muddedness may, in my father's case, have come from the fact that he spent his National Service (he was called up in 1939) travelling courtesy of HR Navy. He was posted all over the globe from India to Canada via East Africa. Then he spent most of his working life as a "travelling salesman" as they were known in those days. No wonder he didn't enjoy holidays. My mother is congenitally happy to stay where she is.

I can quite sympathise, WS, with your point of view, and I worry that not visiting places narrows the horizons. But, then again, travel for travel's sake, which many people seem to do with blinkers on, doesn't always give an insight into conditions elsewhere in the world.

There are probably people like Miss Marple everywhere - never been outside their village, but still able to analyse the workings of devious human minds, just by observing the people in her small circle of acquaintance. Feel welcome to pick holes in my analogy, I can't think of many Miss Marple stories off hand, and I am not sure she didn't go on trips either, but you get the gist of what I'm trying to say.
'


Fernweh

Post 8

Recumbentman

It's the Brontës' paradox.


Fernweh

Post 9

Gnomon - time to move on

I'd spent my life travelling if I could. I love seeing different places.

When I went to Istanbul for three and a half days earlier this year, I made a list of 30 places I wanted to see, and I got to see most of them. While this might seem like the "box-ticking" exercise Bluebottle mentioned, I saw enough of the places to decide whether they were worth a second trip, and I'll certainly be going back again to visit some of them.

Despite loving to travel, I haven't been to many places that the average youngster goes to, such as Thailand, Australia or even Spain (except for the Canary Islands).

But I have covered a lot of ground in Europe, been on a few trips to North America and have even ventured into Africa. My trip to Istanbul involved an two hour trip across to the Asian side of the Bosphorus, so technically I've been in Asia, but that doesn't really count.


Fernweh

Post 10

You can call me TC

Reading about your travels is always most enjoyable, Gnomon. You always go well-prepared, and manage to fit a lot in.

Preparation is vital. I hope that now my course has finished, I'll be able to take travelling more seriously, too. My husband has chronic itchy feet, so I won't be able to avoid it completely. We shall probably be taking a few weekend breaks to places like Bamberg or Augsburg, and, of course, the long-awaited trip to Geneva with a group of friends, including the tour of the CERN facility. There is plenty to read up on all of those before leaving home......


Fernweh

Post 11

Gnomon - time to move on

I feel embarrassed that in my September two-week holiday in Greece all I managed to do was a thorough exploration of the capital city of the island, a short walk in the countryside and a five-day course in bouzouki playing.

The rest of the time was spent swimming, eating and drinking.

smiley - smiley


Fernweh

Post 12

Recumbentman

At least you got the buzz smiley - musicalnote


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