S/O Leaving the country

[smilingmouse]

I turned 40 in 2020 and had my dream trip planned to visit: Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong (to finish my Disney parks around the world tour with my husband). All parks except Shanghai would have been repeats for me. After the parks, we had a few days scheduled to relax in Honolulu. Then...Covid. So, we started IVF about 6 months earlier than we planned. That trip is now on hold because we want our child/children to be old enough to enjoy and remember it.

Pre-Covid, we traveled internationally (cruise or land) at least once a year. Not sure how much that will change once our baby is born, but I am sure we will the little one will join us on several trips.

Travel is fairly common in our circle.

 

[Dizmom321]

I fantasize every day of MOVING to another (less toxic) country. Does this count for anything?

 

[China Expat]

Travel is my life! I have been to 120 countries and every continent except Antarctica!

 

[China Expat]

I fantasize every day of MOVING to another (less toxic) country. Does this count for anything?

Me too!

 

[fab1976]

Canadian here who doesn’t travel a lot. I would love to go overseas, but I have a very travel anxious spouse who has no desire to go. We have gone to Mexico, the Dominican and Florida as well as day trips across the border. Heck, even the day trips give him anxiety! So I have left our country, but have not crossed an ocean. And no, we haven’t seen much of Canada either.

 

[Colleen27]

Close friends of ours have zero desire to travel outside the US. One of them has a serious food allergy and the other is both blind and is physically disabled. They go to Disneyland a lot because it’s very disabled-person friendly and because they don’t have to worry about the food allergy when there.

The allergy thing is one of my husband's big travel worries. He basically isn't comfortable traveling anywhere that there's a language barrier because he has an anaphylactic food allergy and worries that he won't be understood when asking if a particular dish is safe. DD20 plans to work in Japan for a year after she graduates and DH is resigned to not seeing her for that year because it would be so hard for him to manage being a fish-allergic English speaker traveling in Asia.

Canadian here who doesn’t travel a lot. I would love to go overseas, but I have a very travel anxious spouse who has no desire to go. We have gone to Mexico, the Dominican and Florida as well as day trips across the border. Heck, even the day trips give him anxiety! So I have left our country, but have not crossed an ocean. And no, we haven’t seen much of Canada either.

I've got one of those too. Feels like something there should be support groups for, doesn't it?

 

[Karin1984]

Dutch girl here! If you drive from the Netherlands in any direction, in 1 - 2 hours you will be in the next country. Or you end up in the North Sea to the UK or Denmark
The Netherlands is so small, it is so easy to travel abroad. For people living in the South, they are quicker in Antwerp or Brussels, Belgium than that they are in Amsterdam.

With travel becoming easier, with plane tickets becoming cheaper, going abroad for a long or short vacation is done often. It's only due to Covid that we stayed in and discovered NL is nice too.
I think travel broadens the mind. I do not think it has to be abroad, your own country probably has a ton of different little cultures in each city/state/region/province. The main thing is being open minded to new things, different thoughts and ideas.

 

[kdonnel]

I had been around the world by the time I turned five. I only remember bits and pieces so travelling when young isn’t all it’s cracked up to be lol

We never stopped traveling when we had kids. We knew there was little chance our 1 year old would remember her party at Old Key West, but my wife and I sure do!

Traveling with small kids is about more than the kids having memories.

 

[CynBeth]

The allergy thing is one of my husband's big travel worries. He basically isn't comfortable traveling anywhere that there's a language barrier because he has an anaphylactic food allergy and worries that he won't be understood when asking if a particular dish is safe. DD20 plans to work in Japan for a year after she graduates and DH is resigned to not seeing her for that year because it would be so hard for him to manage being a fish-allergic English speaker traveling in Asia.



I've got one of those too. Feels like something there should be support groups for, doesn't it?

I have some family members with food allergies and I heard about a website called Select Wisely that makes allergy translation cards for some of the most common allergies that has English on one side and the other language on the other.

 

[rangerxenos]

If I could find someone to travel overseas with, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I'm fortunate, I have lots of vacation time and can afford it, sadly I'm married to someone who is a nervous flyer, and my friends either don't have the time and/or money.

 

[RUDisney]

If I could find someone to travel overseas with, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I'm fortunate, I have lots of vacation time and can afford it, sadly I'm married to someone who is a nervous flyer, and my friends either don't have the time and/or money.

I started traveling with my DD and leaving my DH and DS at home. My DD is a voracious traveler, as am I.

My DH doesn't mind flying... he just doesn't like NOT working. He also has no desire to see the world. He is well traveled, but stopped going with us around 6-7 years ago. His loss.

You're welcome to join us. Our next trip will be to Prague, Krakow and Budapest... whenever we can fly mask free and everything is open again. Depending on my DD's schedule at that point, I may go to India instead with my next door neighbor. My neighbor is from there and I know her family from their visits here. I also work with a lot of Indians and I want to meet them in person as much as they want to meet me in person. My travels will take me to Noida, Chennai and Pune to meet my coworkers socially, as well as to Jaipur and Agra.

I didn't travel overseas much when I was younger. Two weeks of vacation time per year isn't enough time to do a country well and still have days to take off when you need them. Now that I have over 4-weeks, it isn't difficult anymore.

I also take my nieces and nephews on vacation with me, though I have no issue doing a solo trip, either.

My motto is, "I have a passport and I'm going to use it."

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Two weeks of vacation time per year isn't enough time to do a country well and still have days to take off when you need them.

That was a big issue for me back when I was at the insurance company. I had 19 days of PTO to be used for anything and everything (including sick time, appointments, etc). You just can't even travel much in the U.S. with that let alone go out of the country especially far with distance to get there.

But even now when that isn't a big issue and when we eventually go to Europe I want 2+ weeks there. I can't seem to convince my husband to do a river cruise. He thinks because we're in our 30s we'll be outnumbered by retirees and he's probably not wrong but it is a way to see various countries and then be able to go back again to the countries you really want to. The only other concern he has is height since he's over 6'5" river boats don't tend to be all that tall.

I blame the show Dream Cruises for my desire to go on a river cruise lol.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Travel is my life! I have been to 120 countries and every continent except Antarctica!

That is amazing!! you must be a fascinating person to have coffee with - such tales to tell!

 

[CdnCarrie]

Dutch girl here! If you drive from the Netherlands in any direction, in 1 - 2 hours you will be in the next country. Or you end up in the North Sea to the UK or Denmark
The Netherlands is so small, it is so easy to travel abroad. For people living in the South, they are quicker in Antwerp or Brussels, Belgium than that they are in Amsterdam.

With travel becoming easier, with plane tickets becoming cheaper, going abroad for a long or short vacation is done often. It's only due to Covid that we stayed in and discovered NL is nice too.
I think travel broadens the mind. I do not think it has to be abroad, your own country probably has a ton of different little cultures in each city/state/region/province. The main thing is being open minded to new things, different thoughts and ideas.

Planning to visit Netherlands in 2023! 2022 is getting my Disney fix after 2 years of no travel....

 

[Karin1984]

Planning to visit Netherlands in 2023! 2022 is getting my Disney fix after 2 years of no travel....

Most important tip: Don't go only to Amsterdam. Other cities have the same things to offer like canal boats and canal buildings. There are great museums and castles, national parks, themeparks, local festivals to visit outside Amsterdam
To people from big countries, everything in the Netherlands is close together. East to West is 2 hours by car, North to South is 3,5 hours by car.

I have a little plan to start a social media channel to make reports/vlogs about everything that there is to do besides Amsterdam.

 

[Moliphino]

My sister and I try to go somewhere in Europe every year, though obviously not last year. My parents join us sometimes - my mom would like to EVERY time, my dad is more picky. We're going to Spain for two weeks this year (leaving in a month, Covid willing).

Work occasionally gets me out of the country. I've been to Munich and Guam (which is in the US, but I connected through Tokyo).

In my family, my generation travels internationally way more than our parents did. I did a semester abroad, as did at least 4 of my cousins.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Most important tip: Don't go only to Amsterdam. Other cities have the same things to offer like canal boats and canal buildings. There are great museums and castles, national parks, themeparks, local festivals to visit outside Amsterdam
To people from big countries, everything in the Netherlands is close together. East to West is 2 hours by car, North to South is 3,5 hours by car.

I have a little plan to start a social media channel to make reports/vlogs about everything that is to do besides Amsterdam.

What city do you live in?

 

[prairie_girl]

We never stopped traveling when we had kids. We knew there was little chance our 1 year old would remember her party at Old Key West, but my wife and I sure do!

Traveling with small kids is about more than the kids having memories.

Oh, I know. I wasn’t trying to imply that was the reason for their travels. I am the oldest of four and they never let us get in their way of travelling. Granted, we stayed home on more than one of their trips, but we still got to go places with them too.

 

[Karin1984]

What city do you live in?

Almere, most famous for being on reclaimed land, only exists since the 1980s and is a planned/designed city.
20 minutes from Amsterdam.

Ehm... if you ever come to the Netherlands and want to get out of Amsterdam, Almere is not the place to go people here find it an ugly city where you don't want to be found dead. But when you live here, housing is affordable, everything at hand, plenty of facilities.

If you want to see the historic cities outside of rhe Netherlands: Utrecht, Leiden, Delft, The Hague, Haarlem, Groningen, Maastricht. Or Apeldoorn, Amersfoort, Arnhem. Plenty to choose from.

 

[Christine]

I haven't traveled internationally in a long time, but used to do so for work occasionally. When my husband was in the Air Force we lived overseas.

I do think living overseas for some time definitely changes your perspective on how you view the world; however, I don't think the shorter trips I've taken changed my perspective at all.