travel, living locations

[wispfox]

I often wonder what it is that other people look for when traveling, beyond visiting specific people. Same as far as where people choose to live. So! I ask y'all what you think.

When you are traveling, especially if it involves returning to a place you've visited before, what makes your decision on where to go? I'd rather avoid answers which are specific to people instead of location, because people is already why I travel most of the time. I want other answers. I want to know where to go, why to go, and what to do when there. Outdoors and indoors, places to eat and places to visit, places to feed my mind, my ears, or my eyes. Sell your favorite places to visit to me!

Similarly, if you like where you live, or somewhere that you have lived in the past, why? If the answer is specific people, that's fine, but I want to know more than that. Is it access to specific social groups? Activities like museums or parks or forests? Safe neighborhoods? What?

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

The places I like to visit for a weekend trip are (1) within a few hours drive, and (2) relatively low in population, and (3) scenic, and (4) reasonably inexpensive.

Examples: York County Pennsylvania, where pagawne and I spent a lovely weekend a couple of weeks ago, checking out the county historical trust and the scenic (and safe) downtown walkways. The same can be said of Mechanicsburg PA, home of the nation's oldest herb shop, and Lancaster County PA, home of the Amish folks who will take you for buggy rides and - if you ask very kindly - will share their views of the world along the way. Going slightly further afield there is the Virginia tidewater country, down around Chincoteague Island. Or the Shenandoah Valley, from Harper's Ferry stretching 300 miles south into Tennessee and offering the breathtaking vistas of the Blue Ridge parkway just to the east.

[jirikido.livejournal.com]

well, i've visited 25 countries, and lived in four for periods of up to a year so far. my favorite places so far have been, in no particular order, costa rica, new zealand, japan, barbados, cambodia and thailand.

cambodia stands out as the most intense experience to visit. there was one day where i visited the most famous killing fields, a torture museum, shot off munitions including an AK-47 and a rocket launcher, and then had a meal with a cambodian family who were fascinated by my digital camera.

new zealand, pre LOTR, was insanely beautiful and relatively quiet, a world in miniature, mountains, glaciers, volcanoes, ocean, desert, bungy jumping, sky diving, hot air ballooning, all things i've seen. and drunk 20 somethings. lots and lots of them.

some of my older LJ postings include the complete Asia journal if you are interested, 9 weeks in thailand, cambodia, vietnam, malaysia, singapore and japan.

i liked barbados for the weather, gorgeous beaches and easy going lifestyle. the dancing, all night club scene and general friendliness of people was encouraging. the proximity to other islands allowed me to see half a dozen other caribbean cultures.

i like cambridge for the Lifestyle, the history and the way in which i feel normal here. i can only imagine living in three cities in the US: boston, seattle and SF. the universities encourage a young creative class to settle here.

i liked edmonton because it was safe, sane and a good place to grow up and be *from*. i could go to real mountains and glaciers and hike quiet trails and be by myself.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

the complete Asia journal if you are interested

Sure!

And... edmonton is where?

[jirikido.livejournal.com]

[warning large files]
http://www.livejournal.com/users/jirikido/2004/03/17/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/jirikido/2004/03/18/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/jirikido/2004/03/19/

and edmonton is my hometown, edmonton, alberta, canada, kinda montana and take a north about six hours.

[rosefox]

Travel:

"Civilized!" Anna snorted. "I've had enough of civilization. I want to see new places. Different places."

--Judith Tarr

Home:

"But it feels like it," Pan said. "It feels as if the whole city's looking after us...."

The city, their city--belonging was one of the meanings of that, and protection, and home.

--Philip Pullman

And the sublime blend of the two:

"I haven't left that many things behind for what I consider forever," he said. "That's one of the benefits of being a wanderer. You can always wander back to what you miss."

--Sharon Shinn

I go places to see what they are. If I've been there before, I go to see what they are now, to savor the old and miss the absent and delight in the new. If I've never been, I go to seek out the familiar and the unique, to fit the place into my concept of "world" and learn how it stands alone. I go because nothing compares to one's own experience.

What is unique about the "I" hides itself exactly in what is imaginable about a person. All we are able to imagine is what makes everyone like everyone else, what people have in common. The individual "I" is what differs from the common stock, that is, what cannot be guessed at or calculated, what must be unveiled, uncovered, conquered.

--Milan Kundera

Places have an "I" too. Like Tomas with his women, I want to seek it out in as many places and as many ways as I can.

Travel forever would be wearying. Home forever would be boring. I live an endless cycle of go out and come back, accept input and process data, experience and understand. The best understanding can be done at home, where I am comfortable and supported; but the best understanding also requires the best experience, the new and unique and unimagined. So my favorite places to go are the ones that fill me up with fascinating data, and my favorite places to live are the ones that cherish me while I categorize the data and integrate it with what I knew before. It's not something I can sell you on. As with any partnership, when you find your home, you know, and no one's suggestions for or against have any meaning. As with any dalliance, when you travel, you have your own goals (that may or may not be met depending on how well you match them to your companion). If you tell me what you're looking for, I can make recommendations. I can pull up plenty of things that I like about places to go and places to be. But all my place-loves are places I love because they are right for me, and that doesn't mean terribly much about their chances of appealing to anyone else, nor does it need to. Why I like is easy. Why I love is... well, ineffable, really.

(And now I have to choose between my 'travel' and 'home' userpics! Perhaps I should just create an animated one that shifts slowly between the two. That would be very appropriate, given the cycle above.)

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

travel: i like seeing places i've never seen. often for me, a draw will be something i've heard about but not seen: like Opus 40 in NYState (a rock quarry turned artwork).

when i have the desire to go back, it's usually because there's more that i want to explore. like Paris. i loved Paris. i want to go back because there's at least one park that i want to visit that i didn't before, and others that i want to revisit and spend more time at. and it's as big as NYC, and i need more than 5 days there to get enough of it.

home: i miss NYC because of the great huge mass of people there. not people that i know personally, but because there's so many different people there. i am a huge people-watcher, and NYC is the greatest city in the world for people watching. it's also got the greatest window shopping in the world. even when i don't have money, i can entertain myself by walking around, looking at the people and the stuff.

i miss New Orleans sometimes because it's so energetically whacked and strange. it's very invigorating.

i miss New Haven because of the cheap living and nifty art community and strange friends i had there.

n.

[jirikido.livejournal.com]

ohhhh yes, of course Bourbon Street is my most favorite single place in the whole world. I've had more weird and wonderful experiences there than anywhere else.

[fredcritter.livejournal.com]

You like the BIG questions, eh? I mean, I, for one, can't even begin to answer that one off the top of my head -- too many places I love for too many reasons. And a simple list won't suffice, will it? It's a question that is well worth an answer, though. Let me get back to you....

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

You like the BIG questions, eh?

Yes. And that's why lots of people read me. ;)

Let me get back to you....

*waits*

[ladytabitha.livejournal.com]

I am not useful; I only travel to meet up with people.

(The only time I ever travel otherwise is when I go to a hotel not in the area, so that I have a change of pace for a night, and I only did that because I had a wicked discount from the Park Plaza.)

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Heh. I only travel under great duress.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Really? You didn't seem under duress at Arisia!

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

It was duress that made me slam down my little fist and say "I am getting the FUCK out of Atlanta this weekend because I am NOT DEALING WITH THIS!"

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*nods* True. Good point.

Re: travel

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is that while I think about travelling to other places for the locale, I almost always do it for the people. I just don't have time otherwise. If somehow things were to change, I'd travel for museums, and forests, and water, and mountains, and trees, and … you get the picture.

As for choice to stay, it has to be a climate that both cindygerb and I favor; both meteorologically and politically. It has to be a big city; Seattle isn't one but it's weird enough to make up for it. Lots of bookstores; lots of natural beauty.

So, what do you choose on places to travel, on places to live?

Re: travel

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

So, what do you choose on places to travel, on places to live?

See my next post. :)

Re: travel

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

What things do you like about big cities?

[danodea.livejournal.com]

I almost always travel to see people. Occasionally I travel with people to Do something - for example, later this month a group of us is going down to Schlitterbahn water park on Padre Island.
Along the way I've seen several places, from CA to NYC, but the places weren't the reason.

Next Summer I'm planning to go to Ireland for the O'Dea clan gather, and spend a week or so in addition to that exploring. Part of that is to see the place, but the reason to see the place is... people. Roots. Going back to where my family (both sides) came from when they emigrated to the states. Then the rest will be exploring Ireland with the possible idea of either relocating there, or retiring there. I'll be with a group of friends, of course - about 5 or 6 of us will be going.

I do love where I live. Austin is a wonderful mix of city and country, of city amenities built on seven wooded hills surrounded by lakes. The land here is scrub forest, mostly red oak, live oak, and juniper. The air quality is good. The presence of the state legislature and a handful of universities combine to create the most liberal city culture in Texas. There is a very strong environmental/ecological movement here, with various non-profits interacting to slow development and help keep Austin green. Barton Springs pool is a natural spring fed swimming pool, easily larger than an olympic size pool. The spring itself was a native american holy place, and the presence there is unmistakable to those who are sensitive to such things. The Arboretum shopping center up in NW Austin has several cool stores, including both a large 2 story Barnes & Noble, a Sharper Image, a local sub shop and a local 'homemade' ice cream place, and a walkway leading down a wooded hill to a pond that is home to ducks, geese, and occasionally a couple of swans - one of my favorite places to go sit and eat lunch while talking with friends.
For those who like music clubs, Austin is called 'the capitol of live music' because of the club scene down near Sixth Street downtown, and venues like City Limits, Zona Rosa, and Stubbs Barbeque.
Downtown Austin is rather old for Texas, with several building that date back into the late 1800's, including a couple of theatres - the State and the Paramount - that show a variety of unusual movies and host a couple of performing troups. Regional and national troups also come through - we recently went to see Cats! at Bass Hall on the UT campus. The Frank Erwin center on the UT campus routinely hosts national bands.
For a bit of odd local culture, Austin has more bookstores than almost any other city, ranking second highest per capita the last time I looked.
Also, because it is the state capitol, it has an even better road and highway system than most of Texas - and Texas in general has one of the better road and highway systems in the nation. The downside of that is that there is always construction going on somewhere. :/

[jirikido.livejournal.com]

totally agree, Austin is the only livable city in Texas, the rest scares the living hell out of me. i used to work for a business unit of my current company based in Austin, so i lived there for six months and thoroughly enjoyed it. the live music scene, large IT community, the hippie remenants, alternative medicine and the U of T mix to produce a blur of creatives and fun.

[regyt.livejournal.com]

I usually travel to see people, but also simply because I'm drawn to go places I've never been before. I can give you specific recommendations of stuff to do and see and people to meet in several cities, but I'm not sure that that's what you're asking for.

I live in NYC because it and I are deeply symbiotic, or perhaps echoes of the same concept, one in concrete, the other in flesh. Again, I can give billions of details of places to eat, shows to see, festivals I love, secrets I care for, people, &c. But I do that, slowly, in my LJ, as you've seen.

Next summer, I will move to wherever I find an interesting job. I am free. And my city will always be here for me, wherever I go, anyway.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I can give you specific recommendations of stuff to do and see and people to meet in several cities, but I'm not sure that that's what you're asking for.

I'm not sure what I'm looking for, either, so it would hardly hurt to try. ;) If you want, of course!

simply because I'm drawn to go places I've never been before.

Oh, ditto. Very much, ditto!

[doubleyou.livejournal.com]

So far, when I've gone to places on vacation, it's usually been to visit someone. But I usually find a reason to go back. I'm planning a few trips to places just to see the places, and not any specific people.

Here are some places I've been that I would definitely return to:

• Boulder, CO: I was sent here for my job for a week to take a class. The class was from 8am to 4pm, and the rest of the time was mine. It was like taking, not only a paid vacation, but a paid-for vacation. There were plenty of neat places to eat at and hang-out at - book shops, tea houses, etc. There was even a gorgeous tea house with architecture reminiscent of India. There's also a gorgeous jogging/biking/walking path through the town that follows the river, which people go tubing in. The river goes past their excellent library (which I used for its internet access). On top of it all, it's a college town, and the mountains are gorgeous.


• Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Walnut Creek, Alameda, Ukiah, CA: I was here to visit my dad in Ukiah (3 hours north of San Fran) and to visit my friend in Alameda. I also drove all over the place over the span of my 2 week stay. Santa Cruz was nice, but had its seedier side (which is probably why The Lost Boys was filmed there). Its neighbouring town Capitola was very nice. Walnut Creek was also nice, but expensive looking (Tomatina is a good restaurant on the main drag, and there are a couple nice bookstores). And San Francisco was a nice city which I didn't get enough time to explore. I want to return to see more of it.


• Portland, OR: I went there to visit a bunch of my family, who were converging upon my cousin who lived there at the time. It's a nice college town. I could've spent all day at Powell's Books, but I only had an hour. Multinomah Falls is gorgeous, and the country to the south (I went as far as Salem) has plenty of wineries you can visit (we accidentally found the winery that makes Dead Red).


• Duck, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, NC: I was here on three separate occasions for family vacations, the first of which was in 1990. I could spend all day talking about this area, as it has sentimental value for me. My first time there I met a girl, who was the first girl to "notice" me - she literally grinned up at me from her poolside chair as I walked by. I was too shy to do anything the first time, but I went back and talked to her. We kept in-touch on and off since then. But that's probably not why you'd want to go to that place. ;)


• Tampa, FL: I've also been here on a handful of family vacations, so there's a little sentimental value there. Also, I think the Tampa Bay area is just beautiful (last time I saw it at-least, which was 1987).


• Boston, MA: I've had a few visits here, but it's been a while. One of those times was while visiting Ashley, who lives in Massachusetts. But you already live near Boston, so it's probably low on your list.


• Princeton, New Brunswick, Red Bank, Sandy Hook, Long Beach Island, Cape May, etc. NJ; New Hope, PA: I live here. So there's tons of places here I like to visit. Princeton and New Brunswick (home of Rutgers) are nice college towns. Sandy Hook and Cape May are only the endpoints of the long string of great Jersey Shore (LBI being somewhere in the middle - bring a bicycle if you go there). And New Hope is just across the Delaware River - it's a quaint colonial town with a heavy leaning towards an alternative crowd, with decent bookshops, wicca stores, a couple medieval clothing and weapon shops, game sores, clothing shops, restaurants, and other interesting places (if you go here, eat at Wildflowers).

That just covers some of the places I'd like to revisit. Then there are other places I'd like to go to for the first time: New Zealand, Ireland, Australia, Prince Edward Island, Japan, Iceland, etc.

Hope this helps! :-)

[doubleyou.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, not that it makes a difference, but Ashley is the girl I met in Duck. I just realized I used her name without giving it a reference, which was probably confusing.

[doubleyou.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, one more thing. I realize I was skimpy on details about specific places, like restaraunts and museums. Part of the reason is that I'm too lazy to go look them up at the moment, but the other is that it would make my reply twice as long. I tend to find the places experimentally, just by exploring the area. In fact, exploring the area is half the fun. That's what I did for most of my Bay Area stay, and for much of my Boulder "business trip".

[australian-joe.livejournal.com]

I'm not much help to you here - my travel is either to see people, so I go where the people are, or for work, so I go where the work is.

It's very rare that I travel for pleasure not based on people. The few times this has happened in the last five years have been more or less at the instigation of local partners, to whom I (of course) handed most of the planning.

Mostly our decisions were made based on cost, ease of travel (with none of us driving), and some specific attractions like scenery, adventures, etc.

K & I took a few days in New Zealand piggybacked on an academic conference she was attending, and we did things like a helicopter ride up to a glacier where we tromped around on the ice for a few hours, a cross-country scenic train ride, etc.

I've done similar things with Z where we had a bus tour through a beautiful section of winding coastal roads I wanted to show her, and stayed overnight in a silly little country town. We also more recently did a wine tour combined with a country bed & breakfast which was good.

Many years ago I had a driving trip with a then-partner and we drove wherever we felt like down the West Coast, stopped where we felt like stopping, side trips when we felt like it, and so on. That was pretty good.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

some specific attractions like scenery, adventures, etc.

See, that's the kind of things I want to know, and generally _don't_ know. So, you _are_ some help. :) (So there! ;)

had a driving trip with a then-partner and we drove wherever we felt like down the West Coast, stopped where we felt like stopping, side trips when we felt like it, and so on. That was pretty good.

That sounds a _lot_ like my eventual plans to wander around the US (http://www.livejournal.com/users/wispfox/111818.html). Hopefully _with_ other people, of course, but we shall see where my life is when I finally get around to that.

Was talking to weegoddess last night about this, actually - I tend to think that I don't have long-term plans, but then I remember that right this very moment I:

plan to visit wolfieboy when I have a better sense of what's going on in Aug and Sept, want to try to meet bridgetester, want to visit shadesong again, want to come visit you, want to travel around the US after I pay off school loans and save up enough, want to do massage school, and then perhaps try to figure out a way to combine my interest in energy work, massage, and picking through people's brains (when they are cooperating with it).

And I claim I have no plans. Sheesh! And that's not even including all the various cons and con-like things I intend to do! (baitcon, bicamp, falconridge, arisia, altpolycon, etc)

I should post that somewhere, so I don't forget. Perhaps something similar to my shorter-term plan list... *thinks*

[opalmirror.livejournal.com]

Travel. I want to go someplace where I can experience a different view on the world than I do in America. I want to experience the details of how people live day to day. I want to understand local values and cuisine. I want to explore how people interact with their environment. I want to see how they take care of their home.

There are wild places I've visited by hiking that I return to again and again, because they remind me of how I am a small creature that individually has a modest effect on it, but with my culture and society I threaten its very existence. The clean, natural beauty of the wild places puts me in my place, forces me to acknowledge my personal choices. I am always grateful for being here in this time and this place to witness and get to know my environment.

Living. I want to have an intimate relationship with the physical environment and an appreciation of where it came from and the best ways to honor it. I value broad support of social systems that encourage basic fitness and wellness. I value people who view themselves as world citizens with an interest in all humanity, more strongly than they view themselves as a nation. I look for people who live comfortably but pay attention to what their impact on the world is. I look for the encouraging of free thinking and the support of the voice of radical artists.

So, I look for living situations where wild places are easily accessible via hiking and trails. I look for a reverence and a desire to maintain the wild places in their natural state. I look for community of people with some socialist values in health and the basic dignity of individuals, particularly the sick, lame, or destitute. I look for music, art, and dance that reflects world interests. I look for a lot of elbow room, quiet, safety, lack of crowds.

I want to visit New Zealand, to see constellations I've never known in the sky, to see a land wild and untrammeled in some respects but also under the grip of a conservation debate. I want to understand how many of the failures of earlier western civilizations have attempted to be avoided by the relatively recent European settlement of NZ. I want to understand the truce and institutions set up between the recent immigrants (Pakeha) and the less recent immigrants (Maori). I want to see if I want to live there, maybe grow old and die there.

I want to visit Waterton-Glacier National park (and many outdoor places), to walk upon the cores of a volcanic chain that rivaled the Andes and see more of the tremendous gouges they left behind; to see tiny true fir battling for water and survival at high elevations in their struggle with ice, sun, wind, and water. To feel my breath laboring within me as I trundle my body along the narrow paths with sweeping views of rock, ice, gravel, trees, and wild things. To see the tiny lakelets perched on the edge of a dropoff, and the wind raising small waves upon them. Three Sisters and Jefferson Wilderness in Central Oregon evoke some of this too, as do the Wallowas of NE Oregon.

I enjoyed the two weeks I spent in Troncones and Zihuatanejo, Mexico - on the Pacific coast a few hours West of Alcapulco. A sleepy town, Troncones, just a strip of houses and B&B's along a long sandy beach. Each morning up before sunrise, walk the sand and see the brilliant colors of the Sun. Enjoy flowers and tide pools during the days, or trips in to the colorful town of Zihua, or rent a VW beetle and careen down the narrow highway to ruins or other towns. Warm days, warm nights sitting in family restaurants eating ceviche, local lobster, or a whole fish broiled and the covered in diabla sauce. Burros. Coconuts. A local wedding party. Rays of light. The sound of wild creatures in the bush at night. The stars overhead. The gentle hermit crabs scurrying across the palapa kitchen tile floor at night. A quiet bite of dinner in subdued light after sunset and dark. Lying in a hammock watching the geckos triumphant smacking noise after eating a tasty bug.

Social group and cultural access living near and in the city taught me a lot about who I am, what I want, and what motivates me. It performed a sort of personal validation. What is really important to me though, is how I live and communicate with my immediate natural surroundings.