# Anyone else not a big fan of travel? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 6, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248 "2019-08-06T15:58:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/41 "2019-08-06T23:20:01Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Different strokes for different strokes. Don’t do it if you don’t enjoy it. Quite so. I live in the UK and used to travel to play international chess tournaments. (I’ve visited about 30 countries doing that.) Now I’ve made a great friend in Las Vegas, so I go there most years. I would like to travel to New Zealand to: - watch world-class rugby - go to Hobbiton ---
**Author:** ![Rayks\_Marcial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47c2d/32.png) [@Rayks\_Marcial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayks_Marcial)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/42 "2019-08-06T23:52:33Z")
Me. I love the rain and snow because it keeps me indoors (mainly in bed.) And my idea of a summer vacation is being inside the house, doors and windows open, watching tv or reading a book, and sipping from a tall glass of water and ice cubes. You spend more than a couple months pay to go somewhere, and come home tired, and marveling at how fast you can spend your money. ---
**Author:** ![neutro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@neutro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutro)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/43 "2019-08-06T23:57:29Z")
I have to agree air travel sucks. Last time I headed to Europe we took the QM2 from NYC to Southhampton and it was a fantastic experience. Would highly recommend if you have the time. Price wise even staying in a suite it’s not a lot more expensive than first class air travel (in fact it cost us almost as much to fly back as it cost for a week on the ship with amazing service). Overall though as I get older I enjoy travel less. We still take at least on major trip a year (e.g. went to Aus/NZ in Jan/Feb) and then usually a few other trips. Driving is the way to go if you can make it work (I have a Ferrari GT car that is amazing for road trips). ---
**Author:** ![Rayks\_Marcial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47c2d/32.png) [@Rayks\_Marcial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayks_Marcial)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/44 "2019-08-07T00:03:04Z")
But I must qualify. I don’t consider spending several days in my favorite hotel “travel”, even though it takes an international flight. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/45 "2019-08-07T00:27:50Z")
I was married 25 years to a woman who didn’t care for travel. At my urging, we went to Europe once, in the 90’s, and she _hated_ it, and that was it for international travel ever since. She liked camping; I did too, but grew so tired of it. The only travel exception was Hawaii, since were in California. We went to Hawaii _11 times_ and I was so over Hawaii as well. Nearly the first thing I did once divorced was take a trip to Italy, and it was so awesome. Since then I’ve been to Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Paris (for the 2nd time). It will take a very long time to exhaust me of the desire to see the world, since I spent so many years not doing so. I mean, yeah, Hawaii counts, but 11 times? ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/46 "2019-08-07T00:33:34Z")
I traveled plenty when I was young, and lived abroad several times. Now, I would rather skip it, and would, if my wife didn’t want to travel. As long as she makes the plans, I’ll go along. She’s a former travel agent, and good at it. I’m quite satisfied without traveling. I like my house, my family, my community, my circle of friends. Love my job and my colleagues. I’m passionate about my hobbies and activities. I like the comfort of having the stuff I like and need right at hand. My books, my ukulele, my family and friends, my wife’s (fantastic) cooking, my booze and weed, my cats and chickens. Mariners game on the TV… Traveling is nerve-grating, inconvenient, uncomfortable, sometimes painful, painfully expensive, and too often removes me from the very things that make my life comfortable and satisfying. So no, I’m not a fan of travel. Not these days. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/47 "2019-08-07T00:47:54Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > This is why I actually like organized tours. I also don’t like being around large groups of people I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/48 "2019-08-07T01:42:02Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I like the concept of travel – the ability to see things I’ve not seen before, visit interesting places, and see different cultures. > > That said, I’ve flown a lot for my job in the past 30 years, and I’d be content to never fly again. I’ll note that it’s not the TSA screenings that bother me – I have TSA Pre-Check, and I’m usually through security, even at O’Hare, in under 5 minutes. The issue, for me, is everything else that’s degraded the experience of flying in the U.S. in the past 30 years. > > Planes are nearly always 100% packed. My fellow passengers are ruder now. Flights seem to be delayed more often, with fewer updates from the flight crew on what’s going on. Unless you’re willing to pay a premium (and I often am not allowed to when traveling on business), we have less room in our seats than we used to, as the airlines cut the pitch between seats to put in a few more rows. The airlines nickel and dime us for checking bags, for food, for an extra few inches of legroom, etc. > > There is zero fun left in flying commerically in the U.S. I enjoy driving, and road trips, though I’d love to get back to Ireland (which I visited 20 years ago), and driving there isn’t practical. 🙂 This is also my experience. I traveled weekly for work for years, and still enjoyed jetting off on vacations. Now I’m just done. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/49 "2019-08-07T03:02:50Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I haven’t been more than a two hours’ drive away from my apartment in over ten years. I just don’t _care_ about the world out there. Why should I? I have made my apartment into a place I enjoy being in. Why should I leave? The sights? Don’t care. I can look at pictures if I want to, but I don’t want to. Hiking? Camping? How terribly unpleasant. Visiting family? Most of it lives here; the rest come to me. > > There is literally no reason for me to go anywhere else. Kinda this. Every day is a vacation in my condo. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/50 "2019-08-07T03:33:24Z")
I do not like the act of traveling. I’m typically labeled by coworkers as “calm” and “unflappable” but all that goes out the window when I travel. A tech meltdown I can fix and soothe others through, but being lost and being late both make me anxious. Once I’ve reached my destination, I tend to enjoy it, though. Except for worries about food - if I choose wrong I’m going to get hives at best, so I worry that I won’t find something okay to eat, especially when we have work dinners at an Italian restaurant. Other than that, I like seeing new things and being in new places. Or revisiting familiar places in NYC and Boston. I want to go to Alaska sometime. And maybe Ireland. Oh, and Florida, I’ve never been. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/51 "2019-08-07T06:38:49Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I enjoy travel as long as I can avoid flying. If I could afford first class air fare, that’d be OK, but being crammed into coach sucketh mightily. > > I like to cruise, and I’ve taken some fun side trips in various ports. I’m OK with driving places as long as it’s not endless days on the road. I think I’d enjoy train travel. Bus tours, not so much. But I like going to new places and seeing new things. Me also. 35 years ago I flew for work all the time, and it was great. Today, not so much. Though last year we flew to and from Hong Kong business class thanks to my daughter working for the airline, and that was pretty enjoyable. We drove around the country, Bay Area to New York on the Northern route, back on the Southern route, and it was less stressful than your standard air trip. We left when we wanted to, stopped for lunch when we wanted to, had our own car, and I booked hotels in one chain for the next night. I like to cruise also, and long cruises (over a week) are very relaxing. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/52 "2019-08-07T08:45:00Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > I’m not a huge fan of flying but the hassle is what you make it. When I fly alone I pack one carry-on, I have TSA PreCheck, Avis Preferred, and I walk fast. I can show up to most airports 20 minutes before boarding and be fine, I sit in my seat, get to where I’m going, get off the plane, and next thing you know I’m there. It’s fairly pleasant. > > When I travel with my kids it’s pure misery, even though they’re good travelers. It’s just so much more stuff. I’m flying o/s with my 2 grandkids in a couple of days, and we have two carry-on cases and one backpack between us. For two weeks. With three devices and all the cords, adaptors and power boards you could imagine! You need to teach your kids to PACK LIGHT, then empty the case again and PACK LIGHTER. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/53 "2019-08-07T12:34:16Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > This is why I actually like organized tours. I didn’t think I would, but I’ve found I really enjoy the kind of small group “adventure” tours offered by the likes of [G Adventures](https://www.gadventures.com/). … Yes, that sort of thing has some appeal to me. Awfully pricey, tho, when we checked. But, I guess you pay for what you want. I have NO desire to be shuttled on and off a bus in a herd. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/54 "2019-08-07T15:38:01Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The only kind of traveling I enjoy is on my feet or on a horse, either alone or in the company of a very few friends or beloved relations. Oh, I like bicycling, but you usually have to be around cars which ruins everything. The only thing worse than car travel is plane travel, which I loathe in every possible aspect. > > The only reason I travel at all is because my friends won’t always come to me, and some live very far away. > > I don’t like cities, people in any quantity over a dozen, or anything with a motor in it. I think the 19th century was my last chance at my kind of travel. > > I also live on a lovely secluded farm in one of the more beautiful places in the country, and do not feel restless. If you hadn’t made your “19th century” mention above, I’d have been tempted to say that you might well have found a kindred spirit in J.R.R. Tolkien 😉 . He hated cars and aeroplanes; and trains and railways also. As far as JRRT was concerned, the Industrial Revolution marked the point at which the world really started going down the tubes. He considered that that Saruman guy had a great deal to answer for… ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/55 "2019-08-08T10:46:05Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The TSA has ruined air travel for me. Car trips are more enjoyable. My hatred of airline travel is legendary. Up until a few months ago, I had free anywhere on a legacy airline – and never used it. Security, crowding, and invasive searches have put me off airline travel for good. Since “travel abroad” is a been-there-done-that category for me, my only interest is the USA, mainly national and state parks. Like others have mentioned, the absolute best way to see the US is by RV. I just spent a week at a beach with almost no one else around. I had to use 4WD to get there, but it was grand. And all my possessions, medicines, CPAP machine, and liquor remained untouched and unbroken in my RV while I was out. It’s nice not to worry about my stuff around cleaning staff, and I can leave the CPAP gear out to dry in my own bathroom. Add my own coffee, in a real coffee maker (not the hotel cheapo) and the ability to bring bicycle, drone, grill, and firewood for a campfire, and there’s no comparison to hotels for me. [Here’s](https://flic.kr/p/2e6aXTQ) my current ride, parked for an overnight stay (didn’t unhook the truck). ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/56 "2019-08-08T12:08:23Z")
I’ll say it again. I dislike going there, being there and returning from there. Other than that, I’m okay with traveling. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/57 "2019-08-08T16:40:06Z")
I feel no need to fly anywhere again. I love road trips. . ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/58 "2019-08-08T18:19:10Z")
> [@bump](#): > > But there’s a lot of merit to traveling beyond just looking at the great sights- we recently had a week-long road trip to South Dakota to visit some friends, and it was a blast. With the exception of Mt. Rushmore (friends live in Rapid City), we didn’t see any ‘great sights’, but we saw a lot of interesting small-town America type stuff and a few things we didn’t expect to be nearly so cool as they were, like the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS and the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum in Cheyenne, WY. To me looking back, those have been the best type of vacation: where you go somewhere off the beaten path and find something special. Destination vacations such as to Washington D.C., Key West, the entire Caribbean, Disney, etc. always leaves me underwhelmed. Instead of relaxing from your daily grind, you feel that since you have come all this way to see certain things, you and the family feel like they need to engage in a death march to see all of the sights, even though everyone would be fine skipping a few. It’s like “The Trip to Abilene” where everyone swears that they want to go to the Lincoln Memorial even though it is 101 degrees, 5 million people at the Memorial, and everyone really would like a couple hour nap. The Caribbean is the same. Yeah, it’s my week off so I would love to just drink and lie on the beach, but I paid several thousand dollars and I could drink and lie on the beach much closer to home. So I have to get “value” for my money and go to all of the tourist traps. The only exceptions in my experience (YMMV) was Paris and Las Vegas. Paris was absolutely wonderful and I damn near cried the last day I was there because I wanted to stay for a month. Las Vegas works on me with the lights and sounds and I can’t wait to go back. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/59 "2019-08-08T18:29:01Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > If you hadn’t made your “19th century” mention above, I’d have been tempted to say that you might well have found a kindred spirit in J.R.R. Tolkien 😉 . He hated cars and aeroplanes; and trains and railways also. As far as JRRT was concerned, the Industrial Revolution marked the point at which the world really started going down the tubes. He considered that that Saruman guy had a great deal to answer for… We’re still kindred souls. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248/60 "2019-08-08T18:31:32Z")
Oh, destination vacation, very pre-packaged, very ‘touristy’ … and be sure to upload ever goddamn minute to social media! BARF A lot of vacations I see people going on are just them being luggage. They’ve been places, but they’ve not experienced anything. . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-a-big-fan-of-travel/838248.md?page=4)