# How old were you when you first left the country? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 19, 2020, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119 "2020-04-19T12:45:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Kovitlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kovitlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kovitlac)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/101 "2020-04-21T16:11:05Z")
I admittedly don’t remember exactly, but my best guess is 11-15. We went on a family trip to Winnipeg. It was my first time to Canada and it was a good trip. I remember the hotel had these maps for kids showing exaggerated signs for local attractions. I also remember visiting the park at the border, and getting into a playing “argument” with kids on a train over which made more sense - Fahrenheit or Celsius. Or which was better, because theirs undoubtedly makes more sense? The one you use will always be ‘better’, so it was pointless, but fun 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/102 "2020-04-21T16:16:16Z")
I was 25, and I went to the UK to a wedding and followed it up with a tour. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/103 "2020-04-21T16:42:24Z")
When I was 16, my family flew to the U.S. Virgin Islands. We were in international airspace going to and from, but that doesn’t really count. When I was 43, my wife and I, on a visit to Glacier National Park, crossed over to the Canadian side of the border and explored a bit. (This was pre-2001 when you didn’t need a passport or anything.) That was the one I counted in the poll, even though we were only barely outside the U.S. Since then, we’ve traveled to Europe twice, made three trips to Russia to adopt the Firebug, and been back to Canada - Vancouver this time. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/104 "2020-04-21T16:50:39Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > So would an Englishman consider himself to have left the country when he travels to Scotland, or vise versa for a Scotsman traveling to England, etc? Or do you only consider yourself to have left the country if you exit the UK? Based on your post it sounds like the latter. It’s hard for us colonists to wrap our heads around the idea of a country composed of four constituent countries. 😉 Well, as I didn’t need a passport to cross the border, _I_ would say the same country. Others might give you an argument. j ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/105 "2020-04-21T16:58:41Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > From the age of 12, we, too, used to take a ferry to France, where I was the designated translator. My Dad insisted I interrogate every waiter to make sure the beef wasn’t, in fact, horse meat and\*\* my Mum wouldn’t let me pet any cats and dogs, because ‘they might have rabies\*\*’. My bolding and God, yes, exactly this. It must have come from crappy low-end tabloid newspapers (The Daily Express in my parents’ case), but we landed in Calais convinced that virtually every animal in Europe was rabid. j ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/106 "2020-04-21T17:00:41Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Well, as I didn’t need a passport to cross the border, _I_ would say the same country. Others might give you an argument. > > j Of course you don’t need a passport to cross from France to Germany either, but I’m pretty sure a Frenchman would say he’d left the country in that case, not just when he leaves the Schengen Area. Although in that case there’s also a language difference, whereas most modern Scots speak English. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/107 "2020-04-21T20:25:24Z")
Wow, I would not have predicted that 70% would 15 and under. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/108 "2020-04-21T20:54:28Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > The margarine was white and had a little breakable bag you added to make it yellow; something about the dairy industry insisting. > ar. What year was this? My mom told us how they used to do this in the US in the 1930s! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/109 "2020-04-21T20:55:44Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I hardly count. Moved to northern Maine at age seven. Right across the border from a small Canadian city and a ski hill not too far away. The whole time I lived up there crossing the border consisted of this: > > “Anything to declare?” > “No.” > “Thank you.” > > And off you went. I spent half my teen years in Canada, where the skiing was cheap and the drinking age was 19 (18 a short drive away in Quebec). What town did you live in? My sister and her family lived in Presque Isle for like 5 or 6 years. I remember how close they were to the New Brunswick border when we visited. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/110 "2020-04-21T21:15:22Z")
I don’t know if this counts, but I just remembered that when I was 4, the family was taking a summer road trip. We stopped to visit one of my dad’s old army buddies who worked for the Anaconda Mining Company. He and his family were living on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico. Technically, it’s a separate “country.” I still remember playing with the Navajo kids, and, one day, my dad’s buddy took us in the back of a pick-up truck to see a uranium mine. I have a clear memory of him saying that if we went off the road (the mine entrance was on the top of a mountain) we’d be “dead ducks.” It’s the first time I’d heard that expression, and it really stuck in my brain. I thought it was cool. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/111 "2020-04-21T21:39:22Z")
I’ve danced around exact locations for some reason, but I’ve mentioned it before. I grew up in Madawaska, about an hour north of Presque Isle, right across from Edmonston, NB, which was like three times bigger than Mad Town. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/112 "2020-04-21T22:39:09Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’ve danced around exact locations for some reason, but I’ve mentioned it before. I grew up in Madawaska, about an hour north of Presque Isle, right across from Edmonston, NB, which was like three times bigger than Mad Town. Ah. I don’t think I got further north than Caribou. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/113 "2020-04-22T00:19:32Z")
I was a military brat, and at two, I was whisked off to live in swinging London. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/114 "2020-04-22T01:03:23Z")
Actually, I misvoted. My choice was 11-15. That was my first trip to Europe. But I had been to Canada years before, so my vote should be 3-10. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/115 "2020-04-22T04:08:38Z")
When I first moved to the US with my family when I was 9 months old. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/116 "2020-04-22T05:23:29Z")
We visited some friends in San Diego when I was young and we went over the boarder for a couple of hours. I was probably about 10, plus or minus a year. Once more when I was 12 into Canada and then I moved to Japan for 16 months when I was 20, went back and came again to Asia and now I’ve spent more than half my live overseas. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/117 "2020-04-22T09:51:38Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Of course you don’t need a passport to cross from France to Germany either, but I’m pretty sure a Frenchman would say he’d left the country in that case, not just when he leaves the Schengen Area. Although in that case there’s also a language difference, whereas most modern Scots speak English. My Welsh wife tells me that, growing up, England was this strange, mysterious foreign land they eyed with great suspicion. She also called it ‘The Land of Soft Fruits’, mainly because of their annual family trip to Hereford (about 1.5 hours drive away ‘[Across the bridge](https://www.google.com/search?q=severn+bridge&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB869GB869&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi8_JGy4fvoAhUOfMAKHWJFAYMQ_AUoAXoECCEQAw&biw=1387&bih=854)’) to pick strawberries. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/118 "2020-04-22T09:54:26Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > I’d only consider I’d left the country if I left the UK. There’s no border checks between Scotland/England/Wales and whilst we might regard each other with exotic interest/suspicion/amusement, I wouldn’t regard a Scot or Welsh person as foreign. > [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Well, as I didn’t need a passport to cross the border, _I_ would say the same country. Others might give you an argument. > > j I notice neither of you included Northern Ireland in that… For me going to Northern Ireland does feel a lot more ‘foreign’ than Scotland or Wales, probably due to the literal overseas aspect and the fact that we did bring passports, just in case. Incidentally, if Wales was included I possibly crossed the border on the way back from the hospital, being born in Chester when my parents lived a few hundred meters from the border, and certainly did cross it within my first 2 weeks. When you regularly cross a border while walking the dog, it hardly feels like a big thing. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/119 "2020-04-22T10:18:05Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I notice neither of you included Northern Ireland in that… For me going to Northern Ireland does feel a lot more ‘foreign’ than Scotland or Wales, probably due to the literal overseas aspect and the fact that we did bring passports, just in case. Yes I think that’s fair - as an island nation, anything involving a boat or a plane over the sea (or a train under it) feels like a trip abroad. I think Northern Ireland fills a grey area in most of our minds. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119/120 "2020-04-22T11:25:11Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Of course you don’t need a passport to cross from France to Germany either, but I’m pretty sure a Frenchman would say he’d left the country in that case, not just when he leaves the Schengen Area. Although in that case there’s also a language difference, whereas most modern Scots speak English. French cant vote in German elections nor serve in the German army. The French Head of State doesnt live in Germany. However all of these things are true of England and Scotland; which are more like different American states. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-first-left-the-country/852119.md?page=7)