Travel musings prompted by altfriday5
1. How do you feel about travel? Like it, love it, hate it? Wish you did more or less or neither? Do you have wanderlust? Are you a homebody?
Hate it. Getting there is none of the fun. There are a few places I would like to be sometimes (mostly cons and other like-minded-people gatherings) but if I have to go far away that significantly decreases my chances of going. Air travel sucks. Trains are horribly slow. Busses are kinda sketchy (though I hear there are good ones between here and NYC, if I ever want to go there).
2. What's the furthest you've ever been from home (whatever that means to you) in terms of physical distance? How about culturally?
Physically, I've been a continental-united-states-width away. Visiting Boston while I lived in Santa Barbara, CA.
Culturally, I haven't been outside the US since I was very young, so aside from occasional chinatowns I'll have to count visiting Texas as my biggest cultural shift.
3. Are there places you'd like to go but haven't? What's appealing about them?
I want to visit Japan. I've long wanted to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August for their bombing commemoration ceremonies so that I can see the other side of the town history I grew up with in Los Alamos, NM.
4. Are there places you return to? Are there places you return to because you want to?
There used to be hikes I would do regularly or camps I would go to annually, but I don't think I have these things now.
Oh, but now I do have CMU's Spring Carnival. I've been back to that for the last 4 years, and I'm planning it again this April.
5. Travel is often associated with things like self-discovery and identity formation. Does it work this way for you? Why or why not?
It depends on what's on the other end. Hmm, I'm looking at 'travel' in all these cases as a means to getting to someplace interesting to be in or experience. I've never done 'the great american roadtrip' to just go and see things. I never had anyone to go with or a right time to go. Maybe a little part of me feels I'm missing out on this and rationalizing missing it by deciding I wouldn't like it anyhow. All that annoying driving and paying for gas and motels and tourist traps. Bah, Humbug!
Hate it. Getting there is none of the fun. There are a few places I would like to be sometimes (mostly cons and other like-minded-people gatherings) but if I have to go far away that significantly decreases my chances of going. Air travel sucks. Trains are horribly slow. Busses are kinda sketchy (though I hear there are good ones between here and NYC, if I ever want to go there).
2. What's the furthest you've ever been from home (whatever that means to you) in terms of physical distance? How about culturally?
Physically, I've been a continental-united-states-width away. Visiting Boston while I lived in Santa Barbara, CA.
Culturally, I haven't been outside the US since I was very young, so aside from occasional chinatowns I'll have to count visiting Texas as my biggest cultural shift.
3. Are there places you'd like to go but haven't? What's appealing about them?
I want to visit Japan. I've long wanted to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August for their bombing commemoration ceremonies so that I can see the other side of the town history I grew up with in Los Alamos, NM.
4. Are there places you return to? Are there places you return to because you want to?
There used to be hikes I would do regularly or camps I would go to annually, but I don't think I have these things now.
Oh, but now I do have CMU's Spring Carnival. I've been back to that for the last 4 years, and I'm planning it again this April.
5. Travel is often associated with things like self-discovery and identity formation. Does it work this way for you? Why or why not?
It depends on what's on the other end. Hmm, I'm looking at 'travel' in all these cases as a means to getting to someplace interesting to be in or experience. I've never done 'the great american roadtrip' to just go and see things. I never had anyone to go with or a right time to go. Maybe a little part of me feels I'm missing out on this and rationalizing missing it by deciding I wouldn't like it anyhow. All that annoying driving and paying for gas and motels and tourist traps. Bah, Humbug!