WillTravel

Of course I was interested in visiting lots of places in Europe, and I have mostly done so. There are a lot of places in the developing world that I was interested in visiting, and I haven't done so. I've also visited some interesting places I didn't think much about as a kid.

But otherwise, I remember reading about Bora Bora as a kid. It sounded like the most magnificent paradise ever. A few years ago, I decided to look it up, and it seems as if excessive development might have ruined it. But who knows? I thought of it again just now because I just received a Luxury Link ad for a package on Bora Bora.

What places did you think of visiting as a kid? Have you made it there yet, and did it fulfill your expectations?

cordelli

I actually grew up in a small town without a clue what was beyond those borders. Europe was about the only place ever talked about, mainly because there was still family in Italy. There were never any dreams of visiting places, because the assumption was we would never go. I would see something on TV or in Life or something and go Wow, that's incredible, but at the time it was never followed up with I would really like to go there someday, it never seemed to be a possibility.

If there was a place that I wanted to go, and still have not been it would probably be a safari in Africa. I would probably attribute that mostly to the movie Born Free, which I would have seen at nine or ten years old.

Now of course I wish it was totally different that embracing the possibility of travel was something our family had done, even if we never went it would have given me so much more to think about.

GadgetFreak

I suppose lots of places like London and Paris to some extent. But I remember one really special one from a National Geographic article when I was a kid, which was Angkor Wat. I got there a few years ago and wasnt disappointed

Great thread by the way! ^

FlyinHawaiian

Growing up, I always thought a visit to Legoland would be fun. Of course, I had no grasp of the distance between Honolulu and Copenhagen. I did get a chance to visit the Legoland in Carlsbad a few years ago; not sure if that counts.

bsdstone

not sure why, but this post struck me as really really sweet! (does that sound gay? Not that there is anything wrong with that...)

Fortunately I grew up with a grandmother who had a decent amount of money (b/c god knows we didn't) and she had the attitude to leave your family with memories, not money! I started traveling at age 7 and have seen a lot of the world. There are still places I long to see, like Australia and New Zealand (have you seen pics of cape kidnappers...WOW!), Rio, and most of all Africa...probably b/c of National Geogrpahic!

last2board

Because no one in my family traveled, I did not imagine myself traveling. Hawaii seemed like a dream to me. I made it to Hawaii when I was in my 20's and lived there in my 30's, but I still did not imagine the kind of extensive travel that I have managed to do.

In my late 30's my military husband was detailed to Israel. On the way we visited Athens. During that tour of duty, we visited Egypt, Turkey, and Jordan. Petra was like another world to me. That released the travel floodgate for me! Since then we have lived in Italy and seen much of Europe from that base, and Japan, from where we visited a lot of Asia. Later my son worked for UA and we used our non rev privileges to visit India, Peru, China, Argentina, and some of Eastern Europe. My son quit UA, but a friend encouraged me to look into a frequent flyer program to contiue our travels. That was right at the time of 9-11 and SAARS and the hugh promos of those days. I found Flyertalk, made 1K,and the rest is history! By the standard of the Centurion Travel Club, I have visited 84 countries and am hoping for many more. Two places I could never have imagined visiting were Ankor Wat and the Galapogos Islands, two of my all time favorites.

manneca

My family never traveled much either. In high school, I got to go to Michigan and I think we went to Canada (I do remember going to Mackinaw Island, so we must have go on to Canada). And then I got to go to Mexico. My honeymoon was to the Bahamas because I had wanted to go there for college spring break but my parents wouldn't let me. Traveling seemed something strange, out of reach.

Sometime later in life, the travel bug bit me. I'm at 71 countries (lots of strange ones: the five Central Asia former SSRs are the most unusual, Central America during the conflict years). I hope to visit every country before I die. I met a guy on a trip to Mongolia last year who had been to all except 17. (Strangely he lacked Ireland and Israel.) I am planning a RTW trip for the year I retire (2012 if I'm lucky). After that I'd like to spend at least 6 months in Africa and several months in South America. A month or so in India and as much of Italy as I can afford.

svenskaflicka

I grew up in a family of six children. My father was a fireman, so needless to say we didn't have a lot of extra money for travel. We would rent a cottage in Maine for a few weeks and that's as far as we got. Even that seemed like a dream come true for us. I would save my paper route money all year for spending money.

I always drempt of traveling though. That was my escapism. When I was a teenager I actually collected travel magazines from every travel agent I could contact. On the back cover of these magazines they always advertised the Hyatt Regency in Maui. The picture they used was of the rope bridge that swings over the pool. My dream back then was to someday walk over that swinging bridge. I used to dream of that all the time.

I have walked over that bridge at least 100 times now, so it taught me that anything is possible.I think I have worn a path over that bridge. Never in my wildest dreams back then did I ever think I would travel as far as Hawaii. I have now been there 21 times in nine years. Maybe, I should start dreaming about going around the world.

ToSRQ

I always used to wonder how far I'd get if I just kept digging a hole in my backyard. At some point, it got into my mind that China was on the other side of the world, so I figured if I kept digging, I could get to China.

the_happiness_store

Well I'm going to Ankor Wat next week. I went to Easter Island earlier this year.
However childhood desires lead to Katmandu and Timbuktu. I've been to neither.

GadgetFreak

Thats a cool story but you might consider branching out a bit There are some wonderful rope bridges in Borneo for instance And the Taj Majal is probably the most beautiful building ever built Specifically, a round the world trip is a wonderful thing to do. I would also HIGHLY recommend an African safari, particularly to some of the less traveled places there, like Zambia.

Duhey2

I had always wanted to see the USS Arizona Memorial and in '95 I took a 12 day trip to HI to see my college roomie who was then stationed at Pearl Harbor. That's the one place that stands out in my mind.

I have always wanted to go to Australia and hope to do that in the next couple of years.

I've always had the travel bug and thankfully have had jobs in the last 13 years that allowed me to travel. I've been all over the US and have been fortunate to visit Asia, South America, and Europe this year alone (I call it my "Triple Crown").

One thing I want for my daughters is for them to see the world the way I wasn't able to growing up.

BamaVol

My early view of the world was shaped by the magazines and books I read, less so by television. Certainly National Geographic was influential. But my most burning desire was to see castles and places where I might have some view of the medieval world. At the age of 45, I made my first trip to Europe. Research told me that one place with a decent concentration of castles was Wales and so there I went. I spent my time going back and forth between Wales and England and saw enough castles and cathedrals to last a lifetime.

The one place I haven't been that I still want to see is Japan. I'd also like to see some of the places where my father and uncles served during WWII; New Guinea, the Philippines, Chuuk, Guam. I suppose if I took enough time, I could do it all in one trip. My other desire is to see the 10 or so states I haven't yet visited; concentrated in the Northwest, plus Oklahoma which I've somehow managed to so far avoid.

My thanks to the OP for bringing up a topic that is both fun to think and read about as well as less likely to lead to rancor amongst FTers than many other topics found here these days (although OMNI PR is a bigger blessing in that regard).

Mikey likes it

Space, and no.

HomerJ

...the one place still unvisited is antartica...will do it before I am 50, but not got there yet.