EqualOpp

Ok..so the title sounds confusing.

Assuming no C19 measures stop me, about to travel to Turkey for the 2nd time in my life.

About 15 years ago I visited Turkey as part of a European trip where I hit several other countries at the same time.

So I went Bulgaria-Istanbul overland by bus.

Places I visited include:

Istanbul - Hagia Sophia, Taksim Square, Europe-Asia bridge area, Grand Bazaar, Topkapi Palace, and a couple of other places I'm sure.
Istanbul - Ankara by train?
Ankara - Civilization Museum
Cappadoccia - took a tour of various underground / above ground cities. Stayed in a cave hotel.
Western Turkey - Ephesus, Pamukkale, Aphrodisias

So I certainly went to a lot of places per se. But on this trip I'm visiting different places, more nature / coastal areas (Aegean / Med). Gobekli Tepe excepted. So I've been watching some drone video of Turkish landscapes and I thought to myself - I don't really know Turkey at all. Which of course, isn't exactly true, but kind of true.

What are places that you've been to, that you decided to travel to again and realized you only "scratched the surface" before or only saw certain kinds of places.

As an analogy, it would be like someone from Europe saying they visited America after only visiting New York City, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Yes, they have a taste...

Bigger the country, the more this applies generally speaking.

CanadianInEcuador

For me it's Argentina. While travelling in Brazil, I popped over to Argentina for the day to see Iguazu Falls from the other side of the river. While I technically have been to Argentina, there's a whole lot more to see!

kochleffel

Because of cruise travel, there are lots of countries that I've visited for less than one full day. There are also some that I've visited one part of fairly extensively, but not the rest. For example, I know the German-speaking part of Switzerland fairly well, but not the French-, Italian-, or Romansch-speaking areas.

Scots_Al

Does this not by definition apply to almost everyone visiting almost anywhere?

Tocsin

Russia - seen Sakhalin, a few of the Kurile islands, Kamchatka and Chukotka - can honestly say that is a scratch on the pimple on the ar$e of that country - but a very scenic pimple...

pinniped

Gosh, almost every country I've ever visited could fall into this category, including places I've been a dozen times. I mean, I could spend every holiday for the rest of my life visiting India, go somewhere new every time, and never get bored. Same with China.

But in the spirit of this thread, a few come to mind.

Peru - just spent 3 days in Lima. Never went inland or to Machu Picchu.
Argentina - just spent 3 days in Buenos Aires. No Patagonia or other interesting places in the country.
Slovakia - 1 day in Bratislava
Hungary - 2 days in Budapest
Czech Republic - 2 days in Prague
Japan - 1 day in Tokyo

Redhead

I’m born and raised in the US and have lived in 8 states and travelled to more but I would say there is still so much more for me to know

Kamalaasaa

I lived in Norway for 2 years but got to see little of it except the general area where I lived (due mainly to a lack of time and money for travel). I want to go back but have not yet had both the time and the money simultaneously to do so.

Spent 5 weeks based in Croatia a few years ago but never made it to the coast (or anywhere in the bottom part of the < shape).

Spent 10 days with friends in Seoul and never left the city except to go back to ICN to fly out.

Have yet to visit Canada’s Prairie Provinces or the US states tucked under them (the only ones besides HI I lack).

EqualOpp

Not necessarily. Some places are much more diverse (Geographically / culturally) in a given area than others.

Turkey is much more diverse than I realized.

EqualOpp

Ahh...the perils of hanging out too much with friends!

pinniped

I lived in Wales for a year and covered a *lot* of ground, but there are still parts of North Wales I never visited. Also spent a lot of weekends that year in different parts of London with friends, but never fully explored England's more northern cities - a day or two in some of them. I've since been to Scotland a few times but never really done much in Glasgow. I've been to Ireland a few times and roadtripped around most of it but still have a long list of places I'd love to go back and see. Roadtripped around rural/coastal Northern Ireland but never spent any time in Belfast.

World's a big big place.

Turkey is definitely one I'd like to see and spend a couple weeks touring.

CPRich

I suspect that even the smallest locations can qualify for the "you really haven't seen it" to some extent. Surely some "expert" on FT will chime in with such.

I suppose the day I spent in Vatican City has my highest "saw most of it" quotient.

gaobest

Japan - was at Tokyo airport in 1998 for Sfo-Shanghai connection as zero nonstops USA/China at that time for United. How it all changed :-)

Thailand - only Bangkok for a few days in 1988

Morocco - only the border with Ceuta in 1986 for an hour to get a passport stamp. Then back to Ceuta where I only remember sharing food with hungry raggamuffins. Super sad to recall them.

canada - only Vancouver and specifically UBC for the new order (Area:One) 2001 concert. Arrived at venue (via car from near Seattle) around 3p, saw New Order perform their 50-minute set, then left after their set, checked into our dorm at UBC, had japanese supper, and flew from YVR to Sfo the following day!

actually of these 4 nations, I’m only willing to go to Japan and Canada. I think that Thailand is way too temperature hot for me. :-)

pinniped

My highest "saw most of it" is probably Bermuda.

Spent a week there right when United launched ORD-BDA and offered 20k R/T awards with seemingly unlimited availability. We booked five seats and talked to a few other people on the flight also using miles.

Tiny island to spend an entire week on, so we pretty much explored it from tip to tip.

I don't think the ORD-BDA route was too successful - it didn't last more than a couple years.

strickerj

Same here - Vatican is the only city-state I've been to. As for other smaller countries in which I've been to several different places throughout, I'd say Hungary, Austria, the Netherlands, and Israel qualify.
So, countries I've been to but haven't seen much of:

- France: just Paris. My dad used to visit customers throughout France, and his impression was the rest of the country makes fun of Parisians, so I'd say just Paris isn't a representative sample of the country.
- Italy: Spent a week that included Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Florence, and Venice, but there's still much more.
- Mexico: Three separate trips that included the train from Los Mochis to Chihuahua, Cancun and the Mayan ruins in the Yucatan, and the border town of Acuna where my employer's factory was located. It's a big country with lots more to see.
- Canada: Many trips but only southern Ontario (between Windsor or Sarnia and Toronto), Sault Ste. Marie, and Montreal.
You could even include the U.S., even though I've lived here my entire life, since I haven't been to all 50 states.

Interesting discussion; thanks for posting.