I Can Show You the World... Shining. Shimmering. Splendid.

[ShinodaBear]

Tell me princesses... (haha)
Have you guys ever traveled out of the country you currently live in?
If so, where? And what did you do?

If not, if you could go anywhere, where would be the number 1 country you'd want to visit if you chould only choose one?

I'm asking this because in a little over 2 months I'm moving to Australia so I was just curious.

 

[Ravynlee]

I've travelled to Greece to visit my sis Jojo (Crazy Robster) who lives there. That was about a year ago now, a year and a half or so. Was the first time I'd ever travelled out of Australia before let alone to meet and stay with someone I'd never even met face to face or anything, and all by myself. Some people would call that naive - I called it a leap of faith. Unquestionably the best experience of my entire life!

Because it was so hot there we went to the beaches a lot, something I don't get a chance to do here (and trust me the beaches there ARE picturesque just like they are in magazines and fantasies... only better!). We ate out and got to see some of the local nightlife. Mingled with the sea of tourists, played on the computer, and hooned around in Jojo's car (and her sister's) blasting LP and GC from the speakers. That was hellufun! We shopped, travelled across the countryside to visit rellies and hung out on the sofa watching local TV and laughing at the newscasters and weathermen XD When it was too hot we stayed indoors playing Sims 2 and Resident Evil on PC. Her mum is a world class cook in my opinion and she slaved in the kitchen all day in the heat always with a smile on her face and never complained so much as once. She was an absolute gem and introduced me to a lot of traditional foods that I've since tried recreating here at home (never the same, I miss Mama's cooking!) - Though they tried teaching me some basic Greek I usually only ever said Goodmorning, goodnight, thankyou and I love you in all that time to her parents! Bless her Mama tried speaking English for me - I can't say enough good words about that woman, I can see where Jo gets her beautiful nature from *squeeze hugs for my sis!* And her dad is a great guy too. Always smiling. Great people. Almost everyone over there were just really friendly. 99% easily. And being that English is the nations second language thanks to the tourist trade (as Jo told me) that helped me feel more at ease there too which was nice.

Jo took me to several landmarks and taught me some local history and was a sport posing (doing the Ambassador pose) while I took a stack of photos. She stirred me about taking lots of pictures of rocks and water but again in being the closest water we have in my town is a storm drain she wasn't appreciating it like I was. Made for funny show-and-tell though. Sadly the three weeks I spent there flew by. The day I arrived and the day I left were hard I have to say, hard because I'd never experienced Jetlag before (wow, what a killer!) and hard leaving because they'd all made it so easy to like it there I didn't want to come home. Still makes me heartsick thinking about it but yeah, reccommend it to anyone (yes when the unrest is over).


You know it's surreal to be in another part of the world so far from home and look up at the sky and just marvel at it, I mean it may sound corny or cliche but in my mind then (and even now looking back) it felt so incredible and humbling to see the world outside of the world I'd spent 30 odd years living in; sharing those experiences and being welcommed in to a whole new and different culture and race of people is just... mind blowing. For someone who has travelled a lot maybe this sense of wonderment is lost I think but to me it made me appreciate how minute we really are and just how comparitively massive the planet really is, especially from like 45,000 feet up (Flying over Bangkok was visually spectacular too and I remember sipping white wine watching the sun rise as we flew on the border of Iran I think it was, a place I'd only ever heard negative things from in the news, but again it was surreal as much as it was gorgeous!)

I've always wanted to see the world. Unfortunately I never applied myself well enough to really get anywhere in life to accomodate that kind of dream. The only way I got to go to Greece was because of my sis and her family's overwhelming generosity - it's not something that happens everyday.

But I remember even as a kid I've always wanted to see the USA. I don't know why, probably because it IS so big compared to where I live at the ass end of the planet and all (okay, not literally but you know what I mean). I'd love to do the stereotypical things and see the great landmarks over there, do a road trip coast to coast, see an actual real life white Christmas (that would be a spin out) and just submerge myself in that culture for a while. I really wanted to see New Orleans pre-Katrina, but one day maybe, Mount Rushmore, The White House, Disney all that stuff. I'd love to see the mountains and landscape that we don't have here. Besides, I am and always have been a sucker for the Yankee accent... *sigh*

Another place I'd dearly love to see if not live in would be Ireland. Now that countryside is breathtakingly gorgeous. In my early Pagan days I got heavily into the Celtic Pantheon and traced my ancestry back towards these regions. In my wildest dreams I'd buy a place near the coast and live there writing best sellers and live off the land. That would be the ultimate dream for me (with some minor details omitted of course ) Wales, Scotland, even England, I'd love to see it all.
But if I had a wish to be granted I'd love to go back to Greece to finish seeing the rest of the islands and spend more time with my other family over there.

I know that was like 2 instead of 1 but I think you get the picture anyway.


Out of equal curiosity - where abouts over here are you headed? State wise I mean. I'm in Queensland these days. North-east resident.

 

[MrsBennington-Delson]

I've been to Croatia a lot (because my family's there), then uhm a few times in Austria and Switzerland, then I also got England (London) and Ireland (Dublin) on my list... and Italy too...
It was all either holiday kinda thing or visiting family/friends...
And I'll be going to Canada this thursday so thats gonna be up on the list too lol
And well I've been also to some other countries but they were mostly just like a drive-through or something lol x)

But it's easier for us europeans to get outta the country then for you americans, canadians or aussies :thumbsup:

So there are way to many places I wanna visit... lol I'd pretty much want to check out the whole world... from America, back to Europe (Spain, France and Greece first then movin up the Finland, Iceland etc) and I'd like to see Japan and Australia

 

[KillMeImIrish]

sweet thread idea! i can't believe no one has done this yet


okay, so. in 2004 i journeyed to Ecuador. i absolutely fell in love with this country. i went there on a mission trip with my church. while there, we went to various schools each day to teach English to kids through Bible verses, American games, and testimonials. we worked in the poverty areas with the Quechuan people (which, i dont know if any of you are familiar with the story of Jim Elliot, but this very tribe killed Elliot in 1956 because of mission work). along with the whole country of Ecuador, i fell in love with these people. it is such a different atmosphere over there in the poverty areas. the kids are so appreciative of everything you do. they need, crave, and feed off of love. they just want you. anything you say or do for them is incredible to them. they only showered once a week (saturday) so you can imagine the stench. their dirty little faces captured my heart and i plan to return to Ecuador someday for a career in missions. aside from the mission aspect of the trip, we stayed in the country's capital, Quito, for about 3 days. we spent a lot of time at the local markets, which were incredible. visited the supposed equator line. journeyed on foot through the town, visiting huge cathedrals. the architecture of those buildings was beautiful. the 'downtown' part of Quito is absolutely breath taking. that's the jist of what we did. i encourage everyone to visit someday!

spring of... '07 i went on a cruise to the Carribean. sadly, this didnt count much for an out-of-country experience because everything was Americanized. BUT the cruise itself was DANK!

this past August, i went on another mission trip to Munich, Germany. i loved it there, too. everything is so morally different from here in the states. for instance, the front cover of a newspaper i read had a fully naked lady on the front. something you would never find here in the States. not yet, at least. a lot of things were 'americanized' there, too. or just things that i didn't really find different about America. i don't think i ever heard any German music, it was all old-school American. most of the German clothes and such had writing in English, which was a bummer. it made it difficult to bring back some good souvenirs! the food was amazing! i love how they buy groceries on more of a day-to-day basis than a weekly basis. getting used to the U-Ban and S-Ban (public transportation systems) was definitely a challenge! but i love the fast-paced environment of Germany. we americans are used to just riding the escalator. not so in Germany. they walk the escalators like stairs! crazy.. why would they move if they wanted us to walk them? haha. so they had us stay on the right hand side of the escalator to be courteous to the citizens. i still stand on the right side of the escalator to this day. i also loved the fact that you walk everywhere! i actually lost weight there. it was awesome! ummm.. oh yeah- we went there to do a Vacation Bible School for the kids, and since we knew they probably wouldn't come if we told them it was a Christian-based thing, we lured them in by telling them they would learn english (which they did!). the kids were so cute! it was interesting to me that they are very into politics, especially American politics! they all, especially the older teen boys who came through, asked us what we thought of George Bush (who they apparently compare to Hitler). all in all, Germany is much like America, but i loved it nonetheless!


i plan on doing a LOT of world traveling. my major in college is Intercultural Studies, which is basically overseas missions. so, my plan is to establish a career in a foreign land someday

 

[Black_Angel]

I love travelling! When I'm older I'd love to save up loads then go on a round the world trip :]

I've been to America, Florida mostly (for Disneyworld etc!), and I've been to Boston and Maine. I've also been to Niagra Falls in Canada, that was lovely! We went on the boat ride and got wet haha.

Been to Australia also; Sydney and the Gold & Sunshine coasts in Brisbane which was lovely too! Me and my dad did the Sydney Bridge walk, which was tiring but the views were amazing, and the sea is so blue!

A place I loved visiting was Norway.. I'd love to visit more of Scandinavia because it's just beautiful, the snow and the scenery and everything. In Europe I've also been to Germany, France, Malta, Italy (love Rome!!!), Spain (Barcelona) & The Netherlands (Amsterdam is amazing.. I want to go there with all my mates one day haha).

Some places where I really want to go in the future are; New York & LA, New Zealand, Iceland, Egypt and Japan :]

 

[Peterdea]

I'm not a huge traveling person but my goal in life is to move to Canada at some point to see my family.

 

[Friðbjörn]

for those who mentioned Iceland, now's a good time, since the currency exchange rate now is fantastic if you're a tourist coming here...



anyway. I haven't been many places. I went to London over a weekend once but I don't like big cities, too impersonal for me...
I guess the place I like the most was rural mainland Denmark. just flat lands you can drive around. I was there in summertime, it was warm and nice and friendly

 

[Black_Angel]

for those who mentioned Iceland, now's a good time, since the currency exchange rate now is fantastic if you're a tourist coming here...



anyway. I haven't been many places. I went to London over a weekend once but I don't like big cities, too impersonal for me...
I guess the place I like the most was rural mainland Denmark. just flat lands you can drive around. I was there in summertime, it was warm and nice and friendly

Ooooh I forgot I'd been to Denmark.. the Danes are such an attractive race, it's unfair! I want to be blonde and pale with an excellent bone structure! ¬¬

 

[Friðbjörn]

Ooooh I forgot I'd been to Denmark.. the Danes are such an attractive race, it's unfair! I want to be blonde and pale with an excellent bone structure! ¬¬

and here I was, thinking that you already were that

 

[Black_Angel]

and here I was, thinking that you already were that

hehe
the danes are proper blonde thoughh, not stupid old dirty blonde! haha xD

 

[Pheonix791989]

been to Japan, Finland, Estonia, france, brazil, carribiean, el salvador, australia and spain. all on skating trips with my buddies. dont do that stuff as often as I used to for sure.

 

[mrjoe815]

I've never been to Australia. But I heard it is beautiful, so you are very lucky.

 

[Stllmn8j]

I've never been anywhere besides the east coast of the US lol,but that might change if I do go into the Air Force...I think it's mandatory that you are stationed out of the country for 6 months at some point

 

[Breakdown Conspiracy]

I was born in New Zealand, and have only been to America as it is where the other half of my heritage is from.