Miscellaneous Forum

thanks very much for taking us all with you on your wonderful trip - i have enjoyed being updated with your adventures me - i loved doing that especially on my first big trip overseas - there is a vt member who is off on his first adventure and he is posting and some people have suggested he stopped posting BUT THAT IS WHERE THE FUN IS - sharing it - so thanks re getting home i shall have to ponder the good things

just one thing - after six months in rome i was so hanging out for cheese on toast - couldn't get cheddar cheese in rome - not for ready money so cheddar cheese

The thing I look forward to the most is dogs...the smell of them..the feel of them and sitting on the sofa surrounded by them...not takong my digs with me is the most suckiest thing about travelling....oh yes and a decent cup of tea

Thanks Jennifer, I was so keyed up with ideas flowing almost continuously that I just had to empty the brain so to speak. With my iPad along it made it so easy to key in notes throughout the day, communicate at night and morning when my wife was asleep and keep a very accurate electronic diary on tips, notes, thoughts, etc. I will now add another media to my VT, FB collection and that is a blog. I just started to try it out before we left and now will really delve into things with pictures and thoughts from this trip and other pics and thoughts as the days, months and years move forward.

yeah yeah i knew (i thought) exactly where you were at and i was loving it and this VT community is so responsive and hungry for input - as an ex australian politician used to say - feed the chooks scatter a few grains and lo and behold a community gathers and it is so much fun

Wihtout a doubt, my doggies!!!! Those little girls love me to pieces when I get home. Kisses, kisses, kisses. Follow me around "like a puppy"....lol. I also love getting into MY car and going and doing just exactly as I wish.

So glad you had a good trip, Rich! I am grateful to get back to the familiar. Which sounds odd, given that I am an inveterate explorer and thrive on venturing into the unknown, but after a few weeks of sensory overload, I relish the things that I understand (particularly with respect to how they work) and those task that I can complete on autopilot - such as putting on the first load of laundry virtually as soon as I set foot over the doorstep (something that I used to laugh at my Mum for doing)! I also miss my own pillows. I am fast becoming a middle aged old fart, and few hotel pillows pass muster - I swear that I am only inches away from starting to travel with my own! When I travel anywhere that doesn't play cricket at a Test level, I miss decent tea: I do try and facilitate this by bringing my own tea bags (another middle aged foible) but places in North America and continental Europe don't get the boiling water thing, and even if they do, the cups tend to be irrevocably impregnated with a pervasive coffee 'memory'. However much I've enjoyed the food on my trip (and food is one of the highlights of my travel) I do miss my own cooking - and my diplomatic family assure me that this is the case! Not that I'm a gourmet chef, but again it's the aspect of familiarity. And of course the relief that nothing catastrophic has befallen house, home (and country) in our absence! Gosh - having read all that, it's a miracle I ever set foot outside the door! Regards Cathy

cricket and tea do go together

Cathy, yes back to the familiar is very comforting. Laundry not until the next day back (today), and now heading off to the grocery store to restock and then do some yard work around the house.

My mattress and food. The food in other places is great, but at a certain point I want food I know.

My own bed, and my own space, and my own cup of tea made with my own local water and my preferred teabags (not those awful Lipton things). By the way, Rich, the vast majority of Europeans also prefer the freedom of driving their own car (including me, though it is mostly on the 'wrong' side). It's just that using trains is *so* much easier in Europe than in the US: a car is simply not essential when visiting Europe. But I know I must have one when I'm in the US.

Very English but.... My first proper cup of tea- made with good old Yorkshire water, that is boiling in the kettle as it is poured! None of this cup of hottish water with a tea bag on the saucer malarkey ;-)

- and Yes Catherine- totally agree with pillows!! Even in hotels that offer a 'pillow menu' still not as comfortable as 'my pillows' Not got to 'take my own' stage yet, and would be difficult as most of my trips are 'hand luggage only' but on camping trips, I do take my own! Bliss!

Pillows would be nice, but a little bit of a packing nightmare. I've done road trips before on business and in those I do bring my own pillow along with me. Yes, Europe is a lot easier and more practical for car travel. I especially liked getting on Heathrow Connect and literally being whisked to the airport for a relatively inexpensive ticket.

we just recently came back from budapest and london and I was not only happy to get into our car as well, but being the mother of two very little ones, I hated all the baby wipes I bought in england---way to "light", it took practically half the box just for two diapers--I am used to our thick american ones! for some reason just the baby wipes in england were problematic for me, I have bought them before at carrefour in spain and france and they were similar to the american ones.....lastly, being from texas we are always happy to have mexican food again!

Items most enjoyed upon return home: 1) The bed - just the right mattress and pillow and comforter. Discovered the mattress we have while on a trip to Thailand - TempurPedic. 2) My quiet corner of the house with comforable chair and good lighting to read by. That first half hour in the morning with book and cup of fresh strong coffee. 3) My quiet corner of the world - Alaska. No crowds, no traffic, no hassles. Love to travel. But love to come home.

I think that holds true for most if not all of us here even the several real nomads in the group.

I also miss being able to take off in my car right from my house, not having to figure out where the buses stop and decipher a train schedule. I like the American large beds - queen or king size. I like being able to pick my own fruit and vegetables at the local farmer's market - can't do that in France (not sure about other European countries). I miss American friendly responses when we ask for directions. I miss being able to eat lunch in a restaurant whenever I feel like it - often after 2pm :-) Jeannette

My cats are the #1 thing I miss but I also miss the comfort of my own bed. I don't miss my car at all, I guess that's because we rent a car when we need one (Ireland, south of France). But all in all I'd rather not have a car overseas and love being able to get around on trains.

I also enjoyed cooking my food on the grill tonight.

Most of my trips are to Bavaria, and there's not much back in Scotland which attracts me. Were it not for my business requiring me here in Scotland, I'd be off. It starts at Munich Airport with the inevitable bunch of hungover/drunk Scottish men heading home after a stag weekend. Then there's the inevitable frustration at Edinburgh Airport. This time the marshall's car broke down, so the plane had to wait -doors closed - at the gate until he/she got there to confirm it was in the right place. The passengers on the shuttle bus to the car park were subjected to an aggressive lunatic who'd decided to terrorise a 60 something couple over some minor error with suitcases. My 18 y-o son usually picks me up. I do really appreciate seeing him again, and having a "driver".

Shalom All, till lately I truly did not miss anything while away from home, I tend to feel right at home wherever I am. But today one thing has changed, my daugter Tal is grown (and about to get married) so she does not travel with us on every trip. So the ONE thing I truly miss is her, I look forward to is seeing her and hugging her on our return. Martin

"So the ONE thing I truly miss is her, I look forward to is seeing her and hugging her on our return." Martin, what a sweet thing to say. You are such a good daddy. I truly love to travel, but I also look forward to going back home. My limit is four weeks away, the time we spend in Spain in February. That's not really a vacation but a winter get-away. I do miss my children, my kitty Gizmo, my bed, my kitchen and home cooked meals - in that order. Our last few trips, we have managed to do without a car. Taking mostly public transportation or going on tours. Call us old poops, but it is getting more stressful for us renting cars and driving in unfamiliar places.

OOPS! Forgot to mention Rich, that I have truly enjoyed your postings. Felt that we were right along with you on your journey.

Thanks Lori, I enjoyed posting them and communicating with my fellow travellers.

If we are within the U.S. and not out of the country: my own bed, kitchen, and the dog If we are outside the country and not driving: my truck , my cell phone and laptop, Walmart

Walmart?? That is an interesting thing to miss. Don't use a cell phone much except for business and took my iPad on the current trip or else I would have really missed the commnication with VT.

Oh I remember the time when I had a home to go back to... Sometimes I just miss having a home! But when I had one, I did miss the dogs. And my own bed. The smell of laundry washed in anything other than the sterile hotel laundry. Regardless if I have a home to go to or not, I miss home cooked meals. And being able to do anything in the yard... so much of the world just doesn't have private yards or space between homes. I miss being able to go to the nearest corner and getting any ethnic food I can think of. I also miss people saying what they mean and actually living up to it. Maybe I'm just biased about where I've lived recently, but false promises and blatant lies get old after a while.

oh, forgot to say how much I miss my washing machine and my dryer :-)

I did enjoy my early morning at the Italian Laundry Mat with the Italian Grandmother. She helped me figure a few things out on the washing machine and I showed her pictures of my family on the iPad.