General Chat

Harswell ......


taht made me laugh!!


I am so used to ignorant others asking .............

do you live in igloos?

do you travel by dogsled?

are the Indians dangerous?

are the houses modern?


as well as flaunting around in their mink coat because it is the North ............. although it's July and 25C


and on and on it goes :-)



I do have to say that the Americans seem to be the worst for knowing nothing about anywhere else ...... and I say that having lived in the south of the US.

We met people there who had never seen the ocean, and had no intention of ever going there.



someone (??AnnG) mentioned being surprised at the poverty seen when driving around the US

We spent most of our spare time exploring when we lived there .............. it was a complete eyeopener for us to see tar paper shacks, houses built of corrugated metal, children dressed in rags, signs at the boundary of a community saying basically that the water was not treated,etc etc

This was of course all brought home to both Americans and others when Katrina hit New Orleans 10 years ago, and the reaction to help those in trouble took longer than it took to react to such disasters in Haiti, and other third world countries.

Having just returned from Iceland (our 53rd country we have visited) we were asked how much snow we encountered? I bet you were freezing?Did you see any penguins?( Did I hear right). Most of the island was basking in sunshine @17c or in some places on the east coast it was down to 6c .Most of the time we wore shorts and short sleeves. I say go find out for yourselves if you can afford it or at least join a library and read about places to know what to expect.
Some people would be better off at home with a crate of beer and a sunbed as they will never learn anything about other cultures and probably do not want to.
Travel broadens the mind.
We love going to foreign countries and meeting the people, who we have always found very friendly. We never compare countries with the natives unless we are asked about our culture.
It's nice to see that some people like to travel and see the world for real and not through the bottom of a beer glass.
PS. Only been to Spain once (Too many boozy Brits)

I love going to foreign countries, especially when it is paid for by someone else. The army sent me to a few places, including the Middle East, what was then the Trucial States. The Arabian Peninsular was a real eye opener. Three years ago, my wife and I went house sitting in Switzerland, for which we were paid handsomely, travel each way, car hire for three weeks, and enough money left over to pay for our holiday in France. Regarding John Steinbeck, if you enjoyed Cannery Row, I would recommend Sweet Thursday, and also Tortilla Flat.

we've all had fascinating experiences


RR ..... thank you for starting this debate :-D

I know that travel is supposed to broaden the mind but some people may take their narrow minded attitude wherever they go.
Being ready and willing to listen to others from a variety of backgrounds is one way to educate ourselves, often without the need for "foreign" travel.

As a child of a British soldier, travelling was a way of life when I was younger. This was of more benefit when we lived "in the community" instead of on the army base. We also went to schools in the community (which taught in English). PR

The biggest culture shock I had was when coming back to England and going to school, the disrespect shown to teachers, sometimes coupled with a seeming reluctance to learn was mind boggling.

Travelling on public transport, shopping in local markets and stores, eating where the locals go, all these can help broaden the mind. Both at home and abroad.

Interesting topic, RR. I don't think that there is any one correct answer. There can be a great variety of people living in your own town, different ages, backgrounds and circumstances.
We can all learn from each other

Tess

I first went abroad in 1952, aged 14, to stay with a penfriend in Paris. It was an eye opener, to say the least. We still had rationing - one egg a week - and to watch my hostess cracking a dozen eggs into an omelette was amazing!! As for butter - it was apparently unlimited. She asked why I was so astonished and I tried (my French was a bit limited) to explain about food rationing.

I have lived in Singapore and Malaya, where the Brits tended to keep to themselves, and Ghana, where we had quite a lot of local friends, one of whom visited us back home in an English village and shocked our landlady!! I don't think she'd seen a black man up close before.

These days we tend to stick to Europe, but use timeshares with self-catering and a hired car, so we can explore. We keep well away from the "All Day English Breakfast" areas and try local eateries where possible.

Lolol Det just reminded me about trying to figure out bus and train destinations in Hungary...... That's the only country we resorted to taxis.

I hope people don't deny themselves visiting foreign parts because of fears of being understood. If they have no language skills they can always point at a phrase book.

I am just very sad I didn't visit some middle Eastern countries when travel was popular, cheap and safe. I missed out on experiences some friends enjoyed and sadly that ship has long since sailed.

Ann - yes, the pelicans were brown. We didn't see all of the programme.

Supercrutch, even if you aren't as mobile as you were, you've had some wonderful experiences and may well have some more to come.

I suspect many, cost aside, who don't go abroad or only use package holidays are nervous about independent travel where they don't speak English.
OH won't drive abroad and gets a bit lairie on buses. Assuming you get on the right one to start with, you may not recognise where to get off.

Went abroad for the first time in 1951 on a School trip to Paris that cost my parents £26....it was ..train to London ,then Newhaven and ferry to Dieppe...quite an experience.
It was one of the first school trips after the war.Everyone was sick on the ferry.We stayed in the Latin Quarter on 6th floor with no lift..pillows were the round sausage type and everything strange...food,garlic...never had it before...open men's toilet aka Cloche Merle....in the middle of the square...lots of things never seen before as during the war no holidays were taken.....was a culture shock to us young 16 yr olds.
After that never went abroad except to Isles of Man and Wight,as then lived by the sea and busy in a seaside hotel and cafe .
I was 37 when I first went on a plane to Sardinia,since then been to quite a lot of far flung countries,both with work and pleasure .Have lived partly in Spain,not far from Cadiz and later Gibraltar,dealing with their customs which in the early 90s were so very strange to ours.since the EU things changed ,but it was quite primitive before that.
I believe it has broadened my mind and have travelled with my late husband and on my own...Australia 4 times...twice on my own.
I am off to Cyprus and Turkey a bit later in the year.Its a cultural trip as like others have said.I don't go to sit by the pool all the time....suppose I am still curious about most things and we never stop learning.Keeps the old grey matter working.
Feel it is such a shame that the Greek islands are now being invaded by immigrants as used to love the simple life,the food and tavernas .in the 80s they were so peaceful.
There are some people living in villages here in Wales who have never been to the coast.they are quite happy in that environment...maybe they are so happy there that they don't need to see these places,or just like to look at them on TV ,or read about them.
It is a personal thing,but as long as I can travel I will continue to enjoy it.
Think most people on Genes must have a curious mind to go digging into family history ??

I first went abroad in 1960. Since then I have had itchy feet and, as my son keeps telling me, he inherited those.

I lived in both Frankfurt and Madrid and enjoyed the years spent there. I have been to every European country with an open border plus Kuala Lumpur and Australia. Loved most experiences, apart from Venice which a) stank and b) doesn't provide public toilets and c) rips off tourists if they can't speak Italian.

I don't do 'costa del Brits' we keep as far away from other Brits as much as we can. Ibiza in the late 60s/early 70s was fantastic, no developments and totally natural.
I would avoid it like the plague nowadays.

I have eaten amazing food, quite often just asking for chef''s special without seeing a menu although I have sometimes inspected the toilets and some kitchens first ;-) Have been invited to eat in private homes and was privileged to do so. Sharing a meal with an entire extended family was fantastic.

I cannot see why anyone would spend quite large sums of money to visit another country without experiencing everything that place has to offer.

This year we hope to experience our most 'wild' adventure so far, albeit with my mobility restrictions. We intend to get the most out of it :-D

Life is short, live it!

We didn't go to the aquarium as we were driving down, and then up the coast road. We did see seals, was it brown pelicans they mentioned in the programme? Was that what you saw?

"We've been there!" :-D
It was as misty as the bit of the TV prog we saw. They have an excellent Aquairium.
John Steinbecks' Cannery Row anyone?

Beside the wild sea-otters, a bit further down the coast we saw nursing seals and a rather dull looking pelican. I always thought they were colourful but perhaps thats a different species. The weather was really cold, in the opinion of our hosts, colder than when they went in February. This was in September a few years ago

Interesting programmes Ann, I have seen some of the Trevor McDonald ones, and caught a bit of the Monterey Bay programme last night, watching with the sound off while I was on the phone.

love the sea otters, when Dan lies on the sofa he looks just like one lolol, a bit shaggy and probably wanting food ;-)

Maybe because you read about a place it makes you want to visit it, or equally, you see it on TV and that too encourages a visit, it is a combination of things that broadens the mind. Or visiting encourages you to read about it.

I have watched two programmes in the last 24 hours, both of which were fascinating, both places we have visited but we learnt things from the programmes that we had not learnt at the places. Therefore the TV programmes enhanced the memories of our visits which, incidentally were about 15-20 years ago but are still very clear in our aging minds!

One was filmed in Monteray Bay and one was Trevor McDonald travelling the length of the Mississippi. So far we have seen two of his programmes, one filmed around the New Orleans area and as far as Memphis, last night was mainly around Memphis. We had realised when we were there that Memphis was sadly run down and had lost its spark. Until we saw the programme we didn't realise that the reason was because of the mass exodus after Martin Luther King was killed. He interviewed and was shown around by the minister who was with MLK when he was shot.

My thoughts on posting this last night were a bit vague to be honest, some mixed up combination of having talked to a couple of older people in the day who had never been abroad, one of them, my mum's oldest surviving friend now, was talking about my mum being a bit of a gypsy in the sense that we moved a lot. My mum liked to travel but more to the point perhaps she had an innate curiosity to see what was round the next corner, and talked to people whoever and wherever they were.

I suppose I had some random thoughts buzzing around on how it is not the differences ( in people) that one finds when travelling that are most enlightening but rather the similarities? It was late lol.

Do you remember ( if you're about my age) the 'schools' tv programmes that used to be on in perhaps the late 60s early 70s, where they went to other countries to see how the children there lived? I found those fascinating.

I haven't travelled as much as I would like to have done, much less than many here and nowhere exotic but have seen a bit I suppose. I would agree with the comments that say essentially that travel itself won't broaden a closed mind, or vice versa.

Thanks for replying all.

Maggie I am not sure who you mean by experts, but I hope nothing I said was interpreted as being pretentious, I'm not an expert in anything :-) I was just hoping for a thread that anyone could add to, whether they had travelled much or not at all.

:-D

Arr no! There be Dragons! :-S
Might fall off the edge too! :-D

Sort of agree with DC above. If you are narrow of mind, travel isn't going to broaden it. If you are receptive, interested and a little adventurous, travel will certainly give you new insights.

You only have to look at isolatinistic Middle America to see that travel anywhere broadens the mind.

Middle America, no idea of world georgraphy, oh wait a minute the BEEB have no idea of the geography of London!

You do not need to travel, just have an open mind, enjoy learning about the world and all its amazing people and cultures. Even reading a book broadens the mind.

Well, I haven't lived abroad, neither have I taken an all inclusive holiday. I have stayed in complexes/timeshares but have always ventured out to visit the surrounding villages and towns etc.

I have spent a month at a time in North Tenerife, very different to the holidays we spent in South Tenerife. Living for that time on a normal housing estate, eating local food (maybe slightly adapted for foreigners but not always) and listening to and watching the local people gives an insight into how people live. No I didn't learn Spanish (In that area German may have been more useful) but did pick up a few words and the locals love the chance to practice their English. Even in South Tenerife we hired a car and visited villages off the beaten track, eating in local bars. so I do think holidays give a flavour of the way people live. I don't think holidays are an essential neither do I consider them a luxury although even today they may be out of the reach of the finances of some people. I do feel sorry for people who waste the opportunity when abroad and stay in their complexes. But, as has been said, maybe those people have a busy life at home and just need to relax.

One thing about doing fly drives and similar in America is that you have to drive through places that you would never normally go and this taught me that America still has much poverty, some places that you wouldn't dream were homes had families spilling out of them. then this was contrasted with a stay in Las Vegas where the casinos never closed and little old American ladies were seen on the slots in a hotel at eleven o'clock at night, and when OH went down for a coffee at 4am the same old ladies were still there. We never knew if they made their fortune.

When we Brits go on holiday, we're normally seeking the sun. We rarely have the opportunity to experience everyday life as lived by the permanent residents, nor immerse ourselves in their politics.

Having said that, even the everyday smells are different to 'home', the rules for traffic, and way of eating can be eye-openers! It still makes me nervous seeing police officers carrying guns.

Unless we travel off the beaten track to countries far from the UK or to those with a different predominant religion, we might just as well be in our own back yard.

Western Europe and the US is the same but different, not that people should avoid the experience of travelling abroad.