Where did u have your "moment"? - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**Diorama** · 03-02-2004, 10:39 PM

Sometimes when I travel I find that it feels like one big dream. You go there and it almost feels like your not there. You see The cliffs of Moher and you go hmmm this is not them i'm not really here..., But every once in a while you have the "moment." When it hit's you, that you are thousands of miles from your home and seeing something completely foreign and something you've dreamed about forever. I remember my bus driving down the champs elysee (frenchies help me out with the spelling!). I was sitting in the front seat and i saw the arc de triompe at the end (the sun was setting)..I had chills go thru my body and couldn't believe that i was in friggin paris staring at such a beautiful structure. It was my moment. I had other moments standing in the roman coliseum and riding the tube in london watching "row houses" pass me by...aaah i love them . The greatest thing is that you will never forget them!

where was your moment?

**Mocassin** · 03-02-2004, 11:51 PM

I was standing on a dock by the Black Sea in Bulgaria, on a quiet night. You could see faint lights across the other side and the girls I was with told me it was Turkey...I looked up and saw a shooting star...It was one of those moments when everything seems to be at it's place, even me.

The other time was when I landed in Paris between two flights, and I saw the Effeil Tour and the Arc de Triomphe from the plane's window.

Dio, it's Champs Élysés

TapSiLog · 03-03-2004, 03:25 AM

ahhhh.. that moment..

i've had my great american dream for as long as i can remember.. but believe it or not, i've never had a passport until i was 21!!!

and this isn't unusual!! some even never got a passport in their lives.. yay!! that's how unpopular travelling is in the Phils..

anyway, at age 22 (yeah i know!...

), i finally got my chance to get out of the country for the
first time!!

and it was all-expense paid!!.. my company is sending me to Portland to work as onsite analyst for our client..oh yeah, i was the first in the whole clan to actually passed thru the international airport.. hahaha..

i could not forget that very moment when i stepped out of LAX.... ahhhhhhhh.. the smell of america..
the cool breeze... i literally shouted, "I am in America" but in my local dialect.. i was smiling (a BIG one)
and greeting everyone i meet... damn, i was one freakin' weirdo!!!

but hey.. it was a BIG dream
come true for me... there are no words to describe how great i was feelin at that time..

crazydiamond · 03-03-2004, 05:24 AM

I was on the plane, taking off from New York to go to London ...and as the plane took off it suddenly hit me that I was on my own for a whole year and I wouldn't be coming back to my home for a very long time, and I felt an overwhelming sense of freedom that I have never felt before! Also, fear and anxiety, but it was a great feeling nonetheless!!!!!

Another one, was sitting at a bar in Brussels...I was with 12 people I had never met before, all of us from different countries around the world, the most multi-cultural experience of my life! It was pretty amazing, definitley one of those rare moments.

**Carisia** · 03-03-2004, 05:43 AM

Hmmm... I love this topic Dio! You're so good in coming up with meaningful topics!

Well, there are so many great moments...

An exciting one was when I went on a motorcycle ride from Sorrento to the Amalfi Coast. The day was gorgeous, sunny, slightly breezy, we had the great cliffs to one side and the coast line to the other. We made a few scenic stops along the way to capture the beautiful gem-like sparkling waters and post-card like scenery of Positano and Amalfi below us, and Naples, Pompei and Mt. Vesuvio beyond the waters. And yes, my friend and I did the European thing, and kissed during our stops in open air. Plus, he was a very experienced motorcyclist, so even though the road was very narrow, curvacious and steep all along the way, I felt so safe. The whole thing just seemed like big dream! As I held tight onto him, and laid my head upon his shoulders, I felt that I had the great pleasure of screening all of the beautiful SW Italian coastline like an open air movie in plain daylight!

**my retro career** · 03-03-2004, 06:49 AM

Great topic!

There has been many "moments" but here's the most recent one:
- About a month ago I went back to London for the first time in 9 years. Went to visit my cousin & his family and had a great time. While there I met some very cool friends at the hostel I was staying. They were a friendly bunch. Basically we went bar-hopping and enjoyed a fast-paced lifestyle for the two days we hung around together. I'm normally not your typical bar guy but I'll have a good time and know how to "go with the flow".
This sounds like your typical bar scene but somehow there was a different feel to this group - the 10 of us were from different parts of the world and all we wanted to do was dance,sing,drink and enjoy each other's company.
But all good things come to an end; as the first part of my journey came to a close, we parted ways and I flew to Amsterdam for the 2nd leg of my journey. I never fully enjoyed my stay in Amsterdam, with the happy moments of my London trip still weighing heavily on my mind.
I've been to Amsterdam too many times and I regretted not staying in London a while longer.
But on the last day of my journey in Amsterdam, on the last evening I *stumbled* upon a park. What's different about this park was that there was a bunch of flowers in a corner, on the ground - from a distance it looked like a memorial of some sort. I was curious and upon closer investigation, I realised it was a war memorial. But not quite - it was the Auswichtz Holocaust memorial.

At that exact moment I felt a strange sense of sadness - a heavy feeling of gloom and despair.

With a sense of somberness I slowly walked back to my hostel and along the way I spotted a pair of parrots (yes - parrots in the middle of Amsterdam) and suddenly the my whole trip was put into some sort of positive perspective.

I couldn't help but SWOON at the amazement of what I just saw within the last 30 minutes - the holocaust memorial made me sad but the parrots lifted my spirits and made me appreciate that I've met some great friends in London and not to let it affect my stay in Amsterdam.

**worldwidemike** · 03-03-2004, 07:43 AM

I've had a few of those moments, Dio. One of the first was on my first overseas jaunt. I was working as a foreign volunteer on a kibbutz in Israel. One of my jobs was to tow the cafeteria's "trash cart" out to the dump, back it up and dump it in the landfill. On my way back, an Arab kid from the village across the road thumbed a ride.

He hopped up on my tractor while his dog ran alongside. Neither of us could speak a word of each other's language, but we connected with words like "America," pointing, etc. I dropped him off at the turnoff to his village and drove away in the desert, as the sun was setting. Here I was, in the Holy Land, a place I had always read about, interacting with the people of the land. It was just a cool feeling.

worldwidemike

**space virgin** · 03-03-2004, 10:35 AM

I've had several, but I think one of the best moments was riding the RER train from the Paris CDG airport, passing some seriously run-down neighborhoods in the northern end and then BAM! There was the Sacre-Coeur, glowing pink in the sunset and seeming so damn close that I could almost reach out and touch it. It was so beautiful. Unfortunately my next view was of the streets around the Gare du Nord, which aren't terrible but not all that great either.

**crionnacht** · 03-03-2004, 01:35 PM

the minute i stepped off the good old greyhound bus at the banff terminal. i've never spent a great amount of time in the rocky mountains and it was amazing. smelling that fresh mountain air (ok at the time it was a bit smoky from all the forest fires), getting back to nature....it was great.

crio

butternut punkin · 03-03-2004, 03:21 PM

Great topic.
Sitting on the bridge over the river Kwai really baked my noodle. I had read so much about that area and all of a sudden I was sitting on it going wow! Another one as stupid as it may seem was seeing bunnies in a really green field in England. It made me think that I was in all the little girl dreams with white fluffy bunnies ahhhh!

**tecia** · 03-03-2004, 03:49 PM

Great topic Dio!! I have never had one but now I Can't wait until I do!!

Those are amazing feelings guys and everyone should feel that way at least once in your life!!!

**Diorama** · 03-03-2004, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Dio, it's Champs Élysés*

see i knew i could count on you!

thx for all the stories. I makes me feel good reading them all..

To many more moment!

ßeta · 03-03-2004, 09:40 PM

I have had a couple of "moments". The latest one was actually here in the states. I was on a cattle drive in Montana. For me, that's the last place in the world you'd believe I would be. It seemed so surreal.

**Somnambulation** · 03-03-2004, 10:03 PM

I did an internship in Washington DC for fall of 2003 and while I don't remember a specific "moment," it did get pretty surreal at times. To know that the whole country (and some would say the world) is run within blocks all around you is a weird feeling. Not really a travel moment though, I hope to have some of those this summer.

**space virgin** · 03-04-2004, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ßeta@Mar 4 2004, 05:40 AM
I have had a couple of "moments".* The latest one was actually here in the states.* I was on a cattle drive in Montana.* For me, that's the last place in the world you'd believe I would be.* It seemed so surreal.

Wow, that is so cool!! How long was the drive? Did you have any riding experience before that? Bet you were sore after the first couple of days. What part of Montana (I used to live there)?

TheRemarkableRocket · 03-08-2004, 01:57 PM

I think my only one so far would be standing on a wall of Bratislava Castle, in Slovakia, and on one side of me seeing all these gorgeous red roofed Eastern European buildings, and on the other lots of drab industrial Communist buildings, and then Austria way off in the distance. All that history in one view, it was insane, and so incredibly different from anything in the UK or US.

**blinkchick2134** · 03-08-2004, 03:06 PM

I've had a few moments:
- I was waiting for my connecting flight to Madrid in a terminal at Paris CDG, laying on the seats with my head propped on my daypack when I saw these three military guys walk by with these huge guns strapped on their back. All I could think was 'Well Toto this isn't America anymore'.
- I was sitting at a table at Plaza Major in Madrid, reading my 2 euro copy of USA Today when all of a sudden I reliezed I was sitting the the middle Spain and felt so completely alone yet so oddly complete.
- I took a tram to Mount Blanc and after walking to the glacier and walking inside of the craved out ice cave they make for tourists I looked at the landscape and breathed in the cleanest air I've ever tasted. It was like everything was totally in sync with each other.

ßeta · 03-08-2004, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by space virgin+Mar 4 2004, 01:20 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(space virgin @ Mar 4 2004, 01:20 PM)</div>

Quote:

<!--QuoteBegin-ßeta

Quote:

@Mar 4 2004, 05:40 AM
I have had a couple of "moments".* The latest one was actually here in the states.* I was on a cattle drive in Montana.* For me, that's the last place in the world you'd believe I would be.* It seemed so surreal.

Wow, that is so cool!! How long was the drive? Did you have any riding experience before that? Bet you were sore after the first couple of days. What part of Montana (I used to live there)? [/b]

I was outside of Livingston (E. of Bozeman). I was sore, but not too bad. I ride fairly often here. My parents keep 5 horses. They were in Wyoming the year before on a ranch for a month. My mother is really into training horses, etc....

Sean · 03-09-2004, 12:10 AM

One morning, while in the Cooks (Raro) I went out for a run before the sun had come up. I was running along the beach as the sun was coming up behind me when I turned around to head back and all of the sudden the intense beauty of my surroundings hit me and just completely blew me away. There I was standing on a deserted beach looking at a world that seemed to perfect to even exist. It was one of the most intensely spiritual and emotional moments of my life and I will never forget it. I have had a few other similar experiances and they all seem to involve being by myself and in a beautiful place. I can't wait to have many more of these experiances, they are something truely special in life.

**zylah** · 03-09-2004, 01:04 AM

My moment was in Avesbury (england) (its like stonehenge).
I was sitting on the hill looking at all the tourists and this kind of powerfull calm came over me, it was a really freaky feeling, that something so old was still standing and drawing in tourists from all over the world.