Who got you traveling? - Page 2 - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**MeTurk** · 09-18-2007, 08:33 AM

I suppose my father started it. He used to tell us bedtime storeys of his time in Australia when we where kids. He'd tell us how he only had enough money for a samwidge and a bottle of coke (between two of them) when he got of the plane, went picking onions, learned a trade and came back home to start his own business.

Other than that everyone from my town tries to leave at least once in their life's, some make it and never come back some only get as far as Dublin but everyone's always thinking of ways to get out of this dirty rotten stinking hell hole of a town once and for all.

:D

**worldwidemike** · 09-18-2007, 09:18 AM

In my last year of High School, a friend lent me a book by at traveler who was talking about his life traveling, the things he'd seen, and how to do it cheaply all over the world. I have no idea who the author was, now, more than 25 years later. I think it would be cool to go back and read this book, though. I guess all the reading I'd done growing up had "prepped" me for a life of travel, but it was the book that lit the spark...

My first trip was with the friend who lent me the book. We went backpacking across Europe, but our partnership lasted only 3 days. He wanted to hightail it outta Europe, and I wanted to see Europe while we're there. I was gone for six months total...he was back in Columbus within a month.

Seeya!
-- Mike

**Maineartist** · 09-18-2007, 11:09 AM

Thanks for the thread. Good topic. I've been thinking about it recently. My inspiration came from a book. It was a collection of travel stories from people that spent time abroad when they were coming of age. One that stood out was a girl that went through the Aegean with a Greek sailor. After she came back she said how it changed her life.

Also my mother told me about the catacombs. She went to Rome in High school for 300 dollars.

My first city was Barcelona.

**lilwings** · 09-18-2007, 01:52 PM

My parents, especially my mom!

Both my parents lived in Germany for about 8 years. They met there. I grew up listening to stories from my mom about how she would save up and take off for weeks at a time, practically breaking her bank account each time when she was in her twenties. She had beautiful stories about living in Germany and travelling to Yugoslavia, France, Spain, and England.

I had several other friends who either visited each year back to their home countries of Spain and Germany to visit family, or went twice a year.

I assumed that was what every kid grew up with, and what every parent did in their twenties. I was shocked to find out that it wasn't true, and that some kids grew up with parents that had never travelled outside their own state, let alone the country.

My first city was a couple months in Paris, working. After that, my work took me to Germany for three years.

augustiner05 · 09-18-2007, 05:07 PM

Great topic! Very interesting to hear how everyone got into traveling.
It all started for me in 11th grade. I had a foreign exchange student, Julia from Germany. We really hit it off so I decided to return the visit in the summer. But I didn’t want to go with the exchange program partly because I would not have been allowed to drink beer in DE :eek: and I would have had to stay with her very German family for a month. So I bought a plane ticket and a eurail pass and told her I was coming for a week. After that week my friend from home joined me for a 3 week whirlwind adventure around mainly Western Europe. Every summer since then I’ve been blessed enough to travel. I guess there’s worse thing to be addicted to….

wong name · 09-23-2007, 07:46 PM

lonely planet

**simply_angelic** · 09-24-2007, 08:56 AM

Huh...I thought I'd responded to this.

I don't think anyone really "got me travelling"...well maybe my dad, from making me watch Lonely Planet shows at night. I loved those shows they were so cool!

I guess I've just always felt the desire to see the world, from books, TV, etc. I never really got to travel as a kid and I always felt left out from my other friends who were going away to all these "exotic" places. There are so many fabulous places out there, I want to see/experience them all!

**roxy1277** · 09-24-2007, 09:39 AM

My Mom took me on my first trip out of country and has regretted it since! Marc got me into backpacking though.

Crazy I would give credit to a parent for giving me the travel bug....I didn't go anywhere as a kid.... Going to the bank and supermarket were highlights of my traveling then, even if it was just five minutes from home...... Can anyone say Sheltered?

I guess I am addicted now, because I saw nothing as a child.... there's actaully a world out there and I want to see it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Roxy

**Canadian Bacon** · 09-24-2007, 10:10 AM

This guy named Cliff that I used to work with on the mailroom evening shift... he was a great story teller, and told me about backpacking in Europe... I was hooked.

**zmsmith5** · 09-24-2007, 11:20 AM

i took latin all through high school, and my teacher organized trips every other year to either Italy or Greece for students that wanted to go. My mom ended up coming along, so there was that, but she was really cool about it and it totally felt like i didnt have a parent there at all. It was the summer before my junior year and about a dozen students along with some other adults went to Italy as part of a tour group for about 2 weeks. I have since had non-tour group experience and prefer that infinitely but it definitely gave me the travel bug.

**afterlife3** · 09-27-2007, 02:30 PM

Well I think I began traveling in the womb. I have been told that my parents moved from California to Alabama when my mother was pregnant with me. My family has always been spread out across the U.S., so I had to travel a lot when I was younger to visit them. To be honest, when I was a little kid I used to love airplanes and airports. Still like the airplanes part, but not so much anymore the airports thing. What got me wanting to travel over seas would have to be seeing the exchange students at my high school. I saw them and how neat it was to be in a different country and from then on I applied for a program in high school, was accepted but could not get the funding. After I graduated from high school, took a 10 day trip to Spain and that revived my desire to go over seas. That summer after coming back from my Spain trip, while being a brick mason laborer(not a fun job), I decided that I would research and find a study abroad opportunity for university students. I found one and 2 years later I studied abroad. What got me backpacking was this website actually. I had originally planned to do research about the country I was going to study in and about the surrounding countries I would like to visit, when I came across this website on google. I checked it out, read some of the travelers' stories and fell in love with the idea of backpacking. So now I am infected and am dying to go back. Thanks, Travelpunk!!

Boudiccae · 09-27-2007, 04:59 PM

The death of my godfather. Made me realize I could die tomorrow and there may be no later so I hurried up got my passport and was on a plane to Germany a couple months later (Had to wait for the end of the quarter.) I get to go somewhere every other year (as I can afford it) and love it. New Zealand this year, and am now saving for Thailand if a friend bails on Italy.

**marc873** · 09-27-2007, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by afterlife3

Well I think I began traveling in the womb. I have been told that my parents moved from California to Alabama when my mother was pregnant with me. My family has always been spread out across the U.S., so I had to travel a lot when I was younger to visit them. To be honest, when I was a little kid I used to love airplanes and airports. Still like the airplanes part, but not so much anymore the airports thing. What got me wanting to travel over seas would have to be seeing the exchange students at my high school. I saw them and how neat it was to be in a different country and from then on I applied for a program in high school, was accepted but could not get the funding. After I graduated from high school, took a 10 day trip to Spain and that revived my desire to go over seas. That summer after coming back from my Spain trip, while being a brick mason laborer(not a fun job), I decided that I would research and find a study abroad opportunity for university students. I found one and 2 years later I studied abroad. What got me backpacking was this website actually. I had originally planned to do research about the country I was going to study in and about the surrounding countries I would like to visit, when I came across this website on google. I checked it out, read some of the travelers' stories and fell in love with the idea of backpacking. So now I am infected and am dying to go back. Thanks, Travelpunk!!

We are an interesting bunch heh

cathy14 · 09-27-2007, 11:52 PM

this sounds pathetic. but i started to travel with the aim of "having fun." i found out later, though, that i was just trying to run away from myself. it's hard to explain. nobody told me to go traveling. i just did, liked it, and now am still doing it.

**MissChick** · 09-29-2007, 06:10 AM

I always wanted to travel ( my family never did) and had really never done any and then I started talking with someone about backpacking and then started researching and found tpunk and thought I could actually do it and I did and wow has life changed lol...i'm still traveling in a sense and found a whole new home

**aliz** · 09-29-2007, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lost in texas

I'm embarrassed by how little I've seen of my own country. I've probably visited more foreign countries than major cities in the US. Also, since so many of my friends turned out to be Canadian, I need to make a trip north before too long. Maybe a huge continental road trip is in order at some point.

that's a trip i've been thinking about taking some time! for some reason I've decided that the absolute best way to see the US would be with a mammoth road trip... probably because I've seen so many american 'road trip' kinda movies.. let's go on a road trip together!

**lost in texas** · 09-29-2007, 11:00 AM

^ Yeah, that's the way to go. The only problem is having enough time to see everything since you have to spend so much time driving. I might be able to do it when I have time off in the summer. Watching the Motorcycle Diaries made me want to cross the country by bike. Think you can score a bike?

**aliz** · 09-29-2007, 04:34 PM

but we can't play music if we're on bikes! every road trip needs a soundtrack!

**freespiritz** · 09-30-2007, 10:25 AM

I'd love to do a shorter trip by bike...my friend and I once said we'd bike through the Rockies together (I ended up road tripping them, without her

).

Roadtrips are definitely my favorite way of seeing the States so far...so if you guys end up roadtripping, I hope you'll pick up this hitcher somewhere along the way.

**aliz** · 09-30-2007, 05:19 PM

let's get a bingitty bangitty schoolbus and pick up as many tpunks as possible!