Who got you traveling?
 

What/Who inspired you to start traveling and, more specifically, backpacking?

I think I started because I heard my father's stories about traveling around Europe after college. He was moved by a Canadian cousin who did the same thing. Also what was the first city you saw/spent time in in a foreign country?

Of course, I place the blame of my traveling obsession squarely on my fellow Tpunk shoulders, without whom, I probably would never have considered any destinations east of Austria :cheers:

--Joey

Great topic Joey!

It was my boyfriend that made me want to start travelling, but it was before he became my boyfriend!

We met at uni, and the summer before we'd started, he'd spent 3 months in New Zealand. So once we met, he was telling me and the rest of our friends all about what he got up to, and it made me SO insanely jealous!

So yeah, once we got together later that year we decided that after we'd finished uni we'd go for a long trip together. Which meant I had to wait about 2 and a half years for that trip!!

In regards to when I first spent time in a foreign country, I'm guessing Portugal when I was 3 doesn't count?! I was lucky to have a holiday abroad at least once a year when I was growing up. But my first trip away without family, and not on a school trip or anything, was to Paris for 5 days with some friends in 2004.

yeah I agree, good topic


One of my sorority sisters got me into traveling my freshman year of college. She was older than me but had just come off of studying abroad for the summer and backpacking Europe and it was so amazing, her stories and pictures.

Not to mention I have a) always been the nomadic type and a lover of the open road, and I've been all over the US/Canada and b) had an anthropology minor (which I am going to turn into a major when I go to OSU) because I am fascinated by other people, other cultures

so that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)

I'm gonna place the blame - or inspiration for me to travel (more specifically, travel solo) on an ex-boyfriend of mine. I met him on my gap year program when I was hanging out in Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines, and he talked about all the stuff he'd done and seen. And when we parted when he was going back to Canada, he headed to Thailand, Cambodia and Korea, and I was like, why the hell can't I do that if he can? We also roadtripped a lot of Canada when I went to visit, and the awesome times we had totally ingrained a love for travel in me...

As for time spent in a foreign country, I started way young - three continents when I was three months old! Born in the US, left when I was about 2 months old, went to Malaysia for a couple of weeks and then the UK for three years... ;)

The first abroad experience I actually remember properly (I like to think my first memory is from Switzerland when I was about 3-ish years old) was my family's six-week stint in the UK when I was 11.

The first trip I took without my parents was to Borneo in 2004, although that wasn't really backpacking yet!

Hehe, I forgot to answer my own question. My first city was Amsterdam but I was only there for 5 hours on a layover to Oslo and pretty much stayed within 1 km of Centraal. So the first city I got to go out really walking in was Gjovik, Norway.

My first solo backpacking new city was Seville*.

--Joey

*I had been to Granada two weeks earlier solo but two weeks before that I had been there with a girl I met in a study abroad program so I already felt like I knew it when I showed up at my first ever hostel, "Funky Backpackers" :)

**Oh and my family did the road trip bit extensively since my dad traveled a lot for work. They were usually little out of the way towns but it allowed us to stop in DC, NY and other cool cities.

Nice topic. I started traveling at birth basically. My parents are always traveling, and By the time I was 12, I had seen all of the east coast south of NYC, 3 cruises to the caribbean, and 3 weeks in Italy. My first non backpacking international city was Rome. Where I was also lucky enough to have a private audience with Pope John Paul II. My family just happened to luck into that situation, and to this day, I still love the pics. Venice is the city that I remember most from that trip and it left a lasting impression. My first backpacking trip as an adult was to Napoli Italy, and the islands off the coast. Now theres no stopping me, and sooner or later I will end up walking the planet I'm sure!!!

My dad and I were talking about this the other day. We think it's partially his fault for taking me on roadtrips all the time but we also think that Carmen Sandiego may be largely to blame....

My first solo trip was in 97 to Costa Rica for 3 weeks. I was technically with a group of 40 on a mission trip but I didn't know anyone, I was only 12 and I kept sneaking off to wander around San Jose.

I too have traveled since I was small, my parents moved around a lot. In fact, I don't even remember living in the city I was born in.
My Dad spent his life traveling too.My first backpacking trip was with a close friend to Belgium, it was great and to this day Belgium holds a dear place in my heart.
Who/what inspires me to travel? Well ALL you TPunks for a start. My Uncles and my friend as well

my dad has always loved travelling and we travelled a lot as kids so I have always loved it. i guess my first overseas holiday was probably japan but the place i first remember spending time in would be indonesia cause I lived there for two years when I was a toddler...
my first trip by myself was to Canada and US to stay with various friends and my first backpacking trip was europe last year, for two months.

My family had never been overseas when I decided that I was going to go travelling, they thought it was a complete waste of money. They have since been to Thailand, but they still think that travelling is a waste of money...I guess it's not for everyone.

The person who initially put the idea of backpacking a foreign land in my head was a bloke I went to uni with. He had spent a year backpacking through Central and South America and had some wild stories to tell.

So, I happened to come across some money and decided "what the hell, let's give this backpacking thing a go". My first backpacking trip involved Thailand, Europe, and Central and South America. I went around Europe with a mate, but the rest was solo.

The first foreign city that I ever set foot in, which also happened to be my first solo city, was Bangkok. To be honest, it was a tad intimidating.

I lived in the same town for my first 22 years, my parents have never moved after my brother and I were born. But we did do a reasonable amount of traveling within the US. The first foreign country I was in was probably Canada, I don't remember it but I'm pretty sure we went to toronto at some point and I'm sure we went through canada because its the shortest drive from Michigan to New York. After that we took trips to the UK when I was 10, France and Belgium when I was 15.

My first backpacker trip was basically as revenge. I had been planning to go with some guys to climb Devil's Tower for about a year. I decided to finish some classes during the summer term at my university and they thought that meant I would be having school during the time of the trip. The trip happened to be in a 2 week gap between semesters but it was filled up by the time this was all understood.

Anyway, I was pretty annoyed so I was trying to decide what to do instead, and I found a really cheap ticket from LA to Sydney, so I booked it on impulse :cool:

Then I had to go figure out how to travel as a backpacker, get gear, etc. I hadn't even considered it before. And of course I had an awesome time!:cheers:

my parents moved alot, then divorced and moved and remarried other people and moved. my siblings and i all got used to living in a different place in the US every few years, so i never had the "home" tie. then i got into photography and really wanted to travel abroad for the photo opportunities. it was travelpunk that gave me the balls (girl nuts if you will) to do so. yay travelpunk! :cheers:

Is this Ohio State or Oklahoma State?


haha mine did the same thing. I counted it up once and I have been in 13 different schools from K-12. That sort of ingrained in me that I don't want a static "normal" life. The rest I would blame on my love for culture and my need to experience other cultures. I use to dream that I would go on a RTW trip but I never knew it was possible till I met you guys. You all are definitely an inspiration when a girl is feeling overwhelmed or down.

Oh and as for a foreign city I wish that I could say I've been to one, but not yet. As a west caster the most foreign city I've been to is Philly :p

^stateside, my most foreign city would be Miami...or any city in Alabama.

I think that is kind of interesting, Sarah, you moved a ton as a kid and love to travel. I have lived on the same street for the past 23 years and love to travel. Maybe the two extremes start to wrap around and meet in the back hehe :)

--Joey

Who said "Carmen Sandiego"? Because i definitely agree with them (sorry i read this post last night but only got around to responding now). I would have to thank my parents for getting me hooked on travelling. First it was with books about faraway lands and endless screenings of Indiana Jones movies. Then they took me to England when i was 11 and Jamaica when i was 12.

They also helped me pay for my first trip to Europe in high school which sealed the deal for life. But it all started with them. I always tell my wife how excited I'll be when we take our kids (of which there are none yet and won't be for a few more years) for their first passports.

I think they do Joe. Funny I have a friend who hates travel because he did it so much as a kid. I wonder if it is just how your experiences turned out! And yeah Alabama is a bit on the foreign side...:D

Even tho I can't imagine having kids right now when I do they are going traveling with me, strapped to my back whatever, I want them to experince life first hand. I'd love to take my sister traveling (she's nine) but so far I can't even get my step-dad to let her visit me in cali. I mean I use to ride planes all by myself when I was a kid, why can't she?

Carmen, you minx!

Actually, my reason is a combo of tons of factors. I'm Italian-American, so I got that "Old Country" fever when I was growing up from the rest of the fam. And I got an opportunity to see the Passionspiel with my German class Junior year of HS. So I think nothing for 17 years then 2 countries in one summer (and my parents weren't big on family vacations like a lot of other families were) spoiled me.

My reason for traveling solo, however, is that I'm a big jerk. Or else I'm totally intolerant to people as individuals and can only stand people as the collective or "culture." I wanted to go to Turkey while I did my abroad in Germany, and everyone else wanted to do a bunch of countries in our week off (in addition to TWO DAYS in Turkey!). I didn't want to spend the money seeing so little of so much, yaknow? (Plus, I'm one of those people who can NOT travel comfortable with people for more than a few days unless we're super tight, or very soul mateish personality-wise.) Then I met an Israeli for that trip in Istanbul, and it all kind of snowballed. I guess I develop larger and larger girl nuts (lmao) everytime I leave home and come back alive.

Me too! And finding the little town my ancestors are from was an incredible experience for me. My great-uncle, who's never been, actually teared up when he heard about it.

I've wanted to travel since I was a kid. Didn't really get to until I started working overseas. This site is definitely what turned me on to backpacking. I was in college (the first time) when I found the site, and I realized that I didn't have to wait until I was middle aged or had lots of money to make it happen.

London was the first city I arrived in as a backpacker.
:cheers:

^No kidding David, so was your last trip your first?

--Joey

^ Other than trips to Mexico, my first real experience showing up in a foreign country was the UAE, then Iraq, Kuwait, and Jordan. I was on my way to Thailand for a vacation in Phuket when the tsunami hit (wiped out the hotel I reserved). After that I went to the Philippines with a girl I was dating at the time, and that was a lot of fun.

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.