Where was your first travel?

[david44]

Probably the most expensive food in Europe

Prague and I generally eat in local food in bistros hotels, sometimes Vietnamese Vegan Italian or Meaty brewery fare good local restos in Praha , I avoid the old town and Malastrana dues to the hordes of drunks at night and stickybeekers after 9am

Have you dined out in Rye, Lyme Regis or, Geneva,Switzerland or Denmark lately, last year the only place I ate similar -3 to 4 star restaurant meals for less was Soria in Spain and Porthmadog in Wales, Copenhagen prices help the diet IMHO.

PM if you want some suggestions for great waiter service under $10, beer/wine is almost free and tip top

[naptownmike]

I flew to England with my Dad in 1980 to see his parents. On the way there the crew took me upstairs to go in and see the captain at the controls of the 747 and I was to young to be envious of the first class passengers on the second deck. I may still have the metal wings they gave me.

43 years later they are still using those silly rising busses at Dullas airport to go from the the gate to customs.

My clearest memory of England is getting told off by a trout fisherman at some river and my grandfather for making to much noise in the car

[OhOh]

Rimini Italy - camping aged 12.

Stopped in France for one night, Lake Maggiore Switzerland a few days, Rimini Italy a week then back to Lake Maggiore and home.

Lake Maggiore was the best.

I visited Lake Maggiore many years later when working in Switzerland, but my cars engine blew up.

[Bettyboo]

15 or so went with the parents to Corfu (which was nice).

But the first trip alone was, as an English person, to Spain for a week when I was about 18 - Salou. Got a very cheap flight from Luton airport, and I only had 50 pounds spending money which ran out after 4 or 5 days, so I had to stay in abandoned buildings for the last two days then walk back to the airport from the beach on flight home day (a long way, very hot, only 1 bottle of water) which was well over 10kms. All in all, pretty similar to my time in Thailand 20 to 30 years later...

[Backspin]

1 All in all, pretty similar to my time in Thailand 20 to 30 years later...

So there was LBs in Spain too?

[russellsimpson]

My first trip out of country (apart from the USA) was a long road trip I took with my girlfriend to Belize. Mexico was great and Belize was a serious downer.

My most memorable trip was to India about a decade back. Darjeeling was a remarkable city. and I went overland almost into Bhutan. On that trip and far up into the mountains I saw my first good luck at Mt. Everest and it's surrounding mountains. While I was high in the moiuntainsna scuffle broke out between India and China so I had to abort that trip and return back to Darjeelin.

I loved my travelling look back very fondly on my journeys. I would love to still be travelling but unfortunately I lost my left leg above the knee and most of the of the function in the right leg. Visiting Darjeeling in a wheelchair is unimaginable. I'm glad I traveled as extentively as I did when I could.

[Troy]

First trip abroad without parents was when I was 14. I still have the visitors passport you could get from the post office to go to Europe in those days. It was a skiing trip at Chamrousse although we stayed in a youth hstel in Grenoble.

[Bob Mason]

I have been to Denmark once. It was when there was an aviation fuel shortage in the UK and the Thai Airways flight had to refuel in Copenhagen. There was snow on the ground and I saw a man dressed in a plastic suit. He looked like the Michelin man. And, that was my only experience of Denmark. I have led a sheltered life and not travelled far. Khon Kaen is as exotic as it gets for me. I liked the clock and the bridge in Praha but was annoyed to find that I had to pay to see the Jewish Cemetery so I gave it a miss.

[DrWilly]

There’s some interesting stories from different people here. thread

[S Landreth]

Might even be better if the posters would stick to.......

First trip abroad without parents

[Hugh Cow]

Let's do some geography, history and math all rolled into one.

Da Nang/Aged 17/1968.

This means that Lulu was born around 1951 and is now around 72 years old.



Either, he is Benjamin Button, who fought in the Vietnam war, or is not telling the truth.

I really do hope he is fibbing becuase stolen valour is seen in a bad light.

He could be telling the truth though, as I don't know, I weren't there man.

Dont know of any 17 year olds who went to vietnam. In those days you could join young. "Natio" as we called the draft was a random selection of 18 year olds. It was conducted like a lottery by pulling a number which represented a birth date out of a barrel. Many who were selected could apply for a deferrment due to being at university or other forms of training and others didnt pass the medical, so most conscripts were at least 19 before going to vietnam after training etc. The National draft was restricted to Australian citizens and british subjects so it was possible lulu (I think he is a brit) was called up in which case he would have at least 2 medals and would be around nineteen or older. Any non Australian citizen from Europe such as permanet residents were ineligible as I recall.

[DrWilly]

Might even be better if the posters would stick to.......

Yes, and no. Essentially two parts to the thread. My parents never took me overseas, nor skiing nor to a beach house et al. We just were not the wealthy. Interesting that some posters here did. Though, growing up in Australia limited the opportunities to go overseas.

[misskit]

^ Going off the subject a bit, that ship, Flavia, that I was on had been used to transport immigrants from Europe to Australia in the years before it made the Miami-Nassau run.

[Joe 90]

First trip abroad without parents was when I was 14. I still have the visitors passport you could get from the post office to go to Europe in those days. It was a skiing trip at Chamrousse although we stayed in a youth hstel in Grenoble.

Me too, that one year cardboard passport for a few quid at the post office same day.

My first solo trip abroad without parents was to work in the fast paced and slightly wild west Timeshare industry of Tenerife at the age of 19.
Ended up staying there 2 years before travelling to other various resorts in Southern Europe working in the industry.

[tomcat]

I lost my left leg above the knee

...so the left calf is still ok then...

[russellsimpson]

When I went onto the table I was assured that my knee would be left intact so it was a great shock when I awoke with the knee gone. really the story went from bad to worse very quickly. A good bit of humour Tom. Take care.

[VocalNeal]

School trip cruise to the Soviet Union via Demark, Sweden and Finland. Visited St Petersburg (then Leningrad) and Moscow.
Still cannot stomach rum and coke! One guy was offered a Russian's sister in exchange for his jeans.

[Joe 90]

School trip cruise to the Soviet Union via Demark, Sweden and Finland. Visited St Petersburg (then Leningrad) and Moscow.
Still cannot stomach rum and coke! One guy was offered a Russian's sister in exchange for his jeans.

Moments like this make your first travel experiences memorable.

I remember transiting through Moscow airport in 1991 and spending a memorable several hours there.

I could literally write book about those hours there.

Chapters..

The Kathmandu Hippy Smuggler.
The Ginger Hong Kong policeman.
The Chinese Triads stolen lighter.
The Russian Author and the San Francisco liberal backpacker.
The Trolley Dolleys and the Levi's.
The red army cabbage soup and Olga's V up.
The elephant expedition from Nepal.
The Guinness and the stew kerfuffle in the Irish bar.
The African cardboard city inside an airport.
The pissed up puking Russian in the toilets.
The Game girls on the Aeroflop flight.

[Edmond]

I remember transiting through Moscow airport in 1991 and spending a memorable several hours there.

The Guinness and the stew kerfuffle in the Irish bar.

The first Irish bar in Moscow opened in 1991, and it wasn't in the airport.

[Storekeeper]

Reported to the USS Midway (CV-41) homeported in Yokosuka, Japan at age 17 for a two year tour. Have lived overseas 22 of the 44 years since then.

[VocalNeal]

Moments like this make your first travel experiences memorable.

We were or rather our parents were told how much money to give us. Of course some parents gave more. One of ours was stood in GUM department store with the realization that he had enough money to buy a motorbike and sidecar but how could he get it home. Another tried on a gold ring then couldn't get it of. Another leant on the glass display box and broke the glass.

[Edmond]

Reported to the USS Midway (CV-41) homeported in Yokosuka, Japan at age 17 for a two year tour. Have lived overseas 22 of the 44 years since then.

For some reason I thought you were in your late 40s not early 60s.

I don't need to ask who's that in your Av now.

[nidhogg]

Yes, and no. Essentially two parts to the thread. My parents never took me overseas, nor skiing nor to a beach house et al. We just were not the wealthy. Interesting that some posters here did. Though, growing up in Australia limited the opportunities to go overseas.

You might be reading a tad too much into mine at least. It was a school trip, and we were far from rich. Overseas school trips UK from were (are?) quite common. I seem to think that Chitty was bemoaning having to fork out for his kids to go on one recently.

[Joe 90]

You might be reading a tad too much into mine at least. It was a school trip, and we were far from rich. Overseas school trips UK from were (are?) quite common. I seem to think that Chitty was bemoaning having to fork out for his kids to go on one recently.

Still am, £3000 now all in for two off them to go to Iceland for 4 nights!!!

It will be a great experience for them.

[Joe 90]

The first Irish bar in Moscow opened in 1991, and it wasn't in the airport.

Ok. If you say so.