What are your travel regrets?

[Anonymous]

Right out of college I was a legal assistant and I hiked Macchu Picchu. A partner at the tony white shoe firm asked where I was staying in Cusco prior to the hike. I said, a $5/night hostel, and he laughed and said: that's right, I forgot that when you can take the time to travel, you don't have a lot of money to spend and when you have the money to spend you can't take the time to travel as much. I still think about that sometimes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not taking my DS to visit paternal grandparents (my ex’s parents) in Israel when he was still a child. His grandmother often asked us to visit. We would have gone alone, without his dad who was not really involved with him. So a little awkward since I had only met ex’s parents a couple of times. But it was more that there always seemed to be instability, threat of war, bombings, in Israel, that I was worried about travelling alone with a child. I am not Jewish and do not have any other family or friends in Israel. Thought I would wait until he was 12 or older to visit but life got busier, harder to take out of school, then pandemic, and now he’s 18 and could go on his own I guess.

He could probably do birth right.

Is this true even if mom is not Jewish? His dad was born in Israel. Interesting idea that I have never considered. Will look into it.

Check the rules but I don't think they discriminate on which parent is jewish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not taking my DS to visit paternal grandparents (my ex’s parents) in Israel when he was still a child. His grandmother often asked us to visit. We would have gone alone, without his dad who was not really involved with him. So a little awkward since I had only met ex’s parents a couple of times. But it was more that there always seemed to be instability, threat of war, bombings, in Israel, that I was worried about travelling alone with a child. I am not Jewish and do not have any other family or friends in Israel. Thought I would wait until he was 12 or older to visit but life got busier, harder to take out of school, then pandemic, and now he’s 18 and could go on his own I guess.

He could probably do birth right.

Is this true even if mom is not Jewish? His dad was born in Israel. Interesting idea that I have never considered. Will look into it.

Check the rules but I don't think they discriminate on which parent is jewish.

Correct- one Jewish parent is enough. I had a friend (with one Jewish parent) who went on a trip and there were like 5 other people on the trip also with one Jewish parent- mother or father doesn't matter. Frankly they are a marketing/political organization and if you have one Jewish parent you are in their target demo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not taking my DS to visit paternal grandparents (my ex’s parents) in Israel when he was still a child. His grandmother often asked us to visit. We would have gone alone, without his dad who was not really involved with him. So a little awkward since I had only met ex’s parents a couple of times. But it was more that there always seemed to be instability, threat of war, bombings, in Israel, that I was worried about travelling alone with a child. I am not Jewish and do not have any other family or friends in Israel. Thought I would wait until he was 12 or older to visit but life got busier, harder to take out of school, then pandemic, and now he’s 18 and could go on his own I guess.

He could probably do birth right.

Is this true even if mom is not Jewish? His dad was born in Israel. Interesting idea that I have never considered. Will look into it.

Check the rules but I don't think they discriminate on which parent is jewish.

Correct- one Jewish parent is enough. I had a friend (with one Jewish parent) who went on a trip and there were like 5 other people on the trip also with one Jewish parent- mother or father doesn't matter. Frankly they are a marketing/political organization and if you have one Jewish parent you are in their target demo.

Thanks, I will def check it out. DS's grandmother would be thrilled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I regret the time I missed not traveling with my kids between 2020-2022. I am still having a hard time realizing all the fun things we missed out on due to the pandemic. I need to get over it, but it still bothers me.

Why didn’t you? We had two of the most chill vacations in the summers of 20/21. We masked, washed hands a lot, were vaccinated, and did everything legally.

Of course you did

[Anonymous]

Not quite what you're asking, but my biggest travel regret is traveling to see family for Christmas when my youngest was 3 months old and I had really bad postpartum depression. Should have just told everyone (including my husband) to get over it, baby and I were staying home. That trip was the most miserable experience of my life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was living in Dubai at the time. Planned a trip to Syria. Got visa and then a mini diplomatic spat with the US had friend in State telling me don't go. Went to Turkey instead. A year later, things had calmed down, I got the visa, trip planned, then unexpected and fantastic job offer popped up. Had to cancel trip. Half a year later the civil war broke out and destroyed so much of what I'd been planning to see. Oh well. Poor Syria.

In both cases it really was a question of a week. Had I booked a week earlier, I'd have seen Syria.

I get it, PP. sometimes timing is everything. We’ve been both lucky with it (Middle East and Israel sites) and unlucky with it (Sri Lanka and S. American sites). What we missed, what was canceled due to civil unrest etc. we never made it back. My only regrets are places we didn’t make it to (and likely never will).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I regret the time I missed not traveling with my kids between 2020-2022. I am still having a hard time realizing all the fun things we missed out on due to the pandemic. I need to get over it, but it still bothers me.

Why didn’t you? We had two of the most chill vacations in the summers of 20/21. We masked, washed hands a lot, were vaccinated, and did everything legally.

You were definitely not vaccinated in the summer of 2020.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That it took me so long to realize how gorgeous this country is. I spent my 20s going to Europe at every occasion. Im 40s now and my kids are now older elem and im trying to get as much as I can at our own national parks. I had no idea. It’s so embarrassing.

Somewhat similar in that I'm well travelled globally but not so much within the US. I've seen the Grand Canyon and would love to go back to the SW. And every now and then I read about or hear about some amazing places, especially in the Western US. The problem, however, and it is a real problem, is that the logistics of such a trip are more challenging than going to Europe. You will spend a lot more time driving around, there are far fewer things to do at the destination, dining/hotel options are more limited. I find it intriguing that it's easier to fly to Switzerland and hike glorious mountains without too much preplanning because the infrastructure is specifically set up for that.

It's a cop out answer, and I do need to just sit down and focus on planning good trips through the Western parks and accept the reality it's going to involve a lot of long driving.

I could have written this, both PPs! I don’t think it’s a cop out answer though… it depends where you and your kids are at in life… The National Park treasures will remain accessible to our kids because we live here, while I’ve already experienced it twice now in my life that all international travel is shut down….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any travel with kids. Not worth the $$$

Really?

My kids are great travelers and I love traveling with them. Sure it's nice going without them, but I have never come back from a trip with them and thought it was a waste or money.

x1000

We traveled with our kids from day 1, which I believe has helped them to become adaptable and easy going in unfamiliar surroundings/situations. They also are quite adventurous eaters as well.

I agree, though as a single mom for most of the trips, it wasn't always easy. But my kids are seasoned travelers now as teens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not studying abroad in college, mainly. I think that might have been a great experience AND changed some of my early adult priorities. No regrets: I love my life now and path though.

Same but it really wasn’t in my budget, and I was partially caught up with a boyfriend at the time, it seems very fun and I hope to encourage DD to.

My study abroad semester was cheaper than my home university!

This wasn’t true for me (in state at a public school), but it was true for my classmates who were OOS. At least one person ended up doing a full year abroad instead of the initially planned semester because it was cheaper than “home”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the question. There’s plenty of time and you’re not dead yet. Go get it OP and PPs!!!!!

Well I regret the trip I didn’t take to the Soviet Union when it was still the Soviet Union, because that would have been interesting.

[Anonymous]

Boat ride to Antarctica from Ushuaia. It was too pricey when I was young and traveling, but man do I wish I had bit the bullet on that one.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad that I got so much traveling under my belt at an early age. Coming from London I was able to inter-rail through Europe as a 17 yr old and fly cheaply to major cities throughout my 20's and 30s for long weekends and even day trips. I spent considerable time in the Far East and African countries. I do regret not having ever visited New Zealand and it's unlikely I'll make that trip now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not studying abroad in college, mainly. I think that might have been a great experience AND changed some of my early adult priorities. No regrets: I love my life now and path though.

Same here. It was partially because of cost, but mostly because my parents were not supportive/wouldn’t pay (even though they were paying my school tuition) and I couldn’t figure out how to make it happen on my own.

Let's not gloss over that it is still very expensive. I did it for a year and would do it again, but it was difficult. I was work study, so saved the years before as I could not work abroad. (visa and high unemployment meant that I was competing against native college students for any under the table jobs). I had to purchase a meal a day so mostly ate bread. I could only afford the plane ticket there and back, so no visits home. I did backpack a little. Just so people know it's not necessarily "less expensive" abroad for those who are scraping at home.