What journey left an impression on you and why?

Although I have traveled the world, sometimes even by ship , which was great, as there were loads of stops. I’d say a random trip to Malaysia and Singapore was my best. Perhaps then I was in such a good head space.

I had won it for the top female consultant in the country. Somehow that person seems dead now. But anyway. It was great, I could walk alone in the streets at any time of night or day. I could shop, I had money, in fact money was no object. I felt at home there. I long to go back. It’s a beautiful, honest, kind place to be. . I wish we could appreciate moments more, or times. At the time.

My first trip overseas years ago was to China. I’ll never how magical it was standing with my back to the Great Wall and watching the sun come up.

Sadly, a road trip with a pedaphile uncle remains the most horrific journey of my life; but I think that much good has come from it. It was certainly the most impressionable.

Last year’s trip to France was magical.

Yes, traveling in asia. I loved it, very memorable trip.
Otherwise, my personal journey that led me to this house and area about 6.5 years ago now.
Moving to a secluded 5 acre property in the hills and going on a 2 year sabbatical from the great “out there.”

Bliss out….but oh those days are gone and sadly I have to venture back “out there” again to earn money. Bah humbug!

I took a road trip with my mother and her sister (my aunt) through Georgia. We laughed like loons most of the way and stopped at a little very Southern place for lunch that was tremendous. My aunt has since passed away and my mother is 88 now and not up for travel so i treasure the memories.

In Marseille, France. We left a club and were walking around. We met some people our age and tried to speak a little french with them. We were all drunk and started playing soccer in a field lol.

It awesome that I was in a new culture and place, and had fun with total strangers.

Cancun, Mexico.

I discovered that people surrounded by beauty and wealth were living in rudimentary shacks in the jungle (filled with bobcats!)

I discovered that a LOT of people hated Bush 2 and hated America for the first time.

I discovered that being the last plane to land before a hurricane hit was scary and required valium.

I discovered that not everyone gets offered mj when they visit Mexico.

I discovered that the brothels in Mexico are huge and extremely popular.

30 years ago, I traveled to France to take some cooking classes. I returned to the States 7 years later with a wife, a kid, a new profession, a new language, and a new perspective on reality.

3 weeks in Greece made me truly understand my small worth in the world. The Acropolis stands there looking down on us for, how long? I am nothing in the larger scheme of things, but what I am is all I have and therefore I should be at peace and make the most of it.

The first time I saw red rock canyons in Utah I felt this sense of home and comfort that is so weird and seemingly abstract and hard to explain that I could barely even interpret what it was I was feeling. I am absolutely infatuated with the desert….I can’t get enough of it. It gives me a feeling in my stomach, I think part of it’s the fact that you can see with your own eyes how the earth has formed over time and it puts you into perspective of how small you are. Not to mention the sky there at night. I am sure it is similar in places like Hawaii or other remote parts of the world where there is little civilization and lights. Seeing the Milky Way with my own 2 eyes was something I didn’t even realize was possible. Anyhow, few people understand this sentiment and it’s gotten me a lot of weird looks…but it’s not just me. There are others of course, author Edward Abbey has at least 10 books about his time working as the first park ranger in what is now the tourist overrun Arches National Park. He describes it very well but in the end what draws him to the desert and makes him feel at home there is still mostly a mystery. Since the first time I visited the southwest USA I have been back so many times I can’t even count. I don’t think it will ever get old, and I know for a fact I will never be able to see it all, even if I lived in the heart of it and explored every day! I love that. This all being said, I have only been the USA (but I have extensively traveled within it) and Canada, however I don’t think I will find the other half of my soul, heart, spirit, whatever you want to call it, anywhere other than Utah. I grew up in lush Western Pennsylvania and now live in the Rockies. I know all about mountains, vegetation, green goodness, and I love that too. It just doesn’t give me the same feeling, and I don’t think anywhere else ever will either. I do hope to travel all over the world eventually, but I think Utah will always be it for me.

Also, SAGE!!!!!!!!!!!

@deni Very descriptive, thanks!

@deni Utah is amazing! I was at Bryce and Zion a few years ago. :-)

When I was 15, my family went on a two-week camping car trip from Denver, Colorado to Mt Rushmore, then to Iowa to visit relatives, and on through Las Vegas, Painted Desert, Grand Canyon, to Disneyland in California, and finally back to Denver. It as an experience I’ll never forget

A few years ago I took three teen age boys and a dog on a two week trip from Sacramento to Yellowstone and then San Diego. We stayed in lodging every night and had a wonderful time. The boys don’t remember much of it, but I do.

@Coloma Funny enough, I just last week visited Zion for the first time. Oh man! It was really great and I can’t wait to go back this summer and do the narrows AYEEEEEEEEEIIEIEIEI

I’ve been lucky to travel a lot already. India, especially, left a strong impression on me in many ways, but not in the “magical mystery tourist” way that Westerners tend to speak of/experience India. It was life altering but also full of fucked up family dynamics, so it’s hard to talk about.

The most meaningful journey was my trip to France this past summer. It was my first time traveling abroad completely alone, not with my family or a school group. As someone with a demanding chronic disease and a not-quite-completely-‘passing’-yet trans person, that was a big deal by itself, and I am proud and lucky to not have had any medical or trans related SNAFUs. It was the beginning of my career as an academic. I got to meet a real big shot in my field and made other good connections besides, and did some great research. I experienced the most profound loneliness of my life (which is also an introduction to academia). I was in Paris for Gay Pride, or The Festival of Prides, as they call it, as well as Bastille Day, and I had a front row VIP ticket to the military parade. And, of course, I had one of the most meaningful interactions of my life… Got to say “It’s thank to you that I realized I could love men” to a guy I have been in love with for four years. (And much more besides ;) And thanks to him, I’ll never again settle for someone who doesn’t deserve and respect me. I feel like I grew up a lot during that trip. Although there’s still more to do.

I was working for a political organization, and we were sent to Iowa to work on a Senatorial campaign. We were centered in Iowa City and we had this apartment to live in. My roommate smoked, which drove me crazy, so I was happy to get out of that place early each morning, which we had to do. And of course, we didn’t get home until late at night.

They’d drive us to a different town each day to do things like lit drops or canvassing and whatever else was needed. Sometimes we’d drive for hours down the main highway—I don’t remember now—could it have been route 80?

Iowa is pretty damn flat, and there are miles and miles of fields. And in these fields where these giant rounds of hay. I guess it had to be summertime if they were mowing hay. But the election was in November. Could they have been mowing hay in October? Or maybe the rounds were left over from the summer.

Anyway, someone started calling them hay races, because it seemed like the hay rounds were rolling across the fields as we drove by and that they were all racing each other.

Yeah. smoking and hay races. That’s what I remember about my time locked up in Iowa. It was a miserable time, really, and we lost. So long ago.

I have to say that every trip has left an impression in me in one way or another. However, one that comes to mind is a visit to the island of Mustique, it is a very beautiful place and I had lobster for diner everyday which I don’t get too often where I live.