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Destination or the journey


BR46

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Depends of the purpose of the trip. I prefer taking the back roads and seeing what’s around the next bend. Wo7 isn’t interested in the same things and wants to stop at every fabric/quilt shop she can find. We have to balance competing interests. Sometimes backroads, sometimes inner state hi ways 

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It all depends on why I’m traveling. If the destination is the goal I want to get there ie going to visit grandkids, or to a beach house rental on the outer banks. If the goal is the journey I stop and smell the roses. My bicycle vacations where I do a tour with a large group of people it’s hard to not get into race mode. I have made friends over the years that taught me the advantages of slowing down. A Canadian who I had promised a ride back to Buffalo from Albany rode with me the final day of the Erie Canal tour. He wanted to make sure we didn’t get separated and he lose his ride back. We talked all day as we rode and I mentioned that every Canal town seemed to have a Canal museum.

He asked me how I liked the museums, I told him I didn’t stop at any. He couldn’t believe it. He said he stopped at all of them. He often missed dinner because he was so late getting into camp and some days he was setting up his tent in the dark. The one town we were riding through as we were riding out of town he stopped me and said there is supposed to be a really nice waterfall in this town, we have to go back and find it. We turned around and rode back into town and he turned toward the river and sure enough there was a breath taking waterfall. I would have missed it.

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1 minute ago, Wilbur said:

Depends.  Sometimes the journey thus the sailboat.   Other times, the destination thus air travel.  :) 

Air travel is a faster mode of transportation but is still an enjoyable journey. I never get tired of the view from 30k.

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Just now, Wilbur said:

I spend a lot of time there wishing the miles by.  Different perspective. 

Like everything familiarity breeds contempt 

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I have a hard time separating the two - from a "vacation" perspective.  For a vacation, usually it is one big journey with multiple destinations along the way. We fly to a starting point, but then the journeying begins with a drive to a campground, then hikes or exploring or a museum or specific site, then head to another campground with stops along the way, and more hikes/exploration/sites, and then repeat until the end.  It works the same with "hotel" in place of campground.

For a specific event - a hike to a waterfall - from home, though, will likely be less about the journey and all about the destination.  The big x factor seems to be how far the destination is from home, since the longer the journey to get there, the more opportunity there is for spontaneous "extras" - neat things to see, stops that are fun, random events, etc.. 

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40 minutes ago, Zackny said:

Air travel is a faster mode of transportation but is still an enjoyable journey. I never get tired of the view from 30k.

I like to get the window seat and watch the world slowly go by like a rolling map.  I got pretty good at identifying landmarks below on the flights I took regularly.  It's quite amazing how far away you can identify some large objects.  The blimp hanger in Lakehurst NJ is viewable from far far away.  C-5's on the ramp in Dover make everything else look small.  I never got to watch Canada (like Yellowknife) roll by because the flight attendants made us shut the window shades so everyone could be put to sleep.

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42 minutes ago, Zackny said:

Air travel is a faster mode of transportation but is still an enjoyable journey. I never get tired of the view from 30k.

I love the views too, but overall flying commercial is a drag. Spaces are too tight, there's often one or more people acting like jerks and lots of waiting. But on trips longer than 8 hours, it is the quickest way to travel. I've seen many meltdowns due to air travel.

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I am most often a destination type.   When I am going somewhere, it is to do something specific..., go diving, do a canoe trip, hike or camp somewhere, see someone.   Therefore we tend to want to get where we want to go.  We really never do a 'wander around and see whats around the next corner' because I would quickly be overcome with boredom and lose interest in seeing the world's second largest ball of elastic bands.

Our anniversary trip this June will be a journey trip...., with things to see and do all along the way but that us more of a three week wander than an actual destination type vacay

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Depends, sometimes I just enjoy driving and seeing things with only a psuedo destination in mind.  Other times I am going some place and just went to freaking get there.

If air travel is involved, it's never the journey as I hate flying.

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1 hour ago, team scooter said:

Some days the Mrs chooses the destination, and I'll choose the journey to get there. The next time we'll switch. Sometimes we'll do a zig zag across the state for a cheeseburger. But we'll do a beeline across country to visit the grandkids. :dontknow:

In my garage I had a map of the state of Wisconsin and we would throw a dart and where it would hit that's where we went for lunch.

We would jump on the motorcycle and go and when we got there we would ask a local on where was their favorite place to get a burger and a beer. 

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I am currently planning for a pretty epic journey.  I have the destination in mind. But that destination is deeply, intrinsically tied to the journey. Each part of the journey is a microcosm, in and of itself each a destination, principle to the larger whole. The journey really is the destination...

That said, typically I’ve always been destination minded.  It hasn’t really been until the latter years of my life that I’ve stopped to relish the journey more.  

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34 minutes ago, Zealot said:

It hasn’t really been until the latter years of my life that I’ve stopped to relish the journey more

This is what I'm talking about. 

On our journey through back roads of America we have seen some amazing, some funny things. Found some interesting things that I didn't even know existed. Wo46 and still talk about some of the things we've seen. 

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