Cynthia Tilghman wrote a blog entitled, If You Could Live Anywhere in the World? Where Would That Be? I started thinking -I believe I live in the most incredible place in the world. I am fortunate. I've been to many countries, have seen many cultures, and it makes me happy to know that I live in America - in my town of Cary, North Carolina. I also have a bug for travel. Not everyone has this bug and it is especially difficult to have this bug when you are in real estate. So, I try to travel during my off season - during the winter months.
I've been fortunate enough to grow up in a family that loves to travel. My immediate family is small - my husband, my daughter, my parents, and my sister. We've all traveled the world - something we cherish. My sister played professional tennis and traveled for a living. She's been to places that I'd love to visit - China, Indonesia are two. My parents have been to places like New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, and the Netherlands. I'm fortunate that my parents are young and active and have had the opportunity to live an active lifestyle prior to retirement. So far my favorite countries are Italy, Australia, and Greece.
I've also been fortunate to have been able to travel the world and that is by choice.. I chose to live an International lifestyle. There are many families in Raleigh and New Orleans (cities I've lived in) that have never ventured beyond their own towns. My husband is a citizen of Australia which helped me achieve one of my life long dreams. I wanted to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef before I reached 40. What do you know? I ended up marrying an Ausie and actually achieved my dream well before 40.
If you had unlimited time and an unlimited budget where would you like to visit?
Tracy Santrock, REALTOR, specializes in relocation, buyer agency, listings & investment properties in the Triangle area of North Carolina with Fonville Morisey. Visit www.TriangleNCHomes4Sale.com.
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Fun Blog. I have traveled and would like to travel to Italy and find members of my family. Kind of a roots thing. I would also love to go to Asia and learn about a totally different way of life
Given a choice of destinations, I would choose Egypt to see the Giza pyramids or Australia.
Charlie - Aww! Italian families are tight knit and good people. Asia is on the list for me - someday.
Matthew - Oooo - sounds interesting.
Tracey - My next stop is going to be Eastern Europe. I have heard that this part of Europe is thriving. Last year I almost bookd a skitrip to Poland.
Rebecca - Sounds absolutely adventurous!!
This is so much fun hearing about all of the different places that Rainers have in mind!!
Hello all.... I have just received my first Passport EVER! I am so excited. We are going to England in January to take my step-daughter to school. She is entering an international program in London and plans to do her entire college education abroad. (Right now she is looking at Scotland) She has already been to Paris on a trip with her grandparents, then a school trip her junior year to Greece, Paris and a few other countries. As a junior she was also a Senate Page living and going to school in Washington for 6 months and on her return, she took a trip to India, McLeod Guange, where the Dali Lama lives. It was like a mini peace corp excursion where she taught English to the monks and children of the Village.
Is it no wonder this young traveler will study abroad for her Art History degree? (Pssstttt college is much cheaper abroad even with the exchange against the Euro)
So she is much more worldly than I. But I am looking forward to this very first experience abroad. My husband's family is well traveled also and I love hearing all their tales.
My all time ever dream trip - the Greek Isles!
I have been to a lot of places and my next stop is Dubai
Anne
Tracy, Hi ~ It sounds as if you and your family have traveled to some neat places.
I, too, love to travel, both domestically and internationally. One of my favorite places in the United States is Sedona, Arizona. I first visited in 2004 and participated in a retreat through Sedona Soul Adventures.
If I had a unlimited time and an unlimited budget, I would take one of those 4 to 6 month World Cruise vacations.
Darleen -Sedona looks incredibly relaxing - Like a real retreat.
Anne -I hear Dubai is pretty incredible.
Linda - Oia, Santorini in Greece is fantastic. Greece used to be so affordable but the drop in the $$ has made everything a lot more expensive.
Tracy--My whole famiy would like to visit Austraila someday. What fun it must be to have that family connection as your tour guide!! I have had a penpal in South Africa since I was 13 that I would like to meet. Then of course there is Hawaii, Alaska and the Grand Canyon in the US. I used to travel quite a bit for work but we always were in NYC, California, Tennessee or Florida....Big convention areas.
Hi Tracy, It sounds like you've led a very exciting life !
i enjoy traveling too. I've yet to make it to Greece, Ireland or Peru...those are my goals within the next 5 years. I'd like to spend a month sailing around the Greek Islands.
It's always nice to come back home to Ontario though...I love it here.
((-:
Jo
Teri - That's a long time to have a penpal. I bet you've learned a lot in the process.
Jo-Anne - It's fun to travel but there's no place like home. ((-:
Tracy - ooooh one of my favorite topics and past-times! I really do enjoy travel and we've been all over it seems. Though, not to Australia or Africa and I just passed up an opportunity to go to Australia 1 1/2 months ago - not enough time! If I could go anywhere it would be back to Spain for a bit - I love it there. From there I'd be off to Greece and Turkey and I'd have to end my trip in Africa before coming home. I have a heart and passion for those children and I'd like to think if I could find the time to travel that extensively I could make time for them too!
Jackie
Jackie - Aren't the people in Australia the best? They are warm, friendly, and laid back. The only bad part is the airplane ride over there.
We also love some of the same places - I'd love to go to Africa -I've never been there.
Tracy,
This would have been (would be) a wonderful topic for a contest. Do you know how to go about doing that? I don't or at least I don't think so but I've entered a couple and the people that organized them would have the information.
The topic fascinates me because, as you probably can tell from my last two posts, I love to travel also.
Kathleen
Kathleen,
What a great idea. I'd save your Antartica post for the contest!!
Adam Waldman and Sally Cheesman have two very active groups here at Activerain and regularly sponser contests. I think I'll shoot Adam an email and see what he thinks. I'll tell him you sent me.
Tracy...Great. Since I suggested this as a contest to you, I've come up with an idea for one too. Looking forward to hearing how your inquirey turns out.
Kathleen
P.S. Thanks for bringing Cynthia's post to our attention. I just read it and commented.
Tracy, traveling is a passion of mine. We had an amazing trip to Thailand last year. And I've traveled to England, France, Italy, Israel, Canada, U.S. Virgin Islands, Curacao, St. Martin, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and throughout the United States. There are so many more places that I want to visit. My father-in-law has been to around 80 countries.
Hi Tracy,
I love to travel, last year I married my hubby in Aruba! I will go wherever it is warm....I'm ready now! :)
Tracy,
I've been a few places in my life as well, mostly Europe. I would have to say that my dream places to visit for fun and relaxation would have to be Ireland and Australia. Ireland calls to the innermost places in my soul. The pictures and images I've seen really speak to me. Australia just seems like such a wild place to visit that I've always been drawn to it as well, just not as much as Ireland. One day...but not before I'm 40, that's for sure!!
Nice reading all the comments. Perhaps one day I will be able to travel and see these places myself
Suzanne - What a great place to get married. Lots of fun in the sun :)
Andrew - Ireland seems to have a lot of history and culture. My parents have been there and they really enjoyed the country.
Donald - Start dreaming and setting those goals. If you have the will you will find a way!
Tracy,
I've always wanted to visit Australia, New Zealand and S.Africa (in this order)... And my biggest dream is to watch rugby in a stadium in these countries..
Hopefully in the next 3 years I will be visiting Australia and New Zealand...
Mehmet - My hubby thinks football is Futbol - the football fields in Ausie have 3 posts - it looks really strange. The Ausies also like Cricket too.
Back to my travel dreams - I really enjoyed Tuscany in Italy but next time I want to ride my bike through Italy. They have lots of bike tours and I love to cycle.
Tracy -it must be you then who reads my blog in Australia:) I was surprised that someone in Australia and even China reads my blogs.
I traveled a lot and lived in Italy, Austria, Russia, Ukraine. I always love to come back home to Princeton, NJ.
Tracy,
This may be hard to believe, but there is only one place I would go....Tennessee! I love it there, the Smokey Mountains are beautiful and the people are wonderful.
Debbie - The Smokey Mountains are also a wonderful destination especially this time of year. I think of hot chocolate, a fire in the fire place, and even snow. It couldn't be a better vacation!
For me the China has got to be number one on the list followed closely by Cambodia, then Laos, Thailand, Korea, and Japan. I have read many books on Southeast Asia. Both China and Cambodia have alternately captured and broken my heart through words and stories so I imagine actually visiting those places could elicit no less emotionally.
If you are interested in reading a first hand account of a turbulent time in Mao's China, I would highly recommend A Generation Lost: China Under the Cultural Revolution by Zi-Ping Luo. I first found this book over a decade ago at my public library, but here is the Amazon link as well (sorry no photo of the book seems to be available). http://www.amazon.com/Generation-Lost-China-Cultural-Revolution/dp/0380713772/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196198480&sr=1-5
I would love to visit Australia and China. For next year, I plan to visit Alaska. Yippeee.
I would love to visit Australia and China. For next year, I plan to visit Alaska. Yippeee.
I would love to visit Australia and China. For next year, I plan to visit Alaska. Yippeee.
unlimited time and budget, that's easy, I'd go everywhere. Probably I would start in Ireland and the UK.
Great post. I guess I'd like to set foot on every continent.
Dan - Alaska is a bit cold for me.
Diana - Wouldn't that be a dream - an unlimited budget and plenty of time. It's definitely a dream.
Vincent - That would take a while.
Hi Tracy,
Thanks for the mention, link and resurrection of my post. I do love the eastern coast of NC but there are so many places I have not visited. Spain and Greece are two countries at the top of my very long "want to visit list". Oh well maybe some day....................
Great blog. I'm saving some of "where I've lived/been" for when I need to have information about me that people would want to know, lol.
I used to be a Travel Agent, and I researched a lot for people about their trips, so I feel like I've been to a lot of places I haven't! Top on my list of wants.... Australia!
Cynthia - It looks like you got quite a response from the link - that's great.
Kim- I'm sure you had a blast as a travel agent. PS> The Ausies are great!
I love to travel too! I was born and raised in Finland and have visited most of the European country. I have been in Greenland (now that was different), Jordan (different also), and Guatemala to name a few. I lived in Brazil for 6 months and I loved Brazil. Next destination: somewhere very warm! I would like to visit Japan one day too. ~Rita
Tracy, my favorites are the Greek Isles, and Tortola BVI. I would like to visit Portugal and take a month to see Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily then sail to the Greek Isles again.
Ginger
Ginger & Roger,
There are so many wonderful places that everyone has commented about, inlcuding your list. Totrotla and Portugal sound intriguing. I'd better start saving!
Tonight I read a blog by Andrew Mooers about working hard and playing hard but also remembering to take vacation. Here is a link to that post:
Work Hard, Play Fair, Push Beyond The Average. But Take A Week's Vacation!
My parents are off to India this week and will be back in time for Christmas. If you love to travel call us for all your real estate needs - we have a cosmo family - my hubby is even from Australia.