The "It Must Be Nice" response...

Right off the bat I will admit that I have taken this topic from a post on the Fodors website. The post there got alot of responses and although I did not post a reply on that website it got me thinking about if people ever tell me this when they find out about one of my trips.

I'm sure that I've had people make similar comments to me, but can't recall any specifics. And as many of the Fodorites posted, it does kind of "get on my nerves". What irritates me is when people ask me about my vacation/trip plans and I tell them and then they give me the "roll of the eyes" and a smart-alec remark.

Such as when I tell them I am going to Eastern Europe (because if I told them Central Europe as it is correctly called from a geographic standpoint they would have no clue where I was talking about) they immediately want to know why I would pick there to go on vacation? Well, maybe because it's an area of the world that interests me or maybe I'm intrigued by the culture and history and I want to not only relax during my vacation but also learn a little something. One person asked my travel partner who I'm going with on my upcoming September trip, why would we want to go see Auschwitz? (I know I probably spelled that wrong!) Well, it's part of history and it intrigues me.

Then there are the people that can't believe I'm going to Europe because it's so expensive, well if you plan accordingly it can be affordable and because I choose to drive a 7 year old car that's paid for and not have the latest big screen HD TV and digital cable I can put my pennies in a "travel account" because that's what I like to do, it's a hobby and it's something (travel) that I make a priority in my life.

So maybe the "It must be nice" is because those people are jealous or envious or want to do it too, but don't have the nerve. It hasn't happened so much with my Central Europe trip because I am going with a friend and that seems so much more acceptable to people then when I tell them I am going by myself.

It's true, when people have asked me in the past "Who are you going with on your trip?" and I tell them no one, they look at me like I have 7 heads and come from another planet. Like they would never be caught dead traveling solo. Well, if you've read this blog before you know my feelings about traveling solo...LOVE IT! :)

Well, why wouldn't I travel solo? Sometimes I travel with others, but the majority is on my own, and it's because some of the places I want to see, my friends don't want to, but I won't let that stop me, why should it stop me? Granted even though I am traveling as a single traveler many times I go on a group tour, so I'm not always "alone".

And why should I wait until I retire? How many times have you heard that someone makes all these grandiose plans for retirement only to turn around and a day, a week, a month or year after retiring they have a heart attack, stroke or get hit by a bus. For that matter any of those things could happen at any time, so my philosophy is do it while I can, and that way I won't say, "I wish I had done more traveling" when my time is up, I will say "I have such great memories"!

So, my reply to "It Must Be Nice"....Yup, it sure is!