Travel Memories from Dave [A Couple Travelers]

English (Engels)

“What is your most memorable childhood travel memory?” That’s what I’ve asked over 50 travel bloggers and other travel addicts. These are their personal stories and photos.

Today, I interview Dave from A Couple Travelers!

Hi Dave, do you remember the first time you went travelling?

When I was younger my family did a bit of traveling but not an awful lot. I remember we did a few cruises and even went to Aruba at one point. At no point did we ever go to Asia or Europe. It’s actually almost hard to believe that now I am traveling to all these places and my sister lives in Spain – from where did we get the thirst for travel? I don’t know.

Of course the largest trip in my early years was when Vicky and I went unchaperoned to Italy for 12 days. It was an amazing trip, which we planned entirely ourselves. We did trains, planes, and buses and stayed in some pretty OK hotels. It was a fantastic time and perhaps the perfect destination for us given our situation (young, inexperienced, English speakers). After that it seems like the number of places we started to go to came like the falling of dominos. We both studied abroad in different places and did our separate trips around Europe.

Did your parents travel much before you were born?

I don’t think my dad traveled much at all. My mom did significantly more travelling and also backpacked through Europe for several weeks. I think given the time this was really “unheard of” so perhaps that’s where my sister and I get it from.

What was your favourite holiday destination as a child, a teenager and an adult?

Childhood

We used to do annual summer trips to Cape Code since we lived not too far from Boston. It’s a really nice feeling to go back to the same place year after year. Nowadays we’re of the mentality that there is just so much to see that there is no time to revisit a place, but there’s something to be said about visiting a place year after year and developing roots there (friends, places to go, things to eat).

Teenager

As a teenager I was more interested in skiing and snowboarding, since we lived in Massachusetts. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of mountains in the area but I used to go to Wachusetts on school trips and with friends in my spare time. Later we did many other mountains around Vermont and New Hampshire, and eventually branched out into Canada. I still love to snowboard and hope to make it to the Alps during our travels.

Adult

Now that we’re adults we value spending time with family, wherever that destination is and whenever we’re afforded the time/opportunity – so I guess that makes home my answer.

Nowadays we’re of the mentality that there is just so much to see that there is no time to revisit a place, but there’s something to be said about visiting a place year after year…

Can you tell me what your memory is with this image?

Can you remember a specific travel item/gadget you used to take on a trip as a child?

As a child I used to always take a stuffed animal wherever we went to travel and to buy a new one wherever we went. I had quite the collection after awhile and I used to know where they were all from.

Did the way you travelled as a child changed much when you grew up?

Traveling now is entirely different of course since the destinations are completely different. When I was a child and my parents went on vacation they wanted to relax understandably. Nowadays there isn’t as much relaxation and there is intense backpacking, which is more about economizing than relaxing.

Of course relaxation has its place and I still value it pretty heavily, but if you want to see things then you have to make tradeoffs and this is one of them.

Finally: What is your best tip for making a trip memorable?

The key in my opinion is to do something unique to the country. For example, when we were in Vietnam we did a tour with the Easy Riders – local motorcyclists who showed us around the Central Highlands of Vietnam for four days. These are the things that you remember because they aren’t offered anywhere else.

It doesn’t have to be a major time investment either, for example, in South Korea we went to see a starcraft tournament (free) – again, these things are very unique to the culture/country and thus really stand out in your memories.

If you want to read more of Dave’s stories, be sure to visit his website: A Couple Travelers.

English (Engels)