Comments on: Friday—uh, Saturday—Fun Thread: Favorite Journeys

By: PennyArcadia

PennyArcadia — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:47:07 +0000

Up a mountain. I’m not a great mountaineer, but I find something so awe-inspiring and about mountains in general. They don’t care about me at all, and somehow you can sense that. When climbing, fear and exhiliration are tied together. It’s very powerful, and also a very calming and back-to-basics experience for me, to do nothing but think of the next step up, feeding, drinking, which route to take, which dangers to consider, sometimes where to sleep.

Otherwise, I love train journeys. @emilyanne: I took that journey twice and loved it. Especially the part up North.

By: ratinski

ratinski — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:39:52 +0000

@PhDork: I also had a midwestern, car-centric upbringing, and I hate car trips with a passion.

But that might be because I was inevitably stuck in the far back of a minivan on 12 hour drives to Minnesota for vacation.

By: BeckySharper

BeckySharper — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:12:46 +0000

@PhDork: I’m with ya. The actual getting to and from SUCKS, especially these days when it comes to air travel. Experience has taught me how to grit my teeth and endure it, but I HATE HATE HATE that part. If it weren’t for Ambien, carbs and crossword puzzles, I would be basket case on some of the long-haul trips.

By: PhDork

PhDork — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:18:43 +0000

I really hate travel. I’m not afraid of flying, and I love visiting new places and seeing people and things, but the actual journey part? Ugh. Hurry up and wait! Stupid arbitrary rules galore (thanks, TSA, for confiscating my pickled jalapenos; they were clearly a threat to national security)! Unexplained delays. Dehydration, recycled air, cramped seating, crap food (although I had an exquisite ploughman’s sandwich on a train between Cardiff and London)…pretty much hate it all.

Maybe if I had more cash, for cabs, for something other than coach, etc., I’d like it more.

All that said, the driving tour we did of Ireland a number of years ago was amazing. We just got ourselves a little Fiat Punto and a map, and headed off down the “wrong side” of the street. Old cities, big highways, teeny, walled-in farm roads, a ferry across the Shannon… it was wonderful. I do love a roadtrip. Must be that midwestern, car-centric upbringing.

By: emilyanne

emilyanne — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:08:00 +0000

@Alecto – London to Edinburgh is actually my favourite journey. I grew up in Edinburgh from the ages of 11-16 and something about getting off the train at Waverly Station preferably in winter always makes me feel like I’ve come home, even though it’s over ten years since I last lived in Scotland.

I also love the journey from Heathrow to my family in the Cotswolds just because that’s about seeing people I haven’t seen for so long and knowing that the next few days will be fantastic.

By: Alecto

Alecto — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:30:36 +0000

I have a few…one of my favourite journeys used to be when my dad would drive me back to my city, after I’d spent a weekend back home. He always insisted on doing it; before I went to university, our relationship wasn’t very good for a number of reasons, and those moments really turned a conflicted relationship into a really good one. But that’s been over for a while now.

I have a special affection for Scotland, I’ve been there nearly every year since I was fourteen, so taking the plane to Edinburgh is always a happy moment for me.

And there’s a journey I have yet to make, which will be going home; I’ve been living in Taiwan for eight months, am planning on staying here a few years, and I’m going back home to France in June to spend the summer with my family, so I’m pretty excited about that trip.

By: ratinski

ratinski — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:23:56 +0000

New York to San Francisco, especially as the plane’s landing and looks like we’re going to hit the bay right until the moment when the the wheels hit the tarmac.

Also, my girlfriend lives in the Bay Area, so that might help a little bit too.

My favorite non-conventional journey is probably my relationship with her. We met when I was 21 and she was 18, in our college anime club. I was the bridesmaid at her wedding (it remains my only bridesmaid duty to date), and I held her hand through a really difficult year last year and convinced her that it was time to go back to school and finish her biology degree.

And we’ll have been dating for three months on the 11th.

By: May

May — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 23:48:40 +0000

I haven’t made this journey in a few years, but my favorite journey is driving from Austin to Dallas, because on the way, you can stop at the Czech Stop–this amazing kolache restaurant by the highway (or you can stop at the even-better kolache place inside the town of West, TX).

I have a lot of good kolache-related memories from those trips… nom nom nom

By: I’m steal/borrowing this from Pursuit of Harpyness, but: « Dating Jesus

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:57:47 +0000

[...] What’s your favorite journey? It can be literal or spiritual. I’m all ears. [...]

By: bellacoker

bellacoker — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 19:23:12 +0000

I can’t say that it is my favorite, because I’m pretty happy wherever I land, but a spectacular journey is driving from Duluth, MN to Thunder Bay, ON on highway 61. The road runs right on the shore of Lake Superior for almost the entire way and on the opposite side of the road is this dark old growth forest. The deer, moose, etc. stroll back and forth across the road to the water completely unfazed by the presence of humans. It is almost too beautiful to be real.