Have you ever travelled outside your own country?

Question

And was it more or less different than you expected? :-)

Answer 1

I've never been outside North America. I've been to California, Washington (the state), both Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana (just the Indianapolis airport), Tennessee (just the Memphis airport), Florida, Wisconsin, and Michigan. It isn't too different from Canada, but my mom has observed that American drivers are much ruder, and my dad has observed that the American interstate system kicks our highway system's a-ss.

Answer 2

I'm from the US.  I lived in Barcelona,Spain for 1 year, and Charlaroi, Belgium for 7 mos. I had a romanticized vision of Europe, it was different than I expected.

Answer 3

i have been to germany, finland, sweden, and estonia.

  germany was about what i expected because i took german for years in school, so i kind of knew the culture.

  finland was a trip.  omg, that place is sooo cool, and i plan on moving there if i ever get a chance.  the people were the most friendly honest people ever, the night life was absolutly amazing, people were really themselves over there.  no one was hung up on trends.  it also seemed to be a much healthier way of life over there, everyone was in great shape and ate well.  the standard of living was really high too, like, for example, we were in the "poor" part of town one night, and these people had an indoor swimming pool.  plus EVERYONE over there had a sauna.  having a sauna then an ice cold beer is a great way to start your day.  oh, and just fyi, if your a woman and want to travel alone ever, finland is d**n near the top of the list of safest places for women to travel.  just a fact, it put my moms mind at ease cause i was traveling alone until i got there and my friend picked me up

  sweden was differant.  like, weird but good kind of differant.  i seemed to meet all the high on life type swedish people.  it was neat.  i was only their breifly so i didnt get a real feel for it.

  estonia id like to try again cause while i was there (which was only very breifly) i got hit on by a really drunk man and it wasnt fun at all.  i have a feeing if i encounted people outside of a night club setting, i would have liked it better.

i am from the US, i just met an exchange student who was from finland, and we became friends and she told me to come visit so i did.  i was with her in all those countries except germany (germany was my layover on the way to finland).  if your in finland you can take cruises to sweden and estonia that are just like night clubs on a boat, so you get to party all night then chill in a differant country for a day.   tickets were really cheep, it was only $1200 round trip for 3 and a half weeks. and overall i only spent $200 of the $500 i brought with for stuff. i went right after graduation, it was sort of one of those "find yourself" type trips.

Answer 4

Extensively. Actually, travels are my passion in life. I have visited most of Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, Caribbeans and some South American countries so far.  I also never went anywhere without doing some serious research into their history, culture and traditions. So, there was only one surprise for me every single time: people are very much the same no matter where they grew up, what God they worship or how much money they have. We all want the same things for our children: peace, love and full tummy. I was fortunate to see for myself the very best examples of the world's art, architecture and literature. However, witnessing traditions and customs of various cultures had opened my mind and heart. And that is the most precious of gifts I could ever dream of.

Answer 5

I expected it to be different :)

Answer 6

No.  In fact I've barely ever been out of the South before (southeast US).  Just a few trips to St. Louis and one to Washington DC is all.

Whoa, most people I know haven't been out of the country, although everyone I know has been farther away than I have.  I didn't realize it was so uncommon.

Answer 7

While in the Navy, I was stationed in Japan. Set sail to Russia, South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia (that's all I can remember off of memory). Though all the Asian countries had similarities (one being green tea Hagen Dazs ice cream) they were each different in their own way. And of course all of them were very different (but each having a McDonald's) from America! I expected them to be different, but didn't know how (except for Japan which exceeded my expectations in lovely ways).

Answer 8

My mother went to Germany when she was very young and she really loved it. She even told me about how much she loved the pretzels over there!

Answer 9

It was different in that I was used to certain things in the US that I took for granted and when I was in Europe I missed those things.  Some places are just so full of tourists that it makes the trip unpleasant.

Answer 10

I've been to NY State a few times.

Answer 11

Extensively -  My last our of country trip was last August - to the UK, with a long day trip to Paris.  Planning another trip to Italy in a few weeks.

Answer 12

ya I travelled to ur back yard in uk and shot paint balls at your windows. Your dads wife bought me the gun and paint balls.

Answer 13

yes, many times, but then I live in a very small country.  From where I live, France is only 20 miles away and on a clear day you can see the French coast, even sometimes the houses.  if I lived in a huge country like America then i suppose I might not bother.

Answer 14

tress; "so full of tourists..." um, were you not one of those yourself?  Honestly though, I know what you mean.

Been to:  Viet Nam, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, India, , France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Canada and the US and Antarctica.  Also been to the UK, but kind of live there half the time anyway, and the rest in Australia

All were excellent, though India was really dirty in the cities and Burma was very repressed.

Answer 15

Yes, extensively. I was most surprised by Portugal. There were chickens outside the airport in Lisbon. I felt like I was in a third-world country, not Europe. No dig against Portugal...it was lovely and the food was amazing. But it was more....er..."salt of the earth" than I would have imagined a Western European country to be.

I was also in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1989, when it was still Soviet but starting to fall to "glasnost." That opened my eyes quite a bit.

I'm an American.

Answer 16

yes, less

Answer 17

while married to a gentleman in the air force i lived in okinawa. it was the greatest experience of my life. we lived off base too which was really cool. i would love to go back someday.

Answer 18

Yes and it was different in some regards to what I'd expected.

Answer 19

I've been to Mexico and Honduras.  Honduras was worse than I expected, I was shocked.

Answer 20

i am only 14 and i have been to the bahamas, canada, puerto rico, cristobal, jamaica, cozumel and such and it was a blast ! the best thing to do is to go on cruises because you see lots of places in a good amount of times. i cant picture someone staying in the usa all their lives. dont you want to see whats someone elses world and to see the whole other side of your planet?