The odd habits people have ... when travelling

[KrissySim]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 4:52am

I was with an old friend today. We talked about the things we like to do first when we arrive in a foreign country, either a country we have never visited or a country we have not been in for a long time.

He said the frist thing he likes to do is have sex with a woman from that country. It's usually a prostitute because he doesn't like to have a relationship, long or short, until he has acclimated himself to the new environment.

I'm a lot different. I like to be alone for the first day. The first thing I'll do when I arrive in a foreign country is go to a news stand and buy a copy of every magazine and local newspaper on that stand. Then I'll find a cafe or cofffe shop/ bakery and read those magazines, and watch the local people. (After lugging those boxes or bags...)

Another friend of mine will walk around the city or town with digital a camera and take pictures capturing First Impressions.

What do you like to do when first landing? Do gays look for the local gay bars? Do men look for whores? Do women look for men?
I'd like serious answers, but realizong this is BWW, I guess all is game....

Please excuse typo's, mis-spellings, etc. I've been drinking
Alaskan Barley Wine = good stuff!

[nmartin]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 5:23am

Good God

[artscallion]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 8:41am

I am one of the gays. I haven't been in a gay bar in twenty years. But that's the first thing I look for when visiting a foreign country because I have to keep up our apparent reputation around the world. Haha, you think it's the typos that need excusing. You are drunk.



Actually, the first thing I look for in a foreign country is musicaltheatrefan3.

Updated On: 2/8/09 at 08:41 AM

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 8:47am

"Actually, the first thing I look for in a foreign country is musicaltheatrefan3."

You're too much, my dear! LOLOLOL!

I don't travel to other countries. when I do travel within the US, though, the first thing I do is use the bathroom.

[killertofu333]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 8:58am

When I first arrive anywhere I'm normally pretty sleepy so I just plop down on the hotel bed and take a 2 hour nap. Then if I really want to go out I'll be much like Krissy and go to some sort of shop and sip coffee to give me a pick me up.

I don't actively look for gay bars, but if I just happen to come across a cute girl I might chat 'er up if I'm not completely jet lagged.

[danmag]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 9:57am

Art, you just crack me up!

[NYadgal]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 10:05am

oh, for craps sake!

[tommyboy]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 10:21am

Whenever I travel anywhere (usually Canada), I take my oldest underwear and socks. I wear them one more time and leave them in the hotel trash.

[Madcap Maisie]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 11:40am

Of course tofu would get a cup of coffee first...
she has to get a feel for the people in the area through creeper observation. :)

[StockardFan]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 11:45am

I'm dying laughing at Art looking for MTF3!

[Calvin]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 11:48am

Speaking of coffee, I hope someone is getting a nice strong, black cup of it to Krissy about now.

But when I'm traveling abroad, the first thing I do when I arrive is go out and walk and walk and walk. If I stay in the hotel room, I'll fall asleep (I can't sleep on planes), and if I fall asleep, my sleeping cycle will be destroyed for the entire trip.

And I very rarely seek out gay bars, because I've found that most are like going to a McDonalds in a foreign country -- a few subtle differences but mostly the same thing you could find anywhere else. Unless it's a really underground scene. The ones in St. Petersburg were interesting! And a little scary.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 1:47pm

One of the first things I do is take a city tour. Touristy, but it helps me get my bearings and figure out where everything is.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 3:47pm

Just traveling in general, I need to bring a pillow and a little blanket with me. Yeah, I know the hotels and hostels have that stuff, but I just need my things to make it more comfortable.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 4:16pm

Hey, I am looking to this thread for tips. I am finally traveling out of the country for the first time in May. It's an overnight flight. I don't usually sleep on planes unless I am just wiped out. My girlfriend suggested getting something to take from my doctor. What's the best way to avoid jet lag?

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 5:33pm

I look for Waldo.

No, seriously? When I go to a foreign country, the first thing I do is fix my hair and makeup. Because it always looks terrible when I first get off a plane, and I don't want strangers to think I'm a prostitute or a homeless woman.

[D2]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 5:41pm

Amber - I've found the best remedy for jet lag is to take a morning flight over - leave NYC around 9 or 10 in the morning and you get there around 9:30/10:00 at night, exhausted from the flight, go to bed and wake up the next morning almost on time. And reverse it coming home - take the latest flight you can get back, 6:30 or 7:00 pm, arriving here around 9:30 or 10:00ish. Again, go to bed a short while after getting home and you'll wake up in the morning almost back on East Coast time.

[killertofu333]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 6:18pm

Of course tofu would get a cup of coffee first...
she has to get a feel for the people in the area through creeper observation. :)

Once again Maisie, you hit the nail on the head!!! But I'm so incognito about my "observations", it's crazy. Gimme my aviators, cream/sugar, and a little Agatha Christie...and I'm good to go. Let the objectification commence!!!!

[skb2010]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 10:57pm

I exchange money.


(not an odd habit, but still a habit.)

Updated On: 2/9/09 at 10:57 PM

[nztheatreluva]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 11:27pm

Jersey Girl, it's always good to get sleeping pills if you have trouble sleeping on planes but it depends what time of the day you arrive. I always try and get into my new time zone straight away so if you arrive at night and it would be morning time normally for you, don't sleep on the plane if you can help it, wait until you get to your destination. Or if you arrive during the day try and sleep on the plane and then stay awake until night where you have arrived. Also drink lots of water, just take an empty drink bottle and keep asking the flight attendants for water.

[skb2010]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 12:07am

AMEN NZ. I was on the way back from Costa Rica this summer, and didn't drink any water all day. We were stuck in Atlanta for 6 hours, and I had a terrible headache. I woke up on the plane and thought I was dying. I went back to the galley and got like a liter of water. It was the worst feeling ever being dehydrated.

[KrissySim]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 1:35am

This thread will teach me to stay away from computers after drinking with an old friend, or after drinking in general.

I can't sleep on planes, but I can on trains. Generally, after a long flight I'm wasted for a few days. That's one of the reasons I read magazines and go slowly at first. I hate travelling. I like being at other places and living at other places for awhile, but I usually don't like the process of getting there. I'm not a one night stander, one night in one city, another in another. I like to park in one place for a while and branch out from there.

[musicaltheatrefan3]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 1:37am

Bonjour! Je suis dans la belle ville de Lyon à l'heure actuelle. (Hello! I am in the beautiful city of Lyon at the moment). Well, it depends on whether or not I have been there before. It also depends whether I am
A) By myself
B) With a friend
C) With my family

If I am by myself (the last time I visited a country for the first time by myself was when I visited Honduras in 2007), then I will most likely try to strike up a conversation with some of the locals, learn about the customs there, and try to master 20 key phrases/words in that language, if I do not speak it. Another thing-I always add 20 each time. So, for example, I would not say that I speak fluent Hebrew. However, I have visited Israel 5 times (although I really only would count 4 because I lived there for 3 years as a young child), and I memorized 20 phrases each time, which would mean that I know at least 80 Hebrew phrases.

I usually look what there is to do there. Keep in mind, this is just for the country. There are so many times where I visit new cities, and I think it is better to think of where you are as a city, not a country. Russia is such a large country, so when I am in Russia, I can not possibly think of myself as in Russia, I have to think about the city, or at least the Oblast (although I generally only visit the Moscow Oblast and the Leningrad Oblast). I don't think I have any odd habits, exactly. The things I do are very normal, possibly with the exception of making an effort to learn some of the language. However, I always do that and have always succeeded (even though it was difficult for me to learn some of them, like Zulu in South Africa, because most of the Zulu-speakers did not speak English and there was not an abundance of Zulu-language resources on the internet).

I am in Lyon, France right now. I have visited Lyon 3 times before. I visited once when I was very young, so I would not really count that. I visited here when I was 20, and one time before that when I was 13. I have been in Lyon right now for a little less than 24 hours now, although I have been in France for a week. Yesterday morning, I got in here. I came into my hotel, I rested (keep in mind, this was not my first day in France this trip. I am just speaking about my first day in LYON). I rested for about 40 minutes, even though I probably should have done that for longer. Oh, so my train came into Lyon at 10:34 yesterday. I had to connect in Avignon, which I hated, and then I finally got into Lyon after being on trains for about 3 hours. I then spent about 20 minutes contemplating on whether I should walk a half-hour to my hotel, or if I should spend money on a taxi. I decided to walk, which was good, because I really needed the exercise. Then, I checked into my hotel, and like I said, I rested for 40 minutes. Then, I finally got out. I went to this place called Le Bec for a very delicious, very traditional Lyonnaise lunch. Then, I decided to buy my metro card for Lyon and actually decided to go somewhere. I went to the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière. This was a magnificent basilica built in 1872. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who is very important to the Lyonnaise people and they erected this church to protect them from a plague. Then, I walked about 15 minutes to Soierie Saint-Georges. This was a wonderful little shop in Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) and they had all this handmake silkware. It also had a little bit of information on Lyon's history as a world silk-making centre. The owner actually gave a little demonstration on the vanishing art of hand silk looming. It was pretty interesting. By the time I got out of la solerie Saint-Georges, it was 15:45, so I decided to head back to the hotel, as I hate walking around cities that I don't know too well in the late afternoon hours. I caught up with my e-mail and then Skyped some of my friends in Germany, Switzerland, and Portugal, and I also talked with some of my friends who live in Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Hungary on Facebook. Then, I decided that I was really in the mood for some good tea, and I discovered that there was a little tea shop about 5 minutes away from the hotel. I went over there and bought a few different organic teas, and then a Darjeeling blend. I went back to my hotel, and then I had about 3 cups. I was very well-rested by then, and it was 16:30, but I still didn't think that it was time for dinner, so I went back on the computer and saw that someone actually e-mailed me on a translation that they needed for a business document for from French into English (although, strangely, this person was located in Madrid). I worked for a little over an hour on that translation, and by 17:30, I actually felt okay going out. I went to a place called Les Terrasses de Lyon for dinner. It was really good, but like Le Bec, very traditional. I actually like that, though. With French, I like to stick to the traditional food that they have. For stuff like German, Swiss, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, I like it when they mix it up a little bit and add a bit of a modern flair to it. Then, I went back to my hotel room and stayed on the computer until about 20, and I finally got to bed at 20:30, which was really early for me, but hey, I wasn't with friends and wasn't up all night.

So, that's what I do when I'm in another country. I find it also helpful to ask for directions if you have to find some place, but after 5 maps here, I knew exactly where each arrondissement was and where I needed to go.

XOXO
Musicaltheatrefan3

[KrissySim]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 1:43am

I have to tell myself: "I asked for this. This is my punishment."

[danmag]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 6:26am

How did I KNOW mtf3 would chime in on this thread???

Thanks for the info - fascinating stuff.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 6:40am

My best friend has been teaching herself French at an alarmingly rapid rate. She's practically fluent now. I don't know how she learned it so fast when she lived in Germany for five years and only picked up the words "Schnitzel" and "Senf" (mustard)-- I had to translate for her in Germany, but learning German's been a torturous process for me, my grammar still stinks, and I started when I was six!

I went over there and bought a few different organic teas, and then a Darjeeling blend. I went back to my hotel, and then I had about 3 cups.
Now I'm really, really, really craving tea.