Have you traveled outside of you country?

As an adult/youth, have you traveled outside of your country of birth?

  • No.

    Votes: 2 8.0%

  • Yes, without much chance for interaction with localss.

    Votes: 2 8.0%

  • Yes, but to a culturally/linguistically/politically similar place.

    Votes: 4 16.0%

  • Yes, I had the chance to observe/experience a different way of life

    Votes: 10 40.0%

  • Yes, and it expanded my perspective/enriched my worldview/shifted or confirmed my ideologies.

    Votes: 16 64.0%

  • Yes, but it did not affect my worldview/beliefs much or at all.

    Votes: 4 16.0%

  • Other (feel free to discuss)

    Votes: 2 8.0%
  • Total voters
    25
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Soulful

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Poll added.

There's another thread in which we're discussing patriotism, and an interesting point was brought up about the value of travel and the experience of culture shock (essentially), and I thought it would be interesting to see just how our experiences are reflected group-wide.
 
Yes, I haven't travelled extensively just yet but I plan on it. I have been to Canada, Mexico, Across the USA and I spent a Summer in China. My next destination will be Europe.
 
Billy said:
Yes, I haven't travelled extensively just yet but I plan on it. I have been to Canada, Mexico, Across the USA and I spent a Summer in China. My next destination will be Europe.
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Ohh China... I want to go...
Whereabouts within China did you travel?
 
oceanbreeze said:
Ohh China... I want to go...
Whereabouts within China did you travel?
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Beijing for a few nights and then a whole summer in Chengdu which is the capital Szechuan.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Chengdu_Prefecture_within_Sichuan_(China).png

but I had the chance to visit a lot of the surrounding countryside, most of the names I cannot recall, but I did get a chance to go to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Emei E Mei

and

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/sichuan/leshan/mt_emei.htm Leshan

I was there with my girlfriend (Chengdu-ren) and her family I stayed with them in the City, so they took it upon themselves to give me a real taste of China, we dont get to know about here in the US, both good and bad. (at my request) My point of view on culture, humanity, poverty, and nationalism was forever changed with that trip.
 
I was stood at passport control on my 18th bday :) Been to Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Kaliningrad, passed by Germany, Belgium, France into UK, then made a short trip to Ukraine via Czech Republic and most recent to Sweden via Norway. I might go backpacking next summer though would do more southern regions as im going mad without sunshine here.
 
moonlightam said:
I was stood at passport control on my 18th bday :) Been to Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Kaliningrad, passed by Germany, Belgium, France into UK, then made a short trip to Ukraine via Czech Republic and most recent to Sweden via Norway. I might go backpacking next summer though would do more southern regions as im going mad without sunshine here.
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That sounds fantastic.
Did you notice any stark differences amongst the Eastern European countries (other than the language of course)?
 
[MENTION=6260]slagmaImmox[/MENTION]

Hey there. Mind if I ask what the negative rep was about?
 
^^^Eric, I'm sure you can travel one day if you want to.

I have travelled to Mexico several times (which I adore) and Paris once (which I also adore). No one would allow me to speak either French or Spanish, they insisted on talking to me in English, which was annoying since I wanted to become better at speaking both languages. There wasn't really much culture shock... really, I mean people looked a little different and the geography and infrastructure was a little different, and everything seemed a little smaller and older, particularly in Paris, but not at all in a bad way, and other than that I really didn't experience much culture shock in either place.

I've had people visit me here from other countries (which shall remain unnamed) and make comments like "You're American? Funny, you're not fat, and neither is your mother." ... this as I'm hosting them in my house and entertaining and feeding their snooty asses and I've been a little stunned and hurt by that sort of thing. So I've nearly ruled out those countries as future travel destinations. However, I'd like to go back to Paris one day and would happily move to parts of Mexico or maybe Belize or somewhere. So, that's been my somewhat limited experience.

P.S., oh, yes and I've traveled in the Bahamas, which is very similar to south Florida, and there was no culture shock whatsoever.

P.P.S. I've always wanted to go to India.
 
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I've travelled a bit around Europe; to Sweden, Spain and Britain. While I enjoyed each trip immensely, I can't say it changed my world view/beliefs in any way. I would need to go to a country completely different to mine for that to happen.
 
No and it makes me terribly sad.

I'm going to fix that soon.
 
oceanbreeze said:
That sounds fantastic.
Did you notice any stark differences amongst the Eastern European countries (other than the language of course)?
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: ) If you're asking about differences between Eastern European countries amongst themselves - then I wouldnt say there isnt much difference, we we're all one country just a bit over 20 years ago (yes, my birth certificate has been issued by a country that doesnt exist anymore :P) : ) However if you compare Eastern and Western Europe - there certainly are some. :) Starting with politeness ending with cuisine lol :) in eastern europe you wont ever hear an apology if someone has bumped into you accidentally in the street or need to get past you or... you name it. :) strangely - I've witnessed some of that kind of rudeness in Sweden too, I was in someones way and when I realized, I got out of the way and said sorry :) I was asked what was I sorry about exactly :D. There are stricter social rules in the east too. One rough example - I got used to pubs being VERY customer friendly and accommodating in the UK, so it came as a bit of a shock when I nearly got thrown out of a club in Ukraine for resting my calves on a chair opposite me :) My shoes werent even touching the chair, I'm not THAT awful, but if it was UK, I wouldve gotten away with dancing on that chair, if such a thought wouldve crossed my mind lol :D Then in the east theres a lot more cooking from scratch going on, while the west indulges more in a take-away culture and a lot of frozen food... There was a really big shock for me in London though, I had always imagined that the population would be mostly white and christian, but found quite the opposite. Had a hard time telling non-white people apart from each other lol :D The funniest thing happened when my friend took me to the city centre on the bus on one of my first days in London, and there was a woman in a burkha (or maybe niqab, i dunno, cant say i care for the difference) who pulled out her ringing mobile phone and started talking in her own language - I burst out laughing, because I really believed prior to this occasion that such people lived in caves!!!:DDD So, yeah, lots of adventures, funny happenings and so on. But the starkest difference would probably be the wages :D About 5X difference with very similar prices. I fail to understand how do people still survive in my country getting paid 700 quid a month when an average heating bill alone is about that much a month in winter.
 
I lived in: Korea, Hawaii, Germany & Turkey and, of course, the USA

Visited: Sweden (Gothenburg (sp?), England (London), France (Paris, Normandy, Calais), Luxembourg, Belgium (St. Vith), Netherlands (Amsterdam, Massterich (sp?), Italy (Pisa, Rome), Switzerland (Lake Lucern only, really just drove through on the way to Italy but would always stay the night in Lake Lucern), Czech Republic (Prague and some other place known for its crystal - I can't remember the name right now), Poland, Seoul (I was stationed at Osan AB, Korea), Saudi Arabia (but not much interaction with the locals).
 
I've lived in Canada, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand.

I've traveled to North Korea, The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Nepal, Tanzania, Kenya, and England. I'm going to be going to France and UK this winter to see my sister. I've been to Malaysia 3 times now.

You'd think it would make me an interesting person, but no. It has changed my perspective, though... especially the third world.
 
moonlightam said:
: ) If you're asking about differences between Eastern European countries amongst themselves - then I wouldnt say there isnt much difference, we we're all one country just a bit over 20 years ago (yes, my birth certificate has been issued by a country that doesnt exist anymore :P) : ) However if you compare Eastern and Western Europe - there certainly are some. :) Starting with politeness ending with cuisine lol :) in eastern europe you wont ever hear an apology if someone has bumped into you accidentally in the street or need to get past you or... you name it. :) strangely - I've witnessed some of that kind of rudeness in Sweden too, I was in someones way and when I realized, I got out of the way and said sorry :) I was asked what was I sorry about exactly :D. There are stricter social rules in the east too. One rough example - I got used to pubs being VERY customer friendly and accommodating in the UK, so it came as a bit of a shock when I nearly got thrown out of a club in Ukraine for resting my calves on a chair opposite me :) My shoes werent even touching the chair, I'm not THAT awful, but if it was UK, I wouldve gotten away with dancing on that chair, if such a thought wouldve crossed my mind lol :D Then in the east theres a lot more cooking from scratch going on, while the west indulges more in a take-away culture and a lot of frozen food... There was a really big shock for me in London though, I had always imagined that the population would be mostly white and christian, but found quite the opposite. Had a hard time telling non-white people apart from each other lol :D The funniest thing happened when my friend took me to the city centre on the bus on one of my first days in London, and there was a woman in a burkha (or maybe niqab, i dunno, cant say i care for the difference) who pulled out her ringing mobile phone and started talking in her own language - I burst out laughing, because I really believed prior to this occasion that such people lived in caves!!!:DDD So, yeah, lots of adventures, funny happenings and so on. But the starkest difference would probably be the wages :D About 5X difference with very similar prices. I fail to understand how do people still survive in my country getting paid 700 quid a month when an average heating bill alone is about that much a month in winter.
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I'd love to one day visit the places you've listed. =)

Yeah, I'm not sure any one population lives in case these days, except tribal peoples of course. :P It seems most nations have been touched by technology and commercial capital. However select or expansive the reach of technology/capital is within those countries does differ, though. Also, it might help to keep in mind the actual diversity of the populations that don certain cultural/religious clothing. (Disclaimer: I'm so sorry for how horrible this is going to sound.) While one sentiment may be that people of colour or religious garb who immigrate to Europe or the Common wealth nations/USA are poor and migrate from poor nations in search of economic opportunity, that might actually be quite far from the truth. 1) If I understand correctly, usually people who have been able to immigrate from nations with little GDP tend to be from the wealthier classes of those nations, otherwise they would not have been able to pass the immigration qualifications of places like Canada, the UK, France, the U.S., etc. So they are at least middle-class in their countries of origin. And 2) The global south is not ubiquitously poor.
 
oceanbreeze said:
I'd love to one day visit the places you've listed. =)

Yeah, I'm not sure any one population lives in case these days, except tribal peoples of course. :P It seems most nations have been touched by technology and commercial capital. However select or expansive the reach of technology/capital is within those countries does differ, though. Also, it might help to keep in mind the actual diversity of the populations that don certain cultural/religious clothing. (Disclaimer: I'm so sorry for how horrible this is going to sound.) While one sentiment may be that people of colour or religious garb who immigrate to Europe or the Common wealth nations/USA are poor and migrate from poor nations in search of economic opportunity, that might actually be quite far from the truth. 1) If I understand correctly, usually people who have been able to immigrate from nations with little GDP tend to be from the wealthier classes of those nations, otherwise they would not have been able to pass the immigration qualifications of places like Canada, the UK, France, the U.S., etc. So they are at least middle-class in their countries of origin. And 2) The global south is not ubiquitously poor.
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:) thats what I used to think about 3rd world migrants too (I am kind of one myself now :P), but the reality is that theres a rather small percentage of this "middle class" here. You forgot asylum seekers and illegals. Most of Europe is suffering from those, people are too desperate, too cheeky, feeling too entitled or just plain not literate enough to apply via normal channels. Its really getting ridiculous, because these people never adapt here, never learn the language, never work and dont intend to and trying to push their sick stone-age dogmas like sharia law (small-case on purpose). Like this >>> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2019547/Anjem-Choudary-Islamic-extremists-set-Sharia-law-zones-UK-cities.html . Its getting so out of hand that in my opinion, UK should totally close borders until they can deal with this internal problem first and then reconsider the whole immigration criteria, border control techniques and stop paying everyone who is yelling "asylum" (yes, the UK pays all asylum seekers money each week, and accommodates them so they dont go looking for illegal jobs to support themselves while their cases are decided). The system is so ridiculous that a few years ago even 2 americans managed to get asylum here on the grounds of being gay or something like that, cant find that article now... It only got overturned once the media got involved :) Another problem that I immediately spotted and thought very odd - The Commonwealth countries. I'd really like someone to explain to me in which concept are they commonwealth, because its surely NOT the wealth part. Compare UK and Pakistan. I think its also one of the reasons why UK and US are fighting wars together, but keep the visa requirements, because if THAT border would open up - it would become US problem too then :) Tongue in cheek - I think they really need some INFJ to solve this mess :)
 
I've studied abroad and lived in London for a semester. I've been around western europe, and have been to Estonia a few times, and have been to Mexico and Canada a bunch. Mexico -- once you get out of the tourist area -- and Estonia are the most different from the States.

It's interesting to see what things get taken for granted across cultures. Living the difference between cultures is generally broadening, imo.
 
Yes I have travelled quite a bit. I have a co-worker who has been a good friend of mine since I was about five. He is 16 years older than me but we have always gotten along well. So when we hit our sales goals for the year we also take a trip. This year we are planning on going to either Hong Kong or Vietnam and next year either Brazil or Japan. We both just love traveling and don’t think you have really experienced the culture in a country until you have been mugged there. Haha. We don’t normally stick to the tourist parts of the countries we visit. We make friends with local families and stay with them.
 
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