Oh, Not There

Go ahead, admit it. You’ve flipped through someone’s vacation photos and listened to their never-ending stories, smiling, ohhing, and ahhing over it all while actually thinking “Why in the hell would anyone want to go there?”

Maybe you thought that when I told you about the lovely ammo can toilets you get to use if you raft the Grand Canyon. Maybe it was when your high school buddy came back from Vegas and forgot that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and instead recounted every wild and crazy adventure he had to you. Or maybe it was when your cousin got engaged at the Eiffel Tower and it was all you could do not to gag.

Though I’d wager a guess that most everyone reading this blog has a pretty long list of places they’d like to visit, I think it’s fair to say that most of us also have a place or two (or three, or six, or five hundred) that we have no interest in ever making it to. Sometimes it’s just a general disinterest, an “I’d never spend my hard earned money on a trip there, but if you’re paying, well okay…” kind of feeling. But occasionally it’s a “you couldn’t pay me enough to go there” kind of feeling. Sometimes we end up there anyhow, and realize we were wrong. And sometimes we end up there and all we get is some validation that we should have trusted our gut.

I’m curious about what that place is for you. So do me a favor and fill in the blank:

I have no interest in traveling to __________________________.

It can be a city, state, country, continent, specific site. And there will be no judging. You don’t want to go there, well then, you don’t want to go there. Fine by me.

I’ll start. I have no interest in traveling to China.

Your turn.

15 Replies to “Oh, Not There”

  1. I have no interest in traveling to the ‘stans. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan… maybe France too.

    But, given an all-inclusive trip to one of those places, I’d be there.

  2. I seem to be the only person on the planet who has never been to London, but I couldn’t care lless. I also have no interest in traveling to several war torn and/or impoverished nations, such as the Central African Republic, Sudan, Mauritania, Pakistan, North Korea, Chad, Iraq and Israel. However, if someone offered me an all-expenses paid trip to any of these places and my physical safety was not seriously at risk, I would go. But that’s because I believe that there are no boring subjects or places, only boring people. Just because I don’t have much intellectual curiosity about these places doesn’t mean I wouldn’t find anything interesting to do or see orany interesting people to talk to once I got there. 🙂

  3. I’ll go pretty much anywhere, I think even the dangerous or war-torn places would be interesting to see if there was a way to do it safely. However, I do have my priorities and at the bottom of my list I’d probably put a few midwestern and southern American states and Texas. Although, I really hate to limit myself and would probably find things to love even in those places 🙂

  4. I have never had any interest in traveling to Los Angeles. San Diego and San Francisco, definitely, but never LA. A few years ago, I’d never even considered Greece, Bulgaria or Korea, but have loved working and living in all three. By the way, I was in Beijing this week for the first time and I think you’d be pleasantly surprised!

  5. Love the answers. Keep them coming.

    *Matthew…do you mean you don’t want to go back to Arkansas. Cause we’ve already been there. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten. It was awesome. Very, very awesome. Which is why we stayed all of 24 hours instead of the 3 days planned. If you’d come to visit me in Greece, I bet I could have changed your mind. You’d like the Peloponnese.

    *Magnifique…I like the “no boring places” viewpoint. I think you’re right.

    *Laura…Austin is worth a visit, and I had a good time in San Antonio for a weekend. The rest of the state, not so much. Houston definitely not. I have no love lost for that city even having gone to college there.

    *Ruth…I think I agree. Cold. Terribly cold. Horribly cold. After visiting Winnipeg in the heart of winter, I have no desire to go anywhere else where a temperature of -50 is considered normal (except maybe Antarctica, just because it’s Antarctica).

    *Denice…I bet I would probably end up finding China interesting. I’ve really yet to go anywhere that I’ve absolutely not liked…even L.A. (though the only reason I’ll go back is to see a game at Dodger Stadium). What did you do in Greece?

  6. I’ve never really wanted to go to China either. I also have never had a desire to go to Australia. Given the opportunity, I’m sure I would visit both of those places, but they’re definitely low on my list.

  7. I’m not really that into domestic travel in general, especially compared to international trips. It just seems less…challenging for some reaosn – I like to go places that are very different from “home”.

  8. It’s all a matter of priority to me. Since I won’t be able to go everywhere in my life (most likely), I like to pretend like I have no interest in the places that aren’t high on my priority list, or that I bet I’ll wind up going to anyway for some other reason. Like…
    London: bah.
    Hawaii: bah.
    The Carribbean: bah bah.

    See? I bet I’ll wind up going to all of those at some point… (and I definitely have a secret jones for both Hawaii and the Carribean) but I just won’t choose to head out there on my own… I”m banking on a cousin or a friend getting married at a Sandals resort, or something like that.
    Sneeeeaky.

  9. I don’t have any big interest in visiting Australia. I’m sure it’s a nice place, and everyone that goes seems to like it. It’s just that I can think of so many other places that sound more interesting.

  10. I’m sure the wild life is stunning, but I’d have to forgo Chad, Niger, Mali, Zambia, Dem. Republic of Congo or any other non coastal African States.

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