Travel has ruined me!

There, there.

Welcome to the club!

Haha. YUP! We returned from 3 weeks in France, Switzerland and northern Italy in late August/early September and it was SO GLORIOUS traveling w/o huge crowds! I am OBSESSED with where we should go next. My hubby is less obsessed, however.

We share that affliction.😀

Welcome aboard! Welcome abroad!

You have many fellow-ruinees here, and I can't say that this forum will be any help in your recovery. You may find the opposite, that spending time here just makes your affliction worse. Kind of like AA in reverse. This forum is a saloon for travelholics.

But keep in mind that a lot of us are retired, with time for long trips though not always enough money. I did some international travel as a teen and young adult, and sort of assumed I'd keep doing that, but work and finances and life in general kept distracting me, to the point where I didn't get back to Europe for 30+ years. Been trying to make up for that since, but aging and Covid are not working in my favor.

So my advice (which you haven't sought, but so what?) is keep scratching that itch as best you can, timewise and moneywise. Some here put aside part of each paycheck for a travel account to pay for a not-too-far-in-the-future trip. (This works better if you have a big income, no kids, and generous vacation time.) A section of the forum is about money-saving strategies. Good luck managing your travel jones.

Being bitten by the travel bug is the only kind of “insect” bite I’m happy about 😊

Well we are both 44. Three of the four kids are gone. One more to go and we can downsize the house. Our goal is going to Europe twice a year. Then I will have the issue of where to go next. Currently have the next three planned out. Dominican Republic in June 2022 (last big family vacation), Prague Christmas markets next December and then France in June 2023.

And just wait until you add Asia and Africa! So many choices.

Well it looks like you've got a nice stockpile of bottles in your closet and an open tab at the saloon! ;-) And plenty of years left to imbibe.

Honestly it’s better to figure this out earlier than later lol.

I’m still relatively young (35) and have had the privilege of multiple trips to Europe and had the pleasure of visiting 24 countries thus far. Travel is my number one passion without a doubt.

I used to work with a guy who was nearing retirement and had never really been anywhere. He then went on a trip to Romania and the surrounding countries for two weeks in his late 60’s. When he got back he was legitimately devastated that he had not experienced what travel has to offer until then.

At least now, you can prioritize your future travel and $$$ etc.

Tyler_

That was my mom! She would always give me crap about spending money to go Jamacia and the Bahamas. Told me to save for retirement. Well we took her with us a few months ago to Italy and now she has the bug at 73 years old. She now wishes she would have done it years ago when my dad was still alive. Now when I tell her about the places I want to visit she said that it sounds great. Now she wants to go to France with us. She HATES flying and water. I managed to get her on a plane to Rome and on a boat in Venice and she loved it! lol

Funny how it bites some really bad and others not at all. I can't relate to those people! Once bit, it's a terrible disease!! It itches constantly :-)

Welcome to your tribe!

It is all I think about as well. We are your people. Welcome!

We hear you. We went for the first time in April 2019 as a group of 3 (with 73 year old "momma") and loved it! Were going to go in April 2020 and we all know what happened then. Currently planning on April 2023. Spending lots of time planning, dreaming.... Yep, got bit by that bug badly!

Welcome to the support group for travel addicts! All are welcome but, happily, few are ever cured.

I daydream all the time about moving to Europe; not so sure it's just fantasy anymore.

Hi! My name is Nancy and I'm a travelholic!

kursed30: Welcome to our tribe. As others have said, you have found your people.

Tyler_ Relatively young????? Excuse me while I go fan myself.

I can relate. You know your travel obsession when you plan your nxt trip while still on one!?

Kursed, Depending on where you live you light enjoy a local Rick Steves group. Post your location and maybe a fellow addict can fill you in if there is a meeting nearby.

We did our first Europe trip in 2008, and left thinking if we could go every 5 years, that would be amazing. Partway thru the trip, it was like...maybe every three years. By the time we got home, we were determined to go every two years - and we did for awhile - until 2017/2018/2019, when we went every year - and we had planned to go last year, and would have this year had things been open.

Next year, depending, we will hopefully take 2 trips. Unfortunately, I just saw an article in the paper saying they could have another 700K deaths in Europe by March - so I think odds of us travelling before next autumn are slim. I'm starting to get a little stir crazy because we haven't been more than a 2 hour drive from our home since Oct of 2019. Sigh.

Europe is addictive for sure.

So if you have all the time and money you need then what's the problem? If you haven't traveled for a few months then you better get going!

Just spent the lunch hour looking for hotels along the Amalfi Coast, and I don't even have a trip there planned.

kursed30, Laurel's idea is spot on. A few years ago, a fellow Forum poster and I started a Rick Steves travel group in our area (northeast Oklahoma) and we've had a wonderful time. We meet monthly; the only guideline we have (and usually stick to) is any topic is great, as long as it's travel related. We've made new friends, learned a lot about different styles of travel, and we've been able to share some of our own tips.

Let us know whereabouts you are, or, even better, create a post in the Travel Groups section of the Forum https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings to let people know you're interested. And if you're anywhere near NE Oklahoma, we'd be delighted to see you at our next meeting, December 18. I'll post the meeting on the Forum next week.

My first trip was when in 1980 when I was about 20. It was good. I learned a lot. But I didnt return until about 1995. We started doing the usual Italy, France, UK sort of things.... then on one trip almost exactly 20 years ago we ended up in Budapest with planning on it.

Each trip became Budapest and someplace else, usually in Western Europe. Then on a dare we did Budapest and Romania; there was no turning back after that. Trips went quickly from one a year to two then three. Still Budapest and someplace else.

Then not quite 15 years ago we bought an apartment in Budapest and four trips a year became possible and Western Europe was replaced almost entirely with Eastern Europe.

You mentioned the markets in Prague, dont stop there, do Germany and Budapest (of course):

This year (despite COVID) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_L0Xp6b2R4
Past markets and information: https://www.gettingstamped.com/budapest-christmas-markets/
https://www.urbanadventures.com/blog/a-guide-to-budapests-christmas-markets/

I am from Omaha Nebraska. Not sure if there is a group for my city or not.

James- We actually plan on flying into Dresden for 3 days before taking the train to Prague.

Dresden is wonderful, with lots to do in a very walkable center:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-3-5-days-in-dresden-the-jewel-box-of-eastern-germany

We've been holding our travel group meetings online, while we haven't been able to get our travel fix in person. Feel free to join us for a future meeting to talk about and hear about travels.

Our next online meeting is Dec 4th and all travel addicts are welcome:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings/virtual-east-bay-sf-area-travel-group-meeting-sat-dec-4-2021

We have regular participants from such places as Texas, Alaska, Boston, Idaho, California and even England.