Keep trying new places or stick with what you know works

I am a kindred spirit in this question - theoretically at least.
And, while I have not visited Italy, there are locations I have explored that induce "revisit" thinking.
As time marches on and the prospect of physical limitations promise diminished mobility, I ponder the "new" versus "known" with some frequency.
The theoretical aspect is driven by individual sensibility: now that you know I haven't been to Italy, I'm certain you would recommend it. And, presuming you haven't been to Eastern Europe, I would gladly propose a lengthy travel adventure from Hungary to the Black Sea. But, there are good reasons why you haven't been to Eastern Europe just as there are reasons why I have not been to Italy.
For whatever reasons, we just aren't interested in those places. Ignorance is bliss, sometimes.

While I know what you mean about Italy, I am always wanting to see new places I haven't seen. After a trip to Paris, my husband wanted to return. I told him that I've been to Paris, and now I want to go somewhere I've never been. That is how we ended up in Italy (Rome and the Amalfi) the first time. This year we went back to Italy to Venice, the Cinque Terre and Lake Como. In planning our flight back, I saw that we could fly out of Zurich. Hey! Never been to Switzerland! We stayed a few days and took a day trip to Lucerne. Now I'm dying to see Germany and Austria or the Netherlands. While Italy will ALWAYS have a piece of my heart, for me it is the thrill of a new adventure rather than a repeat of a prior one. If I returned to Ravello, I think I would be disappointed that it wasn't that picture perfect wonderful first time adventure I store in my memory. You might not feel that way. Go with your gut, as I tell my kids. If Italy is still calling, go. If a new adventure beckons, go there.

Blue439: "Ignorance is bliss" ...very fitting ;
it was only about 15 years ago where International travel did not excite me at all; I had a brother living in France for work for a few years and never even went there to visit even though I had a free place to stay.

Then I tried it and all of sudden there was a never ending list of places I wanted to go/see.
Similarly the more you research a main location or region the more gems that are likely known to millions but now for the first time seen by you only add to your infinite list.

Good advise Barb. You may very well be right and places when seen the second time around don't leave as dramatic impression ; Ravello is a good example; a place I had no expectations going in but was blown away by.
Definitely somewhere I want to return but now going there with high expectations it may disappoint or at least not be as memorable.

Some of the big cities like Rome where we have been more than once I think suffer less from this cause there is just so much to do and see.

I would go back to Italy in a heartbeat, but there are so many beautiful and intriguing places in the world that are yet to be explored (by me). I don't think I have enough years left to go everywhere that I'd like to go. So far in the last five years we've been to New Zealand, England, Scotland, Iceland, and Italy, as well as travelling extensively within the United States.

However, mreynolds, it sounds like you've already decided that nothing you see from now on will be as good as Italy. In fact you even state that no other food is as good as the food in Italy. Based on what you posted, I don't see that you could possibly enjoy travelling anywhere else. To constantly compare new places with where you've been or what you've experienced takes away from what the new places have to offer. For example, the glorious beaches in Greece really cannot be found in Italy. The beautiful old buildings built of Cotswold stone cannot be found in Italy. The stunning waterfalls and landscapes of Iceland cannot be found in Italy. The fjords of Norway and New Zealand cannot be found in Italy. But if you go to those other countries with the expectations that they won't compare, then why bother going?

One of the real conundrums of being a tourist...

I have a list of places I love to visit, and yet I keep adding on to places I need to see. (This forum has done it's share.) Even in places I've been multiple times there are things I still need to see. Add to that the fact that things do change, and at some point you have to realize you're going to have to make some choices.

What I do is make sure I always try at least one new thing; one new country, one new city, one new sight, one new restaurant, one new item off the menu...such is the spice of life.

I have not yet "decided I am done going to new places" and can't foresee that happening. There are places I've seen enough of that I wanted to "give them a rest," but that doesn't have to be forever, either. There have also been times that I repeated a city "too soon" (e.g., within two years) and found it didn't have the same impact as going somewhere new.

I think you can find Mediterranean coastlines equally as beautiful as the Amalfi coast in France, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey, to name a few, and equally excellent Greek and Roman historic sites, and some very good food (with perhaps less total variety in Croatia and Greece). Of course, it can be hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison. And I guess I just wouldn't try. Your enjoyment of the new places depends partly on an open mind and on the knowledge or preparation you made for it.

New places within a country still count as new but, frankly, Europe is my comfort zone now. To challenge myself, I should be going to Asia/Indonesia, as you are contemplating.

Well, maybe you could have the best of both worlds. A week in Italy and a week someplace new could make a good compromise.

I have been so many places that I love and would love to go back to and explore more.

But the list of places I've never been is about 10,000% longer, and there's no way I will make it to all of them.

Some of them, of course, don't particularly intrigue me for one reason or another. And there are many factors that make Europe a particularly desirable destination for those of us living in the USA, particularly shorter flying times than to most of the rest of the world. Unless you live in New York or Atlanta or Chicago or Los Angeles, it's hard to find direct flights to many other parts of the world.

In addition, if you grew up in the USA and you're of "a certain age," you probably read European literature and studied European history and culture in school, but not so much other places. So going to Europe feels like we're connecting with our past, with our roots, even if that's not where our ancestors came from. And of course, for so many of us, that is where our ancestors came from.

For me, I am currently planning my tenth trip to Europe, and the only other continent I've visited is South America. But I keep trying to visit places I haven't been yet, even when I do go to Europe. If I really think about it, I suspect I will never return to some of my favorite places. It makes me a little sad, but not as sad as I will be if I don't have a chance to explore more parts of the world.

I love traveling in Europe, especially in Italy. Our 8th trip there is beginning soon. But I am really crazy about Asia! It is so different and we love the food and cultures we have experienced( Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Chine(3x- different areas of the country) and Japan.) Asian food is our favorite. Had planned to go to Myanmar soon but will not due to their terrible ethnic cleansing atrocities against the Rohinga.
It's a wonderful big world out there. Also have been to South America but only Morocco in Africa. But- Italy pulls us back.
And then Greece is too. I will never be done going to new places, never. I have to balance it. I have enjoyed every trip I have taken, some more than others, many places I am glad I have seen but have no desire to return(i.e. Vienna, Prague).
So we mix it up, return to London and Amsterdam, then Asia, back to Italy. New places in Asia and Italy. Eygpy has been planned multiple times but cancelled due to safety issues.

I'll start with our itinerary for three European trips:

Oct 2010: Taormina (Sicily), Florence, Rome
Feb/March 2015: Paris, Lucerne (Switzerland), Florence, Salerno (base for Amalfi Coast & Pompei)
Feb/March 2017: Rome, Sorrento
(proposed April 2019): Plan A: Amsterdam, Venice, Ascoli Piceno, Polignano a Mare
Plan B: Amsterdam, Naples, Maratea, Taormina, Cefalu, Palermo

Notes: I've done Florence twice, we'll go back someday.
If I had to spend a week or a month in one place, it's Rome, hands down
Can't wait to see new places but Taormina is calling us back.
A choice between first time to Germany or 4th time to Italy, Italy wins every time.
The Adriatic coast or Basilicata/Calabria by train might not be that efficient, but why not?

Have definitely caught the travel bug, the type where the day you return you start thinking/planning of where to go next.

Ha! We are on a 7-week trip now and our 2019 trip is already in the early stages of planning. It looks to be almost 100% new-to-us destinations. Wow! I think I need to be in Italy annually but it looks to be a geographic outlier in 2019. I am already in denial. A cheap flight from Rome to London (meeting people in the U.K. is the center portion of the trip) might solve the problem.

Then just today I started thinking about 2020: Do we want to come back to the Dolomites for a month like we did in 2016? Because we are in the Dolomites now and reflecting back on that fun 4-week stay. My head says maybe I am giving up too many other desirable places, though.

Hubby likes to go back to the familiar but I always challenge him: "How are you going to find new favorites if you keep going back to the same places?"

This is how I have solved this conundrum: If I am traveling in Europe, I plan a pre or post stay in Italy for 3 days. That being said, our trip to China in 2013 was amazing. The food was wonderful and the natural and man made sites were beyond description. My other trip that was a highlight for me was our stay in Northern Sweden to see the aurora borealis. AMAZING!!! (the food, not so much - lol). Just for reference, I have traveled to Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Sweden, Norway, Spain and Italy (4 major trips and 4 short ones).

There is no bad choice!

For me, "new places" is relative. My husband wants me to go to Asia and I may not be able to escape China since there's a good chance he will travel there on a regular basis for work. But there's still so much of Europe I want to see and resee. And despite 7 trips to England, Wells, Hadrian's Wall, the Lake District and maybe Cornwall are still on my bucket list plus other places listed in a Day Trips from London book. England just never gets old, but I agree Italy is my #1 favorite and I do feel another trip there coming on in the next several years. And while no place will ever dethrone Florence as queen of my heart, I have really enjoyed my trips to so many other places since my last visit to Italy in 2008. London or environs is just so easy to do as a few days stopover on the way to somewhere else. I still haven't been to Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Krakow and the Rhine. And in France, I've only been to Paris, Chartres and Chenenceux. My only real non-Europe bucket list place is Costa Rica. Honestly, if I die without seeing Asia(other than the Asian side of Istanbul) or Africa, I won't be regretting that decision on my deathbed. And I also have a list of places that I'm really glad I saw but aren't calling me to a second visit(Venice being the most unusual example of that feeling.)

This is a really interesting topic, return to places or go somewhere different. Looking at domestic tourism, people often return to the same place, the favourite cottage by the lake, house in the hills, whatever. Nobody sees any issue with that, they might ask “Well, what do you DO there?”. “Well, we just do cottage by the lake, maybe paddle the canoe, read the morning papers, fire up the BBQ, open a bottle of wine, maybe have some beers. We just hang out”. There is no imperative to do anything, they just do lake. We can be a bit like that domestically, we have a favourite camping spot; we have kept a count of the number of nights there, so far it is about 340 nights in the exact same spot, same fireplace, same everything, we just hang out.

However there seems to be an imperative that once one jumps on a plane, it’s got to be different, see something new. We’ve sort of given up on that; Venice for us now is “lake”, or perhaps one should say “lagoon’. Over about eight or nine visits, we have spent almost a year there. I’m returning in a couple of weeks, solo, for the Architecture Biennale for two and a bit weeks, staying in a tiny apartment near the Frari, where I’ve stayed before, and it will feel like home. Next year in May, we return for seventeen nights, staying in another apartment where we have stayed before, a familiar cottage by the lake (Rio di Santa Margherita to be more accurate). We’ll do familiar things, picnics on Torcello and Certosa, visit some galleries that we know, no BBQs but drink some wine. Attend the book launch of a friend’s novel which is set in Venice. Really some very ordinary, comfortable things.

Maybe that makes us a bit boring, however it is lovely to know a foreign city like the back of one’s hand.

I completely understand your conundrum. I also love to travel more than anything and have been to 26 countries. But I can tell you this, Italy is my favorite country but right along with it are Laos and Japan. I have been all over Europe but Italy has everything - history, art, museums, cathedrals, food, hiking, wine, country, city, etc. But branching out and exploring something so different like Laos was the best decision I ever made. However, I still go back to Italy every few years and check out new towns. 2 years ago we flew in and did Xmas market in Verona, then went to Florence again but for NYE this time, then into Tuscany to stay in Montepulciano which was beyond amazing. Just booked yesterday to fly into Amsterdam, do that and Bruge for a few days, then onto Florence again for NYE, then into Tuscany to do Montepucliano again but also check out Orvieto & Assisi this time. And next year we will go somewhere new & different like Thailand. I think you are in a win win situation no matter your choice. Asia is amazing but so many different aspects to Italy too.

I believe there's another dynamic at play here. Most of us have experienced--by design, happenstance or just the planets aligning--a perfect or near-perfect time at a destination in Italy. (Otherwise, why would you go back?!) Even the snafus turn into something wonderful. We had such a trip last year, staying a week at an apartment in Rome. The overall vibe and karma were so good, even beyond my relatively-high expectations in advance, that I am almost hesitant to return too soon for fear of it not being quite as good the second time around.

Isn't that strange? As an above poster related, there is no such thought when returning year after year to a family cottage on the ocean here in the US or to Vegas, for example. But in Italy it's different, it seems. And maybe that has to do with traveling only with my wife, who goes with the flow/my travel decision-making process of going off the reservation at times, and not traveling with any friends, family members or first-timers.

In those instances, I'd no doubt have to remove my explorer/adventurer hat and replace it with the tour guide chapeau. I suppose I'd have fun if that came to pass--and it probably will happen sooner rather than later--but with that comes the responsibility of 'showing them a good time'. I'd ten times rather only be responsible for myself and my wife. If we get into a pickle at a new destination--which inevitably happens in Italy--we only have to worry about extricating ourselves from it. And more often than not, it ends up being a good story to tell. But with other people, I'd be more worried about pleasing/comforting them, which would add to my stress level for sure.