Whenever I go somewhere I love, I promise myself I'll go back later, but have yet to actually do so. Has anyone gone back?
These days I've been feeling particularly nostolgic about Quito, Ecuador, and have been yearning to go back there. It was the first city I had ever been to outside of Canada/the US and not on a family vacaction etc. I also met some amazing people there and had such a good time. So part of me knows that I want to go back because I want to be in that same fun and exciting situation, not just because it's a great city.
What I'm wondering is, has anyone gone back to a place that holds a lot of good travel memories? Was it different? In a good way or a bad way or just different in general? I'm just looking to hear about other people's experiences with this...
Reply to this I've been back to places I've loved (Tasmania, parts of NZ, and others), but I tend to go to different areas of those places. The inner battle between a place I want to revisit, and the ongoing thirst to see more of the world........
Reply to this Great topic! - I've been back to; Malaysia and Thailand - but with only 6 months between visits they had changed but not excessively. I've promised myself that I will go back to just about everywhere I've ever been 😊 - Guatemala holds amazing memories for me - probably similar to your memories of Quito - first place I really got to know in Latin America.
Reply to this Promises are made, absolutely!
Like you Jo I am struggling between wanting so much to go back to the places I have visited and loved, and to seeking out the new places.
Every day I have the urge to go back to Budapest, a particularly favourite photo of mine from the top of Gellert Hill is set as my desktop picture and it reminds me of how much I loved that city. I will go back one day but for now I have too big a craving to see what else the world has to offer.
Reply to this I think in a lot of instances, the reason that you loved a place was because of the people that you met, the things that you did and saw, and how you looked at this place with fresh eyes. I've definitely got some places I'd like to re-visit, but fear that my fantastic opinion would be changed! It might just be a chance I'll have to take😉
Reply to this I like to include a mix of new and familier places when planning a trip....
Reply to this Hello Partydress 😊
I am going back next December.
Since the moment I left India 10 years ago I wanted to go back. That year I did not have time to go back with work and everything. I even thought about going back for a weekend that year but then saw sense. When I finally got more time I decided that I should check out some different countries and not just go back to India again. Checking out other countries is what I have been doing for the last 10 years. Next December I will go to India again. My boyfriend doesnt travel much but I have been telling him about India and how I want him to go there with me since we met 8 years ago. We will go there with our daughter next December.
Mel
Reply to this Denise, you have a good point about the reasons we love places. I know that a good friend of mine was in Cuzco and Quito at a similar time as me, and she loved Cuzco and didn't have any loving feelings toward Quito - the complete opposite to me. So maybe it would be better to go back to those places that left bad impressions on you and give them a second chance?
It seems that seeing more of the world normally gets picked over going back. And I'm defiently glad that I decided to move on instead of going back when I planned my next trip because then I wouldn't have been able to fall in love with Cuba (another place to promise to go back to).
Mell, that's awesome that you are going back. I hope 10 years later with your boyfriend and your daughter it's just as good as the first trip. Though probably significantly different, I would imagine.
Reply to this
Partydress, from what people say the infrastructure in India has improved. Apparently it is still the India I know and love but I wont have the extreme hassle trying to change money and use other services that I did the last time I was there. I was recently telling somebody how to deal with the money changing problem in India on an India backpackers forum. People who have recently visited India were asking me what I was talking about. LOL Apparently all that has changed and become easier in recent years.
Mell
Reply to this Yes! I've gone back:
to several States, to Canada several times and also to Australia, Fiji, Tonga, Thailand, Belize, CNMI (where I've now retired to) and have travelled through the same places several times on longer jaunts. Return trips are more filled with seeing old friends than with new adventures. It's always great to see the changes in both the faces and the places.
Reply to this I promise myself to head back to this quaint little town called Treviso somewhere near to Venice. Some time, if not soon.
It was my very first backpacking trip with two other friends. I remember that our budget flight arrived late in the night and my friends and I, not speaking one bit of Italian, were left stranded in nowhere and were worried that we won't find our way to our Bed & Breakfast as it was getting dark and the signs weren't all that visible, plus we were all bushed and famished.
Then thank God the bus came, and we hopped onto it. When it reached the stop when most others dropped off, the bus driver just turned to us and asked a whole lot of questions which only puzzled us but la fortuna! This Italian guy who spoke a little English communicated with the bus driver and helped us 'get' to our destination.
And so we reached our B&B safely and all, and thereafter we took a short walk to this pizzeria where I had the most amazingly rich and yummylicious pizza ever in my entire life! Not to mention that the B&B was beautiful and our hosts there are a real nice and friendly bunch!
A memorable night it was before we set off to Venice the next day!
Reply to this I did an exchange to a small city called Hakodate in Japan in 2005 and had the most fantastic time!! I met some amazing people and learnt so many things. So I vowed to go back, especially so I could see all the friends I had made.
So I went back for a holiday a year later and although it was still the city I had fallen in love with, it was so different. Some of my friends had gone and the people who were still there had made new friends, so it just wasn't the same. I still had a great time whilst I was there, and it was so good to catch up with everyone, but I learnt that you can't expect your experiences to be the same just because it's the same place. In the year that I was gone, people changed, even shops and restaurants that weren't there before had been built.
I don't regret going back though!
Reply to this Interesting question ... I guess the beauty of traveling is as well to go back to the places we cherished...madly in love with Thailand and although I keep discovering new places all the time, I do go back there at least once a year :-) Guess just like China, I might be moving there someday ...
Reply to this Interesting question!
I feel the same!
In this last summer I went more and less 2 months in the USA I had been coast to coast to coast! I've past NY, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Yellowstone Park, Salt Lake city (Utah), San Francisco, California coast, LA, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, St Louis, Washington DC, Phliadelphia, etc!
I just love it, and I promise to myself that I would return to the USA (at least NY, because I love it!)! And in some few years I want to return! 😉
Reply to this Partydress - I'd have to agree about the missing Ecuador bit! I'm going back this summer for a couple of months to visit friends - can only hope it will be the same although a new experience is always good so I wouldn't keep going back to one place if it meant missing out on new countries.
Reply to this I spent my gap year in India and always wanted to go back. I returned two years later to the same village, and went back to my old school as well. It was strange returning, especially to the school which had changed considerably. It was sad to find so many staff changes and not be able to see old friends, but it was really heartwarming the way the kids all remembered me. It was also great to stay in the same village and revisit all the old haunts. Of course things change, but that just means you get a new experience each time! 😊
Reply to this 
