GTKY w/o 1.24

keikilove

No, for real though, what adventure or special location or destination had a major impact on your life? 

ejoseph16

I moved out to Phoenix, Arizona to teach my first 3 years. Moving from small town Ohio to Phoenix helped open my eyes to what other parts of our country are like and the struggles other people go through. It made me a better rounded person and teacher. I can’t wait to take MH there one day, he has never been. 

kiki047

Tokyo, Japan. Not just because it is an incredibly fascinating city, but I was there with my Dad in March 2011 when the earthquake and tsunami hit the Sendai coast. Growing up in Canada, I had never felt an earthquake before, and that was one of the biggest that has ever hit the region, so the whole experience was surreal. We weren't in any imminent danger but being stranded as a tourist in a foreign city where you don't speak the language was challenging to say the least, and cell service was spotty so we had to be strategic about sending updates home to my terrified family as well. That trip changed the course of my life, no doubt about it. We flew home 3 days later, but not before we caught a glimpse of the true spirit of the Japanese people and how resilient and gracious they are even in the face of massive adversity. 

I did go back to Japan a few times after that and just feel so compelled to keep visiting. I'd love to take MH sometime soon. Full disclosure, we're Japanese by heritage but 4th generation Canadian, we don't speak Japanese, and we don't have any known family there. 

acleverusername

+1 to Wuhan. What a great answer. 

Really though, it would have to be Yerevan, Armenia. I got the opportunity to go for a week with my old company (we had an office there). Such an amazing city to visit... so much history! It also having been a former USSR company, it was interesting to see how it was different from other former republics, and really embracing its somewhere-between-Europe-Asia-and-Mediteranean existence. Also, for special context for @kiki047, I went in 2017 when Canada was celebrating its 150th bday and on a tour bus, I learned that Yerevan had celebrated its 2750's bday a few years back, which certainly put things into context. Lol. Oh, and I also went shortly after reading a book about the Armenian genocide by the Turks in early 1900's, so it added an additional layer of gravitas. Everything was so amazingly friendly and accommodating there! I'd love to go back with MH. 

Also of importance is that in May of that the year I ended my 6-yr relationship and started dating MH. One of the things my ex- liked to tell me is that we'd done so much traveling, which to him meant a roadtrip to Montreal, QC, to Rochester, NY and a flight to Cape Breton, NS, and Las Vegas, NV. In my books, that's not "traveling"... so within 6 months of us breaking up, I ended up visiting 5 countries and I felt really good about that. 

Paturkey

There are a lot of different ways I could answer this question and I'm sort of struggling to nail it down, but if forced to pick I'd say: a university town, New Zealand. I went there to study for a year during my undergraduate and I loved it so damn much. I made great friends, saw an amazing country and just basically fell in love with it. I'm old so it was before the LoTR movies came out (they were still filming them at the time) so fewer people were aware of how beautiful it is. Volcanoes, mountains, glaciers, rainforests, I mean... unbelievable. I've been back three times since I left and it's still lovely and it's great to catch up with my old friends. My SO hasn't been so I'd really love to take him to the South Island for a two-week backpacking, cycling and sea kayaking trip. Maybe once Covid settles down we can think about planning it. (When I moved from the east coast to California after college my mother literally said, "Well at least you're not moving to NZ!" because she was legitimately concerned about it).

@kiki047 That must have been a really incredible/disconcerting/scary/life affirming experience Japan has been on my list for about 25 years and one of these days I'm going!

@acleverusername That trip sounds really interesting, particularly given all the context. I am so happy for you that you made the space to travel yourself after your breakup. My ex similarly talked a big game about travel but then somehow never had the time to do it.

optimistgardener

@Paturkey my paternal grandmother was from NZ and i still have family there! I've always wanted to go.

I'm not sure I really have a particular city that changed me, although traveling as much as I did certainly changed me. I think the most obvious answer for me would be a city that I can't name on this board for risk of outing myself, since it relates to my research. But maybe I'll just say Istanbul, which was the city that got me over my fear of traveling beyond the confines of western Europe, and taught me that the world is wide and bright and full of interesting and friendly people, and that I should always try the street food.