Has anyone ever traveled or vacationed places? (Is traveling scary?)

[marvelvscapcom2]

Hello Everyone



I know many years ago I made a thread called "If you could vacation anywhere, where would it be".  But this time it's a bit different.  I'm gonna ask about the places we all have already gone to and if traveling is scary.  As it is my first time traveling in November and really would love advice as the closer it gets the more scared I get


What traveling experiences do you have?  Are you a frequent flyer or is it more a once in a blue moon type of thing for you to see other states or countries?   I know traveling can be a lot of people's life goals and bucketlist moments. 


My Upcoming Trip


All of the planning has worked out so far and I have bought 4 autograph tickets so far to strangecon in Dallas and the plane ticket.  So it's official that this will be my first main vacation ever and so many firsts all packed in one trip. I'm so excited but also So i'm actually pretty nervous.   


I'm mainly nervous because I will be traveling by myself.  Nobody is coming with me. So i'm going to be in a distant state, city, town, neighborhood,  with no means of direction other than my phone.  I will rely mostly on ubers and google maps to get around. Which has worked for local travels.  I assume I will find my way pretty good.  But it's mostly the hussle and bustle that seems nerve wracking.


I have never flown on a plane.  Never rented a hotel, never been that far away from home and have never met a celebrity in person.  So it's all pretty foreign.



The pros is that the people in Texas will still speak English and their is no passport stress or currency conversions or worrying about ID and stuff.  It's still my home country.  And their will be no language barriers.   And another plus is I am not bringing checked luggage, just a carry on filled with Funko Pops and Clothes lol.



My main questions are.  Is the TSA scary?  Do they yell at you and shove wands in your bum?  Is it like the movies?  Or is the airport a less scary thing than people make it.  From what I hear it's so stressful and horrifying. 


I am flying Jetblue.  And to put it in prespective i'm flying out of Boston.  So I will have time to Enjoy both Boston and Dallas for a bit.  I plan on seeing the boston harbor, the paul revere house and the JFK museum in dallas. 



What is your favorite city or country to tour?  Are you an avid tourist?


Thank you for sharing everyone

[courtlyhades296]

Dallas is the headquarters of Half Price Books.

[telly]

I travel around the country a lot for conferences. This year I went to Anaheim, Chicago, and DC. Also went to Lake Tahoe this year with family. Other notable places I've been to are Mexico, the Caribbean, France and Kenya.

[bikingjahuty]

Not in recent years, but I used to travel a lot. I've been to most states in the US, and have been to Germany and Israel once each. It's not necessarily scary as it is annoying, frustrating and tedious sometimes, at least getting to the destination is. This mostly has to do with how terrible flying has become and everything that goes along with it. I swore to myself that the next time I few international I'd flay at least business class despite how ungodly expensive it is. Flying more than 4-hours in economy class is about as close to hell as I've experienced. At least the destination was worth it mostly.

[oldgamerz]

I personally don't travel but.

I can't imagine how difficult life must be for the world leaders who travel all over the world all the time. and almost never get to just stay at home and relax, It gotta effect their health and some of their moral emotions. I also believe a lot of professional athletes suffer the same fate as some of the world leaders do. probably just as hard to be a professional athlete too

I often wounder if they have video games or music to listen too, I know for a fact that they might have movies to watch but that is not my kind of life. to be traveling and going constantly all over the world on business trips,

traveling where you want to go on vacation is different but if you want to know if traveling is scary then just look at the current US president.

(edit) I know they might have everything in first class airfare

[snyderec3]

I've traveled a fair bit. For both work and pleasure.

I've been almost everywhere in Canada (my home country) at some point.
In the US, I haven't traveled quite as broadly. I've been to Alaska, Washington, California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New York, New Jersey and Florida
Outside continental North America I've been to Bahamas, Iceland, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.

Upcoming trips (within the next two years) include Alaska, Prince Edward Island, Scotland, Ireland, and Antarctica.

The best airline I've ever flown on was Air New Zealand. Economy class on Air New Zealand is like Business class on most other airlines. Entirely worth it if you happen to be traveling to the south Pacific.

[hoshichiri]

I don't travel particularly far- I've never been in a plane that I can remember (I'm told I was on one once when I was young). What helps the most for stress is planning- know how you're getting from home, to the airport, to the hotel, to the con. If you get there early enough, consider taking the route up to the con site beforehand, just to make sure you've seen the landmarks. If they'll allow it, go inside the conspace & get your bearings a bit.

For meeting celebrities, that part's fairly simple: Follow staff instructions about where to go, if photos are allowed, how many autographs, etc. Don't scream at them, don't get handsy, and limit interaction to a minute or two tops, unless they do something to allow for more, or less, time. When I met Haley Atwood, there was quite the line, so she only had time for a basic 'hi *sign* thanks for coming bye' interaction- I was impressed at how cordial she was, given the short amount of time she had for each person! On the flip side, Reuben Langdon spotted my friend's Vita when we got his autograph, found out he was playing Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, and wanted to try it- so we inadvertently ate up a lot of his time Most of all though, don't worry about it too much- these people do this for a living, and as long as you're doing the above, you're not likely to upset anyone.

One last thing to keep in mind: Cons are a great place to get a feel for travel, becuase you'll have ready access to a large amount of people who like what you like, and therefore are a great source of help should you find you need it. I've only had one 'con emergency', if you will- we were getting ready to leave the last day of a con, and discovered the car's battery was dead. My friend started panicking, but I stopped her and said "it's ok- there's still hundreds of nerds around us, it's the middle of the day, and we aren't far enough away from your dad that we couldn't call for help. Let's go talk to the parking garage staff." They had a portable battery for jumps, but the car was so dead it wouldn't work. We found some people willing to help, but the car was so dead we couldn't put it into netural to roll it over to their car. Then the people parked across from us came out & we got a jump from them. Over this whole process, people were coming up to ask us what was wrong, can we help, waiting with us to make sure we were OK & looking for other ways to get us moving. If distaster does strike, you will be among friends, so don't sweat it!

[realpoketendonl]

I live in the Netherlands. Considering that's a rather small country and there's plenty of countries nearby, I've been to a couple of them.



I've been to:

• Belgium
• Luxembourg
• United Kingdom
• Germany
• Poland
• Denmark

I've never flown before, so I can't speak for that. All my traveling either happened by car (with someone else, I can't drive), by public transport and in the country sometimes by bike.

I do have to admit, I haven't traveled abroad alone that often. I did a few times within the country (to a con or to do something else), and once to Belgium (to see a concert). Otherwise all of my travels were with company.

Honestly, the only advice I can give are open doors. Make sure you plan and schedule everything ahead of time, make sure you have at least a vague idea for a backup plan if something doesn't work out (like with public transport or something), always follow the instructions of security staff and other officials, etc.

Also, a good tip, make sure you allow yourself time to rest up and catch your breath if you need it. Some people need this a lot, some not at all, but I know that when I travel I need some time every now and again to just be alone, recharge and clear my head. It can feel bad to do that because it feels like wasting valuable vacation time, but trust me, you'll be glad you did it.

[stuntman64]

I live in Austin, Texas.

[98dgreen]

I have been to the Dominican Republic and Canada.  Turbulance can be scary.  Going to the Dominican Republic would have been scary if I wasn't going to stay with a friend's family considering I only have a little knowledge of Spainish.

[tpugmire]

I’m on vacation in NYC right now. I’ve been to Mexico, Hawaii, Indiana, Italy, as well as most of the western states, since I live in Utah. I love to travel, but I don’t get to do it as much as I’d like. Getting around can be tricky, but you should be able to figure it out. I’ve had to learn the Italian train system and the New York City subway system in the past 12 months.

[turf]

Ubers in Dallas can get expensive. DFW is a huge place. I like it though. If I had to live in a city, that'd be my pick.

I'd try to get a hotel close to your event. Where is it being held?

And traveling is awesome. TSA isn't near as bad as TV would have you believe. The workers are more DMV than FBI.

[marvelvscapcom2]

For meeting celebrities, that part's fairly simple: Follow staff instructions about where to go, if photos are allowed, how many autographs, etc. Don't scream at them, don't get handsy, and limit interaction to a minute or two tops, unless they do something to allow for more, or less, time. When I met Haley Atwood, there was quite the line, so she only had time for a basic 'hi *sign* thanks for coming bye' interaction- I was impressed at how cordial she was, given the short amount of time she had for each person!

One last thing to keep in mind: Cons are a great place to get a feel for travel, becuase you'll have ready access to a large amount of people who like what you like, and therefore are a great source of help should you find you need it.

Thank you Hoshichiri .  I am worried I will fan girl out pretty bad or get starstruck and be completely silent which is most likely to happen as i'm fairly introverted to begin with.  I know they are just people but I let their fame power rattle me for some reason.  But I think as long as i'm not rude it'll go smooth if not a tad awkward lol.   

The way this convention works is pretty neat because it's basically as many autographs as you buy is how many they sign.  No limits.  Which is awesome because I plan on getting a few items signed.  If you have 4 autograph tickets she will sign 4 items.  Pretty cool.       I'm glad their isn't a 1 per person rule. 

Ubers in Dallas can get expensive. DFW is a huge place. I like it though. If I had to live in a city, that'd be my pick.

I'd try to get a hotel close to your event. Where is it being held?

And traveling is awesome. TSA isn't near as bad as TV would have you believe. The workers are more DMV than FBI.

The event is being held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.  It's so convenient and makes it so no matter what I won't be late due to commute.  I can go downstairs half asleep and be there and not have to rush.

I was going to go a cheaper route for the hotel because the scale of the room is not usually a big deal to me so long as it has a clean bed, but my dad and everyone and now you as well have said it's a incredible plus to get the hotel as close to the event as possible.  Then I began to think of how convenient it's going to be. Just from a stress factor and having to time everything. It's so convenient.  Not to mention the hotel is also directly near the JFK museum and connected directly to the beautiful reunion tower that I want to go up in .  So it's a central hub for all the things I want to see.   It's a tad pricey because it's a 4 star hotel in the center of downtown dallas.  But it's a once in a lifetime thing for me.  I might as well do it right and not regret it later. 


I am glad to hear TSA isn't as scary.  Although the letters DMV scare me almost as bad lol.  But my backpack is packed so lightly and organized that it will only take both them and me maybe 1 minute or 2 to unpack and repack it.  I been binging youtube videos of what to do.  But with all the gates and terminals it seems very confusing.  But i'm going to arrive 2 hours early to give myself time to mess up lol    

Thank you Turf for all the advice.  I am glad you love Dallas.  I heard they have some of the kindest and nicest people.

I live in the Netherlands. Considering that's a rather small country and there's plenty of countries nearby, I've been to a couple of them.




I've been to:

• Belgium
• Luxembourg
• United Kingdom
• Germany
• Poland
• Denmark

I've never flown before, so I can't speak for that. All my traveling either happened by car (with someone else, I can't drive), by public transport and in the country sometimes by bike.

I do have to admit, I haven't traveled abroad alone that often. I did a few times within the country (to a con or to do something else), and once to Belgium (to see a concert). Otherwise all of my travels were with company.

Honestly, the only advice I can give are open doors. Make sure you plan and schedule everything ahead of time, make sure you have at least a vague idea for a backup plan if something doesn't work out (like with public transport or something), always follow the instructions of security staff and other officials, etc.

I love Poland so much. It's so cool you live so close to see such beautiful places by car.  Do you recommend visiting Poland?  I love Poland's culture, architecture and especially unwavering grit and patriotism. I have a Polish friend.  We skype all the time.  She's from Warsaw and she loves The Last of Us.  The pictures she sends of the towns and villas are truly stunning.  I just always get scared to visit a place like that because of the hostile movies lol. 







Thank you everyone for all the help and advice.  I am very excited.  Hope everyone has a great labor day.