Have any of ya'll ever been somewhere and got sent back to where you came from once your tour of duty or for whatever reason you was there was up and wanted to go back but couldn't for a long time due to your job?

Like mine for example is South Korea,Most guys hated it there for the simple fact of they got the Army and Korea mixed together and thats the wrong answer. Once I got done turning wrenches for the day and got out of formation,I got back to my room,Showered and went out and explored the country and had fun. Got lost many times,had a lot of great friends,and made alot of memories. Let me tell you,Korean girls are fun!

I done told my wife,Once I ETS,I'm gonna go back for at least a week or 2 and relive a couple of nights....


What are some of ya'lls stories?

 

Of the 30 or so countries I have visited (so far) since joining the service, I'd say the one place I'd love to go back to would be Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Mallorca is an island in the middle of the Mediterranean. There was nothing that really stood out there except for the fact that I always had a great time when we went there. The locals were great to us, there were lots of tourists there to hang with and the weather was near perfect. I doubt I'll ever get back there and even if I do, I doubt I'd have as much fun but I do have great memories of the place. My second choice to revisit would be Antalya, Turkey believe it or not.

I know what you mean though about exploring the country. I had so many of my Nay friends that judged a place we visited never having gotten past the row of American style bars lining the waterfront. They never knew what they missed not going even a couple blocks inland to where the real culture was.

 

I've never been in the service, but my father's job took us around the world when I was younger--I've lived in Taiwan for 3 years and Brazil for one. When we were moving back to the States from Taiwan, we went "the other way" around the world: through Europe, for vacation. We didn't make many stops in Europe, but we stayed for about a week in Braunwald, Switzerland, a little village up in the Alps, accessible only by helicopter or a "step car", as I'll call it. The center aisle of the train-like passenger car was a stairway, if that tells you anything about how steep the slope was it went up. It was in the summer ('84), so there was no skiing, but we did take some nice hikes around the area in 70ºF temps. At that altitude and temperature, you can have snow stick around for a while, so somewhere in my folks' photo albums there are pics of my siblings and me having snowball fights in T-shirts and shorts. Unfortunately, a day or so before we left, I came down with the stomach flu and ended up having to travel when I was pretty sick (not fun for a 10-year-old).

Jason

 

Since I live in NJ, I liked EVERYPLACE I've been (except jail) better than here. (Actually jail might even be better than NJ) And would like to see most of them again. I guess my favorite would be Israel.

 

There was a place I used to go hiking at about 50 miles outside Fallon, NV. It was called Horse Creek and it was just way out in the middle of nowhere- and, yes, I did see a herd of wild horses a time or two. It was the most relaxing place I'd ever been to, and I think of it often.

As far as other countries, I agree with everyone else: get away from the bars and see the country (sober, so you'll rememeber it). My favorites were probably Hong Kong, Bali and Thailand. Korean girls are the most attractive Asian women (to me), but Korea for me was simply a place to get off the ship and buy cheap Starter gear. One thing I've always done was to sample the cuisine. Sometimes it meant pointing to something on the menu that you couldn't read and hoping it was edible! But, given the opportunity to travel abroad extensively again, I'd probably stay in the USA for the most part. There are enough unique things in my own country to keep me busy for years to come.

Now that I think about it, I did go to Israel on my first cruise aboard the USS Saratoga (CV60):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Saratoga_(CV-60)
(look under the 1990's)

We ended up losing 21 sailors to the cold water in Haifa. I was very drunk that night and had I showed up at fleet landing 15 minutes later, would have been on the ill-fated liberty launch (ferry-boat). It still chills me to think of how close I came to being a casualty.

 

Those are some good points, Stu. I love trying new foods (you just might stumble onto something really good). I've been to both Hong Kong and Thailand, too--definitely neat places from what little I remember of them. But, at the end of the day, I much prefer the good ol' U.S. of A. And there is much of it I haven't explored yet.

Jason

 

stu, I was in Hong Kong 40 years ago. I agree it was a great place, but I imagine it has changed a lot by now.

 

Unfortunately, I've never served, so, my travels have been for vacations, mostly.

Northern Ontario, Canada -
Martin River area. North Bay.
Beautiful country. I was up there for a black bear hunt in '89.
The only things wrong with that area is the black flies and mosquitos.


Wyoming -
Jackson Hole. One of the most beautiful places on this earth.
Flaming Gorge Reservoir - Trout fishing is great! Water is clear and cold and you can see the bottom at 20 feet depth.

Montana -
Custer Battlefield Park
Red Lodge - Crossing "Beartooth Pass" from Montana to Wyoming (Yellowstone). Breathtaking.

 

Further proof that one need not travel too far to see the wonders of the world.

 

I saw enough of Travis AFB, dont need to see it again!

 

As for places there are many I would love to revisit. Banff, Canada; Sunset Cliffs, in San Diego; The valley of the Danube, Bavaria, Germany; and San Francisco. The real problem is that I can return to all of these places physically But I can't return to them temporally. Banff in the early 60s', San Francisco in the late 60s'. Sunset Cliffs' in 70 when I was starting to date. The Danube one special afternoon in the eighties when I met two men. One was a monk from the monastery in the distance. He thanked us as U.S. Army soldiers for being there and keeping the Russians at bay. He had been a POW of the Russians during WWII. Another man came walking down the road and shared that he had been a POW captured by the British and interned in Colorado where he was fed better as a prisoner than he had been in the Wehrmacht. There are many more places and times in my memory yet I await each day knowing that a new experience could join the list.

 

Another vote for Custer Battlefield (which is now known as The Little Big Horn Battlefield). This is an EERIE place!

Pearl Harbor / Berlin, Germany / London, England / Ardenne/Der Eiffel in Luxembourg/Germany-Battle of the Bulge sites.

Canada/Alaska Inside Passage.

 

Never served, but

toured yellowstone on snowmobile in 05, Would like to go back.

 

Never served myself, but I did travel to Nagoya Japan and Munich Germany for Raytheon..

I would love to get back to Germany.. Very beautiful country..

While I was there traveled to Salzberg Austria and New Shwanstein Castle(SP?)

The thing that amazed me about Germany/Europe is in a couple hours you can travel between 3 countries.. Here in MA we are still in New England in the same time..

Japan was nice to see, but the 24 hours of travel time to get there is a kiler..

 

I forgot about Salzberg! I took a bus there from Slovenia- bus trip was about 3.5 hours each way and we spent about 5 hours there. Austria had the greenest grass that I have ever seen. The country was absolutely beautiful, maybe even more so than Alaska. I wish I'd had a bit longer to enjoy it. We ate lunch in the oldest continually operated restaurant in Europe (the tour guide told us, anyway, that the restaurant had been in operation, without a break in service, since 1230 AD). The catherdrals were embossed with more gold than I'd ever seen in one place, Mozart's image was everywhere and cuckoo clocks were made there (apparently, some of the world's best???). Neat place.