Comments on: French Guiana and the $100 Question

By: Carl Nelson

Carl Nelson — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:07:04 +0000

“défieur des autorités au chômage”

There ya go, translated to French.

And great choice really, if you have the chance to go, go.

By: Ari Herzog

Ari Herzog — Sun, 17 May 2009 05:20:12 +0000

I love your writing. Always have, Chris, but for the longest time, I wasn’t following your blog. I’m back–and you’ve inspired me to add a comment, not to mention to click that big stumble button once I submit this comment.

Keep the stories coming. I have some good ones when I was in China, but nothing beats that taxi ride.

By: goyestoeverything

goyestoeverything — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:23:03 +0000

I have probably never used this phrase so literally in all my life, but “Way to go Chris!” As I was reading your post, I kept thinking “go dude, go!” and I am glad to hear you did. I came upon this in Ghana, especially later in my trip when I was feeling tired and ill. The phrase “for I shall not pass this way again” kept urging me on and I willed myself to get to some places because I knew the regret would eat at me later. Now, being home a few weeks I am so glad that i didn’t bail on myself and my intentions. As I’m sure you are aware, sometimes when traveling you have to “Cowboy up and press on”, even though the comforts of the present beckon, or you feel like crap, or all the other reasons not to do something. Good on you for sticking to your guns.

By: Shawna R. B. Atteberry

Shawna R. B. Atteberry — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:21:52 +0000

Good for you! I’m glad you went. I don’t have any stories like that, but will one day. And thank you for the lesson in passport stamps. I’ve only traveled in the EU, so that is good stuff to know.

Safe travels!

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:19:29 +0000

@Darren,

Good questions and insight, dude. I’ve written about this subject a couple of times before, but I should probably do so again soon. In short, to your questions:

1) Do I consider it as a visit? Sure. Do I consider myself an expert on it? No – I don’t consider myself an expert on almost anywhere I go. For me I enjoy the process of travel as much as the destination, so I don’t feel I need to do certain things to say I’ve been somewhere. As mentioned, most places I go I stay much longer, but it’s not always possible – see question 2.

2) I don’t really regret not doing more there because it wasn’t an option. The choice was to go for the day or not go at all – so I went.
My feeling about situations like that (and your time in Italy) is that you can always go back, right? Most of us have not seen all of our own country, so I don’t have any arbitrary standards for traveling somewhere.

Again, thanks. Good points.

By: Darren Alff

Darren Alff — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:18:55 +0000

This is the sort of question every traveler asks him/herself at one point or another. I do it on a daily basis. I’m doing it today as I travel through Montenegro. But my question to you is this: You went through all that trouble to get to French Guiana, and yet you were only there for a couple hours, if that. My question then is 1) Do you consider that actually seeing/experiencing a country? And 2) Don’t you wish you could have stayed longer to see more, done more, met more people, etc. Won’t you end up regretting not having experienced more?

Take me for example: I am currently traveling in Europe and while I did spend a couple hours in Italy on the Slovenia/Italy border, I wouldn’t consider my trip into Italy as “actually experiencing Italy”. And I sure as heck want to see more of Italy than just the little bit that I saw. While I technically visited Italy, there’s no way I would ever tell someone that I “experienced” Italy just because I spent a couple hours on the border. You know what I mean?

This isn’t about you though. It’s really about me, or anyone traveling and trying to find the balance between wanting to see it all and wanting to experience a single place as much as they can.

So I guess I’m really asking is, what is the point of rushing from one country to the next? What are you going to do when it is all over? Why not slow down and experience a little more? How do you find the balance between visiting all the countries in the world and actually “experiencing” all the countries in the world?

Does that make sense? Again, it’s not about your personal travel choices, but instead, the choices we all make every day in how we spend our time. We could be doing this:_________ or we could be doing this: __________. How do we decide what to do?

Maybe this would be a good topic for a future post? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Thanks again Chris. Keep it up!

By: Jean Philippe

Jean Philippe — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:27:58 +0000

I am happy that French Guyana gave you some content for an excellent post! I am just a bit disappointed that you could not enjoy it more because there are nice things to discover there. The two bored guys at the border were ‘gendarmes’

By: SANJAY KUMAR SINGH

SANJAY KUMAR SINGH — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:48:46 +0000

Really a great example how U come upon a final solution,when do’s & don’t comes to your mind here & there. Your question “If I didn’t go, would I regret it later? ” has been my mantra lately.One of my favourite quote is:
“LIVE LIFE KING SIZE”
I think you are following this one.
Cheers up.

By: Goddess Leonie

Goddess Leonie — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:39:23 +0000

Love love LOVE this story. It’s what international travel is all about.
I like the stories too of what happens when you DO elect to miss adventures. One night in India, we were staying in a small little mosquito-and-monkey-ridden hotel in Chitrakoot. We were supposed to go have a sunset boat ride along the ghats. Instead me, my sister and my love elected to eat cheese sandwiches and curry in a deserted resturant, and get some gulab jamun delivered to us for dessert. We holed up in our room, played cards, watched terrible indian television and laughed ourselves silly.
Best.night.ever.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:06:46 +0000

Yes, I was still reading and having a good laugh at the end. Your simple and decisive question “If I didn’t go, would I regret it later? ” has been my mantra lately. You have probably seen the quote below before … but I will share it anyway, it is my favorite!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain