Places everyone on OTF has been

[Amor de Cosmos]

Been to East Berlin but not Vancouver. Been to Santorini but not St. John's.

Huh! Typical Torontonian.

[Amor de Cosmos]

The only countries in Europe I've been to are England, Wales, Ireland, Norway and France.

[WOM]

Huh! Typical Torontonian.

Shameful, innit? Edmonton for one night, but that really doesn't count. For anything.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Well, you got that right.

[Femme Folle]

We're a fairly global and well travelled bunch. Got me to thinking is there somewhere everyone has been? There are bound to be one or two who've never been to the USA, but I reckon most US based posters have been to Europe. So I'm going to posit Trafalgar Square, the Arc de Triomphe and the Colosseum. Anyone on OTF not been to any of those, and are there any other places we (ie "everyone") might have visited?

I've been to all three of those.

[3 Colours Red]

Am I the only OTFer that's never been on an aeroplane?

[elguapo4]

Oh, I once did this for myself for (modern) English counties. There is one outstanding. And that was an oddity, as it's fairly close to me - Surrey.
My criteria for having visited was setting foot on the ground rather than driving through. That allows me to get Lancashire through stopping, once, at Lancaster Services.

Edit - actually it turns out Surbiton Hockey Club is in Surrey rather than Greater London. So I completed the set as of February last year.

I've done that with Ireland and I need to find a reason to go to county Down and Fermanagh to complete the set

[Gangster Octopus]

Done all the English counties. With a possible exception of West Sussex...

[Hot Pepsi]

Shameful, innit? Edmonton for one night, but that really doesn't count. For anything.

If I were a contestant on a kind-of Pointless game where my objective was to name a fairly major city that I had been to but few people in the polled-sample had been to, and the people in the audience were all people that I at least sort-of knew, Edmonton would be the major city that would score the lowest for me. I think. Does that make sense? Americans I know that have visited Canada will say they've been to - in roughly descending order of likelihood - Niagara Falls, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Algonquin Park, Nova Scotia in general, Banff/Jasper, Quebec City, Quetico Park, Whistler/Blackcomb, Calgary, Ottawa, and maybe Windsor.

The furthest I've ever been from home is Nice or maybe Stockholm (not sure which is actually further) and yet I've certainly talked to more people who've been there than have been to Alberta.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Banff and Jasper are in Alberta, though perhaps not culturally — so to speak.

[Hot Pepsi]

Am I the only OTFer that's never been on an aeroplane?

Not sure. Perhaps.

That's fine. It's a handy way to get places, but it's not really all that much fun unless you're in the cockpit and that can be a bit stressful. And it's possible to travel around the UK, indeed most of Europe, in reasonable comfort without ever leaving the ground. That's not really true in North America. The trains are non-existent or slow, the distances between places are vast, and driving can be stressful and time-consuming.

Does everyone in the UK spell it aeroplane? Our spell-check doesn't even recognize that.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Does everyone in the UK spell it aeroplane? Our spell-check doesn't even recognize that.

Yup.

[Hot Pepsi]

Banff and Jasper are in Alberta, though perhaps not culturally — so to speak.

Right. I wasn't clear. But Nice and Stockholm would still score higher in a theoretical poll of people I've met.

Quebec City is one of those places that lots of people - including me - say they want to visit but never have. (Except, of course, the people from there that I used to work with). There are lots of places like that on the other side of the world that are hard to get to, but Quebec would be relatively easy to get to and yet I/we haven't made it happen. I haven't been to Montreal either. Or Vancouver (though that's a bit further. And I have been to Victoria, for what its worth).

I suppose it's the continent-wide version of that phenomena of never having been to really great museums in your own city - its so close that you always feels like there will be a more logical or ideal time to go, so you just never get around to it.

[Hot Pepsi]

Yup.

Was that the original spelling that we Americanized or did the UK decide to Euro-cize it?

[Amor de Cosmos]

Dunno. But I expect they were derived fairly concurrently.

[Hot Pepsi]

Dunno. But I expect they were derived fairly concurrently.

Perhaps like aluminum and aluminium.

[Bored Of Education]

Nope. Been past it on the open-top bus, though...

Same here and the scene didn't inspire me to go back. It appeared to be in the business district of Barcelona and, from the outside, did't look that impressive (being a sunken pitch). I like stadia that is in the middle of streets a la Anfield or the old San Mames or, at least, fairly close to residential areas like Stadion Poljud or Loftus Road so you, at least, get an idea of them being part of the local community.

I loved that open top bus tour though and probably wouldn't have taken it if not encouraged to do so by the OTF massif.

I think that the only place that has the slimmest of chances of all people having gone there is London as a whole.

[Simon G]

Am I the only OTFer that's never been on an aeroplane?

My wife and kids have never been on a plane.

I only went on one because my ex-girlfriends were so insistent at the time, and the last time I flew was to Glasgow 2 years ago. Again, that was purely down to necessity rather than choice (a court summons as a witness being delivered on a Saturday for an appearance the following Monday).

I am not a good flyer, in that I hate the thought of flying, however once on a plane I'm completely fine.

[San Bernardhinault]

Am I the only person on OTF who doesn't like sports-ground-tours? I love going to sporting events, but the idea of going to the New Camp (suck on that, OTF puritans) or Maracana or Fenway when there isn't a game on seems really weird to me. Well, on an official tour. I can sort of imagine the charm of sneaking in through a fence and having a kickaround on the pitch, but I don't think that option's available.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The only English county I've never slept in is Humberside. I'm led to believe it reeks of dead fish. Someone told me that about Sussex once and they were right, except in Sussex it was the gull poo that stank

[Me Old Flower]

I grew up in England and I've only been to London three times.

[Benjm]

Bradford is the most populous place in the UK that I've never been to.

[treibeis]

I've never been to Manchester, Liverpool, Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield or any other English city bigger than the one I was born in, apart from London and Birmingham.

[Hot Pepsi]

Am I the only person on OTF who doesn't like sports-ground-tours? I love going to sporting events, but the idea of going to the New Camp (suck on that, OTF puritans) or Maracana or Fenway when there isn't a game on seems really weird to me. Well, on an official tour. I can sort of imagine the charm of sneaking in through a fence and having a kickaround on the pitch, but I don't think that option's available.

Depends.

I did the tour of the Boston Garden on the second day I lived in Boston in 1997 because its such an icon and they were about to tear it down (not that week, but soon) and I couldn't afford to go to any of the remaining games there. That was fascinating - it was such a shithole. It's amazing that successful professional teams occupied it almost into the 21st century. I recall touring the Kingdome and Superdomes on family trips as a kid (not specifically to do those tours, but on longer visits to Seattle and New Orleans, respectively) but I don't remember much about them other than "wow, this is a huge indoor space." That was also my first visit - indeed my first introduction to the existence of - corporate luxury boxes. Meh.

It might be fun to tour a gleaming modern facility if you're a big fan and they let you see and take pictures in the locker rooms, etc. But just for a few minutes and not more than once, because I suspect that once you've seen one professional locker room, you've seen them all - they're spacious, they have a big logo in the carpet, they have a kitchen nicer than those found in three star restaurants, the lockers are made of teak-wood recovered from the HMS Victory, etc, etc.

[Hot Pepsi]

I grew up in England and I've only been to London three times.

I grew up and still live in Pennsylvania and have only been to Pittsburgh about five times and have not seen any of the cool museums there.