One of the second best places in the world

Then obviously you haven't yet discovered any of the best places peachfront. LOL Keep looking, maybe you'll get lucky one day.

I do not think I am ever looking for a "best" place but I certainly have found a few over the years. I used to think I would be happy just getting to finally visit a country that I have long wanted to visit....then I could move on to another place and so forth....being very aware that time is running out. However, after visiting a country you now have a bigger interest and connection to the place so you want to go back and see it again......The hunger for travel to a place stays just as strong.

Now that was an intelligent sentence taranaki_chick.

"I do not think I am ever looking for a "best" place but I certainly have found a few over the years."

In my experience most of what I consider the best places I have found, came as a surprise. I think I can also say that most of the better known places were a disappointment.

How do you like the following sentence taranaki_chick, I use it frequently.

They say Bora Bora is the most beautiful island in the world. I don't know if it is since I haven't visited every island in the world but Bora Bora is certainly the most beautiful island I have visited.

#12 -- I think it's sad that for some people, every part of life is a contest. There was a "Peanuts" cartoon that speaks to this -- Snoopy and Charlie Brown and Linus worrying about what if the best day of their life had already passed. It seems a poison to label this place the best and this place the second best and so on and so forth. Just as it's a poison when people proclaim their childhood or their high school years or whatever "the best days" of their life.

Peachfront, where did you read anywhere on this thread that it is a contest? It certainly isn't in anything I wrote.

You are attempting to argue a point that isn't even in this thread other than in your mind. There are places in this world I am sure you would not want to live in or even visit. How do you feel about the idea of living in the Sudan or Zimbabwe right now? There are obviously some places that are better than others to live in or visit. Some sights that an indivdual finds more worthwhile seeing than others. Saying that you think a particular place is 'best' doesn't mean a contest exists. It simply means the individual prefers a place over others.

You might as well say that someone who says blue is the nicest colour in their opinion is suggesting that which colour is best, is a contest and no one should have a colour preference. Ridiculous.

Wayworn, you wrote a sad post about settling for "one of the second best places in the world." Indeed it's the title of the thread, here for all to read. How do you live so long and still have to rank things instead of enjoying them for what they are? "Favorite" colors are for first graders. At my age, every color is a favorite color. In a way, I feel sorry for those who have to compulsively rank and grade and ponder whether or not any given experience is quite good enough. In another way, that type of critical unhappy person seems to enjoy their misery so much that I suspect that my pity is wasted.

Where did you read anything about 'settling' for second best? Again, you are making up things that aren't in the OP. You obviously don't understand the topic of this post at all. The point is that always looking for the best is a pointless exercise once you have found a place you love. There is no better place, only perhaps another place that you would like just as much or for different reasons.

Edited by: Irene_Adler

I understand was peachfront is trying to say. Simply put, it's just not possible to compare apples with oranges. Every time I travel somewhere new, it's special. Because it is new and exciting. eg. How can you compare the antiquity of Egypt with the quirkiness of India or the gentle beauty of Lao or with a city like Rome. And when you bring the locals into the equation, there's another set of criteria.

One of the things I've learnt from travel and with maturity is there is no contest. I prefer to keep exploring not returning.

However perhaps wayworns OP is about a place to settle rather than to travel.

BTW wayworn, do you know BpGuruagain? From the writing style, the insult, and the demand that people 'comprehend the topic' and agree with your OP or 'stop responding', you could be one and the same.

I believe that is also what Wayworn said, oonks, when he said:

“I realize that it is human nature to continue looking for 'the best' place but in fact I don't think it really exists. I think there are many best places based on each individual's idea of best.”

He also added:

“I no longer think there is something better and perhaps there comes a time to realize that and be satisfied with what we have found.”

I certainly did not think he was talking about a contest to find the best place, unless it is perhaps a contest within ourselves individually to seek something better than what we have already seen. As I’ve aged my priorities have shifted, I have greater acceptance that I will never see everything and therefore I no longer have the need to find “the best” or even some place better, but that doesn’t mean I have stopped traveling. I just don’t have the urgency I had when I was younger when I still thought there had to be someplace better. And of course, I realize that those priorities are simply mine (for now, and subject to change) and not the “best” for everyone. So for those who still seek someplace better I say: Enjoy the journey.

They don't have to agree oonks but they do have to comprehend the topic, not start talking about contests when nothing about contests was ever in the OP. Otherwise what is the point of responding.