Posted by The Podcast Team

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/podcast-first-trips-abroad

Hi, this is Dylan Thuras, and you have reached the Atlas Obscura podcast line. I am not home right now, but please leave me a message all about your stories of traveling internationally for the very first time. Tell me your story after the beep.

This is an edited transcript of the Atlas Obscura Podcast: a celebration of the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. Find the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps.

Guest 1: Hey, Atlas Obscura. The first time I ever traveled internationally, I was going to Germany. My family was moving there. I was about to be a junior in college, and I was planning to just go over for a few weeks during the summer and then come back and go to school in person. Of course, it being the summer of 2020, it didn’t work out that way, and I ended up having to rearrange my whole schedule and take all my classes online in Germany with a seven-hour time difference. Woo!

But the actual trip to Germany was extraordinary. We were traveling together, so we got on a plane pretty early in the morning, and we headed out, and we’re on this really long flight that I remember perhaps 15 or 18 hours into being awake flying over the French coastline and looking out and thinking, “Wow, the Atlantic Ocean is west of me.” Amazing.

And then by the time we landed at the second airport and got all of our luggage—it was so much luggage—and we got on the bus that would take us to where we were actually going to be living, I had been awake for more than 24 hours at that point. I was so tired. I was fully loopy. And as we were on the bus driving to where would be home, I was looking out at the hills, and my mind started overlaying Van Gogh paintings onto this countryside, and I’m like, “Wow, wow, it all really looks like that!”

I mean, there were wind turbines and modern buildings and all, but the countryside was there, and it was just—it was amazing. So that’s the story of the first time I went to Germany in the beginning of a really pretty amazing year. I’m very glad I got to do it.

Guest 2: My first trip abroad alone was to Switzerland in 1986 after my sophomore year of high school. I was attending a boarding school in Connecticut, and the father of one of my friends was a somewhat famous author, and they lived in Europe, and my friend invited me to come and visit them in Gstaad, Switzerland in a chalet that they were staying there.

When my parents picked me up from school at the end of the school year, I asked them casually if I could go to Switzerland to visit him if I earned the money for the plane fare. I was a little surprised when they said yes, and I think they were surprised when I actually earned the money.

But I did, and in early August, I took off from JFK in New York and flew to Geneva. I didn’t know much French, but I did manage to get from the airport to the train station in Geneva. From the train station there to Gstaad, I think there was a transfer along the way, and once I got to Gstaad, I had an amazing two weeks there visiting my friend and his family.

My friend had these motorbikes, so we motorbiked all around town and up into the mountains and along the roads. At one point, he pulled off on this turnout along one of the mountain roads and pointed me to the side of the mountain, which from a distance looked like a rock wall. When you got up close, though, you saw it was a screen that was painted gray, and if you looked inside, there was a clean, pristine concrete hallway with doors with metal bars. It was some sort of government or military facility. We threw some firecrackers in there. They exploded very loudly, and we took off quickly on the motorbikes.

At night, we would go to the discos in town. I learned how to drink whiskey Cokes, and we stayed up very, very late. One time I gave a girl a ride home on the motorbike, but I was too shy to ask her if I could kiss her goodnight.

At the chalet with the family, my friend’s family, they taught me how to play the card game hearts, which I had never played, and I remember one time I shot the moon pretty much accidentally. I don’t know if they let me do it, or I just was collecting all the hearts, and all of a sudden it was inevitable, but it was a surprise, I think, to everyone at the table that that happened.

The day I was leaving, my train out was at something like 6:00 a.m., but I didn’t have alarm clocks, so I stayed up all night so I didn’t miss the train. I walked the two miles or so from the chalet to the train station with my luggage in the early morning hours, made the train, fell asleep almost immediately, almost missed my transfer, but I did make it back to Geneva, onto the plane home to the U. S., I made it home safely, and it’s just just such a terrific memory, and I’m so glad that I made the trip.

Leah Washington: My name is Leah Washington. I was finishing or starting in sixth grade. My dad retired from the Air Force. We left Missouri in 1977, headed for Tehran, Iran, when the West was still quite big there, and my dad went to work for Lockheed Aircraft.

And I remember arriving in the airport, my brother, my mom, my dad, and I, in Tehran, and coming out into the airport, into this sea of chadors—the coverings that the women wore—men holding hands, hugging each other, and just the sea of strangeness and oddness and newness, coming as a 12-year-old in 1977, and getting in the taxi, and going across the city to our apartment to start our lives there.

The country was beautiful. The people were beautiful and kind, and the food—driving on the roads was insane, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. My parents were so cool in that time. They actually asked my brother and I before we went if we wanted to go and what we thought, and us being an Air Force family, we said, “Let’s go.”

And we were there when the Shah Revolution started and left as things of student uprisings occurred, and it’s still one of my best memories and one of the best experiences, and I’m so glad my parents said yes to the experience and that we had it.

Stacy: Hey, Atlas Obscura. My name is Stacy, and I wanted to share my story about my first international trip. When I was 18, I went on an Ambassadors of Music trip to Europe. The trip overall was amazing and sparked my wanderlust for the next 20-plus years, but I want to talk specifically about my most harrowing part of that trip when I got left at the Tower of London.

So, everyone in my group wanted to go see the Crown Jewels, but I was more interested in a different exhibit. I don’t even remember what it was now, but by the time I realized it, it was well past the group rendezvous time, and the central square that had been bustling with tourists just an hour before was now hauntingly quiet.

As I stood there trying to figure out my next move, and not panic, one of the Yeoman Warders, aka Beefeaters, stepped out of the mist, approached me, and said in his beautiful brogue, “Did you know that seven people were executed in this spot? Six of them were women. Five of them were redheads.”

He must have been very amused with himself as my face likely turned as bright as my fiery hair. I think I smiled sheepishly and thanked him for the interesting fact before bolting to the exit. I did thankfully end up finding my group a couple hours later, and vowed to stick like glue for the rest of the remainder of the trip.

Frederic: Hello Atlas Obscura, Frederic from Normandy in France. I wanted to share with you my first international travel. It was when I was 17, I’m over 40 now, and it was to New York. So we had like this thing for teenagers at my father’s job, and well, I went with, I think it was a dozen of other kids. We went to Montreal first, and then we rented a minivan and we went to New York.

It was a life-changing moment really for me to just step out of the minivan in New York, once we parked—the huge building, the vibrant streets and the cars everywhere, and it was just dizzying. So we spent like, I think it was two or three days in New York.

We were given pretty much a lot of free time there. So well, I just went and explored the city. I went to Chinatown on my own, I went to the Financial District, I went to the New York Stock Exchange, don’t ask me why, I don’t know why I went there. And I went to the Empire State Building of course. I just went around and I just lost myself in the city, and it was just so, it was like in the movies and the series I watched back then.

I wanted to go and see the World Trade Center, so I was just there at the bottom of them. I was looking up, and they were so huge, such huge towers. So that was August of 2001, and you can imagine basically what I felt when like a month later, they were gone. I mean, that was it.

So basically now I’m just thinking every time I go someplace, just go there. There’s no next time, I just go there if I can, because that taught me that even the biggest buildings won’t be around forever. So just go there.

Dylan Thuras: We want your stories of traveling with a significant other for the first time. Your dating travel stories. You don’t have to have stayed together. It could have gone very badly. Or maybe that trip was the thing that set your relationship in motion. They can be sweet, or they can be embarrassing, unexpected, shocking. Yeah, we want your travel stories with a romantic partner.

Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave us a message telling your name and story. Mailbox will cut you off after two minutes, so call back if you get disconnected. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps.

This episode was produced by Manolo Morales. Our podcast is a co-production of Atlas Obscura and Stitcher Studios. The people who make our show include Doug Baldinger, Chris Naka, Kameel Stanley, Johanna Mayer, Manolo Morales, Baudelaire, Gabby Gladney, Amanda McGowan, Alexa Lim, Casey Holford, and Luz Fleming. Our theme music is by Sam Tyndall.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/podcast-first-trips-abroad

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gunnars-carousel

Hidden in the woods near the small village of Drängsered, Sweden, stands a forgotten carousel with a very unusual story. Locals call it “the carousel in the forest.”

In 1974, at the age of 67, farmer and handyman Gunnar Karlsson decided to build something magical for the children of his family and the village. On the site of an old mill, he dammed a stream, built a waterwheel, and connected it to the gearbox of an old Volvo. The ride had three gears — and on the fastest one it spun so wildly that riders had to hold on tight. On top, he fixed four garden benches to a wooden platform, creating a water-powered carousel hidden deep in the trees.

Today, the carousel is still there, though time has worn it down. The water no longer flows, the planks are rotting, and a sign warns that you enter at your own risk. Still, many visitors who follow the forest path can’t resist giving it a gentle push, imagining the laughter of children as it once turned with the power of the stream.

This strange and enchanting relic is a reminder of one man’s creativity, and of the secret treasures that sometimes wait in the woods. 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gunnars-carousel

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/charmille-du-haut-marais

The Charmille of Haut-Marêt is a charming hornbeam tunnel in La Reid, considered one of the longest covered walks in Europe.

It dates back to 1885, when Michel Nys commissioned two roadmen to plant a tree alley along the south-west edge of his property. The town blacksmith, Adolphe Corten, fashioned the metal rings that continue to hold the trees in place today.

Back then, the tunnel was around 1,000 meters long, made up of 4,700 hornbeams. That changed in May 1940, when German tanks tore through the northern section when invading the country. It was never replanted, and the tunnel now measures 573 meters.

After being left abandoned for decades, the walkway was classified in 1979 and completely restored by 1985. Due to the great care of the students of the nearby Agricultural School (IPEA), it is now considered one of the most beautiful tree tunnels in Europe.

Today, visitors can wander under this century-old arching canopy all year round, often dubbed the Tunnel of Love for its fairytale-like atmosphere.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/charmille-du-haut-marais

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bar-hemingway-at-the-ritz-paris

“When I dream of an afterlife, the action always takes place in the Paris Ritz,” wrote Ernest Hemingway. It’s the highest possible praise from a man who made a living off of seeing the world, writing brash yet wistful stories about his adventures, and (of course) spending excessive amounts of time in Europe’s most reputable watering holes. But what made the Paris Ritz so special to this beloved author?

Situated in the heart of the 1st arrondissement and just a few blocks north of the Seine, the Paris Ritz is a five-star hotel that embodies the essence of luxury. And rightfully so. One of the most iconic cities in the world introduced us to the original location for one of the most renowned brands in the hospitality industry. In a city so steeped in splendor and drama, anything less than over-the-top lavishness would feel out of place. There’s a clear reason why wealthy folks seeking materialistic pleasures have flocked to the resort since its founding back in 1898. Including our eponymously titled guest.

Hemingway frequented the bar (called Le Petit Bar back then) many times throughout his early-20th-century escapades living in Paris. Often times he was seen here accompanied with other greats from the Jazz Age such as F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. There is even one tall tale that, close to the end of WWII, Hemingway claimed to have barged into the hotel and “liberated” it from the Nazis. Although there are many locales that bleed into fictionalized bars from works of his like The Sun Also Rises, there is no argument that Paris nightlife played a crucial role in both his writing and his overall life. The original bar at the Ritz sadly closed in the 1980ss, but was reopened nearly a dozen years later as an hommage to the late author.

The bar itself is very quaint. It is steeped in wood paneling with black and white photos and other memorabilia draped over the walls like the average American dive bar. But the setting is purposely designed in that manner... to give the guests the intimate feeling of being transported back to a different era. Bargoers can sit either in grand leather lounge chairs or rest on a stool at the bar while watching some of the world’s best bartenders carefully craft their order. The result? Elaborate cocktails that are delicious and quite potent (and yes, expensive too. Remember we are still at the Ritz). Ladies even get a decorative rose with their drink order. However, be ready to wait in line for a bit as the bar only holds up to 25 patrons at a time. But the wait is worth it. Whether it’s reminiscing with friends while drinking whisky cocktails over the gold leaf trimmed tables or meeting fellow strangers serendipitously for a night in Paris, Bar Hemingway provides the atmosphere to create a memorable night.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bar-hemingway-at-the-ritz-paris

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gokyay-chess-museum

Akın Gökyay, chairman of the board of the leading Turkish office furniture company Nurus, is an avid chess enthusiast who began collecting chess sets in 1975. With significant financial means, he established a foundation to support his collection, which is housed in a beautifully restored building representative of the traditional Ankara houses of the Hamamönü district.

On the ground floor, visitors can explore a variety of themed chess sets, from European comic heroes such as Asterix and Lucky Luke to curious sets commemorating the Gulf War, featuring figures like Donald Rumsfeld, Tony Blair, George Bush, and Saddam Hussein. There are also many exquisitely crafted sets made from diverse materials and in various artistic styles.

Upstairs, the collection showcases chess sets depicting peoples of many nationalities. Additional spaces include rooms for playing chess, a café with a charming courtyard, and a well-stocked gift shop.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gokyay-chess-museum

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-seal-woman-kopakonan

On the island of Kalsoy stands a statue that, according to local legend, has cursed the town of Mikladalur.

The legend goes that seals were once human and every year on the 12th day after Christmas at dusk, they come ashore, shed their skins and revel in human form until sunrise, where they don their seal skins again and return to the ocean.

One fisherman from Mikladalur, having heard this legend, hid behind a large rock and observed the transformation. He particularly noticed one who transformed into a beautiful young woman.

Out of desire, the young fisherman stole her skin and waited for them to return to the water. The other seals, including her mate, watched on in horror as the fisherman approached her, carrying her skin.

From that moment, she was bound to him, as long as he had her skin. They married and had children but she chafed under her new lot in life. However, one day the fisherman forgot to lock the chest her skin was secured in, and while he was out in the boat, she left him and their children behind, rejoining her family in the sea.

Time passed, but his fury did not subside, and even after she begged him to not attack her family, he and the villagers organized a seal hunt, slaughtered her mate and their young seal pups and then ate them.

The seal woman returned to the village as a banshee, and cursed the villagers and their descendants, telling them that their drowned would be able to hold hands and dance around the island by the time her curse ends.

The 3-meter bronze and stainless-steel statue was erected in 2014.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-seal-woman-kopakonan