BootsnAll Travel Community

Just curious, considering the amount of attention guidebooks give it.

Question:
How important is partying to you when travelling?

Choices:
Really important! The main reason I travel is to go to party hostels, clubs, bars, etc.
It's not the main reason I travel, but I couldn't imagine travelling without some partying of some sort
I don't go travelling looking to party and it's very important, but it's fun when it happens
It's not that important to me...I'm more into travelling for other stuff
I hate partying!

 

I'd say it's "essential" at night.

I think it is important if it is part of the life of where you are visiting. While I don't think you need to get drunk/high and act like an idiot, many cities have a special rhythm at night, and you'd be remiss to not take part in it.

I haven't done much partying on the road due to a) being underage almost everywhere until fairly recently (I'm nineteen), and b) traveling mainly with my parents. That said, I have a solo trip coming up to Argentina and Bolivia in fourteen days and twenty hours (not that I'm counting or anything...) and I don't really foresee doing a lot of partying. I think it could definitely be a lot of fun under the right circumstances, but for the most part the reason I'm traveling isn't to get drunk and go clubbing, which I can do any day of the week back home.

I think if it's a part of soaking in the nightlife that is the place you're going to, then possibly. Buenos Aires comes to mind as a city where you're night just starts around 11pm with meeting for dinner.

But, I've seen many a traveler who's drunk (pun inteneded)their way across a continent with little memory of anything they saw or did, and the realization they basically paid a lot of $$ in airfares and vacation days to do something they could do on any weekend at home

I consider partying different than partaking of nightlife. You can do one without the other.

Then again, when I think of "partying", I think of going out and drinking too much. Having a drink doesn't qualify.

I've been to my share of parties, but I've come to realize there isn't much difference between a party in the USA, Europe, India, Ethiopia, or Taiwan. And I've come to the conclusino that I don't like any of them.

I agree with Sky Annie that partying connotes drinking to excess, but also includes use of drugs. I've seen alchoholics and drug addicts make their way around the world in a stuper that negates what travel is all about - experiencing new places. They might as well have been back home for all they'll remember - unless they wind up in jail for their efforts.

Years ago, two graduated students came back to talk with me. They'd gone to Cancun for graduation party (sort of like Spring Break). When I asked them what they thought of the place, they said: "We were shitfaced the entire time, can't tell you anything about the place!". That's the effect of partying.

I guess it depends on the definition of partying. I really like going out at night to a pub or a restaurant or whatever and having a drink or two with people I've met, but I'm past the stage in my life where I want to go to some dance club, get really wasted and sleep the next day til 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

Plus, being a woman alone, I like to be aware of my surroundings, so I never drink too much for that reason, too.

Ok. If the accepted definition of partying is getting shit-faced, a drug induced stupor, or being a jerk, or drinking your way across Europe so you don't remember anything, then no, I don't like to party.

My definition is finding a cool bar, sipping on a few cold beers, listening to music, watching and meeting people, maybe having a toke, then easily making it back to my room without help or worry. As opposed to staying in my room watching TV or reading or going to bed early.

And I find that there is a HUGE HUGE difference between doing it at home or in a far-away new country.

quote:

Originally posted by Sky Annie:
I consider partying different than partaking of nightlife. You can do one without the other.

Then again, when I think of "partying", I think of going out and drinking too much. Having a drink doesn't qualify.

This is how I think of it as well. I do my best to avoid this crowd.

I like beer and I'm more than happy to have a couple, but since I mostly travel alone as well, getting drunk is something I try to avoid. Just doesn't feel safe to me.

quote:

Originally posted by braslvr:
Ok. If the accepted definition of partying is getting shit-faced, a drug induced stupor, or being a jerk, or drinking your way across Europe so you don't remember anything, then no, I don't like to party.

My definition is finding a cool bar, sipping on a few cold beers, listening to music, watching and meeting people, maybe having a toke, then easily making it back to my room without help or worry. As opposed to staying in my room watching TV or reading or going to bed early.

And I find that there is a HUGE HUGE difference between doing it at home or in a far-away new country.

I feel pretty much the same way. I love going out for a drink, hanging out at cool places and meeting new people. Stumbling home drunk isn't my idea of fun, dangerous when you are travelling alone too

If you mean a typical, social party where people have amiable conversation over a few drinks, and not getting shit-faced, I don't really look for those. If it happens, it happens.

quote:

Originally posted by nancy sv:
I've been to my share of parties, but I've come to realize there isn't much difference between a party in the USA, Europe, India, Ethiopia, or Taiwan.

I totally agree with this sentiment.

If I am with a group of other travellers then I might have the odd beer just to be social. But for me drinking in one country is much the same as drinking in another, and I can easily do that at home. And I don't want stay up half the night drinking if it means that I then sleep late the next morning and waste away my holiday.

quote:

And I find that there is a HUGE HUGE difference between doing it at home or in a far-away new country

How about elaborating on this Braslvr?

Just don't "party" on a 10 hour slow boat down the Mekong at 9am while everyone is trying to relax and take in the atmosphere.

Sometimes people treat the entire travel experience as one big drink fest. I party it up at night just as much as the next person but there is a time and a place.

When I say Party, I mean go to a place where there is good conversation and not everyone is getting blitzed, and...

NOT to noisy bars where you have to stuff your ears with your fingers to hear yourself think.

quote:

Originally posted by Viaggero:

quote:

And I find that there is a HUGE HUGE difference between doing it at home or in a far-away new country

How about elaborating on this Braslvr?

I'll try, but unless you are a "bar" person, you might not understand.

The key here is bar. I was fascinated by bars, lounges, taverns, saloons, et al even as a little kid. I started going out to bars at 17 with a fake ID when the legal age was 21. Bars are mostly all different to me even in the US. In other countries, they are often vastly different. Even if they look the same, the vibe, peoples behavior, the music, the ratio of men to women, the rules...

I'm not a big fan of going out to bars with a group of people, or parties at peoples houses usually. In fact, I really don't like being trapped with a group in a bar because then I'm unable to soak up the atmosphere, and people watch adequately. Ruins the whole experience.

As far as vast differences, many bars in other countries still allow smoking inside, while that is getting pretty rare in the US. This is extremely important to me. Then you have bars in Amsterdam where you can buy and smoke weed. You have the outdoor beer bars in Thailand, and bars all over Asia that are also brothels. Bars in Korea that don't have bars, only tables. Bars in Japan that don't even open till midnight. You get the idea.

The whole experience is different in every country from the type of characters you meet, right down to the flavors of beer they sell.

And I'm not even counting discos and dance clubs as I don't usually like the music or vibe in them.

So yeah, at night that's where you'll find me, but you'll never see me staggering drunk or obnoxious.

Depends on what you mean by "party." I make a point to visit places where the locals unwind. Those are the places people go to be around other people, and there are few things I enjoy more about travel than meeting people. If "party" means nothing beyond intoxication, that's not primary. When I'm traveling for pleasure, it's vacation, and I may indulge more often than if I had to work in the morning. If "party" means being sociable and around other sociable people, then absolutely it is important.

But yeah, I remember the kind of partiers who depressed me. In Chiang Mai, I stayed at a guesthouse where there were four thirty-something, hard-core alcoholics from England living. They'd be up around 11 every morning, go on a booze run, spend the days in the guesthouse common area, getting blotto. The only reason they were in Thailand was because living and booze were cheaper there than back home. Lame.

Ya, I agree with braslvr.
Now there have been places where I have "partied" that are completely different then anywhere else.

One time in the Central American jungle I drank beer and smoked hash with a few people on a porch that overlooked a river, Mayan ruins, and the jungle. Completely different then a bar in Seattle, tapas bar in Seville, picnic in the desert, wine and cheese dinner in Paris..

And everybody ideas of 'party' will be different. Most places I stay I like to go out at night, and I drink. Maybe I dont get sloshed, maybe I do. It's happened before and will happen again. I'm sure. But if people in the hostel just want to hit the hay at 10:00 pm I will happily move on.