I read an article over the weekend about a woman who had to spend one night in Plovdiv, Bulgaria en route from place A to place B, and ended up liking the city so much she changed her plans to stay longer - therby making her "stopover" a "stop."

This reminded me of the afternoon I spent in Bayeux, France on my way back to Paris from the Normandy beaches... It was just the city where the bus dropped me off and where I would then pick up the train to Paris, and I figured I'd just have lunch there or something and then read in the train station. As it turned out, Bayeux has a lovely cathedral (worth an hour's visit at least), and is a sweet town which I was kind of sad to leave. I look back more fondly on Bayeux than I do the trip to the Normandy beaches themselves.

Have you had any experiences like that? Any "stopovers" in your travel past that have turned into extended stops? Or have you returned to them later on in future journeys? If so, were they still as charming as a "stop" as they were as a "stopover"?

I will say... next time i'm ever in Morocco I will be returning to Tangier for a longer period of time. I didn't give it a chance because of all the bad things I had heard about it so I didn't even spend one night and just passed through after lunch and a quick walk stroll through the medina.

Looking back on it I wish I had spend AT the least, 1 night and a full day to explore it further. It felt different from Marrakesh, which was my final destination. It had character and its location on the straits of gibralter and the Atlantic made for a killer sunset. It smelled different than any other part of Morocco as well.

I meant to only spend about 2 or 3 nights in Tilcara, Argentina. I fell in love with the little pueblo so fast, and the people as well...I ended up staying for about 2 weeks. I ended up feeling very 'at home' there. The locals recognized me after the first few days. After the first week, they became friends. I've never felt like that anywhere else. Haven't been back, but will go again sometime in the future.

For me it was a small coastal town called "Coffee Bay" in the former Transkei of South Africa. I planned to stay 2 nights, but then with all the rain I figured 5 nights sicne it was raining everywhere else.

3 MONTHS later I finally left. Lived on the beach in a tent the whole time.

Trekker

I once met an English girl in Russell, New Zealand. She was doing an RTW and NZ was her first real stop. Years later, she was still in Russell.

I came to New Zealand for the first time 4 years ago on 2 1/2 weeks holiday. After that trip I planned to come back for 3 months as part of a round the world trip. I soon found out about working holiday visas, and decided to come here for a year. I've now been here just over a year, and have obtained a regular work visa so that I can stay longer. A year just wasn't long enough. Will I ever leave? Heck if I know.

I (like almost every other young South African) went to England... planning to live and work in London for 2 years! Went to visit a friend on Nottingham for a couple of days and never left... loved the little city! I'm very happy i did... i'm not stereotyped as a typical South African living in Wimbledon and i made some amazing friends!

These are always the magic places. on my first trip to spain, I was going to pass through Cadiz for a day or two, and a week later, I had to pull myself away if I wanted to see anything else on my trip. two and a half years later, I had about a week and a half to go around southern spain, and thought I would stop off in Cadiz again, just for old times sake. Well, a week later I reluctenly pulled myself out of there, only because I was about to leave the country. There are plenty more of them, but this is the one that comes to mind first. I can't wait to visit for a day or two maybe next year.

I was taking the train in Northern Spain. I was only supposed to transfer trains in Viviero. I ended up staying three days. I loved that town. I would love to go back.

Coolangatta Gold Coast Australia:

I was standing in line at Dreamworld (Disney land of Australia basically) in Surfer's paradise. I am by myself starting my two month journey traveling around Australia after studying in Melbourne for the past four months. It is warm out, and am waiting in line to watch a live showing of Big Brother (hold back the laughter, and understand that coming from America where you have a plethora of channels to watch, while in Australia I didn't have pay TV, so we were bound to like 3 channels all of which showed realty TV during most of the prime time hours). Anyway I was really into Big Brother and it turned out that coincidentally my trip to Surfer's would fall around the same time that Big Brother was going to have a DOUBLE EVICTION Special! I was stoked. Anyway back to my story.

So I'm standing in line and a lady turns around and just starts to talk to me. You know something about how long we have been standing in line, do you think we will meet anyone from the show...small talk. Now me being put on this planet to schmooze and work a room, who loves to engage with anyone and everyone who will lend a ear and respond back, I throw her a bone naturally.

So we start talking, and right away she obviously knows I'm not from Australia. I'm from New York and my parents are from Queens and Bronx so sue me. I might stand out from time to time. She asks me where I'm from. I say New York and get the typical response "Like New York City?" Now normally I just say yes, because when I say Long Island I get the stare like "ohh right Long Island." But I was like, actually I'm right outside of the City, I live right next to Queens...That resulted in the same blank stare "Is that in New York City hmmmm?" For anyone who doesn't know New York City consists of 5 boroughs (Staten Island, Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn and yes Manhattan). She asks me what I have been doing in Australia, where I am going, yada yada yada.

So it turned out she is married, has two kids and that they live in Coolangatta. As soon as she mentioned that place I briefly thought to myself "Where have I heard that name? Ohhh that's right I am stopping there overnight before our journey up to the next town." I was like "really, well my bus is stopping there overnight, and I was going to check it out for the day." She's then responds by saying "really well you seem like a nice boy, why don't you come stay with my family and I for a few days and my husband and I will show you around Coolangatta and the surrounding area, it's really a beautiful area?" Now for a split second I thought back to myself all those speeches I got from my father about taking rides from strangers and going off with people you don't know in strange places, and trusting random people. But then I was like "Josh you always learn the hard way anyway, just go. Hey it's a few nights accommodation free, warm shower, private room to sleep in, can't be that bad. If they turn out to be serial killers, then it was my time to go.

So she gives me her number, I tell her when my bus arrives in Coolangatta. When the bus pulled in to the hostel that the bus was dropping us off at, I get out to a warm welcome from Sandy (the wife) and I go off with her.

That is my tale about when my "stopover", turned in to a "stop," in Coolangatta, Australia.

I quit one job and came up to Alaska in May 2005, before heading back to the lower 48 for a job. I ended up loving it so much that I stayed. This is one big state. I have worked in Dilligham, Togiak, Petersburg, St. Paul, Egegik, Dutch Harbor, and Anchorage so far and haven't even touched the surface. That's only where I've worked not where I've been. I have also done the same thing in San Diego and D.C.