How did people react when you told them you were leaving?

For those of you who have already had the experience of telling your friends and family that you’re leaving on a long-term or RTW trip, there’s a great new thread on the BootsnAll travel boards. While many of the people closest to you probably know that your personality includes a love of vagabonding travel and have reacted with either support or excitement (or both), you may have to make this announcement to people who don’t know you as well and who may be – to put it mildly – less than enthusiastic.

So, how do people react when you tell them you’re going on an extended trip? BootsnAll member Seebeauty has posted this question on the boards, saying that the responses she’s gotten from people when she tells them she’s leaving have been mostly amusing to her. In addition to the various comments she’s gotten, other people have posted some of the reactions they’ve heard to similar announcements they’ve made – and many of them are pretty funny.

So, if you’ve already had to have this conversation with your friends and family – especially the ones who don’t “get it” – what were some of the reactions you got? How did you respond to the people who weren’t terribly supportive? Did you try to change their mind, or did you just smile and nod and ignore their warnings? Join the conversation and add your experiences to this thread! Those of you who are still in the planning stages for your RTW trip, you’ll want to check this thread out to find out what kinds of reactions you can expect – and how to handle them when they arrive on your doorstep.