World Travel Thread

Yes. Cancel the Contiki trip immediately. You will be moving way too fast to even enjoy the cities and it's a complete rip off. Venture off to Eastern Europe. Your dollar will go a lot farther, and personally, I had a lot more fun in those countries compared to western Europe.

 

When I was younger I always avoided package style tours; however they are for some. For those who have not travelled before and potentially lacking confidence or those who are not fully comfortable meeting strangers they provide a good forced introductory.

 

The best suggestion I got last year before I went on a similar, but much shorter trip was to go to San Sebastian. Thanks for that go to Brengsek. I meant to stay there for a day or two but ended up spending a full week. I'd head there after San Fermin, assuming you don't get gored or drink yourself to death.

 

Cheers mate.

Basically, try and free up your schedule as much as possible. This will enable you to spend more time in places you really think rule (like toejam in San Seb) or pack up and leave shitholes that you don't like. Actively seek out cool hostels, they are absolute treasure chests of current information.

IMO, Barcelona is highly overrated, while Lisbon never really gets the credit it deserves. Amsterdam is fun for a bit, but getting stoned legally is really only cool for so long. If you can, go spend some time in Berlin. It beats the everloving shit out of Amsterdam in terms of everything except freely available weed. Plus it's cheaper.

I think a week at San Fermin is probably too much too, but I've never been, so I can't really say.

If you want to have an all-out absolutely fucking crazy time with completely insane but fun people, look at Stoke Travel http://www.stoketravel.com/. It all started out with some loony Aussies and a campervan in San Sebastian, and now they go to San Fermin and other places. You don't need to actually participate in their trips, you can just meet them wherever you're going - they usually have hot women, senselsess amounts of booze and a wicked time.

Have fun!

 

Thanks guys. I'll keep you posted

 

A few Helo's (about 9 people) are going to Nashville this weekend for a big Airshow. Anywhere we should check out for night life?

 

My wife and I are taking my parents to Greece for their 40th anniversary this summer. We are renting a house in Athens approx 2 miles north of the city center. None of us have been to Greece before, so we will definitely be doing the touristy/sightseeing stuff in Athens, but plan to do some day trips as well.

My brother is also going to be joining us, and we're trying to figure out if it is worth renting a car for 8 days. Getting a car large enough to seat 5 comfortably is going to be pretty expensive ($1,200-$1,500). For those of you that have spent time in Greece (particularly Athens), do we really need a car? Are taxis pretty abundant? It seems like most of the tour companies can provide pickup services, and the house we're renting is pretty close to a train stop.

Also, we'd really like to go sailing or do a day cruise. My mom really wants to see Santorini, but it's a pretty long haul from Athens by boat. Are there any other islands with similar "charm" that you would suggest checking out that are a bit more proximate to Athens?

Anything off the beaten path that you would suggest outside of the popular sight-seeing spots in/near Athens?

 

Heading to Arizona next week. Traveling from Scottsdale to Sedona on a very loose schedule.

Looking for fun non-tourist trap bars, saloons, hikes/climbs, and fun shit. Can be out of the way by a few hours... I don't care. I'm a big fan of the road less traveled.

 

Swing by Jerome, south of Sedona. It's an old copper mining town way up on a mountain, near Prescott. Awesome old buildings, bikers, and good burger at the Haunted Hamburger; some good hiking up in that pass, as well.

 

What kind of stuff are you into?


I've been in Milwaukee for the past 3 months. I don't know a lot, but I've done a bit of exploring.

 

Maybe not what you are looking for, but go to McDowell Mountain Regional Park for hiking. Not really the road less traveled, but it is a nicely maintained park close to Scottsdale. There will be a map at the entrance with all the different trails, distance, and difficulty listed. We hiked up to Inspiration Point, which was a nice and pretty easy about 6 miles to a point overlooking the city, but you could go much further or more strenuous, we stopped and chatted with a local guy at the top and he was recommending the hike up to Tom's Thumb.

And of course Sedona has tons of hiking, but it has been a few years so I can't remember where we went. I love Arizona for hiking. Have fun.

 

Has anyone done Iceland?

I am stopping over for 5 days while I move, and I know it isn't the biggest destination in the world.

We plan on hitting the usual Blue Lagoon, volcano shit of course.

 

I'm going to Austin over the 4th of July weekend with a couple of old college buddies. I've passed through Austin a couple of times but never spent any time there. I'm looking on recommendations on things to do or not do. One guy wants to either spend a day at a lake or go tubing so recommendations on either of those would be great along with recommendations for bars and restaurants.

 

I'm certainly not an expert, but I spent a few days in Athens and thought it was kind of a useless, slummy city. Definitely cool for a day or two but once you've looked at all the old Greek rocks, I'm not so sure.

I definitely understand not wanting to spend more time traveling to and from another place when you're only on a week or whatever vacation. If you get bored in Athens though, it might be worth the extra effort. A high-speed ferry to Santorini only takes a bit over 4 hours, not including time spent getting to Piraeus (Athens' port) from wherever you are. You can also fly to Santorini. You could leave one morning, spend the day/night/next day on Santorini, and leave the following evening. Many hotels on the Greek Islands are family-run and super service oriented so they'll pick you up at the [air]port and have you set to do whatever you want in short order once you're there.

Big caveat though - I was working with an I-just-finished-undergrad-now-what? budget, and I remember from your posts that you've got more flexibility. You may get a lot more out of Athens than I did. There are also a ton of islands there. Someone more well-traveled might have another idea. I'd make sure to get the right opinion though, as a lot of the islands have the young drunk tourist vibe.

 

I'm looking to do a week to two week vacation in Aug-Sept. The girlfriend wants to get certified in diving so we can join a group trip next year. I got certified in Thailand 3 years ago and was one of the most memorable events of my life. I'm willing to spend the money to fly somewhere, but would like something chill with some really good diving. My spanish is good enough to get around places, but it's 1st grade level with pictionary thrown in. Asia is probably out of the question since flights would be pretty expensive.

I'm really thinking something more like a smaller out of the way island with some really good diving plus other outdoor activities and some other travelers around to meet other people.

I've heard recommendations for somewhere on the Baja peninsula, or one of the Bay islands off Honduras, but I'm really open. Any diving recommendations?

 

Diving in the Sea of Cortez off the Baja is good. If you're there at the right time of year, there are whale sharks and mantas. I've personally been diving out of San Carlos and La Paz. Both are good but the hotels in La Paz are better. I probably wouldn't do either of these unless your main focus is diving because there's not much else to do and the beaches aren't that great.

I've also been diving out of the bay islands in Honduras and they're also really nice. Anthony's Key has a really nice dive resort and they're got dolphins. This is a good choice if you're looking to relax and do things other than dive.

The Caymans also have good diving (especially wall diving) but they're more expensive and more touristy. This is another good choice if you want to do things other than dive. I saw some bats and crashed a scooter the last time I went.

 

I'm planning a cross-country trip come early August. It'll go from NorCal to Denver to Western North Carolina. Currently, I'm planning on heading down to Tulsa and across to Memphis. Aside from the Rendezvous Bar & Grill in Memphis, I've got fuck-all notion of what there is to do in those two cities. Any advice?

 

Beginning stages of planning a trip, probably European. I won't have tons of time (probably no more than 10 days) and really like the idea of just spending time in one country, but maybe a couple destinations within, instead of spending half the time packing up and travelling from place to place. I always said that my next European trip would be to Germany (Munich and Berlin off the top of my head) simply because I have heard that they are pretty much the friendliest to tourists, great beer, gorgeous countryside, interesting history. Lately though, I have become intrigued with Croatia, for no real reason other than that I saw a TV program on it and it looked breathtaking. I would want to see both the coastal beaches/cities and Plitvice Lakes area. I am probably more interested in daytime activities, cafes, good food, people watching, etc than clubbling. My budget is probably moderate.

Anybody familiar with either location? Any recommendations? I want to be somewhere a bit off the beaten tourist path but at a place that is still relatively easy to travel. Not asking too much, right?