To clarify: If you are visiting London, make a side trip to Camden. If you are visiting Philadelphia, do NOT make a side trip to Camden.
One of the coolest things to do in London is "The Ceremony of the Keys" at the Tower of London. You need to apply for tickets (online) in advance, but you'll get to witness the ceremonial "locking down" of the Tower that has been done daily for centuries. You'll need to be there at 9:30 pm, but there's a great pub, The Drawn and Quartered" that was featured in a Tom Clancy novel nearby (cask conditioned Bass Ale!) where you can pass the time. Also gives you great opportunities for night pics of the Tower and London Bridge.
Hey guys, Recently got back from a week in Costa Rica and now I have a huge travel boner. I would like to travel to South America for about 2-3 weeks in August, and was wondering if anyone had any advice. It seems like the cheapest roundtrip flights from NYC are to bogota or cartagena for about $600. Is it worth it to buy the roundtrip then bus around, or is it better to fly into Buenos Aires and fly back out of a more northern country (seems logistically more efficient, but more costly)? I would most like to go to Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janiero, but if anyone has some must-see towns/cities, I'd love to know. I'm a student/martial arts instructor so I'm going to have to do this the cheapest way possible, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. And I'm a 23 year old female most likely traveling alone so if anyone is going to be around to meet up for a drink I'm totally down. (I'll be drinking a ginger ale, but whatever)
I had a longer post typed up but my iPod browser crashed. To be more pithy: prague is a must, Munich is a yes, Amsterdam a yes, and Paris... Well, go if you want, but I can honestly think of a bunch of cities that, while perhaps not as famous or architecturally well laid out, were cleaner and didn't smell as bad and offered a better tourist experience on the whole. For Munich, I stayed at the Munich Euro Youth hostel. You don't have to stay there but it's a great hangout for backpackers and anyone is welcome into the bar. You can go to the hofbrauhaus downtown, which is cool and has good beer (though touristy), there are two Augustiner houses next to the hackerbrucke S-bahn station that you should check out. Augustiner is the preferred beer of Bavarians. Be careful with your scheduling as you don't want to accidentally book a stay during Oktoberfest. For Prague, check out the communism museum. I did a brewery tour with this generic youth tour company that was called Discover Prague. it was actually pretty legit, though you can also easily find those breweries by yourself. Cool cafes as well. In Paris, I can only really recommend Paris Charms Secrets, Whig was an outstanding bike tour with actual Parisians as guides. My guide took us to some cool places, some of which were introduced with "ok, this place was not on the tour, no pictures". Otherwise, well, follow your heart. oh also, Le cafe qui parle is a nice little place down theroad from Sacre Coeur. Awesome food for standard (Parisian) prices. They will also happily speak English at you, even if you and your companion speak French with odd Germanic accents. And as Crown said, be ready to grab some wine, some snacks, and party on the banks of the Seine. But I didn't find people all that friendly, unlike Crown, and found it very hard to break through the tourist artifice. In Amsterdam, I stayed at a hostel called mama coco, which was a little outside the downtown core, but was very comfortable, had 1 euro beers in the lounge, and wasn't full o idiot college kids getting high (which you may find with some others). I don't smoke but my tour guide said Gray Area was a good "coffee shop" that didn't pull any tricks with its weed. Great art museums. You can walk down the street and pop into any brown cafe for a great beer. Honestly I loved A-dam, and it's worth going there even if you don't do drugs or want to hire a hooker. I have, however, seen a good slice of Europe, so hit me up if you have questions about other cities or want to know specific hostels or tours or activities (same goes for any other idiots planning a trip).
A rep asked me to clarify what I want in this trip; unfortunately, I don't really know how to answer that because I want everything out of it. Sights, activities, bars, food, you name it I want in on it if possible. I am traveling with my mother until Amsterdam, so we will be doing more touristy stuff, but hopefully after Prague my little brother and I will be able to get off the beaten path a little bit. Thanks again for all the input everyone.
I could probably bore you to tears with my nearly 1000 pictures from my almost 5 months abroad last year, so I'll only add a few more things. Firstly, and this is only my preference, I like to do a combination of urban and outdoorsy things when I travel, be it in Europe or at home. You have some fucking awesome mountaineering to do both in France and Germany (ranging from day hikes to multi-day hikes staying in alpine huts to putting on a harness and crampons and climbing up a glacier). There's some great cycling to do in Belgium and Holland (see: flat countries) as well as a wide variety of WWI and WWII historical sites to visit. Have a look into those options. You meet completely different people doing these things. Me, I love them, but that's me, and not just anyone can throw on a 35 pound pack and go for a hike at 4000 metros with some French ex-military dude for a guide. I was also about to recommend considering Morocco, but you need only revisit an old drunk thread for a play by play of me spending 3 days shitting my guts out from a camel burger that was off. It's definitely different and more of an adventure than most of Europe. Cheap, too. It's a ferry from Algiers to Spain, and plenty of flights from Spain as well. Anyways, hope you enjoy your trip, wherever you go.
I think any and everyone I have talked to that has been to Prague say that is the absolute tits. Someday. Then Ibiza, where I complete my party town triple crown.
London: DO: Tower of London: Yes. A must-see, particularly the crown Jewels. This Walk: Do it. Trust me. It'll take you through the architecturally coolest parts of London, including Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and more. http://goo.gl/maps/tIOgk The Imperial War Museum: If you're into military history at all, an absolute must-see. British Museum: Free admittance to one of the greatest, if not the greatest, repositories of ancient treasures in the world. Victoria & Albert Art Museum is also outstanding, and if you're a child at heart the Natural History Museum is fucking awesome. Also, London Zoo is well worth a visit. Greenwich: Make a half-day trip of it. Take the ferry from Westminster, that'll take you past Big Ben, all of the cool architectural stuff on the riverbank, Tower Bridge and will eventually drop you off at Greenwich. It's public transport so it doesn't cost the earth. Visit the Cutty Sark, and the Greenwich Observatory, where the Meridian is. Bath: If you have time, this is 100% worth it as a day trip. Bath is probably THE most beautiful town in England. It's got incredible architecture, old Roman baths, and a still functioning 1800s spa feeding off the hot springs that you can relax at. Train takes about 1 and a half hours from central London. Buy a multi-day zones 1-6 travelcard for bus and the underground (pick it up at an underground station) it works on night buses too and will save you a LOT of money. DO NOT: London Eye: Pros and cons have been listed but I've lived here six years and not for a second have I felt the urge to climb on top of that miserable eyesore. Overpriced, dull, the queue for it lasts about 4 hours, and London being London there's a decent chance when you go up in it all you're going to fucking see is fog. If you want views, book a table at Vertigo 42, a champagne bar on the 42nd floor of a City skyscraper. It'll be cheaper to get a bottle of prosecco for 2 than it would be for one of you to get onto that goddamn tourist trap. If you do want to pay for a view, go to the Shard, the brand new giant skyscraper (you can't miss it, it looms over South London like Barad-Dur) which, at 1000+ feet, is more than double the London Eye's height and has the added advantage of having a tenth of the tourists flocking around it. Also you aren't stuck in a glass cabin in a slowly revolving wheel, so you can time your visit for as little or long as you want. Leicester Square/Piccadilly Circus Nightlife: Wildly overpriced clubs for tourists and wannabe ghetto middle class people, with watered-down drinks and the largest proportion of cunts per square metre outside of a gynaecologist's office. Honestly, you go there, and you're pretty much guaranteed a fight. I've been there a few times unfortunately, which now means I've seen more assholes than a public toilet. Soho: If squalid strip clubs, incessant hawkers of drugs and prostitutes, bad "dive" bars and being aggressively propositioned by cruising homosexuals is what does it for you, by all means give Soho a go. if not, pass. Camden: I loathe the bloody place. I suppose as a tourist it's interesting from an anthropological point of view. Your experience may vary. FOOD & DRINK: Look, everything is expensive here. Be prepared to drop at least £7.50 on a cocktail and £30 on a meal if you want to have a decent experience. I've personally been to the following, and recommend: Camino (King's Cross): Delicious tapas and a buzzing bar. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay: Aside from yelling at people in scripted reality TV shows, Gordon Ramsay also owns one of the best restaurants in the UK, and indeed the world. If you've got some money to burn and love food, go. Hawksmoor (Piccadilly Circus): Awesome steakhouse and good cocktails. Nobu: Probably one of the best Sushi restaurants in Europe. Mango Tree: Delicious south Asian food. London Cocktail Club: Some serious heavy hitters on the menu here, including a Bacon & Egg Martini. There's thousands more, but honestly, it's hard to have a bad meal in London. Pick someplace that looks nice, and go. Try Imperial China in Chinatown for cheap, excellent dim sum. Or Princi in Soho for a genuine Italian dining experience. Avoid like the plague 99% of Fish & Chip joints, any pub doing food which also has Thai on the menu, any chain restaurant, any restaurant with the word "Aberdeen" or "Angus" in their name, Pizza Express, any burger establishment that isn't Ed's or Byron Burger. Try the foodstalls near Camden Lock for a greasy but pleasant experience.
At least half the time in South America we found buses to be within $50 of the cost of an airfare. Also, because many of the roads are in bad shape, what appears to be a small distance can take a very long time to cross. The only thing I can advise is do your homework: make sure you know how long the bus trip will take, and then decide which is more valuable, the time or the money. (Personally I flew into RDJ and out of Bogota, but your mileage may vary). Also, I highly recommend Iguazu Falls. It is one of the most awe inspiring places I've ever seen. There's also a cracking backpacker scene at the hostels there. Oh, and you can cross between Argentina and Brazil there with no hassles, which might be useful to you. I also recommend Cuzco, Peru. Home of Machu Picchu and the craziest party scene I've witnessed. Spend all day marveling at Incan ruins and incredible scenery, then head out into swarms of lunatic drunken coked out travellers having the time of their lives. Absolute madness. Also, alpaca is delicious.
To be clear, by "home of" he means "100 miles & a 4 hour trip away from." Cusco is the nearest largish city and is usually used as a base to launch Machu Picchu trips. It's a pretty cool city, though, with lots of interesting restaurants and bars. It's got a fairly high mugging/pickpocket rate, but that's mostly due to a giant number of the aforementioned lunatic drunken coked out tourists. If you keep any kind of awareness about you, it's a pretty safe city with a fair number of police scattered around. There's a nice ruin that's just at the top of the city, walking distance to most places in the city. Also, the central market is wonderful and full of deliciousness. My girlfriend and I did a hiking trip to Machu Picchu that encompassed around 50 miles of trail through the Andes and it was spectacular. If you're into hiking, and you want to hike into the park, I recommend tacking something onto the traditional Inca Trail because Inca is pretty but freakin' crowded. There are lots of other great hikes around the area. Other interesting things to see in the area are Moray and Maras. Moray has these giant agricultural terraces carved out into the landscape, and Maras has an interesting area full of salt pools, fed out of a little stream coming out of the mountain. Lima was a cool city, but I think this post is long enough. Also, alpaca is delicious.
Anyone here live in the D.C. area, specifically NOVA? I am thinking about taking a job there and want to get some opinions. The only thing I gather so far is that the commute sucks, there's lots to do and everything is fucking expensive. So anything beyond that would be helpful. Thanks.
I'm looking at taking vacation for a couple weeks around September/October. I want to do something tropical, something likely to have single, age appropriate women around, something maybe a bit luxury/high end. Price isn't really going to be an issue. I was thinking Belize, or a Caribbean cruise, but that's hurricane season. Not ruling it out. Any suggestions? Maybe the Cook Islands or something?
If you want to do Caribbean, I'd suggest Aruba. It's far enough to the south that it's out of the hurricane belt and you pretty much have the same weather year-round--sunny and in the 90s. Lots of nice resorts.
I've always been under the impression that cruises are for fatties and Californians. If you aren't one of those; I'd do something more like this. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.gadventures.com/marine/thailand-sailing-adventures/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.gadventures.com/marine/thail ... dventures/</a> My buddy is one of the GAP advisers for that one. Dude gets super laid all the time. Same company has stuff for the Galapagos and West Africa, too. Edit: I don't know how married you are to the idea of laying on cleverly-folding chairs and drinking rum out of coconuts that were chopped by native boys... but if I didn't have a budget, I'd do a quick Steak and Wine tour of Argentina and then rock down to Antarctica (same company as above). You might not get laid, either. But the people you meet on trips like that tend to be more worth knowing than the ones on Royal Caribbean.
Never been to Canada. Thinking about a trip in August. So, Vancouver or Montreal? Or other? I know this is a wide open question but this board is half Canadian so figured a good place to ask.
If you're still in planning stages, I suggest flying into Cartagena, as Bogota is a bit filthy and everyone that's heard that we didn't go to the north of Colombia (Cartagena, Medellin) has chastised us for not doing so. Also, look into an air pass if you plan on visiting a handful of cities. LAN is the big aviation company here, and we were able to do Bogota to Quito to Manta back to Bogota for ~$350 total. I highly recommend Quito (Ecuador), and we are told Montañita (Ecuador, too) is a 24 hour surfer party. You can also reach Lima or Santiago for relatively cheap via the air pass. If you're truly budget conscious, you'll avoid countries like Brazil and Argentina, as they require additional entry fees (I think it's an additional $160 to enter Argentina, and I've no idea what paperwork accompanies that). All told, we're at the tail end of two weeks in three cities across two countries for under $1500 for everything (flights to and from the US, flights on the continent, transport to and from the airport, hostels, meals, booze, entry to sights, and souvenirs).
I'm not sure if I should put this here or in the "can you help me thread", but for those of you in NYC what are some of the nicer hotels in Manhattan? My wife is taking our kids into the city later this month and would like to stay in Manhattan for a couple of nights. I'm looking for something in the $300-$800 a night range. I figure that will keep her from getting raped and the kids from getting kidnapped. (I'm joking, but it's been 20+ years since I've stayed in the city, and since it's been Disneyfied I don't know the good areas from the bad.
For my second post since 2011 I thought I'd try and get some travel advice for my upcoming trip to Cleveland and Pittsburgh. I'm heading there with my Dad for a baseball trip in Mid-July. I'm living in Western Canada and I've never been to either city before. My hotel in both cities is Downtown and within walking distance of both Progressive Field and PNC Park. My question: Can anybody suggest some great ways to eat/drink/kill time in either Cleveland or Pittsburgh? I'll be with my Dad for a majority of the trip, but that won't stop us (mainly me) from getting drunk, over-eating and enjoying what these cities have to offer. Any help that you could provide would be incredibly appreciated. Cheers.
Football and Rock N' Roll halls of fame are in Cleveland (Canton is right outside) and worth the trip. Cleveland is home to a lot of bands, and the summers are short, so the concerts there tend to be epic this time of year. Andy Warhol museum is a pretty good time as well.
Boyfriend and I are thinking about taking advantage of the situation in Turkey because when else can you fly from Detroit to Istanbul for $700? I was in Turkey once before, but was in the southwest along the Mediterranean between Marmaris and Antalya. I did some research and it seems like, as long as you don't get involved in the protests, there's not much of a safety concern, but I was wondering if any of you have any advice for traveling around Istanbul and/or the northern part of the Aegean coast. We would theoretically be going from August 21st to 31st or so.