World Travel Thread

I repped you but figured I'd post here as well, the protests will in all likelihood be over by August anyway (Turkey isn't Syria, Libya, or Egypt--it's a modern westernized democracy) so go for it. Istanbul is a blast, I've also been to Bodrum and can recommend it although I can't remember off the top of my head exactly where on the coast it is. Went diving in Bodrum which was awesome, place was overrun with drunk Brits but that may have been because I was there when Liverpool was playing in the Champions League final in Istanbul. I did regret not going on the tourist scam guided tour of Troy, but I'm a Greek mythology nerd so that may not be your thing.

 

A German friend of mine is planning to visit DC, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, and maybe Niagara over a 2-week period. Do any of you have any suggestions for must-see places in that area, or road-trip ideas between Philadelphia, Niagara, and Boston (I figure avoiding NYC until the final days of the vacation would be best)?

 

Niagara: maid of the mist , one time. See how long you can stand at the front of the boat once it goes inside the Horsehoe. Most of the stuff on the main strip Clifton Hill is cheesy crap hou shouldnt wastd cash on, but just off the top of the hill is Screamers, the scariest haunted house there is. The nightlife is awesome, there's two casinos well. It's also expensive there, so save up.

 

Being the procrastinator I am, my trip to LA/San Diego is in two weeks and I've only half planned it out. I've got a list of things we would like to do, but not many firm plans.

Anyway, I am interested in possibly doing some nature watching. The one time I've been to San Diego I went to see the seals in La Jolla and they were very cool. I'd love for my daughter to see them. That was a March that I went, are we likely to see them in August? I also read that there is some whale activity in the summer - more in the LA area than in San Diego. Has anyone gone whale watching in the summer in SoCal?

Anyone experience the typical hollywood tour buses to see the big sign, celeb houses, blah blah?

The only food experiences I have planned are to repeat two of the places I went when I was in San Diego - Hodad's and El Indio. Any recommendations on places in LA or SD to go that would not be too difficult for a mom and 10 yr old tourist to locate and enjoy?

ETA: Also thinking about visiting Venice Beach or Santa Monica Pier or some other interesting beach - thoughts?

 

So, I'm headed to Prague in about a month. I'll be there for about 3 months, 2 of which are fairly free right now. Any suggestions, places to go, places to avoid, tips on local customs or scams?

 

I highly recommend the Communism Museum; unlike most museums, they have an extreme bias and don't pull any punches in explaining what life was like under communism. Great postcards, too.

I wish I could tell you some of the great bars / cafes / etc. that I went to, but I can't remember. The beer's fantastic, though, and you should be able to easily find (what with this newfangled Internet and all) some cool places to go. I'm told that in certain bars, they serve only one brand of beer but you order beer by degrees Brix, which is a measure of dissolved solids. The higher the degrees brix, the more sugar/starch/etc is in the beer so the thicker it is (usual strengths are 10 and 12). If they pour you a flat beer with massive foam, that's just the way they do things, they're not ripping you off.

As for scams, just make sure you check receipts and bills when you pay for things (y'know, garden variety tourist rip-off shit). I didn't have any problems while I was there, but the British tour guide I spent all day drinking with said that he knew to be careful when he was going out with his foreigner friends, and let his Czech girlfriend do all the talking when hew as out with her.

 

I was only there for a couple of days, but we got scammed a couple of times. And we did overhear some people from Georgia talking about one of their friends getting mugged.

Cab companies are pretty sketchy. Make sure that you have people call trusted ones. We were charged 800 korunas for a taxi from the train station to our hotel right behind The Dancing House only to be informed that it would normally cost 150.

You also need to be sure to learn the metro/subway/whatever. We had to pay around $40 each because we didn't validate our tickets right. Two guys were just walking in the station shaking down everyone who didn't look like a local. They took our IDs and marched us straight to the ATM. Hell, they might not have even been govt. workers who the fuck knows.

I will recommend this place and specifically this beer. We didn't get off the beaten path much though. Prague Castle is great, and Cafe Lourve was kind of neat. That's about all we did unfortunately.

We didn't do much partying, but they had a lot of cool looking bars and pubs in what I think was their Oldtown district.

 

I think they can be forgiven for that. The people who actually had to live under Communism might have had a slightly different view of it than douchebag Che t-shirt-wearing college students in the West do.

 

This also happened to two friends of mine, on separate occasions. One was mugged getting money out of the ATM, and was hospitalised. Personally, I spent about 2 weeks in Prague and had no issues, but its certainly one of the more dangerous cities going on reputation.

 

I give you people credit, I would never have the balls to travel to some of the those spots in Europe.

That being said the wife wants to go to Ireland for her graduation present, is Dublin a fun place? Traveling internationally is all new to me

 

Me and my brother felt uncomfortable in Prague too. There were pickpockets everywhere, and we were followed a few times until we stopped and stared at them. It lead to a paranoid feeling, kind of lame. Once when my brother was rounding a street corner late at night this guy (of course) rounded the same corner and tried to pick his pocket, fortunately there was nothing in that pocket (the cash was in the other one) but I saw the whole thing. The guy who did it was a big looking thug with a crowd behind him naturally. When we got cash out though we were always on high alert. One of us would get the cash, the other would be facing the street on lookout. We didn't have trouble with the ATMS but they do have skimmers out there so be careful. An Asian American we befriended had a hard time there, apparently the hookers really go after Asian men. Also we avoided the trams and trains like the plague, those have a horrible reputation. Walk everywhere if you can and avoid tram/bus stops, go around them but never through them.

All in all Prague was more of a hassle than it should've been. It was pretty fun at times, but the overall paranoid feeling left a bad taste in my mouth. In no other city I visited during that trip (London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Venice, Florence, Zurich) did I feel that way.

As for stuff to do, the clubs out there are legendary. Prague Castle is fun, Old town (stare mesto I believe) is cool, thats the old Jewish quarter. Wencenlas Square is kind of cool, lots of shops around there, and St. Nicholas Bridge (if my memory is right) can be cool too, although that place gets really packed and there are pickpockets everywhere there.

Dublin is fun, but there's not a ton to do outside of going to the bars. If you go to Ireland, I'd recommend touring the whole country instead of staying in town.

 

Secondhand info post.
My little brother liked Dublin when he went a few years ago.

However we had an awesome Irish tour guide who said that Dublin is fine and all, but it is not where you should go if you are looking for a true Irish experience.

 

Galway is a much better place. Far less tourists and more akin to the "true" Irish experience.

 

Agreed. If you go over that way, make sure you go out on the cliffs of moher.

 

And take some photos for me. We drove through the rain to go see them, but it was so foggy we couldn't see anything. So pick the clearest day possible.

 

If you go, from the visitor's center in the parking lot take the path to the cliffs on the right, it has a trail built into the side of the cliff. Much safer than the path to the left, you can go right out onto the edges of the cliff....people are blown off the cliffs over there every year.

 

I'm flying into Boston next month and will be staying for a day before driving out to Maine. I'm looking at hotels and was hoping someone could point me to the best part of town to stay in. I'm looking to walk around, see some sights and grab a few delicious meals.

Thanks!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

 

Here's a start.

http://www.hotels.com/de1714992/hotels-near-kenmore-square-boston-united-states-of-america/

https://maps.google.com/maps?client...02215&ei=0esQUo6RGcGe2QWDi4HwBg&ved=0CKsCEMgT