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Travel! Oh, the places I'd go...
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I have no plans, really. But I would like to leave the country at some point, even if only to say that I have.
And no, Canada doesn't count for me since it's only like 4 hours away. Three, really, the way I drive.
And no, Canada doesn't count for me since it's only like 4 hours away. Three, really, the way I drive.
We don't have any big plans for this year because we did a lot of house work last year and what with that and the wedding and the honeymoon (to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which was awesome!) we're sort of broke.We are planning a small extended weekend on our anniversary to Jim Thorpe, PA and nearby Hickory Run State Park and Eagles Falls.
But next year we want to go to England, 'cause hubby's never been. I was looking into this Haunted Castles tour, but I don't have a lot of details yet.
The places that are on our "to do someday" are:
Scotland
Ireland (I lived in the North for awhile and he wants to see there, but I'd also like to see more of the South than I saw)
Italy
Denmark
Kyoto, Japan* (and surrounding areas)
New Zealand*
Palenque in Mexico
New Orleans
The Redwood forests in CA
I'd like to do more general US travel, too, but I don't really know a lot of places I'd like to go.
* We've decided we'd need to save up a shit ton of money for these 'cause there's no way we're doing that flight without first class tickets!
The only places left I still wish to see are Australia, New Zealand and Japan. I wouldn't mind visiting Africa again or going back to South America but the only out of country travel I have planned anytime soon is some vacation time in the Caribbean.
A travel tip if you visit Helsinki make sure you budget your spending money carefully as virtually nothing is cheap, though there are a lot of quality products on offer. As Helsinki is a relatively small city if you visit it for more than three or four days, combine it with a visit to Tallin the capital of Estonia as there a a number of well appointed ferry services across the Baltic. Tallin is a very beautiful city in its own right as well.
Norway? If possible, pack your own food before visiting. Food there is incredibly expensive (or at least in Oslo it certainly is). We visited a convenience store, and my SO (who is a Swede and thus normally accustomed to ridiculous food prices) turned to me with a dazed look five minutes in and said, "These prices are like they're from a Lovecraftian horror novel." Not only is Norwegian currency worth more than Swedish, but the prices were marked up higher. I think it gave him nightmares...
Yeah, I haven't been to the UK, but there were definitely a few times in Sweden when I was like, "How much would that have been in the States... ?" and then decided, nope, if I figure that out then I'll scream. The coffee/ice cream/whatever was good, and that's all that matters. LALALALALALALA. :)Speaking of Sweden: If any of you go to Stockholm, there is a wonderful bookstore exclusively dedicated to sci-fi/fantasy books in the Old Town/Gamla Stan section. It's pricey because WTF SCANDINAVIA, but it carries both U.S. and U.K. editions of certain titles and is just really cool to browse. :) It's where I got the prettyful U.K. edition of Mistborn. They've also had famous sci-fi/fantasy authors do readings and signings - when I was there, they were advertising an upcoming event with Holly Black, and I know they've had Joe Abercrombie there in the past. There are locations in Gothenburg and Malmö, too, but I don't know how well-stocked they are in comparison. There is also the lovely English Bookshop in Uppsala - I browsed it a few times (and broke down and bought Territory from there because I had finished the books I brought over), and they have a good stock of fantasy/sci-fi. I actually overheard a few customers come in specifically looking for The Name of the Wind, The Lies of Locke Lamora, and books by Brandon Sanderson.
But one of the things I remember fondly from Stockholm is this one ice cream shop in Gamla Stan. I sadly didn't catch the name, but what I loved about it was that they baked their own cones. Sugar cones, cardamom cones, cinnamon cones. And they had waffles. Oh my god, that was one of the nicest-smelling places I've ever been to... :')
We have plans to go on a trip every year for our anniversary...this year was supposed to be China or Japan. But then we went to Jamacia. And experienced all inclusive. Wow. I never want to go anywhere else ever again, lol. All inclusive is the best thing EVER. Hubby let me get my way this year and we are going back to the same place as last year but for 2012 we have to go somewhere different.
We do have plans to go to Brazil for 2016!
Brazil is Awesome, MrsJ! Seriously. The nightclub scene there is UnReal. I almost fear what I'll do if I get to go back there as a single man. :)
Nicki wrote: "LOL... I've had that reaction from Americans upon visiting the UK, Valerie, especially when they see our petrol prices. You've got to love world economics. Thanks very much for the tip. :) My boyfriend's best friend is Norwegian so I'll have to ask him about pricing outside of Oslo...."I am norwegian i can assure you, you can't find a more expensive country to travel to. Sweden is so cheap compared to Norway that people that live close to the border go there shopping. I am seriuos. Our money is worth alot because we are a rich oil country but we get payed accordingly so for us it's not really expensive. The good thing about our money being so much worth is that it is very cheap for me and other norwegians to travel. If i went to Asia i could live several weeks on a couple of days salary.
Norway is expensive, yes, but no doubt it is worth the visit. It is a gorgeous country and has some very nice people. I was living in Oslo for over a year, as Erasmus student, and I remember it with fondness. Of course, when my parents came to visit, I asked them to bring me food from home. After seeing the prices in Oslo, they ate half of it themselves!!!
☠The Dread Pirate Grant☠ wrote: "Brazil is Awesome, MrsJ! Seriously. The nightclub scene there is UnReal. I almost fear what I'll do if I get to go back there as a single man. :)"Oh, no. We gotta send them a message to hide all the whiskey.
Yeah, I've heard tales of Brazil. :-) We're going for the Olympics (fingers crossed) but we can't start planning it for a few years now (as its 4 years away). But when we get there... :-D hehehehehe
Machavelli wrote: "I am norwegian i can assure you, you can't find a more expensive country to travel to. Sweden is so cheap compared to Norway that people that live close to the border go there shopping. I am seriuos."While we were in Oslo, we actually passed a sign in front of a gym or something that advertised, "Svenske priser!" We had a good laugh (at our expense, really)...
I'm in Portland, OR in mid/late June for a conference. No idea yet what there is to see or do in the odd spare hour I might get.Then I'll be off on a little Baltic tour this summer - trains & boats via Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Some places I've been before and some I haven't.
If anyone comes to the Cotswolds (rolling countryside in the middle of England), give me a shout and I can meet you for coffee / show you round a bit. It's very pretty here :)
@Nicki if you want any tips on your tour, I've done most of western Europe, and I tend to do holidays that involve moving around from place to place so I know a bit about fun routes by train, ferries, etc. Just ask if there's anything specific you want to know more about. Greenland is kind of awkward to get to, and it's expensive to get around once you're there (no roads!) but it's awesome. The Faroe Islands are probably my favourite landscape on earth. In general most of my favourite countries have been in Scandinavia - but I haven't done Norway yet. I could go on indefinitely but just ask... :)
This is definitely a wishlist of places I'd love to go to someday. As for places I actually will go... aside from a weekend trip or two this summer to visit the mother-in-law in West Virginia, the only other trip I know we're going on (and I've been dreading it ever since last year when my hon' told me we're doing it this year) is to spend a freakin' week (or maybe even 10 days he says! Oh the bloody horror!!!!) over Thanksgiving holed up in a shitty trailer on my sister-in-law's property watching them all get shit-faced drunk and act like the stupidest people in the freakin' world. Yea, NOT looking forward to that at all. But it's hunting season, and hon' was all depressed 'cuz he had to go hunting up here last year instead of pretending to hunt (but really just acting like a big f'ing jackass) down there with his brother-in-law. I'm getting all pissy and nauseous just thinking about it! Wouldn't be so bad if we actually left the shitty trailer to do some sightseeing or go see a movie, or even just to go to dinner down in the town one night, but no, all they want to do is sit in the garage and drink cheap beer and play euchre. WTF at least when we go visit my side of the family, fun activities are planned for every day that we're there, like one day, we'll go to a museum, and the next day, we'll go to the city and sightsee and shop, and if it's summer we'd go boating, and ride 4-wheelers, and go hiking. They never even leave the freakin' house at the sis-in-laws! What fun is that? None! If I wanted to sit in the garage and drink beer, I could do it much easier, and cheaper at home, and not have to put up with their loud mouths and stupid personalities. Oh, and they both work at a meat-packing plant, so every meal is either sausage or hot dogs, gag me now please. I have nothing against drinking, I'm rather good at it myself, but when I'm drunk, I like to do fun stuff, y'know, listen to music, dance, go on midnight hikes, etc etc. Not just sit in a smelly garage with people I don't like. SIGH... Sorry for the rant guys! :)Back to my wishlist, if I had unlimited funds, I'd spend a year or two in Ireland, Wales and Scotland, travel to see Germany, France, Spain, Amsterdam, etc, spending a few months in each place (b/c after all, how am I supposed to see everything I want to see in a week or two?), I'd also like to see Japan, Australia, and Russia. Then, I'd buy a house in England and live out the rest of my days there. I've wanted to move to England ever since I can remember. One of these days, and I will see it before I die, if I have to rob a bank to do it, I swear I will see England. I don't care if everything's more expensive over there. I need to go there. It's like something calling me, I'll never be happy until I see it for myself, and touch it with my own two hands. Oh yea, I wouldn't mind spending a few weeks at the Canadian side of Niagara Falls either. Been there a couple of times, and it's one of my favorite places.
Oh Kit, how I sympathize. I think some our our relatives are the same peolple, and that would be the hot-dog=loving-beer-drinking-hunting-garage-as-gazebo ones. I want to go back to the UK. I was born there, went back in the 80's and haven't returned since, so for a long time, as I am old. What say we come up with a scenario involving life insurance, sad sad accidents, maybe hunting, maybe choking on a sausage, whatever, and it's off to the UK we go, tra-la-la, pockets full of insurance money?
Jenny wrote: "What say we come up with a scenario involving life insurance, sad sad accidents, maybe hunting, maybe choking on a sausage, whatever, and it's off to the UK we go, tra-la-la, pockets full of insurance money? "Yes! Sounds good to me, let's go!
Lmao :)
I manage an insurance company! Im in for a cut ;)
OK Mr Pirate, works for me. Kit?
I'm going to Las Vagus next February for a friends wedding. I've never been. Should be lots of fun.
Yep, Grant's in too, good with me, we'll all go see Nicki :)
I finally have some plans for the summer/early fall. I'm going to go to New York. Well for a day anyway, then get on a cruiseship to do a north east coast cruise. I'll get to stop in Boston, Portland (Maine) and then go up into Canada - St. John's and Halifax. Then we'll go back to New York. We're going to see if we can fit in a play on Broadway. I'm hoping we can get in to see Wicked. Love the music, but never seen the play. I've never been to any of these places. Anyone have goods ideas of things that I should do with just 8 to 11 hours in the city to visit?
The book store looks neat. I'm drooling already. The thing is, I'm going with a lot of family and my mom thinks I buy too many books as it is. But maybe I can get there anyway. I'd have to restrain myself anyway since books are heavy. One day when I make it back to the other Portland (Oregon) I want to go to Powell's.
I haven't gone myself, but I've heard the Museum of Natural History is really cool.
Valerie wrote: "I haven't gone myself, but I've heard the Museum of Natural History is really cool."It is, but I'm a bigger fan of the Air & Space Museum (speaking of the Smithsonians, although you may have meant a different one)
Those are here in DC, right?TRACEY!! How could you not have told me about that bookstore???! *tears* Now the next time I come to NYC I have got to go there.
Now just to figure out what to do with hubby while I loose myself in 18 miles of books. *bliss*
I find it scary to think about what I might get up to in that store....:S
Denae wrote: "Valerie wrote: "I haven't gone myself, but I've heard the Museum of Natural History is really cool."It is, but I'm a bigger fan of the Air & Space Museum (speaking of the Smithsonians, although y..."
Yeah, I meant this one: http://www.amnh.org/ :D I remember visiting the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and liking it, though that was a decade ago...
I would pretty much love to go anywhere but travel is not in my budget this year. In the next few years, though, I hope to make it to NYC, Peru - I so much want to see Machu Picchu, and France. I'd really like to go back to England some day as well as Costa Rica. I went to CR a couple of years ago and it's beautiful, friendly, cheap and safe. I've got my fingers crossed for next winter.
Tracey wrote: "I ... was ... trying to spare you the agony of lugging around three tons of books like Amelia said. Yeah. That's it. I'm sorry!!
I'll meet you there next time. It's a date."
:-D I'm holding you to it!
Valerie wrote: "Denae wrote: "Valerie wrote: "I haven't gone myself, but I've heard the Museum of Natural History is really cool."It is, but I'm a bigger fan of the Air & Space Museum (speaking of the Smithsonia..."
This is the one that was used as the Museum in the movie Night at the Museum isn't it? This would be fun to go to. For the second movie - Battle at the Smithsonian, I can picture all of the places they go to, but not the first.
I wonder if that book store can ship direct to my house - if I buy them there. That would be great. Save my space for other stuff and then I could buy some too. Hmmm...
MrsJoseph wrote: "Those are here in DC, right?TRACEY!! How could you not have told me about that bookstore???! *tears* Now the next time I come to NYC I have got to go there.
Now just to figure out what to..."
That they are, all around the National Mall.
I have a friend who will be doing a leg of foreign service in Estonia. Maybe I'll go while she's there. :DOther than that....I'd love to just do some US travel. I've never been to the NE or the SW (unless San Francisco counts...I'd go back there again).
Oh and I've always wanted to see Rome and Athens.
Leslie wrote: "Oh and I've always wanted to see Rome and Athens. ..."Go to Rome, it's a beatiful place, loved it, they have some of the finest paintings in the world and don't even get me started on the architecture. You have to see the Colosseum and the Pantheon they are gigantic. I can't believe that people could build buildings of that size, atleast not 2000 years ago.
One day I'll make it there... *sigh*(I've really got to stop spending all my money on books. I used to make note in Calibre how much I was spending. Had to stop that, it was getting depressing.)
Turns out I'll be in New York at the weekend, with a free morning on Sunday, if anyone else is around and happens to fancy getting together to talk books (or other random whatever...) over a coffee. Just shout me :)
I am going to Lisbon in Portugal on november, i can't wait.
I hope you guys have fun and much safety in your travels! I want to go to both places. Portugal is beautiful, and so is New York!
Tracey wrote: "I love the Metropolitan Museum of Art ... Another place I've been wanting to get to is the Strand Bookstore: "18 miles of new, used, and rare books"!!"I love Strand Bookstore. It has a very "small bookstore" feel but is really popular in NYC.
Just got back from Jamaica. :-) I loved it!
I am going to New Zealand in November. I can hardly wait.
right now, after a night witout sleep (last night) following by two nights of sort-of-sleep... I'm going to bed. See you guys later!
I hope you sleep well, Hugh. Or, since this was close to 8 hours ago, I hope you did/are sleeping well! I hate sleep deprivation, myself. Makes my eye twitch.
We don't really have any serious travel planned in the future. We are going to Jamaica in September for our anniversary (I like to call it "honeymoon, part duex). Hubby wants to hit up Carabana (sp?) in Toronto this year - and he has family in Florida he wants to see.
Other than that, our travel plans consists of commuting back and forth to work, lol.
What are your travel plans, tips, etc?