Travel Thread

#51

I don't know much about Wisconsin besides cheese and the greenbay packers or Minnesota with Mall of America and lakes. I'd probably choose New England during fall foliage or Nova Scotia to see whales. I found this pretty cool site for Nova Scotia that sorts experiences depending on your interests. You might find it interesting http://www.novascotia.com.

#52

I would go to Nova Scotia. Although Maine is super nice too.

The Dry Flood · #53

Thanks for the tips, y'all.

#54

You're going on a trip too, Admiral?

#55

I traveled and now I'm back. Hello. I finally crossed Vermont off my "Never Been There Before" list, and also made stops in other New England states and climbed lots of mountains, sometimes taking harder trails than I was supposed to. It was fun.

#56

Do you have photography of these trails? If so, show me. Right here in this thread.

#57

I have many photos, but they've not yet been uploaded anywhere.

#58

What? What?

Okay.

#59

Hey look I uploaded some photos.

Vermont

Spoiler: show

New Hampshire

Spoiler: show

Acadia National Park (Maine)

Spoiler: show

Massachusetts

Spoiler: show

I'll probably continue uploading things later, here's the full album so far if anyone wants to look at more pictures of things I saw.

#60

I've seen grass and trees like, really close up.

#61

Epignosis wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2017 7:35 pm I've seen grass and trees like, really close up.

#62

Sloonei wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2017 6:52 pm Hey look I uploaded some photos.

Vermont

Spoiler: show
A watefall

Top of a mountain, in the clouds

Lake Champlain turns out to be the best place to watch a sunset on Earth.

New Hampshire

Spoiler: show
More mountain peak clouds

View from partway up the Wrong Trail

And the "trail" itself, feat. Girl Who Got Stuck With Us

Acadia National Park (Maine)
Spoiler: show

Massachusetts
Spoiler: show
An abandoned cabin near the top of a mountain, plus a pond overflowing with frogs

View from the highest point in Massachusetts. It felt really cool to finally make it here, it's been a hiking goal of mine for years.

I'll probably continue uploading things later, here's the full album so far if anyone wants to look at more pictures of things I saw.

I love Acadia Sloonei, I'm so jealous.

#63

Acadia would be an absolute paradise if not for the massive swarms of people and mosquitoes. It's the least New Englandy place I've ever seen in New England. I felt like I was in a different country.

#64

Epignosis wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2017 7:35 pm I've seen grass and trees like, really close up.

Are my pictures huge? They're showing up as a normal size for me.

#65

Sloonei wrote: ↑Sun Aug 06, 2017 9:00 am
Epignosis wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2017 7:35 pm I've seen grass and trees like, really close up.
Are my pictures huge? They're showing up as a normal size for me.

That was my way of saying I don't go hiking in any interesting places with gorgeous views.

Or hiking at all.

#66

Sloonei wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2017 7:44 pm Acadia would be an absolute paradise if not for the massive swarms of people and mosquitoes. It's the least New Englandy place I've ever seen in New England. I felt like I was in a different country.

I was lucky and went during a time of year where there were not masses of people or mosquitos.

#67

Good show, Sloonbeard. I went on a very similar trip in May (Maine, NH, VT, Rhode Island). Acadia was my favorite portion, though White Mountain National Forest was close.

#68

How long were the hikes?

#69

The White Mountains are my go-to destination in the region. You can pretty much park your car anywhere and find a great hike in the area.

Our shortest hike was 3 hours and we also spent as much as 8 hours on the Wrong Trail hike up Mt Adams. Generally we'd go about 5-6 hours hiking each day, up a mountain for lunch and then back down.

#70

hel-lloo-ooo-ooo

#71

I have two updates in my travelogue, following this summer.

Ohrid is a city in Macedonia and also the name of the big-ass lake the city is situated at. Said big-ass lake was marvelous and easily my favourite part - but I tend to be attracted to places where landmasses end and waterworlds continue. It's even more wondrous since Macedonia seems a reasonably mountainous region, yet the hills and such have a mild profile, nothing rugged or sharp to behold, ondulating until they sink into the lake region.

I was there with business during a wind & brass instruments' competition, but the lengthy, week-long stay and the schedule allowed for plenty of free time to visit the surroundings. Touristic opportunities make it so that the shore is packed, yet tasteful enough - with numerous restaurants and clubs, boats and taxiboats sailing from the harbour, a few small beaches. I imagine it's what other Baltic towns by the lake or out in the Adriatic, like say Dubrovnik, might all present, more or less.

A long stretch of the shoreline can be walked both ways from the harbour, on one side a promenade leading to the Galicica National Park, with a couple of beach clubs or resorts along the way, on the other side the cliffs above Kaneo Beach, leading upwards towards the city's Samuel Fortress. The fortress itself is simple, left just in its shell, but offering the chance to gaze further down that beaut of a lake. The old town gave me such a strong impression of Alfama in Lisbon, with perhaps even more see-saw and bending paths; in fact, the roads and small houses sometimes blend and interconnect in such a way, at least twice I think I entered someone's garden by accident, thinking it was more like a belvedere. Ohrid is also remembered for its Christian historicity, having been once dubbed the city with 365 churches, one for each calendar day, and I reckon I encountered around a dozen in my walks. Not entirely essential to check inside, but still worthwhile seeing at least a few, since they're very old, 5th century even, basilicas and such. Unfortunately, this still being a Balkan city, the urban side of the town is nothing to write home about, quite as plain as it can get, but it was not significant, since the lake shore is clearly the main focus. I'd say around three days of sightseeing in the old town, plus a boat trip to Saint Naum, further down the lake, near the border with Albania, covers the city's potential. It's not much, but it was charming enough. And also that lake. Did I mention the lake? Yes, the lake. Lake. Such lake.

Spoiler: show

Amsterdam wouldn't have been really anywhere near my personal next choice, when it comes to big city holidays - there's something about it, or Venice, or Milan, or a couple others, that seems just too popular and oft-visited as to fully attract me (right now I still have no inclination to visit Venice, for instance...) - buuut since my parents decided to go there this year (they did on their own Paris and Rome the previous two years), I said what the heck and joined them and thus checked it off my list. Don't worry, it turned out better that I make it sound with this introduction. It was a good to great city, if somewhat varying between these two, depending on which place you visit.

We stayed in a super convenient location near the three big Museums and Concertgebouw and Vondelpark, from which we could afterwards branch out in different sides of the canal web-like centre. This is quite the biker town and you'll get rekt if you aren't careful, but I'd say that after a day or two, you get used to it, just like getting used (...hopefully) to cars driving the "wrong" way in England. Vondelpark (the small sized Hyde Park of Amsterdam, if you will) made for seven consecutive blissful early mornings spent in it, having my yoghurt and Pepsi on a bench, taking photos of doggos and ducks and joggers, putting some good old Focus or Supersister on the headphones... all a perfect fit.

Really though, this side of the city (and probably further towards the outer skirts) felt so relaxed, natural, easy-going, harmonious, it sort of contrasted heavily with the feeling of entering a genuine Babel once inside the canal quarters. We were rather unfortunate to arrive during the final days of the annual Pride events (don't think my parents did it on purpose, at least), which meant that the centre was insanely packed and loud and tumultuos. We didn't actually catch those parades by the canals, but there were still a lot of parties afterwards, on every street or in Dam Square. At first, I viewed it as amusing and eventful, but two hours later, you were guaranteed to start getting migraines.

Speaking of which, I tracked down Llama at one of these gay parties.

Even after the party was over, the city remained a bustling place. A bit too much at times, for my own taste. There are really a fudgeton of tourists, inversely proportionaly with how much space there is to move around and be able to breathe, with countless narrow-ish canal streets, tourist attractions and so on. My last evening promenade in town probably summed it up best: there were places like Leidseplein or Rembrandtsplain that were so packed, it felt like an inferno, but then you'd reach a canal where a jazz festival was being held, in the open, free for all to stay and listen to, and then you'd realize just how creative the city can get in certain ways.

There are in theory a lot of museums and places to fill up your schedule. The three main significant museums were all ok - Van Gogh would probably be the swaggiest, given its tremendous collection; the floors were organized in a bit of predictable fashion, with time periods and life narratives and such, but it hardly matters when you find yourself starring at The Potato Eaters or one of the sunflower paintings - plus Van Gogh's own sprawling, frantic, everchanging stylistic impulses made up for it anyway. Stedelijk is a solid contemporary museum, if a bit heavy on covering De Stijl, lines-and-squares abstractions, plus it really depends what temporary exhibitions there are. Lastly, if you can prioritize what you want to see the most at Rijksmuseum (which we did) instead of perusing through absolutely every room (which we didn't), you're bound to have a good time. Personally, right now I only recall the Vermeers and Rembrandts from that place, but it was enough, since they're just breathtaking. We also notably covered some Bansky and Dali exhibitions at MoCo and a Gordon Parks gallery at the Museum of Photography.

There were furthermore places which I turned out describing as "very decent", despite them not usually constituting a serious attraction for me. I don't usually care for the inner room decorations and silverware within palaces, yet the Royal Palace was straightforward and decent enough. I don't usually care for memorial houses or famous house museums, yet Rembrandt's House was quite well put together and, yes, Anne Frank's House was decent.

BTW, booking in advance (which we did), at least for Van Gogh and Anne Frank is absolutely mandatory, otherwise you will simply suffer tremendously at those queues. I think we reached Westerkerk the day before we had Anne Frank's House scheduled and we saw a line that almost circled the big church once. Insane in the membrane.

Brief escapes from the city included a trip to Zandvoort, on the seashore (very pleasant), the windmills at Zaanse Schans (pleasant, pastoral, worth a few hours, if again, way too freakin' crowded) and to Muiderslot Castle and Pampus Fortress, out in the sea gulf - all within short, hourly bus or train distances.

If you're into canal cruises, whatever, I'm personally averse to them in general, but had to please my parents and, surprise, it was flat out boring and I didn't feel there was anything I couldn't have covered on foot - and even did.

The one thing I can't truly give a verdict on is whether I got a distinct, unique pulse from this city. With its water veins and red-brick homogeneity of houses, it felt at least 80% Hamburg - which I liked, perhaps even a bit more than Amsterdam; a bit more spacious and open. The other 20%? Well I guess there was also a whiff of british vibe to a few quarters. Did I enjoy my stay there? Absolutely (well, in my own way at least; I don't tend to show it...). Did it sometimes fell under the weight of its popularity? Kinda. Could I imagine myself ever living there? If I'd ever strike gold, the thought would be entertainable. Did it get the balance between an in-demand hot spot and a veritable inner jewel of a town? Eeech I'd say the jury is still out on that one. With a bit of travel experience in Europe, it might, just might fell short of being all-around memorable and distinct.

Spoiler: show

Power rankings updated:

0. On top of the Vesuvius, during a surreal foggy, cloudy weather in slow anticipation of a seething rainstorm, whilst listening to Zeit
1. Florence
2. Lisbon
(=====================good friggin' luck beating the above, thus far===================)
3. Paris (I'm including Versailles in here)
4. Budapest
5. Bruges
6. Vienna
7. Algarve (Lagos, specifically)
8. Hamburg
9. London
10. Rome
11. Amsterdam
12. Prague
13. Siena
14. Berlin
15. Pompeii
16. Paola
17. Ohrid
18. Maribor
19. Sagres
20. Oostende
21. Cosenza
22. Fatima

Too transitory to count: Antwerp, Belgrade, Cascais, Munchen, Szeged

#72

Glad you tracked down llama. Also, I had a similar thing when I went to Venice, kind of like 'I don't get it, it will be overrun by tourists, I don't think it's for me'.

I completely loved it, despite the tourists. At times, you can almost forget they are there. For someone who has a fascination with places where landmasses end and waterways begin, I think you may actually find you like it after all.

#73

Golden wrote: ↑Fri Aug 18, 2017 10:37 pm Glad you tracked down llama. Also, I had a similar thing when I went to Venice, kind of like 'I don't get it, it will be overrun by tourists, I don't think it's for me'.

I completely loved it, despite the tourists. At times, you can almost forget they are there. For someone who has a fascination with places where landmasses end and waterways begin, I think you may actually find you like it after all.

I get what you're saying and, by all means, Venice could end up impressing me. But idk, the amount of endless fashionista-wannabee, pleb-tier touristic clichee pics from the square or from any given bridge or with gondolas in the sunset just puts me off. If it's a fake image of the city, great - Florence bowled me over, after all, with its actual inner beauty.

Besides, I go by the impression that cities have a heart, that may or may not speak to you, on site or even indirectly. It took just watching a movie set on the streets of Lisbon to know that the city lures me in, which proved beyond rewarding when I went there. By contrast, Berlin for me felt just downright depressing, overall, it had a whole shut-in air to it (most likely contextual as well, given its history from which it's hardly been three decades of recovery, but still...). That's why I didn't really expect Amsterdam to wow me and it didn't, in the end, at least not that much.

As for the Italian seasides, I've already been acquainted with a few places, like Rome's exit to the Tyrrhenian (even if it a tad harbour-fishy atmosphere) or the small city of Paola on the same side, further south, with its endless strip of sand and crystal air and water. This is the kind of "end of the road" landscape I'm into, just like, so far, I've seen the westernmost edges of Portugal or nordic dots over at Oostende (Belgium) or Zandvoort (Amsterdam). At the one point, kinda wanted to check Marseille out, but ended up going in Algarve instead for a beach & swim holiday. I'm... not entirely sure Venice's sea won't be too sprinkled with boats and seawalls and tourist beach resorts as to give me the same vibe.

#74

Rico, there is an area of coastal France where you can walk from one little village to the next - JJJ probably knows the name of it I have forgotten - but you would probably enjoy it as it consists of smaller places and is on the coast. Supposedly really cool.

#75

There is a mountain in my country that is the fourth highest in that country. Its peak is at 2519 meters. I climbed it on Saturday.

Also, this is Ben. He's a 7-month old floofus doofus, that belonged to the cabin we stayed at. He followed us all the way up the mountain only to then bail us for other tourists. What we didn't know was that the cabin owners would freak out over him disappearing. By the greatest of occurences (unless you're Jay and don't believe in that), we found him on the road the next day and took him back home.

#76

(Just a repost from the random thread)

Got home a few hours ago and it's late, but I thought I'd post some stuff here about my holiday before I did for anyone who was interested. I'll upload pictures when I get the camera out, probably within the next few days.

Flew down to Sydney on the 28th to spend 2 days there before boarding a cruise to northern New Zealand. It was hot as heck and we couldn't go anywhere without paying an exorbitant amount on taxi fares because the light rail was down, but we did manage to see a wax museum and an aquarium (the latter of which I wound up stuck on a boat ride in a 6 degrees Celsius room for about 20 minutes, so I'm not complaining). 2 days in we celebrated my youngest brother's 18th birthday in one of the restaurants which had probably the best spring rolls I've ever had in my life. I ordered them every time we went from that day on.

Mum and I took a tour through Bay of Islands, which was probably my favourite stop. We went into these glow worm caves which lit up like the night sky, then visited some historical buildings and some other tourist attractions, then wandered the streets for a while and picked up a fair few souvenirs.

Auckland was kind of shitty considering there was a massive storm passing through and we couldn't really go anywhere or do anything. I'd definitely like to go again when the weather is better because I can't evaluate it very well.

Took a long tour from Tauranga to Rotorua, which is essentially a city popped up in the middle of the countryside. The town is a few km over magma and there's a huge water geyser, some mud pools and hot springs to see. The town itself has steam bursting from random places because of it. Only downside is the rotten egg smell, but we knew that going in. We also got to see some traditional Maori dances and rituals, it was interesting to see how much people over there embrace their Indigenous roots compared to where I'm from.

Napier was our last stop which was more or less just a quick walk through the shops and back on, we'd had four days of stops in a row so we wanted it to be more of a lazy day off-ship.

About three days to NZ and three days back, we came back to Sydney for a while though we didn't do much of anything. We were hoping to take a ferry to Luna Park earlier today but time wasn't on our side. We all picked up some souvenirs from the markets and Chinatown and got ready to come back. I'm typically hesitant about being in cities because of how big and intimidating they are, but I actually really enjoyed my time there. It'd be cool to go again.

#77

#78

I went to New Orleans over winter break. The old architecture was amazing, the WWII museum was pretty neat, and the foooooood.

#79

Quin, when you talk about a "spring roll", what exactly does that refer to? I am bracing myself.

#80

a sandwich.

**http://www.last.fm/user/nutella23** · #81

dunya wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2018 5:21 pma sandwich.

ded

#82

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2018 4:55 pm Quin, when you talk about a "spring roll", what exactly does that refer to? I am bracing myself.

#83

dunya wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2018 5:21 pma sandwich.

technically it would be a wrap.

#84

did you see any hobbits?

#85

Sloonei wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2018 6:36 pm did you see any hobbits?

My brothers did. I wanted to add it onto the tour through Rotorua but we didn't have enough time for it.

#86

Quin, we're basically doing most of the New Zealand part of your trip in a few weeks too! Sounds like you had a mostly good time (forget evaluating Auckland, it's not that great ;P - the rest of where you went is better!)

#87

This 2018, I plan to visit Europe and Spain. For my summer holiday, I'm looking at Tenerife or La Palma.I came across this one article about he place here in https://www.canaryislandsinfo.co.uk/la-palma/places/ I've never been to either and apparently the beaches are fantastic as well as being suitably 'different' to make it interesting.

#88

Giacinto wrote: ↑Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:19 am This 2018, I plan to visit Europe and Spain. For my summer holiday, I'm looking at Tenerife or La Palma.I came across this one article about he place here in https://www.canaryislandsinfo.co.uk/la-palma/places/ I've never been to either and apparently the beaches are fantastic as well as being suitably 'different' to make it interesting.

Welcome to the site, [mention]Giacinto[/mention]!

**http://www.last.fm/user/nutella23** · #89

So I'm currently in Taipei, Taiwan for the week with my housemates and a couple other friends. It's awesome so far!!

we're having great food and exploring the city. if you're friends with me on fb you can see the pictures i've posted so far, i can also upload a couple highlights here and/or in discord

#90

nutella wrote: ↑Tue Jul 03, 2018 6:10 am So I'm currently in Taipei, Taiwan for the week with my housemates and a couple other friends. It's awesome so far!! we're having great food and exploring the city. if you're friends with me on fb you can see the pictures i've posted so far, i can also upload a couple highlights here and/or in discord

Please do nutella! So excited for you!

**http://www.last.fm/user/nutella23** · #91

found in a souvenir shop in taipei

[mention]Vompatti[/mention] [mention]A Person[/mention] [mention]Marmot[/mention] uhh idk who else says ture but hey syndicate meme

#92

Kinda cranky that I am not doing cool things like Taiwan right now. Kinda cranky.

#93

I've been very much enjoying the photo albums.

#94

nutella wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 3:47 am found in a souvenir shop in taipei

@Vompatti @A Person @Marmot uhh idk who else says ture but hey syndicate meme

Great find, I guess dreams really do come ture.

#95

My brother has been living in Thailand for the last year and I asked him to get me a t-shirt with horrible english on it, but he has not yet returned to America so I haven’t seen it yet. He should be back in a few months, but I will have moved away by then.

#96

nutella wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 3:47 am found in a souvenir shop in taipei

@Vompatti @A Person @Marmot uhh idk who else says ture but hey syndicate meme

This photo has made my dreams come ture.

#97

No matter where you go or what you do, it should always feel wonderful to be home.

#98

Epignosis wrote: ↑Tue Jul 17, 2018 10:52 pm No matter where you go or what you do, it should always feel wonderful to be home.

Epi, I want a trip report on the vacation! Did you go to the Great Wolf Lodge again? How was white water rafting? The Moog museum? The wedding?

#99

juliets wrote: ↑Wed Jul 18, 2018 8:00 am
Epignosis wrote: ↑Tue Jul 17, 2018 10:52 pm No matter where you go or what you do, it should always feel wonderful to be home.
Epi, I want a trip report on the vacation! Did you go to the Great Wolf Lodge again? How was white water rafting? The Moog museum? The wedding?

Yes.

One was full of wetness
One gave me a bruise
One had me singing prog rock
One cost me my shoes

#100

Epignosis wrote: ↑Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:53 am
juliets wrote: ↑Wed Jul 18, 2018 8:00 am
Epignosis wrote: ↑Tue Jul 17, 2018 10:52 pm No matter where you go or what you do, it should always feel wonderful to be home.
Epi, I want a trip report on the vacation! Did you go to the Great Wolf Lodge again? How was white water rafting? The Moog museum? The wedding?
Yes.

One was full of wetness
One gave me a bruise
One had me singing prog rock
One cost me my shoes

Ok so lets see:

the Great Wolf was wetness?
the white water rafting cost you your shoes?
the Moog museum had you singing Prog?
but then that leaves you with a bruise at the wedding.
Maybe the wedding cost you your shoes
and the bruise was from white water rafting
or maybe I got all of them wrong!
Sounds like a good time!

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