The Travel Thread

[walkonby]

and here i thought my measly week at an eighty degree low, american east coast beach was something special.  perhaps i'll reread thompson's "the rum diary" to pretend i'm somewhere over the exotically liquored rainbow.

[thatguy]

i took a month off last year and toured new zealand with a friend.  all we had when we got to auckland was a friend to stay with for a couple of nights, a rental car, and return tickets.  we drove all over both islands for the next few weeks, and had an amazing time.  highly recommended.  we went during winter here and the weather was incredible there.  not sure if that would be the same with the timing you are looking at.  if you want suggestions of places to go/things to do in nz, drop me a line.

[Chulahoma]

i quit my job last year to do a little bit of traveling.  i went on a 2 week guided tour of China with my mom .  after doing the trip, i dont think i would ever do a guided tour again.  not saying that it was a bad thing to do, but i wanted more free time to explore the cities.
 
 a week after i got back from china i did a 6+ week solo backpacking trip around europe.  easily the best experience of my life.  freedom to go anywhere i wanted for as long as i wanted to.  highlights of the trip were going to oktoberfest in munich, watching the sunset in croatia, and doing ice climbing on a glacier in switzerland.  i went in september and october which was nice because the weather was good and it wasnt too crowded.  if you dont mind living in a backpack for a few weeks i would highly recommend doing something similar.  the downside is that the US dollar is weak in europe...

[6949]

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
   

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
  Big plans for a guy with no income.
 

google "post-bar trip", asshole [/b]

Assuming you just graduated I would recommend a contiki trip. http://contiki.com/destinations
 
 They drive you around to the different destinations, drop you off in the downtown area with a map and say go explore on your own then meet at the bus at a certain time. You'll be in a group with people in your age group who are from all over the world.
 
 I did a post-grad school 23 day Euro trip with them but they also offer more exotic locations like Aussie/NZ, Egypt, Bali or Russia.

[xcanuck]

If you haven't explored the possibility of travelling all over Europe with a Eurail pass, then you're really missing out on a great opportunity. Train travel is incredibly comfortable, scenic, affordable, and dependable. We're going to Munich for Oktoberfest at the end of September and then on to Prague before heading back to Germany, using the train as our main mode of transport.
 
 Other thoughts...last year we went on a self-guided bike tour through Burgundy. Relatively easy biking, which is good since we stopped every hour in another winery and tried their wares.
 
 Barcelona is gorgeous at that time of year. The tourists have thinned out but the weather is still comfortable. There are worst ways to spend a few days than checking out Gaudi's creations (especially Sagrada Familia) and hitting every tapas bar along Las Ramblas.
 
 Another thought...use the ferry system in Greece and explore the islands - but not the usual suspects like Mykonos and Ios. For our honeymoon we took a sailboat and went to islands like Kifnos, Kea, Syros, and Sifnos. Some of these islands are too small to accept cruise ships but all are accessible by small boats. That's where you see real Med island life.
 
 Yeah - that's it. Planes, trains, ferries, and bicycles. Do it all. Sept/Oct is a great time to see Europe!!

[Barcelona]

Get to Guyana and start from Georgetown going south to the Brazilian border, one week in Guyana, amazing country. Then from Boa Vista, in northern Brazil to Manaus. Couple of days in Manaus and then upstream in the Amazon to Peru. Then fly to Cuzco and cross to Bolivia through the Lake Titikaka, few days in Lake Titikaka, La Paz, Sucre, Potosi, Uyuni Salt Lake and cross to Chile and go south to Santiago and then go even further south or go to Buenos Aires finishing your trip in Rio or Salvador de Bahia.

[HoyaSaxa03]

this is awesome stuff, thanks so much for the recommendations
 
 re: contiki, this company always struck me as a teens / early-20-somethings spring break party kind of thing, is that misplaced?  i'm not that far removed from that age group, but i'm not really in the mood for going traveling with a bunch of 20 year olds
 
 re: eurail pass, i did this when studying abroad in 2002 (when you could get 1 euro for less than 90 US cents), took a little more than 3 weeks to go on the train line from amsterdam down to naples, had the time of my life (and i owe it all to...)
 
 right now i'm leaning towards starting out in bali and then going to se asia, maybe mixing in a shorter GAP tour with unplanned wandering ... but still investigating
 
 thanks again, any more daydreams / brainstorms / suggestions are much appreciated ....

[slowgraffiti]

i need ideas too. i'm taking a year off school and am planning to get a one way ticket to sweden. i want scandinavia so bad. sadly, i have no business being there. there's a place to stay but not an ideal one. i've got a lot of charisma and plenty of schemes in my head to be put toward staying past the alloted 3 months on a tourist visa but nothing's set in stone.
 the only thing i'm demanding out of this year, besides a lot of fun, is that i learn a language through-and-through.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by slowgraffiti:
 
 the only thing i'm demanding out of this year, besides a lot of fun, is that i learn a language through-and-through.

If you're going to go through the effort of learning a language, at least make certain you learn a useful language.  While Swedish will help bag some pretty hot ladies (or dudes) who are very likley to be taller than you, I think less than 10 Million people speak it.
 
 When you get back and you don't have the opportunity to speak it often, it will go out of your head as quickly as you put it in.

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by vansmack:
   

Originally posted by slowgraffiti:
 
 the only thing i'm demanding out of this year, besides a lot of fun, is that i learn a language through-and-through.

If you're going to go through the effort of learning a language, at least make certain you learn a useful language.  While Swedish will help bag some pretty hot ladies (or dudes) who are very likley to be taller than you, I think less than 10 Million people speak it.
 
 When you get back and you don't have the opportunity to speak it often, it will go out of your head as quickly as you put it in. [/b]

you're a bigger buzzkill than rhett!

[vansmack]

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
  you're a bigger buzzkill than rhett!

I was going to reply to you in Hungarian, but alas, I can't speak it any longer.

[Frank Gallagher]

Originally posted by brennser:
  Assuming Hoyas sold his soul to some law firm I doubt he's too worried about putting a little mileage on his credit card
 
   

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
   

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
  Big plans for a guy with no income.
 

google "post-bar trip", asshole [/b]

[/b]

Oh great...another fucking lawyer! Make it a one way plane ticket will you?

[Frank Gallagher]

Originally posted by slowgraffiti:
  the only thing i'm demanding out of this year, besides a lot of fun, is that i learn a language through-and-through.

If you're American you should probably try to master the English language through-and through. I've not met one yet who has.

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  While Swedish will help bag some pretty hot ladies (or dudes) who are very likley to be taller than you, I think less than 10 Million people speak it.

also, the majority of swedes under 40 tend to speak very good english, so you can skip the language classes and head straight to the bars/clubs/produce aisle/outside of liquor shops/suburban high-school/(insert name of preferred pick-up spot here).

[thirsty moore]

Jo, nem beszelek magyarul...
 
 

Originally posted by vansmack:
 I was going to reply to you in Hungarian, but alas, I can't speak it any longer.