Terrifying ride this morning. Torrential rain, fog, flooding on the motorway, construction everywhere, and crazy German drivers. White knuckles for 3 of the 4 hours. Shame too cuz the ride was in the Austrian/German alps and it would have been beautiful if I could see anything. Nuremberg is a very nice city. Easy public transportation, very walkable down town. Fun fact: the German National Museum there is free if you get there an hour before closing. Had some very good beer at some bier gardens. I'm going to go by the Nuremberg Trial building in the morning. Heading towards Frankfort for a few days at my brothers house, then driving up to Bad Köstritz to my favorite brewery before getting back on the bike to head back to the UK.
#Airfare Deal: [WW] San Francisco / Los Angeles - Reykjavik, Iceland. $299 r/t. Details: https://t.co/W407lFoE1I #travel WOW indeed!
For others interested in Iceland. My ticket (delta) cost me a grand which I bought precisely 5 days before departure date.
The flight deal, Secret flying, the points guy. Those are generally my favorite. In case anyone was wondering, Helsinki is the shit by the way. Already exceeding expectations even though I've only been here for a few hours.
Just booked a flight back to Seattle for Sept 9-13 Spoiler This time to scope out neighborhoods and meet with some alumni (and hopefully some headhunting firms)
Went to NOLA for a bachelor party this past weekend. Most of the time was spent just doing stupid bachelor party things (including puking in the offsite airport parking lot Sunday). But ate lunch at Brennan's Saturday in one of the finer meals I've head in a while. Gumbo, pork grillades, bananas foster and creme brulee. Just delectable.
Italy trip was so awesome Amalfi - I already posted about, but just an awesome view from our place. Was fun just walking down the stair paths in amalfi and getting lost there. There are so many different trails on the side of that cliff that all the houses/hotels are on. Ours was 600 stairs from the City Center, 300 from the top of the road. So carrying the luggage up and down sucked. Tried the limoncello there. Dat blood orange juice tho That stuff was awesome - orange just squeezed from oranges in Sicily maybe. Couldnt find that in Rome or Florence Florence - obviously everyone knows how cool of a city florence is. The food was awesome. Gelateri Dei Neri was right beside our Air Bnb and that was my fav gelato in Florence/Amalfi. We did the 13 mile Wine/Bike tour through the Tuscany. Got to tour a castle there, drink wine, then bike through Tuscany, stopped at a good pasta restaurant and kept going. Definitely recommend that if you go to Florence. $80 a person but you get a lot of wine, bread, and lunch is included, plus the tour guides were awesome. We did all the touristy stuff there and also got a bottle of wine and sat up on the stairs at the piazza michelangelo, #bae loved that. Rome - Probably my favorite city. Coliseum was awesome, went to the forum and everything over there. Mussolini's Palace was probably my favorite sight to see there. That thing is intimidating imo. Vatican City was cool but really crowded. we stayed in trastevere. Our Airbnb host left us 2 bikes to use, which was probably not smart since the driving in Rome is crazy. But still nice since we used those to get all around Rome. Also almost got roughed up in Napoli on the way back. I bought a Roma Totti jersey in Rome. On our last day, we had a train back to Napoli from Rome where we flew out back to the US. I wore the Totti Roma jersey on the train. Had 2 guys tell me I better not wear that in Napoli. After the first guy told me I kinda shrugged it off. When the second guy told me I was all and changed into a hoodie as soon as we stepped off the train to avoid being knifed. #TLDR
Brugges is gorgeous. I love the architecture and all the churches and bridges. Expensive city though; I'm having a hard time finding a restaurant. Street food dinner day!
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New to the travel thread and damn pleased to be here. Question (without any current addition to the thread but I will be "watching" the thread and will chime in where possible in the future)- Has anyone ever toured any of the different ruins down in Mexico and Central America (Mayan, Incan, etc)? If so, any suggestions on putting together a trip? Like where to fly in to? Where to stay? Are they day trips from a resort or do I need to look in to other accommodations? Which ones are "can't miss"?
Not Central America, but Peru is all Inca and absolutely incredible. Hiked to Machu Picchu last year and saw more than enough ruins. Cheap country, cheap to get to, and some incredible food (if you go to the right restaurants---overall Peruvian food is 'meh').
Back home from the motorcycle trip. Leaving for the airport in 7 hours to fly to Dublin for the weekend. The adventure continues! Spoiler *silently weeping* I'm so fucking tired...
Cross post with the So Cal thread but I figure you guys may have some good advice as well since most of you seem to be well traveled. I'm looking for some recommendations on places to go/eat/drink in LA/Pasadena and the surrounding area. I'll be staying out in Pasadena with a friend who will also be my only mode of transportation besides uber/lyft, so I'm trying to stay relatively close to there but I'd like to avoid the usual tourist traps (walk of fame, rodeo drive, movie studios) and do more historical sightseeing and parks/hiking trails. As for food/drinks I'm just looking for casual places with a good menu and chill atmosphere. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Sorry for the delay in my response. Tokyo is great for nightlife. Roppongi & Shunjuku are the main areas where you will want to go out. Geronimo shot bar in in Roppongi is a really fun ex-pat bar. Check out Akihabara for what you envision of Tokyo. Just anime everywhere and some bizarre shit. Go here, Ikina Isshou (粋な一生), for some of the best ramen in Tokyo while you are in Akihabara. Kyoto does not have quite the nightlife of Tokyo. Lots of cool sights to check out especially if you like history. We went out to a few different bars and had a good time. I will try to figure out what areas we went out in. Hiroshima had the best nightlife in Japan aside from Tokyo from my experiences.
Here are a few recommendations/places you might want to look into.... Pasadena Bars/Food Colorado near the 'Paseo Colorado' is a great spot to start/get dropped off and be able to spend a good amount of time hanging out in that area. Upstairs at the Paseo Colorado (kind of an outdoor mall) is a wine bar/food spot called Bodega. This is my favorite bar of all time Chill vibe, good food, all the bartenders are awesome, and they always have awesome djs Thursday-Sunday. Still laid back, but it gets busy at nights. Keep in mind they don't have hard alcohol here, but lots of good drinks and shots with soju or sake, tons of wine, and always rotating beers (not draft) but still delicious Also upstairs at the paseo is yard house, it's a chain so I usually wouldn't recommend it, however this one is a training store, so they always have tons of extra local beers on draft if you are into that Down a little west of the paseo on Colorado, (walking distance) is a place Kings Row gastropub is awesome, amazing cocktails, usually have live music, also have a patio space, mimosa pitchers for brunch (they just hand you a bottle of champs) and the food is great it's sort of hidden down a random hallway, but it's on the left near a vans store, in between that and a gelato shop, follow the hallway down and you run straight into it. If you are feeling like being more of a pool playing vibe 35er is a few steps past that and has good beer as well. (Clearly I like beer, maybe too much) If you want to catch a game or something like that I recommend Dog Haus, there are two locations in Pasadena, go to the one off Colorado, it's in between Colorado and green, again, sort of in an ally way but they have gourmet dogs and burgers, all served on kings Hawaiian bread, which is a good enough reason to go as far as I'm concerned. They have draft beers, as well and a full bar at this location. Next area, also walking distance is the Stone Brewery tap room, always rotating beers (beer only) and a spot called luggage room. If you like beer even a little bit. Go to stone, order a pizza from luggage room (they will walk it over) and you will be the happiest person of all time. I also love tboyles, not really walking distance, but close and a good vibe, but it will be dead unless its thursday-Sunday night And if you are looking to make bad life choices, I recommend amigos. I don't know what they put in the margaritas there. But I haven't met many people who can drink more than two/three and remember where they are, we once found Morgan in the bathroom asking a stranger why we were out at 6am, when it was in fact 5:30 pm, on a Wednesday. Other food recommendations are Union (on union) which is tapas, but it was 2nd on best new restaurant last year, and the chef and food are amazing, tho it's more of a sit down and go with a few people Sushi, hole in the wall called 02 (directly across from paseo) looks average from the outside but it's delicious, I promise Downtown LA: Pretty close uber, 15-20 min (just don't go during rush hour) or you can also take the Metro to union stations/Korea town/etc from Pasadena (take the gold line, literally steps to/from stone tap room) it's easy to get to and from, and beats traffic. For bars I recommend cruising by Perch, it's worth it for the view alone, once you get in the bar, go to the staircase to the left of the bar (if you look straight at it) and go up another 2 flights, it's hidden, and sometimes closed for events, but if you can go up do so its the actual rooftop and it's got lots of areas to lounge. Ace hotel has a rooftop bar as well, which is pretty fun but they are closed half the Saturdays of the month for events, so I would call before you head over Toms urban near the staples center is good food, and the mules there are delicious I try not to hang out in downtown to often, bc traffic itself it's just bullshit, but those are the few spots I like. Hiking/day activities If you want to spend a day anywhere I would take an uber out to Santa Monica, or Malibu, you have everything from hiking, Malibu (I recommend the grotto) beach, shopping on 3rd street promenade, the pier, bars, museums 5/10 min (the Getty) There is also hiking a little east of Pasadena, depending on where you are staying, I would go to Monrovia canyon park, tho it might be hard to get an uber to pick you up from there, so I would only recommend going with a ride set up. Pasadena also has the Norton Simon museum or the Huntington Library of you are into art at all, they also have a rose, cactus, botanical garden, and all kinds of stuff going on a regular basis, worth a Google, and obviously if a game is going on I recommend the rose bowl, no matter who is playing.
Did you stay in a hostel or a BnB? I can't seem to find anything resembling a party hostel in the whole damn metropolis.
I couldn't find any decent hostels either, plus there seemed to be none in any area you would want to stay. We ended up doing airbnb. It wasn't difficult to meet people while out if you are a bit outgoing.
You're the second person to recommend Kings Row so I think I'll definitely be stopping by there. All the other suggestions sound great, I just wish the trip was a little longer so I could get to see/eat everything. Thanks for the write-up.
I can't take credit for that write-up. I asked a gal I trust -- who just moved from Pasadena -- to give me some reccos using your stipulations.
I was kind of unimpressed with Dublin when I got here. But I've since found the Temple Bar area, and I'm much happier. I love me a foodie neighborhood.
Anybody here done an all inclusive in Mexico before? We just stayed at Secrets in Riviera Maya for the honeymoon. The resort layout was great and the location was really nice, but the food was below average and the drinks were ridiculously, even suspiciously weak. My wife is a complete lightweight and is usually drunk from one margarita or glass of wine. She was drinking 10-12 drinks over a 5hr period at the pool and not even getting so much as a buzz. Same with me but even more so. At first I thought it was just the combination of small cups, lots of ice and light pours but I started watching closer and they were definitely giving full pours, which suggests the bottles had been watered down. I noticed several bottles were a different shade than they typically are and when I ordered just a straight whiskey and ice they pulled that bottle from a different stash than they had been using all day. I expected weak drinks but not liquor bottles that had actually been adulterated. Has anybody else had a similar experience?
Yep. That's how all-inclusives tend to be. Below average food and weak drinks. Good idea to stick to beer because you essentially know what you're getting. That said, all-inclusives aren't really my thing, because I've actually had better experiences at non-AI resorts when AI options were just down the road.
Going on a cheap cruise to Nassau this weekend. Anyone know anything besides Atlantis to do there? I've been a couple of times and it's my least favorite port of call.
This was our first time at an AI but we both agreed we'll exclusively go the non-AI route in the future. Good to know it wasn't just us
Got back from my trip to Scandinavia last night. Got to fly business class rt which makes the long flights so much more bearable. Started in Helsinki. I guess they don't get a whole lot of tourism, because every Finn kept asking us why we were visiting there. Tons of beautiful blonde women, although a little bit thicker, but as is common in Scandinavian countries, they love Americans. After this trip would classify women in Scandinavia as Denmark definitely #1, then Finland, then Sweden (surprised me, wasn't as great as I expected), then Norway. Went to this awesome new sauna called Loyly. Was right on the water. Was coed and you could drink and hang out both in and out of the saunas. We were told to be a true Finn, you had to take a dip into the ocean that was probably in the low 40s. Definitely a good cure for a hangover. Food was pretty standard of what you would expect, meat and starch, although we went to a very trendy restaurant called Ragu for a tasting menu that was phenomenal. They have a growing craft beer scene so unexpectedly had quite a variety of very good craft beers. From there, took the ferry to Tallinn. Loved it there. Reminded me of a smaller Prague. Awesome old town to walk around and get lost in. Tons of little bars and restaurants hidden away down alleys. Was very cheap compared to Helsinki and Stockholm so that was a nice change. Were only there a Monday-Wed so it was a bit quiet but apparently its crazy of the weekends because of all the Scandinavians and Brits that come in to party for cheap. Will definitely go back on a weekend. Tons of bars and clubs. Super friendly people. Finished in Stockholm. Would be the place I would most want to live out of the three. Amazing architecture, very diverse, also very friendly people. Stayed in Sodermalm, which is kinda the hipster/brooklyn area I guess of Stockholm. Tons of cool shops, cafes, restaurants, etc. One of my friends who was with us got some recommendations from a local so we found some very cool places to eat/drink where it was pretty much all younger swedes. Like I mentioned above, definitely some beautiful women here, but didn't quite live up to the obviously lofty expectations. Got to watch Sweden-Italy euro game with a tons of Swedes which didn't turn out great but was obviously still fun. We went to this place called Tradgarden. Was one of the most fun and unique clubs I've ever been to. It was outside underneath the highway overpass. Had dancing areas, karaoke area, and actually had a giant projection screen to play super mario bros 1. Went multiple nights because it was so fun. Big downside about partying in Stockholm is the price. Beers run about $8-10 each and mixed drinks as simple as vodka soda are about $17 and they measure you exactly a shot. Definitely need to pregame before going out if you want to get drunk and not spend hundreds of dollars. Overall would go back to any of the three. The long days are great. Even though the sun sets from about 11-4 it never gets fully dark. I love going to Scandinavia in general because they love americans and its super easy to meet people and go out and have fun. Every guy needs to do at least one trip to Scandinavia while they are single.
Sounds like an awesome trip. My friend (half Greek/half Swedish) that I keep correspondence with that lives in Greece said men with darker features are successful with the women in Scandinavia especially in Sweden. I hope that was true for you. She goes to Sweden quite frequently to see her Mom and travels around Scandinavia a lot too, so I'll take her word for it. I only know this because she commented on what I look like.
Definitely true, and being American alone adds more points. When I told them I live in California they would ask me how many celebrities I know. Unfortunately my girlfriend was along on this trip, but I have had some great times single in the past on trips to Norway and Denmark. Still was fun being wing man to my buddy though. All they have to know is you are American and you're in.
That's awesome! She didn't mention the American part, but I guess it didn't need to be said. Noted. I'm looking forward to going to Scandinavia and especially Sweden. Yeah it was really cool and interesting.
One big problem with La Sagrada Familia and your pictures is... Spoiler Pictures don't do it a bit of justice. The building is unreal in size and overall beauty. It is a MUST visit if you're an active participant to threads like this one
I forgot to post my Marseille pictures ITT. The English & Russians were total idiots the first 3 nights I was there. The first two pictures are the view from where I stayed in Vieux Port. Panoramic shots of Marseille from Notre Dame de la Garde. Mucem Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure Chateau d'If