was driving from Napa to the Redwoods, wanted to spend a day and a half up there before moving away from the PNW in a year knew 101 was closed at one point due to rain washing out the road but my gps had a detour, stopped at a rest stop about 45 minutes from this point, transportation worker standing there telling everyone stopping that all roads to get North are closed and we'd have to make a hellacious detour to get there. was going to add like six hours to the trip and basically leave me half a day to explore which wasn't worth it drove home, was in the car for 14 hours yesterday. Napa was dope as usual. French Laundry was extremely worth it.
Lokrum Island off Dubrovnik was cool to wander around and there is a super salty buoyant pool on the island that is fun to play in and cliffs on the backside of the island you can jump off.
I am currently loosely planning 3 trips, one of which i'm going to go on in about a year. the idea is to put an itenerary together and see which one of my friends might want to go with me. option A: Graz, Austria > Slovenia > Croatia > Hungary > Graz option B: Lisbon > Porto > Santiago > N. coast of Spain (Oviedo, Leon, Santander, Bilbao?) > Maybe Barcelona, Bordeaux, Marseille or somewhere with an airport i can fly out of. option C: Berlin > Stettin > Danzig > Kaliningrad > Lithuania > Riga > Tallinn > maybe Helsinki, St. Petersburg or somewhere with an airport. any recommendations? thoughts? ideas? i'm in the early planning stages.
Where have you been in Europe before and what do you like to do while traveling? Sightsee, foodie, party? Without any of that info for me I'd probably go B, A, C.
A is probably best if you're looking for partying B is probably best if you're looking for good food C is probably best if you're looking to get laid by hot blonde women who like americans.
well, I love European history. I also want to sightsee and I enjoy food. Party? nah. i've taken a trip to London, Dublin, Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Ghent. It was great, probably a bit more urban than I prefer. i've also been to Graz, Austria already and know ppl there, which is why its on the list. But I've been around rural eastern Austria, Vienna and Prague and loved it.
so yes I have heard that about C. Its not the overriding factor tho, I can't get laid on vacation to save my life, and I wanted to see post-communist europe. i'm worried it will be nasty weather and ugly scenery, but i've been reassured that isn't what the baltics are like. (Also I might also go see Lubeck. I forgot to mention Lubeck.) B. I agree, is probably the most 'standard' tourist destination. I've been told that Portugal has amazing castles that blend into the urban fabric really well -- then Santiago is a major religious center -- and I hear Basque country is amazing. A. I think is probably my speed. Smaller towns, not as touristy, not expensive, very very pretty scenery. Slovenia in particular is supposed to be really beautiful, and is a high priority. I'm probably going to skip the whole Dubrovnik / Split / Hvar thing in Croatia and head up to Budapest instead.
Slovenia is very underrated. Ljubliana is one of my favorite cities in europe. Lake bled is also fantastic.
well, you're the second person to single out Ljubljana as a place to go. although to be fair there's not really any other cities in Slovenia
I've got family with a snail farm in Lithuania if you find yourself needing a truck load of snails for some reason along your journey
"I've got a family with a snail farm in Lithuania" Absolutely electric intro that I'm gonna use during my travels now.
Inevitably I'm going to take a job with less vacation than I have now and I'm going to be sad as fuck
My company is considering starting next year to allow unlimited PTO which is awesome because my job is super busy from October until March and then dead until October. If they do adopt it the wife and I will be taking many trips the next couple years as she's already been planning to quit her job next month. Also if they do, I don't know how I'd ever leave this company unless it starts to become a normal standard.
My boss already has it and uses it regularly during the summer so I'm not too worried. This company in the last couple years has also adopted a dress policy that you can wear pretty much whatever you want to work and instituted a student loan repayment plan where they'll match whatever you pay. The company has thrived over the years from extremely high employee retention and that's the thought behind this.
Had a buddy post pictures from Machu Picchu in workout gear making it look like they hiked there when really they took the train. Not sure why that grinds my gears, but I feel like that place is so magical you should have to work to see it.
Haven't read much about it, but the amount of people I see at Machu Picchu makes me think its a really easy hike/trek. I thought it takes 2-3 days, but everyone has been, no one has a pack on, and knowing that you can train in, that really does grind me gears.
I believe BamaNug hiked it. I don't think it's a walk in the park especially with crazy weather and elevation changes, but I could be wrong.
Part of me agrees completely that it should be hiked. But the other part of me thinks that I'd rather enjoy a day enjoying the beauty of MP and then spending those 2-3 hiking days traveling to and seeing another badass place in or around the region.
as I wrote in my long post....it's time consuming, expensive, and altitude is a huge issue for the hike. The hike is way more legit. Props to Bamanug but fuck, it's so amazing that you should go see it regardless of how you do it. Your friend may have done the hike from the train station to MP. Which isn't an easy morning. Basically he took the train 98% of the way.
You wouldn't want to wear non hiking gear that day. You hike around MP (although easy). It's still an active day.
That makes sense. I guess I just thought it was lame that his picture gave the impression that he hiked the whole way to get there.
Yes the hike up the steps From aguas Calientes requires a decent level of fitness. But the real fun is the 4 days before that. The full trek to it is absolutely beautiful and shouldn't be ignored for people considering it.
My prob with hiking it simply time and packing gear for it. I'm going to do 2-3 weeks in SA and I only want to take a single backpack. Nothing more. I should probably do multiple trips to SA but typically, I do one big trip a year and I try to fit in as much as possible in a short amount of time.
Yea if you don't want to hike it don't hike it. Really don't like the logic of that last statement. JMO
Oh, I'm still working on my itinerary and I haven't ruled out the hike. Why is it more expensive to hike it rather taking the train to it?
Do the hike, if you have time. Salkantay trek through the Andes is amazing. But some people have time issues so it may not be possible. But if youre even on the fence, I highly recommend doing a trek there. Re: gear, it really doesn't require much extra stuff. A good pair of boots, but then just pants and a jacket or 2, stuff you'd probably already have. They also have mules and porters to carry all your stuff, they feed you, provide tents and sleeping bags, etc.
I got my Salkantay tour, 4 days/3 nights, for like $325. Book when you get to Cusco rather than book in advance. That included all meals, tents, bags, and porters to carry your bags. Only thing I brought extra were a good pair of boots
The inka trail is expensive. The Salkantay trek is not, you just need to book in cusco and not online. I paid 160 usd and that included a sleeping bag rental and smaller pack rental. Here's my write up: http://www.loggingoff.work/logging-off/2017/4/18/salkantay-trek-to-machu-picchu
Just landed in Seattle, on the rail to my airBNB. Halong Bay was one of the coolest places I've ever been, just incredible. However, the "Castaway Tour" I posted about earlier was the biggest bait and switch of my life, just a complete scam. Luckily I was on the boat with a really good group and we still had a blast. But it was just a comedy of errors, from the boat to the lodging to the scheduling. But even with all that, Halong Bay exceeded expectations.
Respect for taking as long as you did in a backpack. My trip was incredible, but 2 months out of a backpack started to wear on me. As much fun as I had, part of me was ready to get back into a regular routine---exercising, eating right, etc. I'm sure in a few weeks I'll already be tired of the grind, though. Also the heat of SE Asia was brutal. Happier than I thought I'd be for 50 and rainy in Seattle. Guess I should get used to it. 3 days here to sign my lease, back to AL on Apr 25, then start the drive to Seattle on the 29th or 30th. First day of work at the new job starts May 8
I'm positive I did, but I haven't stepped on a scale since I left. I always lose weight when I travel. I definitely had the tailor in Vietnam leave some room for 'growth' in all the suits I got.
Starting planning stages for a multi family Alaskan cruise Rip me Can't wait to all wear the same t shirts though
Never been there, but all 3 options have great stops. Talinn is one of my most desired places to go for my next trip, because I've heard such great things about it. Then, Porto is a top 3 city in Europe for me (you can also watch Anthony Bourdain's trip there on Netflix I believe).
Oh yes the list of things I miss from the states is long but having properly laundered clothes in a closet is near the top of the list. That's awesome you found a job so quick.
I got lucky as hell, right place right time. They offered me while I was in India and were still cool with waiting until my trip was finished. Just read your post re: Salkantay. I agree that the lagoon at the end of day 1 was one of the highlights of my whole trip. It's amazing.