anything wild I should do in Toronto? I’ll be staying downtown at the Sheraton Centre in Queens St W for the next few nights.
got a momofuku/milkbar here in DC. think I'm going to hit up Historical Distillery District and try and get into trouble.
I did Bergen last fall as apart of a bigger trip. ORD - CPH - BGN on Scandinavian $450pp RT in their upgraded economy. Air BnB’d about a mile from Bryggen, right by University of Bergen. Walked the whole thing except when we met my wife’s distant aunts for a half day. 4 days total. Did a fjord cruise to Flam and back, hikes, and otherwise just explored the city and ate. Took the train to Oslo overnight to catch our flight to Dublin. Slept about half, now wishing we took the daylight train instead of night, but oh well. Still saw some cool stuff in between naps. Oslo was straight to the light rail for the airport.
Where should I go? I don't have anything planned or literally anything in mind. This is my first stop of trip planning because I know nothing about Alaska. Thinking I could fly into one of Anchorage or Juneau. Leaning Anchorage considering I may not ever be back in Alaska. As far as crowds go I don't really give a shit unless it's like nightclub crowded. Checking out the weather averages across May/June/July there is a decent increase from May to June, so may hold off for another time after Memorial Day. If you can give me a cool area to stay around Anchorage it would be much appreciated. Actually, give me two spots, a place to stay without a car and with a car. Also, should I rent a car?
Go to Denali. You can do it with or without a car. I'm renting an RV, but you can also get there by train. Seward just south of Anchorage looks awesome as well. We are taking a flightseeing trip with a glacier landing out of talkeetna on the way up to Denali
That sounds amazing. Thanks Ark. I'll look into Denali and Seward. When you're in Annapolis: https://www.cantlers.com/
Very interested in Banff. I've heard people say that you need to go in Winter as well, but may do a trip in early August. What are best times to go there?
I found a Banff writeup by Det. Frank Bullitt but a lot of it is hiking/camping specific and pictures that have been deleted. Curious more about general thoughts and comparisons to other experiences.
I went to Alaska last year, flights are super cheap from Seattle. Will definitely return. Want to spend some time in Denali. Regarding Banff, we're going to drive. Trying to pick a long weekend in July/August and we're just going to rent an outfitted camper van, something like this -- https://www.seattlecampervans.com/campervans -- Leave Wednesday/Thursday PM and drive through the night until we get tired, arrive at Banff or Jasper on Thurs/Fri morning. Spend ~3 days in the park, head back Sunday evening/Monday morning. Heading from the West to East towards Banff is supposed to be one of the most gorgeous drives in the world. Also probably going to rent a camper van for Spain and go Madrid --> along the Pyrenees on the Spain/France border --> arrive in Barca.
You won't be able to do much hiking in Winter due to level of snow and avalanche risk. You'd also need a lot more gear. If you want to go hiking, late June/early July to around early October would be least amount of snow.
preemptive plan was to fly there in late June, but was also considering Alaska or some other western US NPs. Will figure it out over next few days
South Africa Spoiler Top destination in the world, hands down. The wildlife is crazy, views are silly, and super cheap. The safari was amazing. Our guide told us Botswana has the best safaris of all South African countries, largely due to their penalties for poaching - only country that has the death penalty for poachers. South Africa sees over 1,000 rhinos poached per year, it's so sad. Arrived in Jo-burg and immediately took a van to Kruger. Every drive we saw so many damn animals. Going in, I didn't really understand how people could do a 5-6-7 day safaris; but after doing only 3 days/2 nights I totally get it. It's amazing. You're up before sunrise every day, animals are most active that time and you see so much. More animals than I can list. Kruger is a fucking special place. Spoiler It's not so much a regret, but we didn't really get to explore the city of Cape Town all that much; we were busy doing so much, Arrived 10 PM on Tuesday, wake up Wednesday and drive around the Cape. One of the most beautiful places in the world. It can take a good, 6-7 hours, but Simon's Town and the "suburbs" south of Cape Town are gorgeous. Also head to Boulder's Beach and check out the penguins Next day went cage diving in Gansbai, about 2 hours southeast of Cape Town. Learned that killer whales have scared away most great whites, but we were lucky as shit and saw one. Also saw a lot of copper sharks and seals. It was still cool AF. Spent the rest of the time in Cape Town getting stuff for the Burn. Spoiler Afrikaburn was pretty indescribable. Really intense, so many drugs, constant dust storms, several nights of no sleep. We had built showers, but the wind was so bad we were only able to use them twice the whole week. There was also a human carwash where a bunch of retirees give you a sponge bath, but I didn't do it. Some in our camp did and said it was amazing. Awesome artwork in the desert and everything turns into a DJ stage at night. About 90% techno/house/trance, but my friend hates electronic and still found good music/had an amazing time. Our camp was mostly Brazilians, but also Dutch, British, Swiss, Aussie, everywhere. Really great group of people. I would absolutely do it again, but not for 7 days--would prefer arriving on Wed/Thus and going through Sunday. A week is too much.
This is pretty dope TO: Mahé (SEZ) FROM: New York City (JFK) - $702 WHEN: Late October 2019 through March 2020, including Thanksgiving and Xmas/NYE
We haven't fully decided on vacations yet, might do Indo in Sept as wife has to go to China... Still hashing it all out.
how was the teahouse? what was your favorite hike? and/or what part of nature struck you the most? what wildlife did you see? You did Banff only, not Jasper?
Anyone done a 3/4 day all inclusive? Looking for a resort that caters to adults and has a good party scene. Heard Riu Republica in PC is a good time.
Oh wow, this is worth posting. Atlanta to Madagascar for $693 https://www.secretflying.com/posts/atlanta-to-madagascar-for-only-690-roundtrip/
Madagascar is so high on my list. But pretty expensive and difficult to travel around. There's a chance I return to Afrikaburn next year, it was that incredible. But I'd do it for the first half of my trip and then go somewhere for the second half--Madagascar, Namibia, Botswana; in that order. But I will also spend some $$ to get on that Delta non-stop from ATL to Jo-burg. It's just so fucking long going through Dubai.
Not mad at these prices to Costa Rica. These fares are basic economy, which means early seat selection and checked baggage are not included. A checked bag costs $30 each way on all airlines for both basic and regular economy except on Copa, which has no bag fees, etc. All prices are for roundtrip flights and in USD unless otherwise stated. TO: San José (SJO) FROM: Atlanta (ATL) - $313 Austin (AUS) - $310 Baltimore (BWI) - $299 Boston (BOS) - $269 Buffalo (BUF) - $335 Charleston (CHS) - $313 Chicago (ORD) - $397 Cleveland (CLE) - $355 Denver (DEN) - $355 Fort Lauderdale (FLL) - $263* Hartford (BDL) - $373 Jacksonville (JAX) - $329 Miami (MIA) - $275* Nashville (BNA) - $385 New Orleans (MSY) - $327 New York City (JFK) - $331 Newark (EWR) - $375 Orlando (MCO) - $273* Philadelphia (PHL) - $321 Pittsburgh (PIT) - $377 Providence (PVD) - $375 Raleigh (RDU) - $313 Richmond (RIC) - $335 Toronto (YYZ) - $397 CAD Westchester (HPN) - $385
Cancún (CUN) FROM: Atlanta (ATL) - $240 Baltimore (BWI) - $291 Charleston (CHS) - $285 Chicago (ORD) - $249 Cincinnati (CVG) - $240 Dallas (DFW) - $298* Detroit (DTW) - $240 Fort Lauderdale (FLL) - $224* Fresno (FAT) - $289 Houston (IAH) - $219 Jacksonville (JAX) - $266 Las Vegas (LAS) - $277 Los Angeles (LAX) - $289 Miami (MIA) - $204* Minneapolis (MSP) - $240 New York City (LGA) - $261 Oakland (OAK) - $289 Ontario (ONT) - $290 Orlando (MCO) - $271 Raleigh (RDU) - $240 Sacramento (SMF) - $293 Salt Lake City (SLC) - $243 San Antonio (SAT) - $296 Seattle (SEA) - $243 * - nonstop / direct WHEN: Varies greatly by origin. Generally August 2019 through March 2020, some routes including Thanksgiving but all excluding Xmas/NYE NORMAL PRICE: $550+
on the flights home on Sunday my wife and I started talking about where we go next, and I brought up South Africa. Did some preliminary research yesterday and it seems like Blyde Canyon and Nuy River Gorge are definitely up our alley. I'll try to do a Viet Nam write up in the next few days. We've been on some great vacations but this one was one of the best. Even as excited as we were to go it far exceeded our expectations. Talking about going back soon as there's so much of the country we didn't see.
If you're going south you can hit up girdwood, seward, (the kenai peninsula in general which has world class fishing). If you go north you have Talkeetna, Denali, Fairbanks. Both are accessible via car or rail (though rail is slower but more scenic). Ark has a solid plan for his ~weeklong trip
I have never read this thread. We’re doing six destinations in Italy next month. 353 pages of this thread seems pretty daunting to review. Anyone have anything interesting to share on Palermo, Sorrento, Milan, Rome, Assisi, or Venice?
A lot of our time in SA was eaten up by the festival, but Kruger and Cape Town are both world-class destinations. We hiked both Table Mountain (5-6 hours) and Lion's Head (2-3 hours), which aren't very difficult but still awesome. I'll never stop talking about that safari, and we were on a fucking "budget beater" for 3 days/2 nights. I can only imagine what it'd be like to spend some $$ and get first-class accommodations and viewing for a week or so. Some locals raved about Blyde Canyon, have not heard about the Gorge. One very popular thing is to drive from Cape Town up to Namibia; I really want to see the desert sand dunes spill into the Atlantic. Re: Vietnam, it's amazing. Definitely in my top 2-3 SE Asian countries along with Myanmar. Maybe the best food I've ever had. I would go back to Hanoi tomorrow.
You can limit your search to this thread only, I know I did a Rome and Venice review and there are several other as well
If you need specifics beyond any of those throw em out there. I don't think I'd be much of a help as far as food recs because we generally just find something that looks good depending on how our day is going
I am mostly interested about driving. We’re renting a car in Florence to drive around Sorrento. I have an international drivers permit. I have also been told to buy the no deductible insurance and take photos of the car when picking it up because it’s kind of a scam in Italy to ding tourists over car damage. Curious about other issues. We’re doing public transportation in Pisa, Palermo, Rome, and Venice.
Too late if I do, I already bought it. I read the insurance contract before buying it, so I’m fine paying it and knowing what I have.
Added replies, re-adding a couple photos. Larches and view above Lake Louise View of Storm Mountain/Upper Twin Lake Teahouse
Finally got global entry yesterday. That was incredible easy and looking forward to taking advantage of that in the future