The New Travel Thread: Now with write ups in the OP

I stayed in Roppongi and would definitely do Shibuya if I went back. I’d probably stay in Shinjuku before Roppongi as well. For Seoul look at peach airlines. It’s low cost but was way better than any of the US domestic 3. They fly between Osaka Seoul and Tokyo haneda Seoul

 

This is very important info for me, thank you.

southside when are you going?

 

I’m loving this information as well. I’ll be there for about 5-7 days before work in December and was thinking 2 days in Tokyo, 1 in the Mt Fuji region, and 2 in Kyoto.

 

I stayed in Shinjuku over MDW at the Hilton, I really enjoyed staying there. Good bar scene at night about a 10 min walk from the hotel

 

Has anyone flown Wow air? They have direct flights to Iceland from Cincinnati for about $300-400. Do they nickel and dime you like frontier/allegeniant/etc?

Saw their flight attendants last night in the airport and wanted to salivate.

 

Wife and I flew them to Paris last year out of Pittsburgh as part of a deal that was $600 a person for flight and hotel for 5 nights. They do nickel and dime you for everything but they seemed to have everything together better than Frontier or Allegiant.

 

October

 

Everything is a la carte but they’re a more comfortable experience than those airlines. I flew BWI to Reykjavik with them

 

Nice I’ll check that out. Seeing some Tokyo to Seoul for $160 so pretty reasonable. You wouldn’t take the train to move around intra Japan?

 

Ever since seeing Bourdain in Okinawa,
I’ve kind of wanted to see what it was all about. That’s whenever I go to Japan anyway. Apparently, it’s almost like a completely different country.

 

Can confirm the hotness of their flight attendants. And the accents mah god

 

Absolutely train within Japan. Train stations are much more central than airports plus you don't have to show up really early. They are seriously on time down to the minute. Super clean and very efficient. Its only like 2.5 hours between Kyoto and Tokyo on a shinkansen. If everywhere had a train system as good a Japan, I would never fly except for obvious instances like super long distances or over water.

 

Wow is great. Euro budget airlines shit all over Allegiant and the like. Plus those flight attendants

 

There is a special place in hell for the guy on my WOW flight who harassed the flight attendants and another passenger to switch seats because he was too cramped in the middle seat. You get what you pay for or, in this case, what you don't pay for if you skip out on seat selection.

 

WOW just started flying out of DFW last month, might have to check them out.

 

On our WOW flight back from Paris, the guy sitting in our row's wife got injured on their trip so they moved him to the exit row to sit next to her since she was in a wheelchair. As soon as this happened the Chinese woman in front of me started complaining to the stewardess that she injured her foot and needed to elevate it and asked the stewardess to get my wife and I to move up to their seats so she and her companion could take our row with the empty third seat. The stewardess asked us if we would be willing to move. I told her there was no chance we were giving up our seats.

 

The view to Maui is dope. On super clear days, you can see Lanai, Kahoolawe, and a glimpse of Molokai as well.

The western part of Kohala has clear skies pretty much always because of the trade winds and lack of rainfall. Right now, Mauna Loa and Hualalai, which I should be able to see from my back windows, are obscured. Hopefully the eruption settles back to “normal” levels soon—this has been one of the longest large events since contact.

 

TO:

Reykjavik (KEF)

FROM:

Baltimore (BWI) - $340 *
Boston (BOS) - $381 *
Chicago (ORD) - $360 *
Dallas (DFW) - $370 *
Edmonton (YEG) - $487 CAD *
Montreal (YUL) - $571 CAD *
New York City (JFK) - $290 *
Newark (EWR) - $290 *
Philadelphia (PHL) - $339 *
Tampa (TPA) - $481 *
Toronto (YYZ) - $347 CAD *
Vancouver (YVR) - $616 CAD *
Washington DC (IAD) - $340 *

* - nonstop / direct
WHEN: Varies by origin. Generally August through December 2018, many routes including Thanksgiving. BOS, YEG, BWI, and IAD include Xmas. Some other cities include Xmas for a little higher or if you visit for two weeks or more.

 

Starting to plan a trip in December for Colombia. Is Medellin the threads consensus on where to go?

 

medellin is the best, but i dont recommend skipping cartagena if you have the time

 

Yes. Spend a week at least if you can

 

Yes. I did like eight days in medellin and five in cart including nye and I wouldn't change anything

 

I just did 12 in Medellin and 10 in Cartagena. For me it was the perfect amount of time in Medellin and a few days too many in Cartagena, but I was also there during the World Cup so I watched soccer most days until 3pm.

Medellin has more to do and also has a Metro system making it easier to do lots. Cartagena was super hot making it tougher to do stuff outside of beach/island type things, though they also have some cool colonial era sights to see. Obviously how much you plan on partying would impact the length of time.

I skipped Bogota because of what I've read ITT and like 95% of people I met on the trip regretted going there and/or cut their time short there.

 

Medellin was definitely my favorite. Also went to Cartagena and Parque Tayrona/Tagonga.

 

Awesome thanks. Do y’all recommend a specific neighborhood or did you stay in the city center/downtown?

 

Parque lleras

 

It's on my NYE short list after talking to some friends that might be going

 

Parque Lleras in Medellin. In cart stay somewhere in La Matuna or near plaza santo domingo

 

For Medellin, if you're doing hostels I'd stay in one of the hostels in the Manilla neighbourhood. 10 min walk one way to Parque Lleras but also a 10 min walk the other way to a metro station.

 

Is Iceland better in the summer or sometime like February? I’d like to see the Northern Lights sometime but I know you can do that a lot of other places too.

 

winter for northern lights and snow activities and no daylight. summer for a shit load of daylight, a lot less snow, and lots of non snow outdoor activities. depends on what you like

 

There’s some cool stuff closed in the winter. For example, going down inside the only volcano known to man that has erupted was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done traveling. Because you have to hike a couple KM out to it from the base, it doesn’t open usually until some point in May because of the conditions.

 

So the Sydney airport has multiple lounges where you can use your Priority Pass card to get x dollars off your tab. Is it frowned upon to hit up multiple lounges on the same day? I’m a shameless poor backpacker at this point.

 

Nope

 

Went in April and the only things we couldn't do were N Lights and an Ice cave. Some parts of the Ring Road in the NE had 10+ ft snow banks on the side of the road.

 

If it’s within the rules than go for it.

 

All of this talk about Georgia made me go watch the Parts Unkown on Tbilisi (S07E05). Highly recommend. It might actually be my favorite.

 

Ate at a Georgian restaurant while I was in Krakow. Easily one of the best meals of the entire trip. Would love to make it there at some point.

 

Made me immediately think of the short-doc on Netflix called The Trader. Really cool window into that world.

 

Bunch of real cheap non stops

TO: Amsterdam (AMS)
New York City (JFK) - $360*

TO: Barcelona (BCN)
Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) - $380*
Newark (EWR) - $380*

TO: London (LGW)
Boston (BOS) - $361*
Chicago (ORD) - $391*

TO: Madrid (MAD)
New York City (JFK) - $380*

TO: Oslo (OSL)
Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) - $380*
New York City (JFK) - $340*
Orlando (MCO) - $380*

TO: Paris (CDG)
Boston (BOS) - $350*
Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) - $380*
New York City (JFK) - $350*

TO: Paris (ORY)
Newark (EWR) - $350*

* - nonstop / direct
WHEN: Varies by origin. Generally October 2018 through March 2019, some routes including Thanksgiving but all excluding Xmas/NYE.

 

Land in Germany 20 days and 12 hours from now

 

For you dudes going to Japan who also happen to like cunty shit

A friend of mine owns a sushi spot and his business partner is a chef from Osaka. He says the knife makers in Sakai are the best in the world and definitely worth a visit and purchase if you're around Osaka

 

I spent a pretty penny of a knife in Japan. Was told carbon steel was the best and most authentic knife. Love it and it gets crazy sharp but it takes an effort to take care of it, so I don’t use it as often as my other chef’s knives. Kinda wished I would have gone stainless steel.

 

This same guy was telling me about guys with kegs strapped to their back at japanese baseball games serving people in the stands. It's genius

 

Except it’s not men it’s like 100 pound Japanese women, which makes it more awesome.

 

Has anyone hiked the Inca Trail in Peru?

 

Also am I screwed if I don’t have a permit for September yet?