definitely done mexico a lot, forgot to note that in the post. any cities you would recommend? I've followed your travels and it seems awesome, but yoga retreats and throwing up don't really vibe with me. I've considered Playa del Carmen just given how accessible it is in town, but all the Taxi strike stuff in Cancun is a bit off-putting. I also don't speak Spanish, so being able to navigate without that is a must.
I'm personally not a fan of the Yucatan/gulf side, I'm more drawn to the Pacific side. Puerto Vallarta and Sayulita is pretty awesome. Puerto Escondido is more surfer bros than yoga. Oaxaca is my favorite state in the country. Mexico City is one of the top culinary destinations in the world and just amazing all-around. Easy flight to San Miguel del Allende, too. Might go spend a long weekend there myself. Could also go further south into Costa Rica, Columbia, etc.
Kyoto and Tokyo only two I've been to but both incredible in very different ways so makes it even better
I’d be on a flight to Australia tomorrow. Bounce over to New Zealand. Up to Vietnam. Then continue circumnavigating the globe until time runs out.
Also keep in mind that one needs an International Drivers License in Italy, easily obtainable from AAA for $25. We trained from Rome to Siena and had to switch trains to do so, nothing direct when we needed to go. Easy transfer even though the train from Rome was late; the connecting train waited for us We have friends who did Siena and Assisi in the same trip and loved both places. They stayed outside the Old Town in Siena while we airbnb'd right across the street from the Duomo's Baptistery (our place is on the right in this stock pic)
Having read your post and the responses I’ll add: 1. If you want to really see Tuscany you have to have a car. You can get to Florence, Siena, Arezzo, etc… by train. All are worth visiting, But I wouldn’t on this trip. 2. I recommend taking a train and visiting the hill town of Orvieto north of Rome in Umbria. It’s an excellent day trip from Rome. If I recall correctly it’s about an hour each way. 3. I spent 7 days in Rome in 2019. I was disappointed when our family group voted to spend that much time there. I thought that 3 would be plenty. I learned that 7 days isn’t enough for Rome even if you stay on the go. Book tours/guides for the Colosseo and The Vatican. There was a LOT that I didn’t get to do. Can’t wait to go back. 4. I didn’t go to Naples/Pompeii/Amalfi Coast, but they can definitely be done via train. I would spend at least 2 days. 5. If you stay in downtown Rome, I’m not sure how you will get out and back from Marco Simone Golf & Country Club other than by taxi or bus.
You could do weeks and weeks in Italy. Without knowing what else you like to do or what your interests are, its kind of like saying "I am lining up some meats to try for the first time, I have pork, what should I do next?" If you like wine tasting, you can do a couple days in Tuscany. If you want to see Venice for the first time because it might not exist as is in a couple decades, that's great. If you like history and art, Florence is about as good of a spot in the world to do. If you want to just relax at Lake Como, I don't think you can do wrong in that. But my personal vote would be high speed rail down to Naples and use it as your home base. One day eating and drinking around Naples, one day going to Pompeii (short train), and one day taking a car to the Amalfi coast and spending time in Sorrento / Positano
It’s no different than the US if you are in rural or suburban areas. In the older sections of cities, it’s nearly impossible. I literally did the Chevy Chase European Vacation mistake in Sorrento because my driving app sent me down the alley below, not knowing my van was too big. I had to back out in reverse for about two-three blocks. This is from my hotel balcony, I couldn’t fit through where the car is driving:
Yeah, I guess to give a little feedback. I have been to Rome, Florence, Milan, and Cinque Terra, but that was 15 years ago. I really dont want to rent a car, but would if that's the way to go. I really like the ideas of the Naples/Amalfi Coast, Tuscany, etc. I just think Lake Como and Venice are too far away.
FWIW Rome to Venice is a 4 hour direct train trip, which isn't that bad. Last December we took a 7-hour trip from Vienna to Venice which was pretty easy; the bigger issue was getting to our place from the train station, which required using the expensive vaporetto system and then walking our luggage through the streets. That might be problematic if you're traveling with older parents Sounds like you hit the big cities years ago; if you're interested in a smaller town experience, I'd still recommend Siena
Booked a flight to Vegas a couple hours before my flight to go to the pac 12 tournament today. booked a hotel with Expedia when I landed, go to Caesars, try to check in and say no reservation has been sent and come back in an hour. Come back in an hour and they say no reservation despite my confirmation from Expedia and sold out now. They say your problem is with Expedia. I work through the process with them, they say head to mirage. I walk from there with all my stuff and they say no reservations and no room. Call back and they say oh so sorry, no occupancy. They want to be me 4 miles off strip somewhere and I’m like are you crazy? They say that I can spend 200% of the rate and so I book Cosmo on my card and they’ll reimburse the difference, but I’m skeptical. TL;DR: Book directly with hotels.
My wife used to work in reservations and revenue with hotels and a lot of times they will just match the rate on third party sites if you call and ask. It's a lot easier on their end to deal with.
Good to know, was about a 3 hour adventure last night. Ended up with a better hotel, but wasn’t worth it.
Expedia seemed like a good resource around the year 2000 when everyone's online platform kinda sucked.
Only reason I used them was because I couldn’t book through Amex travel since it was past 9pm on west coast and they stopped accepting reservations for the 9th. I probably should just plan ahead better, but there are flaws in all of these systems.
Imo you are correct about Lake Como and Venice. Between the out and back train rides you waste a precious day…unless you just like trains. In 15 years not much will be different for a tourist, unless you go in a different season than in your earlier trip. The tram/metro lines might have expanded a bit. A higher percentage of the population speaks decent English.
Room 15 DuffandMuff Whammy and any Patagonia bros Looking at doing the O trek next winter, sometime between Dec - Feb. Did yall book refugios or campsites? I think yall did the W, correct? Trek doesn't look overly difficult, but everything I read says reservations are the most confusing part. May try and spend a few months down there, a lot in Bariloche.
Did the W trek and stayed in refugios. I hopped on the trip with a group of three friends last minute. They had been booked forever. I basically showed up along the trek and said hey, I have no rez and nowhere to sleep. I’ll never forget on Christmas Day reaching the most remote refugio. Guy is like, well all we have is this one third level bunk that sometimes is used for employees. Yeah man, I’ll take it. Literally have nowhere else to go. Typed all that to say, yeah, logistics seem like a bitch. Glad I was a tagalong.
i fucked up my planning around TDP so I only did a day trip. at the time, the issue was you had to show a reservation for all nights. It’s been a few years so not sure what it’s like now
Hey - I did the W. A refugio one night and tents the other two nights which are essentially still run by the staff at the refugios. Slept in tents to save a little money, they were nice and already set up for you. It’s difficult to book refugios yourself because they save like 90% of capacity for the local tour operators (what our tour operator told us) as a means of diverting as many tourista dollars to the locals as possible. The people who did it themselves said they were strategic about when refugio capacity opens up you have to book it really quickly. Ran into a bunch of people who did the O, when you do the W portion of it you’ll do it in reverse - starting with Grey Glacier and ending with Los Torres. The O portion is just more remote which means less support if you get into trouble but you’ll see a lot more wildlife (Llamas / Pumas / birds). It looked dope, would have loved to do it. If I had the opportunity, I’d definitely go for a month. Some in our group had just come from El Chalten (Argentine Patagonia) and showed us some amazing photos of Fitz Roy, Cerro Torre, and Mariano Moreno - looked amazing. Getting around by bus is easy and super inexpensive. Lmk what else you would like to know
Todos la comida de calle Spoiler Huatlacoche, spinach, and chicaronne quesadillas Brunch place offers a single peace of french toast topped with fruit and cream as a 50 peso appetizer. Genius. Spoiler and of course, chillaquiles Spoiler CDMX I am in you
anyone familiar with Belgrade, Budapest or Croatia - specifically Dubrovnik or Split? BayouMafia flying in to Belgrade for a few days before heading to the northern part of the country for a couple of days but want to visit Budapest and the Adriatic coast while we're there. Any travel or sightseeing recs would be greatly appreciated
not necessarily, we'll probably only have a day or two so whatever you think the best options and use of our time might be
Sightseeing: Buda side - Buda Castle/Fisherman's Bastion Heroes Square Memento Park - This involves a short bus ride to kind of the outskirts of the city but it's worth it IMO. It's a "statue graveyard" with the Communist monuments torn down from around the city. I'm a history nerd so I really loved this so maybe not for everyone but if that sounds appealing I'd check it out. Parliament - We did a tour, it's a very pretty building despite their current political climate. Worth it IMO. St. Stephen's Basilica Walking tours - We did two of these; one kind of standard and then one focused on communism. Always try to do these in new cities when we can. https://www.triptobudapest.hu/tours/free-walking-tours-budapest/ https://www.triptobudapest.hu/tours/communist-tour-budapest/ Restaurants & Bars: Belvárosi Disznótoros - Big selection of traditional Hungarian dishes served kind of like a deli. I'm pretty adventurous but I'd avoid the blood sausage. Kispiac Bisztró - Hungarian cuisine but a little more upscale. We went here after the parliament tour. Paprika Vendéglő - Rustic sit down restaurant with traditional Hungarian dishes Rosenstein - Traditional Hungarian and Jewish cuisine Ruin Bars - Repurposing old buildings into bars, some of them very large, is very popular. We liked Élesztő, Szimpla Kert, and Mazel Tov. The only thing we had planned and didn't do was the House of Terror. I also left off the Hungarian National Museum. Really nice museum but unless you're really, really into museums I'd skip it with limited time. We stayed at an Airbnb in the Jewish Quarter. It was easy to get everywhere we needed to from there and there are countless bars and restaurants in that area. The metro is easy to utilize and get around with. At least when we went in 2018 the city was much cheaper than I expected. Nice meals I'd expect to be $120-150 were more like $50-60. Anything else you're interested in let me know.
Wander up on Castle Hill and have some Dobostorte at Ruszwurm https://www.ruszwurm.hu/en/home/ Buda on the west side of the Danube is less busy than Pest, and it's got the Castle and Bastion and the MatthiasKirche and great views of the Parliament Building. Pest IIRC had a lot of traffic and was more gritty than Buda, but if you like shopping thoroughfares the Vaci Utca is good, and you can find a lot of Herend and Zsolnay porcelain which Hungary is known for.
Spent a week in Dubrovnik many years ago. Great place to just wander the streets and walk the walls. Stayed adjacent to the Jesuit Church and one night in a hotel overlooking the market square at the foot of the Jesuit Stairs. You might also check out Korcula and Hvar - never been to either but they're on the list, as is Piran in Slovenia.
appreciate the recommendations, did any of you travel to/from other parts of the region of just fly in & out of those cities? I see that there’s train service between Belgrade & Budapest and was wondering if anyone has used something similar or if it’s better to just fly between cities that are more than just a couple of hours away?
We trained to Budapest from Vienna twice. The Europeans are actually trying to encourage more train travel and less flying because of the massive carbon footprint difference between the two. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/planes-to-trains-europe-climate/index.html Dubrovnik is more difficult to get to; I don't think they have decent train service there even now because of the inhospitable coastal terrain. Their roads are supposed to be really good because they're post-Yugoslavia new, and you can also fly there. When we went many years ago we took a bus from Mostar to Dubrovnik (scary ride with a possibly drunk bus driver) and then took the overnight ferry to Rijeka via Split. Last I heard the ferry doesn't run anymore, so the only two real options are flying and driving.
We were nervous about it when we went Zurich to Interlaken but it wasn't bad. The only source of major anxiety (due to jumping on the train minutes after clearing customs) was we couldn't figure out of we were in a 1st class cabin or normal.
We flew into Ljubljana’s small airport, rented a car, and drove all over Slovenia and Croatia. The train network in the former Eastern Bloc is sparse compared to Western Europe, and it was great to have the flexibility to change things up on the fly. Old town Split is walking only however so we had to use public parking and walk a few blocks to the apartment we rented, but the walking was nice
Did you go from the zurich airport to the zurich train station via train? I'm wondering how that works... if you get on a train to the hb and then you find your train to visp>zermatt
The wife and I are looking to go to Turks and Caicos in July. My search function isn’t pulling anything up but I’m sure some of you fine folks have been. Any dos or donts? Etc. We are liking this Airbnb: https://abnb.me/EH5chdM86xb
that’s what we were hoping to do but it’s like a 7+ hour ride from Belgrade. 15 hours of travel for less than a 48 hour trip doesn’t seem worth it so we’re looking at a car service which is like half the time. Apparently they’re building high speed rail between two that’s slated to open in ‘25 and will take less than 3 hours which would be ideal.
Just depends on what all you and the wife want to get into but Grace Bay is an awesome area and the bnb looks solid
We love snorkeling and everything I keep seeing says the water is clear with some reefs near by. Grace Bay does seem like the place to be.