Favourite Places to Travel

[Ranchlander]

Malta.

[Captain Sensible]

Kyleakin - Isle of Skye

[Claeren]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

What is it, including airport taxes?

Well a quick look at www.aircanada.com shows me that it can be had in April for as low as $445CDN r/t, inclusive of all fees. Or about as much as Ralph is giving you this year!



Claeren.

[Phanuthier]

Thanks Claeren

Awsome pictures, Ranchlander and Cap Sens. Malta looks alot like some of the sweet hot spots in and around Italy, Greece and Croatia.

[MickMcGeough]

Beautiful: The Isle of Capri in southern Italy is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Ocean caves and the village of Anacapri on top of the "mountain" on the island were jaw-dropping.

Coolest City: Zurich, Switzerland. A good night out in the old city is AWESOME.

Best single attraction: Pompeii, Italy. It's amazing how many people haven't even heard of this. An entire city (20,000 maybe?) buried under volcanic ash for 2000 years and perfectly preserved. Now that it's unearthed, it's deteriorating rapidly but its an amazing experience to be walking through the streets of Pompeii as it was a couple millenia ago.

Best Food/Beer/Prices: Krakow, Poland. Prague, Czech is close but I prefer Polish food. A full 3-course meal at a nice restaurant in the old town and a litre of beer ran me about £4 after tipping.

Worst Food/Beer/Prices: Paris! Yes, can you tell me what two cokes costs? Oh, only €16? Bring it on!
(~$24)

Hottest Women: Krakow, Poland. There's actually -hotter- girls in Italy IMO, but the ratio of good looking women to unattractive women in Krakow has got to be around 8:1 between 18-35. A single guy could clean up in Krakow, the guys there are schmucks.

Best Long Stay: London. There is SO much **** in this city to do it isn't even funny. You may have to sell an organ to see it all, but you could spend months here and never get bored.

[Cowperson]

I loved London last year . . . . and New York the year before that.

Plunked ourselves down in the dead center of both cities and found both had plenty to do just from walking all day.

I think I'll be checking out Boston in a few months as well.

The drive between San Francisco and LA along the number one, Big Sur, etc is beautiful.

Been to Maui three times . . . . October is a nice time to be there, tail end of summer but before the winter tourists.

Been to lots of other places but the above would be the highlights.

And frankly, where we live - the Calgary area and BC - is a fabulous place to drive around. We shouldn't forget that.

An obscure Monty Python "In Search Of The Holy Grail" gathering at Russell Square in London, only a block or so from where the bus blew up last summer.



Cowperson

[Dr_Hook]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Well I know I'm trying to get it out of my system, while I don't have strings attached (aka. family) and its easier to travel.

I pounded out the numbers for a possible Europe trip, 3 weeks, under $5000. If we (me and friends) have less time (due to summer jobs), Tibet is the other option, and will likely be under $6000 as well.

You would easily be able to do 3 weeks in Europe for under $5000. Unless you are blowing wads of cash it shouldn't cost you more than $3000-$4000 per month, and that's living comfortably, you could go alot cheaper.

My favorite places so far:
-Rome, amazing city and the pub crawls are top notch
-Cosa del Sol in Spain, great place to relax, also hit Barcelona if in spain
-Portugal is awesome and alot of fun as others have said
-Greek Islands are awesome, can either party or relax depending which island
-London, so much to do and the museums are free
-Berlin, awesome history, can still see the East West divide

[Incinerator]

Originally Posted by Dr_Hook

You would easily be able to do 3 weeks in Europe for under $5000. Unless you are blowing wads of cash it shouldn't cost you more than $3000-$4000 per month, and that's living comfortably, you could go alot cheaper.

My philosophy in life is if you can afford it, don't do it half-assed. I will never understand why backpackers want to live like a bum for 3 months in Europe sleeping in train stations when they can live way more comfortably at home. Yeah for the experience etc etc but seriously, how would you be in the mood for sightseeing if you're surviving on bagels and sleeping in a bag everynight on the train station platform? I don't do major trips out of the continent a lot, maybe once every couple years or so, but when I do I light my cigars with colourful foreign currencies in big denominations. Anything less you might as well stay home and wait til you can afford it before you hop on that plane. Just my $.02

Anyways, I agree though $5Gs for one person is more than good for 3 weeks of relative comfort when you're in Europe. You won't live like royalty but it won't be train stations and rat-infested hostels either.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Dr_Hook

You would easily be able to do 3 weeks in Europe for under $5000. Unless you are blowing wads of cash it shouldn't cost you more than $3000-$4000 per month, and that's living comfortably, you could go alot cheaper.

Most of the cost came from travelling 10 places (6 countrise). I'm sure there are Eurorail deals which would cut it down significantly.

[Incinerator]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Most of the cost came from travelling 10 places (6 countrise). I'm sure there are Eurorail deals which would cut it down significantly.

You can get a youth pass:

http://eurail.lwb-online.info/index...._527#passyouth

[peter12]

I am kind of pining to return to Eastern Europe. Armenia, Czech Republic...

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Incinerator

You can get a youth pass:

http://eurail.lwb-online.info/index...._527#passyouth

Yeah, I've looked into that, but it doesn't cover half the countries I go to. I believe the ones not included are Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Czech Rep. I will have to do my homework and see which is the cheapest package.

Thanks though

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by peter12

I am kind of pining to return to Eastern Europe. Armenia, Czech Republic...

Maybe I'll see you there. Look for the Flames or UofA logo, that basically constitudes my clothes lol.

[rockstar]

WHEW! Thanks, Dr Hook.

Phaneuthier's comments about $5000 for 3 weeks scared me, because I'm planning on going for 2 months with about that much.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by rockstar

WHEW! Thanks, Dr Hook.

Phaneuthier's comments about $5000 for 3 weeks scared me, because I'm planning on going for 2 months with about that much.

If you don't travel around as much as I do, you'll be ok. I think travel costs (flight and Eurorail) took up about $3500.

That, of coarse, was a max... mix and match deals with Eurorail and that figure will probably drop.

[Dr_Hook]

I was in Europe for 3 months last summer and travelled alot, pretty much every 2 or 3 days I was on the move again. I think I hit 15 countries in all. Total cost was about $10,000-$11,000 including everything (trains and flights, flights to/from Canada etc.), and I lived quite comfortably and ate pretty good meals usually, and drank alot.
I was lucky in that I had a 3 month unlimited Eurail pass and stuck mostly to Western Europe. If you don't have Eurail some of the trains can be rather pricey ($100+ per trip for long ones on fast trains) but some are not bad. For the small amount I was in Eastern Europe the trains were pretty cheap. The trains in Spain and Portugal suck, if you are going there take the bus it works pretty good and is cheap.

If you have any questions about travelling in Europe let me know.

[Phanuthier]

Thanks for the offer Dr Hook, I'll definatly take you up on that.

Here's my tenative plan so far:
- Spain (Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona) - 4 nights
- Italy (Cinquo Terra, Rome, Venice) - 6 nights
- Croatia (Dubrouvnik) - 3 nights
- Hungary (Budapest) - 2 nights
- Poland (Krakow) - 3 nights
- Czech (Prague) - 3 nights
- Germany (Mosel Valley) - 2 nights

This is if me and my 3 friends's schedual work out alllowing more than 3 weeks. Like I said, if that doesn't work out and its down to 2 weeks, we'll probably go for Tibet.

There's also a good chance I might be working Germany this summer researching assistant (kind of like an internship) in either Deggendorf or Kaiserslautern which gives me some time to travel Europe myself.

[FlamesAddiction]

Some friends of mine rented a whole island in Croatia for a couple of weeks. They said it was amazing. I'm actually planning a trip there myself.

I don't travel much, but my favourite places are right here in Canada. I love Vancouver Island. Victoria, Tofino, Bamfield, and Qualicum are all nice. I also like interior towns too, like Nelson, Trail, and Fernie.

Montreal rocks too.

[Superfraggle]

Originally Posted by Incinerator

My philosophy in life is if you can afford it, don't do it half-assed. I will never understand why backpackers want to live like a bum for 3 months in Europe sleeping in train stations when they can live way more comfortably at home.

I will never understand how people can come to a country, live in fancy hotels, and take a guided tour and think they've experienced a place (not saying that that's you, specifically...nothing wrong with wanting a hotel). You meet the most interesting people in hostels.

"If you can afford it" is a rather large qualifier, though.

[Incinerator]

Originally Posted by Superfraggle

I will never understand how people can come to a country, live in fancy hotels, and take a guided tour and think they've experienced a place (not saying that that's you, specifically...nothing wrong with wanting a hotel). You meet the most interesting people in hostels.

"If you can afford it" is a rather large qualifier, though.

Hey don't get me wrong, I hate guided tours as much as anyone (been there done that, my parents loved those when I was a kid), those are always rush rush rush, cram a tour of the whole country in 8 days. No thanks. I allow myself at least 2 weeks in any foreign countries to fully explore at least 1 destination of interest. I spend anywhere from 3-6 months researching every aspect of my destination (Virtual Tourist/Tripadvisor etc etc) before I even buy the plane tickets. (I'm an obsessive compulsive planner/organizer type, nothing ever goes wrong in my vacations, I hate surprises )