The Travel Thread

[SkinsFTW]

The Philippines is mostly not air conditioned either. We do have 1 AC in our house and finally my wife made sure that her parents have it too. 1000s of people hang out in the overcrowded Malls just for the AC. You usually cannot find a place to sit and eat at the food court because of dozens of groups of people sitting there not eating anything.

I really would not recommend the Philippines unless you have a specific island to go to the beach at, or you have a house with AC and your own personal vehicle.

Renting a car in the Philippines is difficult, finding a place to stay with AC can be difficult too but it's getting better. The first couple times going there was a pain in the ass. Then I saved up to buy a car and my wife who had never been anywhere else at the time wanted me to buy another house instead of a car. Now she lives in the US and knows better than trying to travel around like this

 

[SkinsFTW]

So what are your 5 favorite places you have ever visited? I know we have some big travelers so I expect the lists to be impressive. Mine are:

1. St John USVI
2. Cayman Islands
3. Sante Fe, NM
4. Canadian Rockies
5. Alaska

I have flown around the world twice to visit our dad who was living in Malaysia. So I have seen other fantastic places, but I was 13 and that was a family trip. I'm just counting trips I made on my own.

I don't know about top 5 but Hong Kong is great for riding around on the train shopping and finding good deals on lots of things. Singapore is more expensive version of the same thing. South Korea too. Thailand used to be awesome for cheap food on the beach but I haven't been for 30 years. Hobart in Tasmania was fun for a few days too. Tickets were recently under 700 round trip to all of these places from Nashville when I was looking for tickets to the Philippines. Unfortunately tickets there are more than 2x because of the monopoly of Philippine Airlines.

I bought my tuxedo and my wifes wedding dress, custom made for both of them in Hong Kong for maybe 1500 dollars. Maybe less, I'm not exactly sure but that was only 6 years ago. It was great though. I picked out exactly everything I wanted from dozens of material choices and they made it for me in 2-3 days.

I lived in Japan for about 15 years, climbed Mt Fuji twice, went skiing at Nagoya, drove all over the country, lots of shopping, saw a crap NIN concert, married , divorced, not exactly recommended though. I've cut more grass, killed more snakes, than in any other place that I've been so there is that too.

 

[burgold]

So what are your 5 favorite places you have ever visited? I know we have some big travelers so I expect the lists to be impressive. Mine are:

1. St John USVI
2. Cayman Islands
3. Sante Fe, NM
4. Canadian Rockies
5. Alaska

I have flown around the world twice to visit our dad who was living in Malaysia. So I have seen other fantastic places, but I was 13 and that was a family trip. I'm just counting trips I made on my own.

I don't think I can compete with most of you, but I

1. Galapagos
2. Maui
3. New York
4. Fed Ex Field (Great Tailgating memories plus I enjoyed the wins a lot. Even some of the losses were still good experiences because of the friends I got to hang out with.)
5, Lake Tahoe and Northern California (Muir Woods and such)

 

[Ashburn Dave]

I'm a big cruise ship guy. These are some of our best trips:

1. Scandinavia Cruise which included these ports
Copenhagen, Denmark
Stockholm, Sweden
Helsinki, Finland
St. Petersburg, Russia
Tallinn, Extonia
Gdansk, Poland
Berlin, Germany
Helsingborg, Sweden

We've also taken a couple of Mediterranean cruises but those are too dangerous nowadays. Ports on both of those cruises:
Rome, Italy
Mykonis, Greece
Ephesus, Turkey
Rhodes, Greece
Limassol, Cyprus
Alexandria, Egypt
Athens, Greece
Naples, Italy
Patmos, Greece
Nazareth and Galilee, Israel
Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Israel
Venice, Italy

It was scary in Alexandria in 2013. This was when the Muslim Brotherhood was taking control of that area. Our tour guide's wife did not want him out that day either and at one point in one of the museums we were followed by several shady men whom our guide confronted at one point. Our cruise ship was the last ship in that port three days before it all broke out over there.

Here is one picture of Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia when they ran the fountains in 2010.

Here is a picture of Mykonos, Greece. They called it 'Little Venice' and the best calamari I've had was served there.

 

[Pokey]

My wife and I just got back from a 13 day cruise around the Mediterranean. We Visited multiple locations in Italy, two in Croatia (incredible place) Greece, Monaco, two cities in France, and ended it in Barcelona. Had an incredible time, and as we are new to the cruise world, the novelty of only having to unpack and pack once was wonderful. Only negitive was the short time spent in each place. Except Monaco. One day was fine, though it is pretty.

 

[RedWolf]

I just got a call from an old teams guy that wants to meet in Panama with some of our old Buddies and go tuna fishing 😍

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Too many places and types of to pick just 5....

 

[SkinsFTW]

Last summer we went to Belgium. My wife's Twin sister and her husband live there. They also had their parents fly to Belgium from the Philippines.

She just had a baby 2 days before we got there so they were going to be pretty busy and couldn't go anywhere. I got bored and tried to rent an RV to go on a tour but found out that it's not easy on short notice so I rented a car instead and me, my wife and the parents went on a tour for about a week.

We visited several cathedrals in a bunch of cities. Eifel tower, a couple museums in Paris. Rented hotel rooms for a couple days 2 blocks away from the Eifel tower for pretty cheap too. Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, Amsterdam, Cologne, Paris all in under 7 days. The sisters house in Belgium was kind of in the middle so we came back and slept a couple times before going off to Germany or Amsterdam.

It was a lot of fun but I wish I had been more prepared before the decision was made. We probably could have seen more places but the schedule was pretty intense. I got 3 or 4 speeding tickets from cameras going to Paris that are never going to be paid. I only found out because the rental car people sent me mail about it a month later. I was only driving 70-80 but those cameras are everywhere. Oops!

 

[Chris]

Yeah, speeding cameras in Europe are ubiquitous. 🖕Got a speeding ticket outside of Riga in Latvia and didn’t pay it. Interpol is probably looking for me.

 

[SkinsFTW]

Yeah, speeding cameras in Europe are ubiquitous. 🖕Got a speeding ticket outside of Riga in Latvia and didn’t pay it. Interpol is probably looking for me.

It's crazy because I drove even faster later going to Germany and up to Amsterdam so I guess the cameras are mostly in France. Luckily for about 1/2 of the drive in France I took us off the highway and drove though several towns around where the WW1 battles were so I probably avoided at least 3-4 more tickets that will never be paid lol.

 

[Ashburn Dave]

Yeah, speeding cameras in Europe are ubiquitous. 🖕Got a speeding ticket outside of Riga in Latvia and didn’t pay it. Interpol is probably looking for me.

Speeding cameras are everywhere. I got caught by the two on Seven Locks Rd leaving Rockville, MD to head home years ago.

 

[Ashburn Dave]

My wife and I just got back from a 13 day cruise around the Mediterranean. We Visited multiple locations in Italy, two in Croatia (incredible place) Greece, Monaco, two cities in France, and ended it in Barcelona. Had an incredible time, and as we are new to the cruise world, the novelty of only having to unpack and pack once was wonderful. Only negitive was the short time spent in each place. Except Monaco. One day was fine, though it is pretty.

I read a stat that only around 10% of the population have ever cruised but of those 10%, 90% of them would do it again. We absolutely love it. Unpack only once, get to see lots of sights, and a nice dinner waits you every night. If you want to park in one spot though then, cruises aren't right for that person.

Cruises took a hit during COVID though.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

I read a stat that only around 10% of the population have ever cruised but of those 10%, 90% of them would do it again. We absolutely love it. Unpack only once, get to see lots of sights, and a nice dinner waits you every night. If you want to park in one spot though then, cruises aren't right for that person.

Cruises took a hit during COVID though.

We used to cruise a lot, had a lot of fun on them...

 

[SkinsFTW]

The only cruises I've ever done were the Navy kind so I think I'd have a hard time with the part where they stop in 5-10 different places for only a few hours each. I'd have to find a cruise where you can kick back in 3-4 places for a few days each.

That is why I sometimes just buy a ticket to somewhere like Hong Kong or Singapore, spend 4-5 days there, with a seperate ticket going to where I am actually going, which is the Philippines. It's even cheaper that way too. Round trip ticket to the Philippines are 1500 or more, usually a lot more. Round trip tickets to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo are 500-700. From there to Manila, Iloilo or Kalibo is usually 200 round trip. There used to be an airline that flew from Singapore to Kalibo (Boracay), for 100 or so dollars but I guess they aren't doing it anymore. It's only 159 now though lol.

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

I never had an interest in a cruise. I want to get there and do what we want to do but I understand the appeal of a cruise.

If you get speed camera tickets in a rental car won't the rental company eventually charge your card?

 

[SkinsFTW]

I never had an interest in a cruise. I want to get there and do what we want to do but I understand the appeal of a cruise.

If you get speed camera tickets in a rental car won't the rental company eventually charge your card?

No because the rental company doesn't have to pay the ticket and all they can do is turn over your information which is kind of useless since I don't even live on the same continent. I guess they might refuse to rent me a car next time, which means that I'll have to find a different rental car company but they didn't ban me as far as I know. They probably don't care since they weren't driving the car.

 

[Boone]

For starters, having been on a ship for 6+ months at a time, it doesn’t have much appeal for me. I get that the accommodations are completely different on a cruise ship, but it still puts you in close quarters with a ton of people. Not my idea of a good time although I’m sure it’s fun making stops.

 

[Boone]

I am currently in Berlin visiting my daughter and her family. Pretty cool city, urban but doesn’t feel urban beyond all of the historic buildings. One of the most bike friendly cities I’ve ever visited, and the public transportation system with buses and trains and trams is really amazing.

 

[Chris]

For starters, having been on a ship for 6+ months at a time, it doesn’t have much appeal for me. I get that the accommodations are completely different on a cruise ship, but it still puts you in close quarters with a ton of people. Not my idea of a good time although I’m sure it’s fun making stops.

Yeah, I don’t like people nearly enough to be trapped on a ship with thousands of them.

 

[Chris]

I am currently in Berlin visiting my daughter and her family. Pretty cool city, urban but doesn’t feel urban beyond all of the historic buildings. One of the most bike friendly cities I’ve ever visited, and the public transportation system with buses and trains and trams is really amazing.

And Amsterdam is a next-level bicycle city.